What people are saying about A-1

There's No Place Like A-1

Hi Scott,

Jay and I are going to Cancun just after Thanksgiving, and we'll dive one day with Dive Paradise in Cozumel.  Since it's been 3-1/2 years since we've blown bubbles, we always like to get in a pool in our gear to re-familiarize ourselves with the basics so we feel confident when we drift dive in the ocean.  The dive shop we usually rent tanks from is closed for the next 3 weeks while they're on travel (We live at the ENDS OF THE EARTH, remember?), so I found another dive shop about an hour and a half from our house.  And, they said they had a pool attached that we could use, as long as we avoided their class times.  Great--can do!!

Even following their directions and google maps, we had a HECK of a time finding it.  (And then it was in such a seedy part of town--picture a creepy movie set for a ghost town--, we were hesitant to get out of the car!  We walked into the shop--not a soul around.  I yoo-hooed, then we heard a toilet flush and a guy came out of the men's room, pointed UP the stairs to where the pool was, and pointed to the tanks stacked near the entrance.  I asked him if he'd mind hauling two tanks up to the pool side for us.  Nope, he didn't mind.  I asked if he wanted to see our certification cards--nope, he didn't need to.  And he didn't check on us a single time during the hour we were up there--good night nurse, we could have been non-scuba divers for all he knew, drowned and on the bottom of the pool!

We donned our swim suits and skins, and carried our bags up the stairs.  Scott, I simply CANNOT describe how AWFUL that pool was.  It was poorly lit--probably a couple of 40 watt bulbs overhead, they had laid old carpet on the pool floor in the shallow end, and there was an abrupt drop off to an area that was 25 feet deep.  I can't imagine how they hold classes there because in the deep part there wasn't much room for more than a couple of divers.  They had a few pieces of PVC pipe fastened to the walls of the deepest part, probably for new divers to cling to until they got used to the dark.  Jay and I tried to figure out what they could have converted to make that pool...a dungeon?  A potato cellar?  A warehouse for junk and moonshine?  Who knows?  I WISH I had my phone with me so I could have snapped a picture of it.  Words just can't describe how creepy it was. 

Just before we climbed the stairs to the pool the guy hollared, "Don't touch the fish."  I thought he was joking.  But when I looked over the pool side into the murky depths, there were about FIFTY weird-looking fish that weighed anywhere from 30-40 pounds a piece.  (I later found a HUGE catfish, with glowing eyes, lurking in the deepest, darkest corner of the deep end.  I think I scared him about as much as he frightened me!!)  We later asked the guy what kind of fish they were, then we came home and looked them up.  I can't remember the name, but they are called "Vegetarian Paranahs"!!!!!  They are definitely used to beginning divers thrashing around in their space, because once Jay and I slipped into the pool, they all hugged the other side and gave us a wide berth.  Thank heavens!!  People ask me how I can stand to swim in the ocean with sea creatures--that's easy, you have plenty of room and the creatures don't bother you; you just look at them, don't step on them or touch them, it's sunny and warm water--FUN! 

I KNOW I wouldn't have been able to FORCE myself into that pool when I was a beginning diver.  But I've long since overcome claustrophobia and fear of deep dark places (after surviving the horror of the Rescue Course From Hell with "Drill Sergeant Yvonne," and navigating through the silt up to your elbow in Kingfisher Pond at Chatfield, it takes a LOT more to scare me now.)  I figured once Jay and I got in, that pool wouldn't be so bad.  It wasn't.  And by the time we'd spent an hour working on putting gear together, figuring out our weights, practicing buoyancy, entrances and exits, the pool felt almost familiar.  We looked for a dunk tank for our gear, but there wasn't any.  So I figured since it wasn't salt water, and they for sure couldn't put any chlorine in that pool and keep those fish fat and happy, it was probably about the clearest water we've ever been in.  Our gear is STILL getting a good soaking in my bathtub anyway.  Jay and I may go back sometime, if we simply cannot find any other option, but I won't be sending anyone else there!  I wouldn't ask my worst enemy to face that pool as a beginning diver!)

Well...just wanted to share our 'adventure' with someone who would understand what I was saying, and get a chuckle out of it.  As we drove away, Jay said, "Well...there's just no place like A-1 is there?"  NOPE!  We're sorry we're 10 hours away from the BEST dive shop in the world; but it's ALWAYS a pleasure to drop by, visit with you and Lynn, and buy a few things when we come to visit our son, Michael's family.  Thanks, again, for making sure that members of our family have a QUALITY dive training experience while they're learning how to do it safely.  I think we'll have another couple of grandchildren checking in with you for their beginning scuba training next summer.  I know you'll take good care of them.

Best wishes and lots of love always,
Sandra