After our West Coast trip and successful ice dive in April (more on ice diving in the next chapter) I could hardly wait to get back in the water. It was also around this time that Cathy saw the fun I was having and after talking with a bunch of others including Fred and Paul at the officers mess, she signed up for the Open Water Course. As the club Vice President, I took an active role in the conduct of courses so on this particular course I would have the fortune of assisting my wife. I was unaware of the vortex that was to come.

The first weekend of the Open Water Course was relatively uneventful other than I had little idea of how to run a course and I had only been marginally involved with the course that was conducted the previous year which had included people like Fred, Paul and Doug. Gerry had a previous commitment so he was unable to instruct this particular course. Instead we had Brougham Deegan as our head instructor who was assisted by his friend and instructor/commercial diver Gord Guenard. The course was relatively large with 9 students. From my point of view I found the course a little disorganized as we adjusted to our roles and new instructors.

On the Victoria day Weekend we went to the Jasper Aquathon which is held annually by the Alberta Underwater Council. It was here that, I was sucked into the Vortex. Paul had decided he was going to become a Dive Master and I was going to do it with him. On my return from the Weekend Cathy was not too impressed as I had just signed up for the DM Course, purchased the course materials and signed up for the Rescue Course. Paul had also decided we would finish the course by mid July because he had a work related course he had to attend for six months.

The Dive Master Course involves some fairly rigorous training. It is basically four parts, which include; Swimming 16 lengths, 32 lengths with fins and buddy push all timed, eight different exams, practical demonstration to the instructor and assisting with courses. One of the more interesting tasks is the buddy exchange this is where you exchange complete kit underwater with your buddy. It is timed and the equipment must taken on and off properly. Paul and I did this task flawlessly although Gerry who was assessing us could not bear to give us full points so he took one point off Paul for not slowly exhaling all the time while his regulator was out of his mouth. As it turned out I did well in completing all portions of the DM training although it did require considerable effort and time.

As fresh Dive Master Trainees our first full exposure came on the Open Water Course first day at the lake on 4 June 94. This was not a particular great day as I recall. As I said previously we had a fairly large course and obviously not everyone could be in the water at once although this was first attempted. Lesson #1 always pre weight the student under controlled conditions (like the pool). We spent a great deal of time trying to get the students weighted properly who never follow the 10% of your weight plus 8lb rule. One particular student by the name of Shannon was capable of expanding her lungs far greater than any Puffer fish. It took 55lbs to get her down. Paul’s expedient method to the general problem was to add weight to the BC pockets rather than securing them to the belt. Naturally many fell out of the pockets littering the muddy floor of Clear lake and never to be found again. Lessons #2 do snorkeling drills in the pool. We attempted to do snorkeling drills in the lake - bad idea. Before overwhelming the students with all the SCUBA kit practice mask clearing, finning and the concept of ear clearing in the pool under controlled conditions. Although these were all rehearsed in the confined modules they were not emphasized to the extent they should have been. Further delays were encountered where three people encountered ear problems that could easily have been avoided. One of the three was Cathy, Brougham being a good instructor, however, offered to complete the course for them in two weeks time. Lessons #3 limit the number of students in the water. A muddy cold lake is no place to have people sit and do nothing for extended periods. The same applies to the bald ass prairie is no place to have cold wet students sitting and doing nothing. The key is to have a suitable on site lecture area and concurrent activity.

Many of the course members were military who were around only for the summer however, Cathy Winkelmans, Robert and Brandy Carey carried on to become active avid divers. Robert enjoyed the course and saw that our growing pains were only temporary. My Dive #37 was a special dive, which was the day after the course. On the last dive the day before, Shannon had to practice taking her weight belt on and off. Naturally she was unable to control the 50+lbs and the belt went plummeting to the bottom. Those who were gifted in common sense like the instructors and Paul allowed this procedure to take place out in the boat near the dive platform at Clear Lake. Back to Dive 37, Ralph Mcallister one of the recent course graduates and I went to look for the belt after looking around for some time I saw a recent depression in the mud and voila I found the belt. I then used the lift bag for the first time to send it to the surface. Obviously I blew it on the first try and the bag and weights went to the surface, exhaled and came plummeting back down. I had fortunately warned Ralph that this might happen during our pre dive brief so we were well clear. I got it right the second time. We looked around for some of the individual weights that had been dropped out of pockets but I was only able to find one on the more compact sand near the dock.

