GILBOA QUARRY OHIO

Well, it's time for a girls trip...one that has been a long making in the works...well at least for several months (or could be considered years honestly). Everyone knows we have grown to love diving and this started back in 2016 on a cruise to St Thomas. Being able to be down in the water with the fish and everything up close gave me an entirely new perspective on the ocean. I have always snorkeled but this was on an entirely different level. One that I had not possibly thought would touch my heart so much. I love photography and being able to breathe underwater increased the possibilities to get even greater pictures of ocean life....wow, just wow!

We would continue to dive a couple times a year after that experience and that turned into at least once (sometimes more) during each vacation. After nine long years, we have managed to dive 26 times....so far. These have all been Discover Scuba Dives. Of course with each dive, we hear the same comments from the dive company and others around us "You need to get certified!" Of course I have had every excuse in the book and while not an actual excuse (because there's so much truth to it), it has been something I was really never interested in. Over the last few years I have kinda started changing my mind and considering it. I finally convinced myself that the added skills would relieve my anxiety that I randomly have for no reason and my mind gets the best of me and not having to pay the cost of the DSD each time would also save money.

So, I started checking into what all needed to be done to take the online e-learning portion, then completing the confined water portion here at home and then possibly completing the open water while in crystal clear Caribbean water on vacation. After over a month of going back and forth between multiple dive companies here at home and also in the Caribbean to coordinate this event. We also had to maneuver our busy schedules with none of us being able to commit to a certain schedule TOGETHER!

I would find that the dive company, here at home that Sakari first started her dive lessons when she was 8 years old, is no longer a PADI dive company and switched to an SDI certification. After searching dive shops where we want to vacation at, all I could seem to find are PADI shops and was told you can't do a SDI class and transfer to a PADI class. UGH! So, there was only one other option for us here at home and I knew nothing about the shop. The good news was we could take a private class "where we schedule around your available times" and we could pick the dates and could complete it quicker than the regular 4 week schedule. Well, that definitely sounded good to me...until it didn't. It was also an extra $120/pp to do the private class. So, we decided that just Sakari and I would do the class for now. That was going to be $1380 for just the 2 of us and that was a big chunk of change for this new adventure. Little did I know that there would be a lot of added expenses on top of that as well.

So, we signed up for the private classes and then they said we HAD to buy our own fins, mask and snorkel. Well, we had our own mask and snorkel but fins...the only fins "I" had were the small travel kind and Sakari had none since she has outgrown the 2 sets she's had since she was little. Anything after those, she has always used her mermaid monofin. Since she's "too old for that" now, she doesn't use fins at all when snorkeling. I mean when we go scuba diving they provide the equipment and I have absolutely NO desire to buy my own equipment (including the rest of the dive equipment) because it is heavy, takes up room, and would cost more for luggage on a plane as well. UGH! They don't even rent the equipment.

So, us girls headed to the dive shop to purchase fins. I decided I wanted a turquoise pair they had there (since my mask is sorta that color) and don't ya know they had a snorkel that would match it and of course I HAD to have that as well. Sakari picked out a yellow pair of fins since her mask is yellow and decided she would just use her dads black snorkel since we already had it "to save money"...but save money for what? Hmmm, I would later find out. Well, fins require boots...ugh. So we had to purchase those as well to go with the fins. Then of course Sakari is the person that on almost every dive, some kind of creature will seek her out and sting or bite her so here it came....she wanted a wet suit of her own, which is understandable. So I caved and got her one and it is so cute!

Grand total of all of our new equipment: $843!!! YIKES! So now we are up to around $2,223 SO FAR....

Then it was time to coordinate our dives. It was rough because Sakari's work schedules her 2-3 weeks in advance and my work does it a month in advance and she had to pick a time I was not on call and put in for her time to be off on a weekend. I won't bore you with all the details, but it was a mess. Nothing was working out. The shop wasn't able to schedule the dates we gave, things got changed and I was getting pretty agitated about paying for the private classes that was supposed to work around our schedule and it wasn't.

FINALLY we got our first class scheduled at one of the local YMCA's for a Sunday. We went over how to put our equipment together, swam our yards, floated for 10 minutes then it was time start the actual diving and learning the skills. Before we ever put our heads under water BOOM! It started lightening and the dark skies were furious. We were made to get out of the water. We waited and waited and the time to get back in was pushed back multiple times and then finally they called it quits. It just wasn't going to happen. UGH! Just my luck!

