The Putnam Post: Diving Adventures

Hello Blog Family! It sure is much later than I had hoped to blog about some of our recent activities and add more photos! Our weeks have run away with us, as Andy gets spooled up again on the C-17. He's actually flying this evening, so I, Sarah, am going to enjoy some alone time tonight! I'm looking forward to it. I never find myself "bored," (as I've heard other spouses say) and some of you know, since I've chatted with you about my recent additions to my routine!

Two weeks ago I started attending the Hickam "Protestant Women of the Chapel" (PWOC) group that meets here at the base chapel. I'm really enjoying the two hours each Wed. morning to get to know ladies all over the area (more than 100 attend) and the second half of the morning is a bible study. My friend Jessica and I chose the Beth Moore study titled "The Patriarchs" and we are really enjoying it. I recommend it to anyone. Also Jess and I are loving the group exercise class, Zumba! The mantra of the class is "Zumba, Join the Party!" For those of you that know I love to dance to electronic/dance/hip hop music, this gets my dance craving out of the way (especially from watching "So You Think You Can Dance.") It is a latin cardio blast, and I've never sweat so much in my life! This may even beat continuous cardio from high school marching band on a parking lot in August heat in Oklahoma! It is so fun. So with Zumba twice a week, PWOC once a week, squadron spouse socials once a month, adding in volunteering, skyping with friends, beach time, all this leaves the rest of the time for cleaning up the house, dishes, laundry, commissary runs, a little yard work and still organizing our upstairs! (I also had a job opportunity come up on base that I interviewed for yesterday, so I will keep you posted on that to come.) Andy has been busy too, so it's nice to have a fun, more relaxing lifestyle nowadays compared to the busy stressful schedule I had at Vance. In this post, I want to highlight two adventures we had this past week! Both in DIVING!

Saturday, 16 Jan, Andy decided to join nine other Lieutenants from the squadron (with a couple girlfriends and one wife) in SKY DIVING, yes out of an airplane, up at an airfield on the north shore. I went along for support and photography, so here are a few shots from the group! It definitely looked fun, but with scuba coming the following Monday, I bowed out of this one. I take adventure one step at a time, spacing each one out a bit.

Skydive Hawaii at Dillingham Airfield up at the NW corner of Oahu.

The group from the 535th Airlift Squadron (535 AS).

Andy jumped tandem with a pro.

Bobby and Melissa Scott, two of our friends!

Sarah sending Andy off! (I was ready for the beach which was afterward!)

The airplane that took Andy's crew up.

Andy's on the left, the blue parachute with pink underneath. The jumped at around 12,000 feet.

Happy and a sense of accomplishment!

Andy really liked his jump master!

Andy went boogie boarding at Kaneohe Bay marine corps beach afterward. Photo credit: Grant Hofmann

Bobby Scott, Andy and Brian Pollock, boarding. Photo credit: Grant Hofmann

Andy and Brian, Photo credit: Grant Hofmann

Our big adventure started last Monday, 18 Jan, with class at the base dive center, Island Divers Hawaii, for SCUBA Diving! I wanted to try out an Open Water course. Andy was already certified five years ago in Oklahoma, but he hadn't been on a dive since our vacation to Hawaii in 2004. I was more comfortable doing the class with Andy, so it was really nice of him to refresh his training with me. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evening consisted of a swim test, five chapter quizzes, four confined pool dives and a final exam. The hardest part for me was the skill of "flooding/clearing my mask." We needed to be completely comfortable with all of our equipment and very good with our mask. It was difficult to separate the breathing through my mouth, primary, with the regulator, and not through my nose, inside my mask. Once I got over the mental part and realized you can breathe and dive without a mask on and with my eyes closed, I succeeded! I had to flood my mask with water, clear it, take it off and on again, swim with my buddy (Andy) and put it back on ... accomplished! Everything else really was pretty simple and relaxing.

Saturday consisted of two boat dives off of Hawaii Kai, one at Angler's Reef and one at Koko Craters. We dove to about 30 feet and 40 feet, clear and bright, with pretty fish and aquatic life! The hardest part about those dives was the boat, a bit rocky. I just felt like I feel with turbulance in an airplane, sweaty palms, just a bit uncomfortable - ready for it to be over and get back in the water! Underwater was amazing! We had two awesome instructors, Amy and C.J. CJ was called the "octopus man" and true to his name, he found a large octopus on our first dive, pulled it out of a hole (after prodding it and the hole for 10 minutes) and continued to swim around with it in his arms (like a baby) so we could see it and touch it. Slimy, but cool! We woke up a sleeping turtle, "Hanu" (Hawaiian for turtle), and watched him surface and come back down with fish riding, cleaning and hanging out on his shell! My favorite fish by far is the "parrot fish," iridescent colors every single one of the rainbow. We saw the state fish, the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a (fun to say), yellow butterfly fish and urchins. Much more too, but those were just to name a couple.

Sunday morning was two shore dives, which Andy was excited about because all of his prior dives had been off boats. We went to a familiar point on the eastside of Oahu, called Blowholes. The roughest part was hiking up and down rocks with full gear to get down to the shore and back up for the second tank for the second dive. The area had a large surge and waves which made our last few skills a little more trying. But all in all, it was incredibly fun! We swam around really amazing rock formations and found another turtle at the surface. CJ handed me a "collector sear urchin" (in photo below) and all its little tentacles sucked to the palm of my hand. Amazing! After those dives, I was definitely relieved to be certified and finished with skills! Now Andy and I can go with other certified friends and go as a group diving when and where we want. We are so excited, and I am still coming down from my diving "high" as I've been telling people about it. It's so fun to share with others and other divers ... where we went and what we saw underwater. Like the PADI scuba association teaches us, it's a great time, you "go places. meet people. and see things underwater." Enjoy the photos!