Britton - Open-Water Checkout

The drive down to Beaver Lake, Arkansas was long and super curvy and bumpy.  When we got there, we unloaded all of our heavy stuff (equipment) and went to see where to set up.  After we got set up and everybody else was there, we were assigned partners; me and my dad, Griffin and Carter and Nick and an instructor. 

On our first dive we did a mask partial flood and a mask full flood then we messed around under water, I saw 2 crawdads and some other cool stuff.  We went down to the thermocline, it was FREEZING!!!  The next dive was just as fun, we went down and then had to come up to the surface without taking a breath, then we got to explore again.  I saw a small bass and swam so close to it.  It was only three inches away!  We re-filled our tanks at the end of the day and went out for hamburgers.

The next morning, we got up early for breakfast and to check out of the hotel before driving back to Beaver Lake.  We got all of our stuff hooked up and went over to listen to the morning briefing.   We were working on diving with a compass so we had to do a quick compass course on shore before we did it in the water with our partners.  After we finished, we got to explore again.  The last dive, I did by myself with an istructor.  I led the way and we found a big red metal steering wheel and a really cool stump that lots of fish were hiding in.  Then we went down to the thermocline again.

When we were finished diving, we got our log books filled out and signed, we loaded up our stuff, said "Goodbye" and "Thanks" and headed for the road.