Dive 202 was far less exciting than dives 200 and 201.
Last night I hit Union Lake with Dave, Jeremy and James. James is running Dave and Jeremy through UTD's essentials of Tech and I was along for this non-class practice dive. At 54 degress it was colder and darker than my Florida dives, and the temp and light were the high points of last night's dive.
On the upside: having the neck seal replaced (the original has been on the suit for 4 years) on my drysuit worked. No more leaks. I haven't been this dry underwater for a long time.
On the downside, the dryness was about the only good part of the dive. Everybody with the exception of James was sub-optimal and not up to spec. I did a decent basic 6 but didn't have decent buoyancy control and the "team" ascent drill was a cluster that is best forgotten and never spoken of again. Oh and Dave: spool, not reel on the flag - something that won't be talked about at all.
Ah well, diving is a rather bi-polar sport - you can be in top form having the time of your life one dive, thinking you're ready for a cave class and to move on to some real advanced training. Then you get a dive like last night to send you crashing down into the sorrows of your inadequacy.
More practice is clearly needed.
James dared the three of us to try a new training plan for the next 10 dives and I'm going to try it. I'll let you know how it works out.
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