This weekend, Janet and I took a big step toward ensuring fun times during our honeymoon to, among other places, Fiji: We completed our 2-day open water SCUBA certification course! We took the course in Dutch Springs, Pennsylvania (http://www.dutchsprings.com/), which features abandoned water-filled, limestone quarry that covers 50 acres and offers dives up to 100 feet deep.
Of course, we didn't go that far down on our first "open water" dive. We made five dives over two days (three on Saturday, two on Sunday) and spent most of our time resting on a submerged platform about 25 feet under. We occasionally dove deeper off the platform to as far down as 40 feet, which took us through a unforgetable thermocline (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermocline) with icy water below. Visibility was pretty good (around 20 feet), except when you got near the silty bottom and kicked up a thick cloud of dirt that would swallow you in an instant!
Although we were a little shaky at first -- we'd last dived in a swimming pool back in November -- by the end, we were totally comfortable in SCUBA gear and did just fine. As bona fide, certified, open water divers, we now can dive pretty much anywhere in the world up to 60 feet down (which, in the Carribean, apparently translates to 80 feet in their modified system of measurements :-) )
Next stop, Fiji!
