Diving Deep

I swear you all are going to think I never study at this rate! Truth is, I've probably studied more this weekend than most of my classmates, I just use my time differently. Instead of staying up all night on Friday for a party, I went to bed early and studied yesterday morning/afternoon. I also studied Friday night too before I went to bed. So I swear I do actually study!

This morning I got up early to complete more of my Advanced Open Water certification. Christie mentioned they had a group going today so I figured why not add one more student! We geared up quickly and headed out to the boat to set up. I'm proud to say that I've become pretty meticulous about checking and testing out all of my equipment before we head out after all of the little incidents in Mexico! Not that I shouldn't anyway as a diver (because everyone should!), but we tend to learn from experience and learn I have! We had a brief orientation before heading out to a deep wreck called Shakem. I'd never been there before but had heard good things about it.

The wreck itself sits in about 100ft of water. That's a pretty big number! Some of my friends and family can't even fathom going 40ft deep let alone 100ft, but it's really all just psychological. Sure, there are a few more risks associated with going deeper and it makes things a little bit more complicated, but here's the thing - it's really just a number. Once you're under water, it doesn't feel different to be 10ft versus 40ft versus 100ft. You don't feel the increased pressure, you don't really tend to look up because of the way your gear is oriented, so you're just focused on what's in front of you, below you, and to some extent on your sides. It takes a lot of effort to right yourself enough to awkwardly look at the surface because of the way buoyancy works. The things that are really different about diving deep are that it takes longer to descend (and when you look down initially all you see is nothingness), you use air up a lot faster, and you have to take more safety precautions when ascending.

We jumped in and headed down immediately. It took a couple of minutes to reach the bottom, but one minute all you see is each other and then the next you can see the outline of a sunken ship. I think if I was "newer" to diving I would have really noticed the mildly increased effort breathing from the regulator required (air is much more dense at this depth), but I barely noticed as I maintained a very calm and peaceful breathing pattern that I normally use. I of course checked my gauges frequently and it was amazing to watch how quickly the air diminished. We swam around the ship and then over top of it gently and slowly. Keeping with tradition, I was very slow and pokey taking lots of pictures, but also just enjoying being neutrally buoyant and floating along. I'm never in a rush, I like to go slow. My goal is usually to swim as little as possible! We lasted about 30 minutes before it was time to head back up. We did a couple of safety stops at different depths to make sure that our risk of decompression illness was very minimal and hit the surface with ease. I was pretty thrilled, because when we went around the group for air consumption, I was well above several people that were at the requisite exit amount (500psi). I'm definitely getting better!

This ship is quite large. The first thing you notice upon swimming over it are these huge sacs of concrete. There are dozens of them all lined up next to one another through the whole interior. It's an incredible site. The rest of the ship has taken on an eerie and old look because the skeleton of the boat exists, but it's been completely taken over by corals, invertebrates, and all sorts of inhabitants. When the little bit of sunlight illuminates it, it appears to glow against the dark water back drop. We saw lots of fish and although I really shouldn't be surprised, it was strange and amusing to see animals I'm used to seeing at shallower depths. In the grand scheme of things, this really isn't much deeper than I've been on other dives! We stumbled upon a large lobster at one point. He seemed confused and a bit annoyed to be sharing his space with so many divers (and he was probably hoping no one added a side of butter later!). I have become so obsessed with looking at corals and invertebrates, I really don't remember what we saw in the way of fish. It ends up being "just" another fish to me, except when they're something really odd.

Next we went over to BBC beach to hang out during our surface interval time. It's funny how until yesterday I had no idea where this beach was and now I've been there twice in a period of 24 hours! Since we were going to be there for awhile, I hopped out and snorkeled the area checking out all of the grassy patches. It was a nice place to swim for a bit in between dives.

