Open Water Free-diving

Uneventful weekend overall. Most people were gone on various trips so it was quiet on campus. We did have a slight mishap of a Spiny Dogfish that arrived at the aquarium on Wednesday disappearing from its tank (it got into a pipe, unfortunately) which added some excitement to my Saturday morning (I was recruited to make the emergency trip to the aquarium to look around the tank for it). 

Today, Johan, Jason, and I went to Santos Beach with Dylan to get some practice using our free-diving skills in open water. There's really not much difference between dynamic apnea in a pool and in open water except that, since you're moving vertically instead of horizontally in the ocean, you have to bother with equalizing. However, that proved to be a simple technique to add for all of us so we spent most our afternoon swimming around the coral reefs where we fish. Didn't see any of the benthic sharks but we did pull up a lot of fishing line, sinkers, and hooks. 

Another gorgeous day in South Africa.

Breathing up on a line so we don't drift off.

Me during one of the first dynamic apnea runs.

Getting ready to hop into the water near the reef at Santos.