Dive 39 and 40 were at Twin Lakes Alberta. These were the final dives of Cathy’s course and the three remaining divers completed their training. It was a lovely weekend with little pressure so all the divers had more time with Brougham instructing and I doing the DM job. The relaxed pace enabled Cathy to enjoy her dives and she did very well. As usual the Camping at Twin Lakes was great.

Dive 43-48, Jasper Alberta. Again Dive Master training but this time we began to get our act together. We were being assessed for our abilities to work with the students during an Advanced course. I much prefer the Advanced courses as they are all fun dives. We had eight divers taking the course during the Canada Day Weekend. Six were from the previous OW course, which included Robert, Brandy, Cathy and three military reservists. Typically the Jasper Gestapo or I should say Jr Park rangers who wear brown shirts was in full force. What eludes me is that these people fail to realize that Parks are for people otherwise there would not be pads for your camper or picnic tables. During odd years, when the moon is full and the Elks are in heat you can have two vehicles and a tent per campsite or two tents and a vehicle etc. Essentially three pieces. In reality its whatever the park staff on shift feels like at the time. I can understand for environmental reasons why they do not want to overstress the site but be consistent. There are no group sites and one cannot reserve ahead. All this includes gate fees, site fees and wood fees if fires are even permitted. After quickly doing the math why didn't we just fly to Mexico to do the course. This makes it very difficult to run a course and keep everyone together. We did eventually manage however, to get everyone into one wing.

The best however, was the arrival of Dave Faas and Family. In his car he had Connie who had obviously done most of the packing (a guy would be unable to get that much kit in such a confined space), three kids, dive gear and camping gear. On the roof rack was more tentage and camping gear and on the sides of the roof rack were four boxes to hold the tanks. I am curious if he had special load range tires for the trip because that car was definitely overloaded. Fortunately for Dave his parents were there with their 5^th wheel. We had also brought along sections worth of military gear for some of the military people taking the course and for everyone in general. All our kids also get along great so they were occupied for the weekend allowing Dave and Connie to focus on the course. This is also the only time we were ever able to assist Dave. Afterwards Dave acquired a motor home, dive trailer and a small 2500 sq ft cabin (read mansion). Dave now does most of the assisting but that’s Ok because he is also a trained Dive Master.

The first Dive of the weekend was a free dive I did with Brandy Carey who is a lifeguard and competitive swimmer. A natural in the water she is great to dive with. Our dive was in Lake Beauvert where we saw the underwater springs and collected a few golf balls. The next dive again was in Lake Beauvert however, I was more independent on this one taking up the left flank to keep the group together. The third dive was in Lake Edith where Paul and I assisted with the navigation dive. Gerry liked this particular dive because he sat on shore in a lawn chair and coached us as dive master trainees it was our job to spot and chase the dive pairs when required.

Dive 46 however, was very interesting. It was a night dive in Lake Beauvert that I was in charge of running I briefed the teams and everything went well. Each dive pair had either a DM trainee or instructor with them. I went with Robert and Brandy. Cathy went with Greg and had Paul as their DM. Things began well with the dive Robert and Brandy had gone through the deep part of the lake as briefed and were now coming up the other side to make the slow right turn and follow the contours back at about 30ft. Typically during a night dive with new students they lost their buoyancy while on the incline up and popped to the surface. I waited a couple of minutes to see if they were coming back down then I went up to get them. They were unsure of their bearings so I re briefed them on the bearing and to use the contours. They went back down. This time Brandy developed a leak in her regulator so we went back up and managed to fix it. Robert and Brandy went back down, did one and a half turns and headed in the opposite direction into deep water. They had already been in deep water and were in danger of blowing their profile besides going the wrong way. I gave chase but I was unable to properly clear one ear so it took a little longer but I did catch up. Again we went to the surface re briefed and went back down. This time no one could properly clear their ears and we were starting to get low on air so we did the long surface back. On our return we found Cathy ready to kill Paul. They had also encounter buoyancy and ear clearing problems and Paul’s overzealousness had caused Cathy to get a minor ear squeeze. Gerry intervened, Paul apologized and cooler heads prevailed.

