Certified! The journey Begins…

The journey began when my wife, Lori, gets an email from friends inviting us to a dive vacation with them in Bonaire over the summer. After we discussed it and after many years of wanting to become a certified scuba diver, we finally decided to do it. So my wife and I contacted our local dive shop,  Sport Divers, and signed ourselves up for the Open Water Certification class in May 2016. The training was a bit rigorous for someone who didn’t live in the water but the instructor was incredibly patient and fun. We finished off our certification with two days of open water dives at 288 Lake and Twin Lakes.

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Lori and I after our last certification dive at Twin Lakes, Manvel Texas.

 

We decided to get NITROX certified before our dive vacation. Bought the tester and pressure gauge. I haven’t used it yet but have it JUST IN CASE!

Bonaire 2016, Tuesday 6/21/16

Morning dive was good, visibility was at least 100+ feet and incredible! Dive sites for today were Dive Site 22, Andrea I and Dive Site 51 Invisibles. My wife’s first full day of diving. Here she is, kneeling on the reef bed at about 82 feet.

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Lori and Rebecca hanging out together for the big photo shoot!

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Checking out the dive computer…

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Lori hanging at the bottom of the reef.

Bonaire 2016, Monday 6/20/16

Here it is, Monday! Ready for a full day of diving! Decided to start this post with a picture of our view of the patio. Lori skipped the first dive of the day but did venture out with Rebecca for the second dive right off the deck. My wife became on offical open water diver today!!

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Jim and I coming in after the morning dive.

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A few shots of the dive.

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Rebecca hanging out!

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Bonaire 2016, Sunday 6/19/16

Our first diving trip booked for June 18-26, 2016. What an incredible first-time open water dive experience. Lori had a very difficult time diving the first day. She chose not to go out on Sunday.Bonaire Sign

Decided to take my GoPro 3 to Bonaire to record everything…Well almost. As soon as I got in the water I had to take a selfie, Jim photo bombing in the background.

First Dive – Sara’s Smile

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It was my first time diving in the open water so buoyancy was constantly on my mind and my biggest concern. I think once I felt comfortable I was able to record video and photograph the scenery.

Not much of a videographer but this was my first video recording under water.

Jim and Rebecca Heaton

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Rebecca Heaton saying HOWDY!

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I didnt take very many pictures or videos during the first dive but it was certainly an experience!