Dry Run Dives

This afternoon, we learned about AGRRA benthic and coral survey methods.  After going through the methods and the data sheets we will be using, we went outside and did dry runs of going through all the steps. We practiced setting up the transects and going through the different passes we have to do along the transects. The first time we do this underwater will be interesting because we will have a bunch of extra equipment making it very important to control our buoyancy and checking air pressures. Doing the dry runs allows us to see how it will potentially work even though nothing is the same as it will be doing it for real. However, going through the dry runs gives us an idea of what to expect and allowed us to ask clarifying questions. The whole dry run minus the questions we had to do without talking to our dive buddy. We had to communicate using all the hand signals to check air, depth, how we are doing, etc. Next week, we will have our dives implementing these techniques, which will be very interesting because buoyancy is very important. Our instructors say that we will probably go through our air a lot quicker than we normally are use to because there is a lot more we are doing than just swimming looking at corals, fish, invertebrates, etc.