The deep and Wreck Dives were the following day at lake Patricia where we dove on the Habbakuck. They were both great multi level dives again with Robert and Brandy. The most interesting dive was Pauls. On the last dive of the day Rudy had been having difficulty getting down so he had been secretly adding weight to his belt. On the deep dive he went down to the bottom and seemed unable to go up. His buddy went under to lift him up and Paul grabbed on while inflating his BC. Shortly thereafter Arcamidies principle took effect and they all rocketed to the surface with the BC overinflator valves bursting. Brandy who had been on the surface said the water was boiling so much she thought there was a missile launch in progress.

At the end of the diving we packed up to head back. The dive location is a couple of Kms down the south side of the lake from the parking area. Most of the gear was brought over in a couple of trips with the boat we rented from the lodge. When it came time to leave, we decided to put all the weight belts and tanks into the boat and carry the remainder of the gear so we did not have to make two trips. Again Archamidis principle figured prominently and the boat immediately sank upon casting off. Fortunately Dave and Robert were able to catch it in shallow water prior to it descending into the abyss. We lightened the load and this time had a successful sailing. The land haul back was a little heavier but we managed. When we returned to the parking lot we discovered one of the divers was missing. Rudy one of the military members and in good physical condition was not with us. I had noticed him lagging behind on the walk back so I retraced our steps to try and find him. He was also the one who had buoyancy problems so we immediately began to fear decompression sickness. A short way down the trail I found him slowly moving along carrying his duffel bag on his back but fine. Back at the parking lot we redistributed the gear. Gerry started to unload Rudy’s duffel bag, one weight belt, two belts, three, four … He had over 200lbs in the bag and it was little wonder he was walking so slow.

The next portion of the DM course was Rescue training. The course was combined with another Edmonton club and it was here that I met my Dive buddy for the weekend, Hugh. Hugh a friend of Gerry’s and my size made for an interesting buddy. Most of the time he kept dunking my face under the water but he eventually caught on. One of the more interesting parts of the course was the way it started. The concept being the instructor has the class occupied and another dive pair not associated with the course heads out for a dive. At Twin Lakes this is not unusual, as it is a popular dive site. An emergency situation occurs and the course must react to save the day. Naturally at the beginning of the course the response will be poor. A similar scenario is played at the end of the course and everyone is confident and it goes well. Gerry however, was caught off guard on the initial scenario. He did not fully anticipate that half of us being in the military already had a built in hierarchy and general rescue training. We sprang into action. Within three minutes the body was off the bottom out of the water and help was called and on its way. We then went into the more technical points of diver vs generic rescues.

I finally completed my DM training during the Fall Open Water Course. Paul had written his exams during the summer right after the Rescue Course. I was not in that much of a time crunch so I completed it the beginning of October. This was a unique course with an interesting set of Characters. It was a large course with 11 candidates who included Don and Julie Hiebert, Rodger Holmes and the Vis Bros (John Wiley and Richard Hodge). All became very active members. This time we had our act together and we utilized Don’s cabin on this and a number of subsequent occasions. This was the solution because on this particular weekend it was snowing, the water was as close as you can get to freezing before turning hard and the visability was about 5ft. We must have done something right to maintain so many divers enthusiasm for the sport. On the south side of the lake the bottom is more firm which makes for ease of training. At the end of the course I completed my Dive Master exams and became an official Dive Master.