Our second dive of the day was on the Veronica L., a small cargo wreck I've been to several times now. It's a nice little boat to dive on and provides some excellent pictures when you're looking for them! This boat is much shallower water, only about 45ft maximum. As part of our wreck certification, we had to "measure" the wreck with fin kicks (from one side to the other), observe potential hazards (such as sharp objects or corners), and then use a compass to determine what direction it's facing in. Cue the laughter now for those who know me well! I can get wickedly lost using a GPS! Imagine me trying to use a compass under water. Yeah right! My first down fall was not really remembering what I was supposed to do with the compass. Yes obviously you hold it and blah blah blah, but diving compasses have a "lubber line" on them to additionally help you navigate. Yes, it means almost as little to me as it probably does to you! I am going to be in big trouble when it comes to the navigation section of this course and who ever is teaching me is going to snort water laughing so hard. How can someone in veterinary school be so stupid when it comes to sense of direction?! Anyhow, I kind of sort of clumsily got a reading off the compass (not the right one, but I was close). Skill put off until another day!

After spending plenty of time getting some spectacular pictures of the marine life on the ship, we headed off to finish on the nearby reef. So many beautiful creatures and corals to look at! The highlight of this dive was stumbling upon a dark mantis shrimp "inside" (not really inside, but within) the wreck and getting to observe and ponder this gorgeous creature! He was very nervous and no doubt wasn't sure if he should fight me or just get the heck out of there. Thankfully he did neither and I was able to get some great shots! I also got some phenomenal pictures of some fireworms and christmas tree worms. Have I mentioned lately how much I love my camera? I adore it and it is simply the best!

After our dive several of us went to Umbrellas, the restaurant next door for lunch. It was fun to relax and unwind from the amazing adventures of the morning and having some real food and nutrition definitely helped all of us! I might have to stick with the peanut butter and granola routine that I did this morning though for future dives because that served me quite well. Must have plenty of energy to do so much swimming and thermoregulating!

All of these beautiful pictures made possible by the great folks at Eco Dive!

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Dragon Bay in the Dark

What a beautiful night dive! We had such a great time, I'm so glad we were able to get things together and make it happen!

Last semester we went to the shipwreck Veronica L. for our dive. We decided we wanted to change things up and visit a reef this time. After collecting all of our gearing and getting set up on the boat, we headed off to Dragon Bay which was about a 15 minute boat ride away. I've been to Dragon Bay a couple of times in the day, but not since March and not since I officially became a certified diver. I do remember that it was a particularly pretty place to visit with a gorgeous reef and wall.

All of our regulators had a red glow stick attached to them in addition to the bright flashlights we carried in hand under water. It's little things like this that make me so comfortable diving with EcoDive. When we arrived at dusk, we went over the safety and details of night diving and covered every thing from what to expect when we descended to what kinds of critters we might see. Attention to details from start to finish, my kind of people!

It was a phenomenal dive - so many eels, a teeny squid (who we accidentally scared into inking), several different types of shrimp, hermit crabs, sleeping fish, awake fish, and a very nervous lobster! A couple of group members also found an octopus, but I didn't have the chance to see him (apparently my attention was being held elsewhere). The corals and invertebrates were spectacular at night with all of the corals open and feeding. Made them look extra fuzzy! We were down for an hour without anyone running out of air - pretty impressive! Christie and Russel were fantastic leaders and I can't wait to go again soon! The moon even held off long enough for us to play around with the bioluminescence. While I'll never forget sitting in the sand in a circle in Mexico in the dark to see it for the first time, it was just as beautiful that night glittering a green-blue color as we moved around to stir it up.

We came back along the coast under the moon light while chatting and reflecting on the spectacular sights we just witnessed. Grenada was gently illuminated by twinkling family homes, my absolute favorite thing to see in here. I wish pictures could do it justice, but unfortunately only a painting or piece of artwork from a talented artist would do the trick. I happen to lack talent in the art department.

My night photography skills need some work under water (oh darn, guess I'll have to go again soon!) particularly now that I'm getting used to my camera housing. Part of my problem was also that although I plugged my camera into the wall, I forgot to turn the outlet on (each outlet has an on/off switch) so when I thought I was charging the camera last week, I wasn't actually doing a darn thing!

This dive was the first of five that I have to complete to achieve my advanced open water certification. So many more exciting adventures in store for me!

 http://www.ecodiveandtrek.com/

ON ON!

