Open Water Divers at White Star

Everyone enjoyed the weekend's initial dive brief under great weather and a beautiful sun! Luckily our group started early and grabbed some valuable picnic table space while the rest of the day brought out nearly 100 divers that filled-in almost the entire lake-front shoreline!

Soon, everyone was entering the water and the challenge of weekend OWD Skills were on!

White Star Quarry has done a great job at developing their site to cater to all divers, experienced and the divers-in-training, by providing these great submerged platforms for skills tests.

Mitch (left), an instructor at Great Lakes Dive Center, congratulates a student after a successful controlled emergency swimming ascent to the surface from the training platform. As you can see, visibility here is one of the best in the Great Lakes area.

After a long first day, what better to cap off the night than a tall tasty treat from the local ice cream parlor extradinaire, "Mr. Freeze"! (No relation to the chilly May waters of White Star! ;-)

And who could resist the temptation's of the Ohio "Buckeye Sundae", or my favorite, the "Mudd Sundae" complete with Oreos, Hot Fudge and Gummy Worms! Mmmm!

Some students learned a valuable lesson not to be found in the Instructor Manual... Clean and "Dry" your wetsuit out after your dives! Some of the students found their wetsuits a little chilly on Sunday morning! ;-) But that didn't stop them from getting back in the water with a giant stride entry into the day's activities.

I think Sofia embodies all the satisfaction of becoming a new Diver in this picture! Now a new PADI Open Water Diver, she enjoy's the comfort and peace of mind every diver has after great dives, meeting great new friends, and the thought of great new underwater opportunities!

Great going GLDC Spring Class of '09!

Looking forward to diving with you all in the future!

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