CALYPS3O
2008 Journal
Indiana
School for the Deaf
Indian Creek High School
Day
9, Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Stephanie Borchelt
(ICHS)
First,
we were supposed to get up early and have breakfast at 7:15 am in
the teachers' room. I would have accomplished this, but seeing as
we got back at midnight last night, I overslept. I woke up, looked
at my watch, and fell out of bed. It was already 7:15! So, I threw
on my swimsuit and some shorts and ran out the door. Break feast was
light, some cereal and fruit. We loaded the vans and headed to the
diving center. Our usual captain had today off so we had Captain Kevin
instead. He was nice. He wasn't nearly as weird and outgoing as Captain
Greg, but he did the job very well and got along with everyone on
the boat. Our first dive this morning was the Speigel Grove, a gigantic
ship that was sunk to create a sea floor habitat --- an artificial
reef. It is 500 feet long and for a long time held the record of being
the biggest ship sunk by man. The lowest point on the ship was 135
feet, but we only went to about 105 to stay out of decompression zones.
The ship was amazing. The entire ship was covered in tall coral and
sponges that obviously thrive in that environment. I saw huge packs
of Spanish Grunt fish and a huge parrot fish. There were a lot of
very small fish hovering around the openings of the ship. We ended
up diving at the end of the ship where the cranes and loading dock
was located. These cranes were huge! Think of a construction site
with one of the huge bobcats or crane lifting machines that are at
least 2 stories high being covered in sponges and sea water. It was
an awesome sight. We went back to the ship and had a scare on deck.
Sam came back up and had a bad mask squeeze that popped several of
the tiny blood vessels around her eyes. She went to an eye doctor
and everything is ok, but she won't be back to 100 percent for 1 to
4 weeks. After diving the Speigel Grove, we headed to a shallower
wreck, about 35 feet. It was named the Benwood. We spent 20 minutes
investigating the wreck and 20 minutes doing our Advanced Navigation
training so we can become PADI advanced open water certified advanced
divers. My partner and I breezed through the navigation and headed
back to the surface. When everyone was done diving we loaded up and
headed back to the shore. We went back to the hotel and had a fabulous
brunch cooked by our very own Queen, interpreter Carrie. After brunch,
we filled out our logs and had some free time to swim or catch up
on our blogging. Tonight we are going to Coconuts, a nice restaurant,
to celebrate our adventures down here in the Keys. By the way, HAPPY
18TH BIRTHDAY CAROLINE!!!!
Janna
DiBiase (ISD)
For
many of us, it was a bit hard getting up this morning considering
the time we slept and all the fun we had yesterday at Key West. Yet,
we all managed to get up and head out to the Florida Keys Dive Center
for the last time *insert big sad face here*. Many of us were disappointed
that Captain Greg had a day off today, but Captain Kevin was great.
Our first dive was down to the Speigel Grove, lucky for us, the current
was not strong at all (if it was, we would have not gotten the chance
to go down). This adventure was awesome for me because I got to go
down to a hundred AND fifteen feet, thanks to Crazy Dave! I could
not believe how big the boat was! I was not able to see the stern
because the boat was at the bow, but, there was nothing on the ends,
the cool part was at the middle, where the cabin was. As I was down
there, I tried to imagine what it was like before it was sunken, sort
of like the Titanic movie when they showed what the boat looked like
before the ocean swallowed it. I did not see any new fish on this
dive. Like the shipwreck of the Eagle, we did not get a chance to
stay down long due to depth. It still was a great experience though!,
I think the fish really appreciate us giving them a 'home' to enjoy.
Before coming back up to the surface, we had to do a five minute safety
stop at around twenty feet. As we floated there, many of us waved
up to Bill, who was snorkeling on the surface, and was greeted by
Toni as she dove down with her snorkel. The trip to our second dive
location was not far away. This time it was not as deep as the first
dive. Again, it was a shipwreck too, the Benwood, but it was not forced
to sink for a natural habitat. It sank at the beginning of World War
II. It was running at night without lights due to fear of German U-boats.
It ran aground and sank. We saw lots of pieces scattered around the
boat as we went down. Unfortunately, all but one got to go on the
last dive. Samantha had a bad mask squeeze so she had to stay up on
the boat. This dive was rather important because we had to do several
tasks to be able to receive our PADI Advanced Open Water Certification.
Each of us had to time, and count our fin strokes as we swam from
one end of the rope to another, and calculate how much PSI we used
during that swim. Also we had to do a compass navigation test, all
of us had to start at a point and swim in square and a triangle path;
we had to arrive back at our starting point. Of course, all of us
mastered everything. For those who completed or were waiting for their
test, they got to explore the boat and all the surrounding areas.
It was a nice last dive, but I'm sure many of us did not want this
to be their last. I know of a few who already are thinking about when
they can dive again. We had a nice breakfast for lunch when we got
back to the hotel suite, thanks to Carrie! We also had to complete
our logbooks, afterwards. All of us had free time to do whatever we
pleased. Some of us stayed in and relaxed, and some went out to the
pool and soaked up some Florida sun. For dinner, we went to Coconuts,
an outdoor restaurant, and the food was pretty good, especially the
Milky Way cake (my opinion), but many liked the Peanut Butter pie.
Many of us are packing up our stuff and grabbing our last few hours
in Florida together before we depart to icky Indiana tomorrow! I think
I will come up with a way to stay here! See you all soon!
As we left
the Dive Center for our trip to the Speigel Grove, a rainbow promised
us a good day of diving.
Dinner
at the Coconuts Restaurant and an egret who wanted to share our dinner
