Where in the world is Oak?!?: PADI Certified!

Mark looks like someone I know in Lindsay.....
Except that he has long blonde hair... guess who?

As you may have already read in a previous post, the first people I really met on the island were people that work at the fly 'n dive scuba center. My first 4 days on the island were spent diving in pools, the ocean, and in a classroom doing bookwork to become open water certified as a PADI diver. I have done 5 dives so far and they have all been unique in their own way... it has been a great new experience.

Mangel Halto- Nothing too exciting on this dive… I saw a juvenile eel and a juvenile flounder… and was just learning a few skills and getting used to breathing under the water. It is a lot like wearing an SCBA as a firefighter.

The Antilla - The Antilla is World War II shipwreck off the coast of Aruba that is a popular snorkeling and scuba diving destination.

When Germany invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, the relationship between the two nations was obviously strained. As part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, this extended to Aruba. The Antilla was a German U-boat supply ship that was anchored off the coast of Aruba at the time. When a contingent of Dutch Marines told the Antilla to surrender, the captain asked for an extension, and the Dutch accepted and gave the ship 24 hours to surrender.

The Antilla was fairly new at the time, and rather than see her turned over to the enemy, the captain decided to scuttle the ship. After putting the crew ashore, he heated up the boilers, which were amidships, and opened the seacock. When the cold sea water hit the hot boilers, they exploded, ripping the ship in half. It sank in eight minutes.

At 400 feet long, the Antilla is one of the Caribbean’s largest shipwrecks. Only the cruise liners Bianca C and SS Antilles are bigger, at around 600 feet. It lies on its port side at a maximum depth of 55 feet, though it can readily be seen from the surface. (Wikipedia)

Arashi Airplane – This thing was waaay cool… I swam through the inside of the plane like a giant tunnel… and afterwards me and mark stood on top of the plane where the pilots sit and did muscleman and Zeus poses :D Swimming through here reminded me of the tv show “Lost” when they find the airliner in the ocean. J Pictures do this place more justice than my words can.

Fingers- So as we are swimming around Mark is constantly making his fingers into a gun and acting like he’s shooting big fish. Well I followed him through this little arch past what I thought was a beautiful purple plant. It looked like it was kind of breathing… and I had seen other small plants that suck themselves into tubes when you get close. Well I expected this “plant” to do the same. Well Mark started signaling to me to get out of the way and be careful and then he signaled to the other divers to come over. That purple thing I thought was a plant was really a lionfish! The lionfish is one of the most venomous fish on the ocean floor. Lionfish have venomous dorsal spines that are used purely for defense. When threatened the fish often faces its attacker in an upside down posture which brings its spines to bear. However, a lionfish's sting is usually not fatal to humans. If a human is envenomed, that person will experience extreme pain, and possibly headaches, vomiting, and breathing difficulties.

So I didn’t have any “extreme pain” but I had a terrible headache and I started barfing off the side of the boat afterwards. Could have just been a coincedence I guess…. Who knows?

Sponge Reef- Home of the soft coral ranging from the orange elephant ear sponges to purple and yellow tube sponges. Also lots of vase and small basket sponges. What’s cool about diving is that the deeper you go colors start to disappear so the deeper you go the more and more blue things get. That’s not the cool part because it would be cool to see things in full color. But what is cool is you start to see the most amazing blue and purple things in colors of purple that seem unnatural. Anyway… I’m loving diving… it’s great.