Cave 1: Day 2: Blue Grotto

David decided we should come back to Blue Grotto for day 2, because the recent rain meant that Peacock's viz might be too bad to dive. Rob was worried we were staying at Blue Grotto because we sucked too much to move on (that's so Rob), which David assured us was not the case. In the morning, we went over all of the permutations of valve failures on dry land and then got in the water. We again did valve and S-drills to start and then did more scenarios where we ran line and eventually various failures occurred. This is pretty much what we spent the day doing. We got down to the more cavey area of Blue Grotto which was pretty neat. I felt like a spaz every time we went down the chute thingy to get down there (I really don't like going head down in 104s).

We broke for lunch, switched doubles, and then headed back in for more. At some point during the afternoon, David told me that he had a suggestion but he didn't think I was going to like it (go sit in the corner while the boys finish the class?). He suggested I ditch my gaiters so I could put more gas in my legs to hold them up. I was actually perfectly happy to try this -- when I got my current suit, I suspected I didn't really need the gaiters with it, since it fits so well, but figured why mess with something that works? So I had never tried diving the suit without the gaiters. So I ditched the gaiters for the rest of the class. It took about a dive to get used to it, but in that suit, it was fine without them (though I still maintain that I need them in my pink oompa loompa suit). At the end of the day, we did another no mask swim on the line in touch contact, this time sharing gas. Since I felt like I had totally biffed it yesterday in front, I went in front again, and Rob and Oleg shared gas. I think we did a way better job this time, but we were allowed to keep our eyes open, so I am sure that was a bigger factor than actually improving since the day before :) After packing up, we headed to the Aquatic Center in Gainesville, which is EE's recreational sister store. We did lecture there for several hours. Since lecture ran late, we got to start late (at 9) again the next morning. We stopped at the Texas Roadhouse in Gainesville for dinner. By the time we got to High Springs, it was time for bed.