2007-04-09 Look What I Got...

... it's my very own diving mask! It looks ridiculous on land, I know. But under water it comes in pretty handy. I also got underwater boots now.
Today I went on my first dive outside a swimming pool. This is where we were:

The water temperature was 8 °C (= 46 °F = 281 °K = fricking cold). The usual diving sign for freezing is rubbing your fingers over the back of the hand. The unofficial sign I learned today is forming a C with your thumb and forefinger, keeping them only a few centimeters apart. I also learned the true meaning of it, but I'm sure you can imagine.
We stayed down for 38 minutes and our maximal depth was 6.8 meters. Not bad for a beginner, right? Although I had trouble clearing my ears (my left ear is still a little deaf) and my nose bled when we emerged, I had a great time. I saw a crawfish the size of my palm and I even found an egg. That was the main gag, by the way: Easter egg hunting in a lake. What a cool idea! Even the fishermen that threw stones at us didn't bother me too much.

However, I'm starting to feel uncomfortable about not having told any of my friends that I'm learning scuba diving (yet). I even caught myself bending the facts on how I was going to spend this day. It's just that I want something exclusively for myself without sharing it with anybody. This is ridiculous, of course, but as long as it's not getting even more uncomfortable, I intend to keep it that way. Let's see how long I can manage to have a secret hobby before I spill the beans about it.