Location: Windy Point Park & Dive World Austin
Dive: Rescue Dive
Date: 03/09/2021, 14/10/2021, 16/10/2021
Divers: Silly Starfish, Seahorse
Dive Pros: Sgt. Major, Splendid Toadfish & Queen Trigger
I was excited to be able to try and complete Rescue Diver training. I am 14yrs old and wasn’t sure if I had enough experience or if I was physically able to take this course, but it turns out I was.
I started out with Seahorse as my Dive Buddy. We went to Windy Point Park and carried out several skills. On the day we went, there were so many people in the water it was hard to do anything. It was a hot day and everyone was out of quarantine, so as divers we were competing for space against the tourists and other divers. The conditions were not ideal, aside from bumping into people we also couldn’t hear ourselves, and for me my fins were proving difficult and were giving me a cramp. Also, I had problems trying to get our troop leader, Splendid Toadfish, out of the water because her foot got stuck and her boot nearly came off.
Unfortunately because I had equipment problems (fins), I wasn’t as confident with my ‘high kicks’, so the troop leaders offered to give me extra training at Dive World Austin. On this dive, they went over mouth-to-mouth (with covid safety procedures) and mouth-to-pocket mask, and as a result I was much more confident to sit the final test.
On the final dive at Windy Point Park, there were hardly any park visitors or tourists, so we had lots of space and I had different boots and fin straps, which were a much better fit. On that dive, we went over the last skills and scenarios and a ‘real situation’ scenario and I passed the Rescue Diver test. It was tough but I didn’t cry!
I would highly recommend taking this test, it’s the most challenging of all the scuba tests you will do at Scouts and it’s worth all the effort.
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