Peak Performance Buoyancy

Curtis and I finished our Peak Performance Buoyancy class this weekend. That was a lot of fun! We first practiced in the pool - swimming through hula hoops and practicing hovering in place without sinking or floating up - just staying in exactly one spot. Then we had to do it again while passing a 5 pound weight back and forth. Take the weight and try not to sink. Let go of the weight and try not to float up. Yesterday we headed to the ocean to give it a try there!

It was a beautiful day at Breakwater, with 35 foot visibility - which is crazy far for that spot. It was a good thing to. I'm not sure how easy it would be to find the hula hoops in 5 ft visibility. :) Somehow I never did get the hang of swimming through the hoops in the ocean. I always got caught on them and ended up dragging them along with me. Sigh. But I was able to hover and feel a lot more confident now about how much weight I'm carrying and how fast I make my ascents and descents.

Curtis on the other hand is quite the pro! He would swim through those hoops as gracefully as a seal. Here's his dive profile from the second dive yesterday. Beautiful!

So what did we see while we were practicing floating as calmly as a fish? A few cool things like... a new type of nudibranch - PURPLE! and quite large! Can't wait till we have another fun dive and can try taking pictures again now that we are better at hovering. And ... we made it to the Metridium Fields! Lots of giant white anemones swaying gracefully in the current. I saw a pretty big crab booking it into hiding after he saw us coming.