Wreck Diving and Fazoli’s
So late last month before we headed to Mermet Springs to go diving, we signed up to get Wreck Diving Certified. What does that mean? Off coasts of many of the countries/continents in the world and even in other bodies of water (you know, not oceans) there are wrecked ships, vessels, heck they’ve even manually sunk airplanes, buses, etc and we are certified to actually go dive them. I know, I’m cool like that :). haha.
The night we had to do our classroom portion, I met hubby there after school/work. Now Mermet Springs is a spring fed body of water, therefore cold so we had to get dive hoods. Don’t I look cute?!?!
Sadly because of how my classes fall I generally don’t get to eat lunch so when I got to the Dive Shop I was hungry. Grady told us that the class would start at 6:30 and it would go until 9-9:30 so we decided to run out real quick and grab some dinner. I was really in the mood for Italian however we didn’t have time for a sit down meal, so I suggested Fazoli’s Italian just down the road from the Extreme Sports Scuba.
Not going to lie, I joked around about getting this and eating it all myself. To say I was hungry was a bit of an understatement.
I finally decided upon the Baked Alfredo Bowtie pasta. YUM! I ate it all. Only thing I wish I would have asked to see if I could have gotten some grilled chicken on top because I was kind of in the mood for some grilled chicken, but I definitely won’t complain!
Hubby went with the lasagna. Oh goodness did it ever smell wonderful. We took our food back to the Dive shop with us so we made the dive shop smell incredible!
When Grady heard we were running over to Fazoli’s he said he was hungry and asked if we’d grab him a bite to eat as well. He said he wanted one of their subs but he didn’t care which one we brought him because they were all good.
Poor Pete has been put on a strict diet, but he sure was begging. I told you the dive shop smelled amazing.
Now our main reason for being there was Wreck Diving certification, classroom portion.
I am the note taker… blame it on the “day job” I guess… lol. So when you are wreck diving things you want to look into are Scuba boards, Scuba blogs, check out books about different wrecks. Basically do your research to see what all is out there, you’d be majorly surprised! Also if you can get hooked up with a guide around a wreck you’re diving, they are from there, they know what to look for and they can be of real assistance to you.
Grady said it is also fun to try and find original newspaper articles about the wreck when it happened for some of the more natural wrecks vs the ones that have been put there on purpose. Either way you definitely want to do your research so you know everything there is about the dive before going to the actual site.
Some things to keep in mind and take with you are a Buddy Line (aka John Line). It should be 6 feet and hooked on both ends. Make sure you have 2 halogen flashlights with you if at all possible. The Halogen makes its way through muck better than an led will. Also, it is handy to have a light that has a lock on it, however not necessary. Definitely have a knife or scissors with you in case you get caught up in a line of some sorts.
If you’ve ever been scuba diving, communication is key down there. Sometimes it is great to have an underwater slate as a second means of communication.
Now this was a photo in our book we were reading. If you’ve ever been scuba diving, you may be able to tell some of the things wrong with this picture, but if not… let me tell you. First off, don’t sit on the bottom. You’ll stir up the silt on the bottom of the area you’re diving in plus you might kill some of the coral that has taken many many years to build up plant/fish life right in that area.
Second, don’t pick things up, especially don’t take them with you. It is courtesy to the next diver who comes along. If it’s gone, they won’t get to see it. If you enjoyed seeing it, they probably will to… just saying.
After our dives in Mermet Springs, hubby and I are now Wreck Diving certified. I would say the most fun was diving through the plane used in U.S. Marshall’s with Tommy Lee Jones.
One last thing, if you happen to be in the Kansas City, MO, area around 3rd and Grand, there is an excellent exhibit on the Steam Boat Arabia. I can’t wait to head back up there and check it out.
