Scuba Tom

The holidays have ended and we have finally settled down into new routine that includes Tom attending college. He has wanted to get his scuba instructor certification and is able to do so at the Florida Keys Community College. In fact the college has a Diving Business and Technology degree (not a big surprise I suppose since we are in the islands) that is geared towards training professionals to work underwater. This is for anyone interested in working as a Scuba Instructor, a dive boat captain, a commercial diver, a police diver, a scientific research diver or working in dive medicine.

He will be attended in class on Friday nights (7-9:30 pm) where they do the book work and tests that are needed to complete the course. This will last from now till the beginning of May at the latest. As soon as the instructor thinks the class is ready to take the finals skills that can take place and they can finish early but it is unknown as to when that will be. At least he will be done by the time the grand baby will make her arrival! 

There are a total of 5 in his class and on the first night was a 100 question test to see what they all remembered from their Dive Master course. Of course Tom took his 2 years ago so I am not sure he remember all of it well enough to pass but he has a chance to take it again if he didn't. The other skills he has to master is the swims. There are 4 that he has to do. First is the 450 yard freestyle in under 10 minutes, second is the 900 yard with mask, fins and snorkel in under 15 minutes, third is to tread water for 15 minutes with hands out of the water for the last 2 minutes, and fourth is the 25 yard breath hold under water. He mastered these for Dive Master so I am sure he will for the Instructor! 

Yes this does impact our Friday happy hour schedule. In fact the group that we hang out with on Fridays actually changed the meeting to Jan & Ray's house to give him a 'send off' on his first day. Jan put together drinks and appetizers so that Tom would be fed and sent off in style. What a group they are! 

On Saturdays is the pool work for 3 hours. This is where they learn and practice all of the skills that have to be taught so that he can teach others. 

He will also have to attend some of the other classes to observe and help out with instructing as recommended by the instructor. Today he was helping out with the underwater archeology class. The college not only has a pool that they do the labs in but also a lagoon that come off of the ocean. This is where they have places timbers (actual ones from the wreck) and items from the Atocha (replicas for course) that are used in the class. Of course Tom has dove the real thing but it is still a pretty cool set up! 

So just as Taryn has graduated from college Tom is now attending so there continues to be a student in the family!