AOW Underwater Navigation Test

I passed the last of the Advance Open Water test. I now have my temporary card.

Pretty cool to be able do take a test underwater. I went to IWA Diving Center. It was perfect for the underwater navigation test as there was only about 3-5 meters in visibility.

There were not a lot of fish due to the heavy current another reason it was optimal to take the navigation test. I did get to see a black sea slug about the size of a basketball, "Man are they uuuuggly". Nothing else spectacular well there were lots and lots of red plankton. A bit disgusting but a nice couple of dives none the less.

It took a couple of hours to finish my testing and then I went bamboo picking. Yes it was a first for me also. This is why I love Japan. You can go diving then head up to the mountains and see wild monkeys, pick some bamboo, go have lunch at an old style Japanese restaurant (the owner wares a kimono everyday and she serves the food) and do all this in half a day.

I am great full to my instructor once again. As I have said before she is part hammerhead.

Boat Dive

Dive Location
Miura Dive Center
Weather Condition
Sunny
Water Temperature
Temperature 13.6c

Would that picture be called a dingy, a fish boat or a life saver?
When I first saw it I thought sensei was kidding. I always pictured my first boat dive to be from lets just say a bigger boat. However from experience I prefer to do things like the locals. I thought if I could dive from this boat. I could dive from any boat.

Our first trip out was cool. The icy cool water splashing on my face as my hands were practically in the ocean. I was sitting on the starboard side of the boat. I felt like I was going on some kind of reconnaissance mission. Mission In Possible theme music in the back ground.

We practice frontwards and backwards entry. My backward entry felt comfortable. I need to tuck my head in more, looking to my belly on the forward entry so the top of the tank hits the water first. It was a good experience.

I saw my first Octopus. It was only the tentacle but I now understand why National Geographic spends a lot of time on this creature of the sea.

Miura is a nice spot, small but there is a man made reef so lots of crevices and corners. It would be a real nice place to practice navigation diving.

We did a little drift diving as well. I found out about getting my commercial diver licenses, a 4 day course and boating licenses. There are boat shows about once a month In Japan. It is a good place to talk to the Japanese Coast Guard.

Lion Beach

Dive location: Shishihama, Lionbeach
Weather condition: Snow, Rain, and Sunshine
Water Temperature:13.4c

Downed my gear and was ready to hit the ocean. Our first stop was Iwa dive site however the wind was moving strong toward/east side of the Izu peninsula. So we opted to go to the west side, Shishihama for a Deep dive to test out a little nitrogen narcosis.

Our first dive was about 29 meters and to put it in an equation. Its pretty difficult
to multiply quickly at that depth. Fun however tricky. We didn't stay down long. We also tested the color changes from shallow to deep. Someday I would like to do research on this.

The next dive we tried to find octopuses but with no avail. We did find a blowfish/puffer and I held it in my hands. The blowfish wasn't to nervous because I was the one who didn't want to get stung. What was interesting is it felt really soft.

At the end of my dive I did a BCD surface removal and my dry suit became a wet suit. Not to thrilling the rush of cold water and buoyancy malfunction. Of course the dives were spectacular. I thought the snow and rain gave it a plus.