noted elsewhere, Suzanne was a competitive swimmer for years, in both pools and oceans and has been a
licensed lifeguard. Frank, on the other hand, swims like a fish (specifically, Dorey from Finding Nemo - he
gets lost a lot, even in a pool).
Suzanne's diving holdup has been her ears - years of swimming has left her with a lot of scar tissue, which
makes it difficult to equalize her ears. Frank's problem was much more serious - he hates to spend money
and diving costs a lot.
However, living on a boat implies a certain amount of water time and early on Frank and Suzanne had
reached an agreement - she would go up the mast as needed, he would go over the side as needed. With
this in mind, Frank collected as much used and discontinued SCUBA gear as possible and signed up for a
course at a local dive shop.
Frank's class was certified by PADI and went into great detail on the physics of diving. This is Frank's strong
point and he enjoyed the class immensely - so much so that Suzanne decided to re-examine her diving
possibilities.
After spending some time at a different dive shop, where we met Scuba Dave (David Hays), his wife, Laurie,
their kids and a host of dive bums, who welcomed us in with open arms, Suzanne decided to take her training
through Scuba Divers International (SDI). SDI, we found, emphasizes practice over book work - more pool
time, more open water time. This is Suzanne's forte and SHE enjoyed her class immensely.