It's been forever since I've been hashing here! I really wanted to take Lucy last term, but some how it just never happened. Between her injured paw and then my new interest in diving, we just never got around to going. Not having a car certainly didn't help either.

Today's hash started at BBC beach, also known as Morne Rouge Beach. It's just around the bend from Grand Anse and is a nice protected little bay area. Lucy was pretty nervous with all the people at the beach, including her favorite Grenadians and children. When everyone headed off to start, she didn't really care to be followed so closely in a pack, but once the group started to spread out, she relaxed and by the end of the hike, she was running around with us wagging her tail high in the air. She thought it was pretty great, particularly when I let her off leash for a little bit! Not much harm she can get into when we're on the top of a mountain!

We went all the way from the heart of Grand Anse to the airport, past campus, literally right past our home, and all the way back. We also climbed quite a few mountains in the process! Quite steep going up but not too bad coming down. The start of the hash was directly up and then much to my dismay, much of the final bit was uphill as well. Every time I thought we couldn't possibly go up any further, we'd round the bend and go up some more! We were treated to some gorgeous island views as a result though, wouldn't trade that for anything! It was particularly special to get such spectacular views of the area of the island we inhabit.

Year Three Commences!

Oops, guess I need to get back into the blogging routine! I feel like a bit of an imposter in all these medicine and surgery classes. Never has it felt quite so really as it does now, it's crazy! We've spent the last couple of years getting through the bits and pieces, and now we're tying it all together and picking up a lot more responsibility.

Junior surgery lab begins a week from Tuesday, and a in a week from tomorrow, my surgery group will have completes our first castration. Our class also spends time in our hospital on Wednesday or Friday mornings. Our classes this semester are small animal surgery, large animal surgery, small animal medicine, diagnostic imaging, and theriogenology (reproduction). The only class we haven't had yet is theriogenology, and it sounds like we will be putting that off until next week due to some scheduling issues.

So far everything is going well. Some classes feel a bit more overwhelming than others, mainly diagnostic imaging and large animal surgery. We just started talking about equine lameness and I already feel lost! I have a lot to figure out when it comes to horses and large animals! We are also enjoying a week of nearly free mornings. I love it! Aside from getting home late every day and feeling bad for Lucy in the evenings, I really like sleeping in! We each have two hours of morning anesthesia lab this week, and a few of us have started our clinic shifts, but other than that, just catching up on sleeping, studying, and organizing the apartment.

Tomorrow a group of my friends and I are scheduled for a night dive. I am so excited! It's all I can think about! I have a serious diving addiction, but how could I not? The ocean is so beautiful and I have just 9 months left here!

Back to Grenada!

I've been in Grenada since late Wednesday night! A decent day of traveling with a slight delay in Miami got Lucy and me here safe and sound and even customs wasn't bad! We pulled up to an empty apartment with everything put away for the summer. I can't remember why that seemed like such a good idea back in May!

Thursday morning, I headed off to EcoDive for a dive! Couldn't resist getting back in the water as soon as possible! We dove a reef called Southern Comfort, which was a beautiful reef at a moderate depth. My camera worked perfectly in its new diving housing! I took lots of great shots and enjoyed being back in the water.

Next stop Thursday was a brief grocery store trip to pick up a few essential items. I didn't want to get much without having a good way to carry it home, but with popcorn and granola being the only food in the house, I needed at least some milk to wash it down! I went to dinner that night with a friend and her family and then got lucky as they needed a grocery store run as well! I picked up the rest of the heavy items and things I needed, but for some reason, looking in the fridge it looks like I'm missing a ton of food.

Friday morning I woke up early and decided it was probably time to start unpacking everything! I ran a few errands on campus and then headed off for an afternoon dive. This time we went to Northern Exposure to enjoy ourselves. Another beautiful dive with a bunch more lovely pictures! I am tickled to finally be back in the water! I managed to get about 90% of my apartment put back in order that evening which felt really good. I still need to wash all my bedding because it has a dank summer smell to it. Good thing the apartment bed came with clean linens.

