I'm not an experienced SCUBA diver by any means, but when this project came up, and then got funded, the excitement began to build. As i've discovered though, not everyone is as excited as me at the chance to jump into 5C water in Alaska. Up until a few months ago too i'd racked up the grand total of 6 dives in my entire life, all in the warm waters of Hawaii, so getting prepared to even be allowed to get into the frigid Alaskan water has been a time consuming process.
- Get dry suit certification
- Get more practice with dry suit
- Get advanced open water certification
- Get more dives in
The first two are done, and to a degree so is #4 too. I'm now up to 15 dives total, four of those in a dry suit, so i'm feeling more prepared. I'll talk more about the differences between wet suits and dry suits later, but be assured, it's a whole different ball game. Number 3 i'm dealing with this weekend, so thats good too!
So what is next on the list?
- Organize logistics (flights, hotels)
- Send chemicals to Alaska
- Make sure all the equipment will be available on the ship
- Get to Alaska
This project is going to be tagged onto my travel to Glacier Bay National Park for a project up there in a few weeks, so it means being extra organized up front and early. By stay in touch, exciting things happening in the next few weeks!
Dr W.