So we went back to the drawing board of trying to once again schedule a time we could both do it. At this point, I was willing to take ANYTHING...almost. One of the other issues was the dive instructor we had a relationship with already was leaving for a dive trip with the shop (60 people to be exact) to Bonaire. This meant they would have to find another instructor for us. We scheduled and it was now round #2 and we were crossing our fingers and toes (but quickly uncrossed the toes since that would hurt in fins right?).

I have to say I was quite happy with our new instructor and had actually met him at our first class. So, we managed to complete our classes and it was time to schedule the open water. I had already decided to go ahead and do the open water check off here at home instead of in the Caribbean....due to the price involved. I would find out that our dive classes did NOT include the open water portion to be done at the quarry, which happens to be owned by the owner of the dive shop. But, it would only be $35/pp=$70. Ok that's not too bad I guess. But that now meant we were paying $724/pp for getting just our certification alone. After checking with various dive shops in the Caribbean, at the island we had planned on vacationing at, we would find that it would be an additional $475-580/pp for the referral check off. Geesh! Yea, I think we made the right decision to just finish it here for an extra $35/pp.

Time went by...slowly...and the longer I had to think about it, the more nervous I got. Yes, my anxiety was definitely getting the best of me wondering if I would remember all the skills, if I would still be able to do them and most of all....were we going to freeze. I was told the quarry was around 70° and honestly that's not warm at all. They did provide us with wet suits (thicker than what Sakari's had purchased) and they said we would definitely need those.

We were told to pick up all of our equipment (that they provided) from the dive shop any time the week prior to our check off. We were packed and ready to go now!

Well, the quarry was 2 hours away from our home and it would be all weekend long. It also started at 8:30🕒in the morning. That meant we would have to leave the night before. Ok, here goes another $253 for a hotel room for 2 nights. Add another $65 in gas to get there. Boy, this is really adding up to be an expensive certification...but no worries there's definitely more!

We headed down Friday and located our hotel, which was 20 minutes away from the quarry. It was a nice, newly remodeled hotel but they were still working on it and the indoor pool was closed. Darnit! I had hoped to practice removing my mask and putting it back on a few times before the skills check off. This was one of my main concerns.

So what should we do now that we are in this small little town that if you blink slowly, you'd miss it. I brought up the maps and seen there was a park near by. We love parks and hiking so why not check it out...and off we went. It looked like a nice park with plenty of walking.

We came across a playground. The child in Sakari came out and she had to try out the equipment.

When was the last time you have seen one of these? I remember having one in elementary school and I once took a photography class and looked all over the place for one only to discover they had taken all of them out due to safety concerns at all the schools and parks in our area. (My assignment was to capture a long exposure of a moving object and I thought that would be perfect for my project at that time)

There were several cranes (or storks I'm not sure the difference) along the water banks.

We managed to walk around the entire lake and headed back to our vehicle to decide what was next. There appeared to be a bowling alley right outside the city limits. Sakari definitely wanted to go. It's been awhile since we've been bowling (several years).

We were given the option to bowl "per game" or "from now until 5pm" which was a few hours. They told us they would charge us the least amount. But, they didn't give us any pricing. We were just rolling with the flow at this point.

We bowled quite a few games and proved to ourselves that we totally suck at bowling but my goodness we had some fun and laughs and it was exactly what we needed. I don't get to spend too much one on one time with her these days or go out to do things together because we are constantly working or she's out with her boyfriend or friends since she bought her new car months ago...she keeps the roads hot when she doesn't have work. We finished bowling quite a few games and .....it only cost us $24!!!! That included shoes and all. We would never be able to do that back at home.

After bowling, we wanted a "snack" and stopped at the Ice Cream shop we had spotted on the way to bowling. What better what to celebrate barely breaking 100 on our scores at bowling right?

The rest of the day was boring. We hung out at the hotel watching reality shows on tv, headed to Subway, then back to the hotel for more reality tv. Then tomorrow was the big day and I warned Sakari "If you hear any crying coming from me in the middle of the night or possibly screams, I'm just trying to complete a check off in my sleep". She laughed and we drifted off to sleep.