Saturday was an adventure day. My friend and I took her parents to town to explore the spice market and the mall. We treated them to a Reggae bus ride (although they were pretty mild rides) and her parents enjoyed walking around and browsing the items for sale. Her mother particularly enjoyed how cheap the essences are here on the island. I picked up some mangoes and passion fruit to bring home and a passion fruit smoothie to snack on. Later in the afternoon, a few friends and I went for a swim in the pool before one of my friends and I went to The Beach House restaurant for a yummy dinner. Stuffed chicken, potatoes, veggies, and chocolate mousse cake - delicious!

Today I did a two tank dive in the morning. We went to a "new" reef site that they haven't been to before. It turned out to be a real winner! I even got to see my first shark! My breathing was well controlled and I enjoyed idly moving along looking around at all of the beauty. I look forward to return to the same site sometime in the future. After a generous surface interval and stop in-shore to pick up fresh tanks (we had a lot of people on the boat!), we headed off to Northern Exposure for dive number 2. The visibility wasn't quite as pristine on this reef, but there was still plenty to see. This time I had a harder time keeping up with the group. I really prefer to just idly move along without swimming much but this group was full of speed demons! Pair that with a decreased visibility and a camera and I felt like I spent the entire dive chasing the group trying to keep up. I was quite tired by the end of the dive for sure! I got some really pretty pictures on that dive as well and had the pleasure of seeing my first leopard flatworm. What a beautiful creature. I stopped by our school's welcome back bazaar briefly this afternoon and have been hanging out with Lucy for the rest of the day. It's been raining on and off all day so it was a good day to laze around with the dog.

Tomorrow starts the first day of year 3! Hard to believe I'm already saying that - it really feels like just yesterday I was starting term 1 as a weary, terrified, but excited student. The rush of emotions associated with that time still hits me 2 years later and I find myself envious of all of the happy-go-lucy new students who didn't face the painful challenges that I did. Regardless, here I am now as a happy and successful 5th termer! We don't start class until 1:30p tomorrow afternoon so I will be taking advantage of the opportunity to sleep in and relax in the morning. I'm also planning to make our apartment perfectly clean and organized before leaving for class. Our schedule for the afternoon includes large animal surgery, small animal surgery, small animal medicine, and clinical practice classes. Really starting to sound like an actual doctor's curriculum now!

Adventures of a Naughty Dog: Chocolate Edition

Oh silly Lucy! She's been very good all summer despite all my travels and leaving her behind. She's also gained 5lbs under my parents' care...

I spent the last couple of days driving to NCSU and UGA to visit and get an idea of what their clinical year programs are like since we start applying for 4th year schools this fall! Hard to believe that it's already time to do that, seems like just yesterday we were flying to the island to start the DVM program! Anyhow, this is important because along the way, we picked up some chocolate (M&Ms and Dove sea salt caramel dark chocolate) to get us through those 1300 miles we drove. We got in really late last night at 2am after 10.5 hours of driving back from UGA. Eager to get to bed, I dumped my stuff on the floor and left it at that. Today when we went to go to the store, I totally forgot I'd left all those goodies easily accessible in my bag.

Not even 10 minutes after we left, we remembered all those treats were sitting wide open on my floor where Lucy was napping. Given Lucy's naughty history, we decided we'd better turn around and take care of the snacks before she found them. Too late! When we got home, she had already helped herself to the bag of Dove, eating at least half the bag wrappers and all. Naughty, naughty. Since she's small and it's dark chocolate with foil wrappers, she of course needed an ER visit to make her vomit it back up.

We took her to the specialty hospital I just did an externship at a couple of weeks ago to say hi. A dose of apomorphine to make her vomit (smelled like chocolate! and she sure did have a full belly) along with some anzemet to counteract her nausea and she was home like new. Thankfully given the amount of chocolate, all we're expecting based on toxicity calculations is some diarrhea fallout from today's events. Maybe a little vomiting, but she had the anti-emetic making that pretty unlikely.

She acts just fine (and maybe even pleased with her thievery skills) around the house now. Playing with toys, growling at her housemates, and just generally being Lucy!

Glad it wasn't more serious, but gah! Animals certainly are expensive to love!