Wow! What a great first week with Rick Simon. Rick and his wife Erin graciously hosted me on their farm this week where I got to pet their donkey and horses while I practiced my dive planning math. While Rick threw hay and called out questions, I took my duty of scratching the donkey seriously and tried my best to answer the questions (math is not my strong suit). We were also able to hop in the water and practice some scuba skills! I did my best to stay within sight of Rick during our multiple low visibility dives. Finally, our last dive to the Grecian had stunning visibility and was lots of fun. We stayed overnight on the boat and woke up at 5:30am to a beautiful sunrise. With three boats showing up to the mooring that morning, it became a party! It was a wonderful calm day to poke around the wreck. I was taken aback by the size of the four boilers as I swam between them. We even saw a Mola mola on the surface while eating lunch! It was a great learning experience to get down deeper in my dry suit and really feel cold water! The week with Rick also included some great exploration opportunities completing his various job duties. We picked a boat up off the bottom of the ocean, checked dams for the state, inspected boats and moorings, cut lines out of boat propellers (well, Rick did, and I watched) and so much more!! It was incredible to see how commercial diving operates and meet all the cool people involved. Thank you Rick and Erin!
