Well Joshua finished his Scuba Certification last night.  We won't know if he passed until the instructor calls in a few days.  Josh says no problem -- but I'm not quite so sure.  He'll have his Junior Certification which means he'll have to dive with an adult until he's 15 (which I'm TOTALLY thankful for).

The course was VERY intense.  Loooooong hours - Friday 5 - 10, Saturday 7:30-8:30, Sunday 7:30 - 6:30 and Monday 4-10.  As well as being in the water there was LOTS of classroom time.  The book that they had to go through had a total of 5 modules in it and (4 and 5 were both done on the last day as well as a quiz and the final exam all on the last day).  They did 2-3 quizzes/exmas at least each day.  There was also Dive Tables that you use to calculate dive times, preasure groups and rest times between dives. 

Also Josh was the only kid!  There were 3 other young couples all going on exotic holidays and one other older single lady and an 18/19 year old kid that worked at the pool.  What I found interesting is Josh wasn't intimidated AT ALL with being in a room full of adults (he simply thought of them as fellow peers or team mates) however the young fellow that worked at the pool was totally intimidated with the others in the class including the instructor.  I talked with the older lady at the end of the entire course and she said she was totally overwhelmed with the amount of work the class was.  She said it was way too much in too short of a period of time. 

Oh a funny story to share.  On the “introduction/get to know you/registration” sheet it asked where do you want to scuba and listed just about every possible location on the globe – Josh didn’t check any of them off – instead he checked the “Other” box and wrote Fiji.  I just thought that it was so funny that he wasn’t willing to accept what was listed and came up with the one that wasn’t listed.  Too funny.

The instructor was good - he has sons Joshua's age so that helped a bit, I think.

Josh loved the course and didn't complain or get stressed at all (I did but that is another matter, ha ha).  It was a good lesson for me in that sometimes I think certain things will stress Josh when in fact they don't.  I think that's a good lesson to carry with me as we head into "high school" land.

There is good follow up activities for Josh to pursue - The instructors sons have created a "Scuba Buddies" program where kids get together and scuba and learn from each other.  Also the instructor has a boat on Sylvan Lake and does "expeditions".  Apparently there is a plane and a few boats, some playground equipment all in the lake that they can explore.  Josh is most excited about that.

They covered some stuff about career options as well but Josh isn't thinking to that end right now.  What he's thinking is Fiji when he's 16 -- ha ha.

Here are a couple of pics --

Yes it's a little disconcerting to see you "baby" under water like that!  But I am SO proud of him for pursuing his passions!

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Posted by Kristen

Wow. Wow. Wow! I am so impressed with Josh, that is an amazing thing. The whole idea just freaks me out. Brent is always bugging me to do this with him, but honestly I don't think I could. I can't even breathe with an oxygen mask on in the hospital.
I don't blame you fro being a bit apprehensive.
Way to go Josh, I am totally proud of you, Great job!

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