Scuba Diving with Sadie

When we went on vacation over spring break, Sadie took a mini diving class & did a shallow dive with Bryan and now she is hooked! Bryan got certified to dive when he backpacked Australia after college & has always wanted a diving partner, so now he has one! Instead of playing any summer league sports (besides soccer) we made it a priority for her to get certified to dive also! Earlier in June when we were home, she started taking her online education. She had to take about 20 hours of online classes, passing several quizzes along the way. At the end, she had to pass a test. It was a lot of work for summer! 

Next step, she had to pass the open water dive course. She went the last week of June & started in the pool:

She had to swim 200 meters without stopping, then she had to tread water for 10 minutes. Thankfully she is fully capable in the water since we have a pool in the backyard & she used to do swim team, so this was easy for her! Finally, they had to practice everything she learned in her e-learning course with her instructor:

Shout out to her instructor, Chris, for being flexible & patient with us all week! 

After 1 day in the pool, she was ready for the next step, which was in the lake. She had to get 4 dives in & accomplish several things along the way. The lake we went to was Scuba Ranch in Terrell, which was about an hour away:

This is a private lake only used for diving. They have a lot of things below the water to see & platforms to dive from. We went through our local dive shop, which is where we also bought all of her equipment:

Bryan took her the first day & she got 3 dives in, but the 3rd dive was pretty hard for her. They took a break between each dive, but the 3rd dive really pushed her limits as far as breathing capacity & pressure in her chest & ears. Sophie & I took her the next day to get her fourth & final dive in:

She is all smiles, but that dive tank is heavy! I don't know how she carried all of her equipment until she got in the water. If you look farther out, you can see them out there on the first platform before they headed down:

They dove for her about 30 minutes this day & then she was done! They recorded all of her dives and then she had to take one final test before he could turn in her work. Thankfully she passed, again, so she has earned her PADI Junior Open Water Diver Certification! The minimum age is 10 & she will be a junior until she turns 15 but at least now she is certified to dive anytime & anywhere she wants with Bryan:

We usually go to the beach at least twice a year so I have a feeling these 2 will have lots of diving in their future. It was a busy month trying to get all of this done, but she really worked hard to earn it & I could not be more proud of her. I think her hard work will pay off since we have a trip coming up soon!