Thankful for training...

Last week in Turks and Caicos I had a minor problem while diving. It was on the third dive of the day - the 2 pm after lunch dive when I had the problem. Lunch that day was spaghetti and I had two pieces of garlic bread. Unfortunately, the garlic seemed a little harsh for my digestive system and my stomach decided it would be better to reverse gears. Normally, this would not be that big of an issue, however I was in 20 feet of water. So, what do you do when you throw up underwater? Well, I am not sure if everyone would have the same experience but I quickly had a flashback to my training 15 years ago. I vividly remember my instructor Steve Deem of Aquatic Connection telling me to keep my regulator in my mouth and that the vomit would clear. I remember thinking that it would be gross and doubting that it would clear but he was adamant that the regulator stay in your mouth or you would risk drowning. Well, I will spare the details but I can say that it DOES indeed clear. :-)

I also got a chance to take an underwater photography course while I was diving last week. Prior to last week, most of my photography was shot using the various automatic modes that the camera provided. With the help of Amanda from the T&C Aggressor, I learned to use the manual mode of my camera by specifying both shutter speed and f-stop of my camera. Doing so, I have been able to minimize the over-exposure that I was experiencing from my dual Inon external strobes and improve the quality of the photos I took. I am really happy with the results and I am thinking about taking things to the next level and buying an SLR.

I will post some photos soon. In the meantime, here are some photos of me in action...