Back in the Dock
It’s cold today, really cold. The thermometer in my car showed 7°C when I got here this morning and it’s raining.
I am not looking forward to getting into my wet, cold suit and jump into the 16°C, mirky port water. But at least we’ll get to do the “Brida”-thing today.
We gather all our stuff and as always, today’s team leader is in charge of bringing all necessary equipment, and this time the two big metal rings as well, along with their nuts and bolts – which I have learned is called a ‘flange’.
Ronan and I are teamed up and we descend to the bottom. The visibility is horrendous, as always, but by now we’re all starting to get used to it. We make sure to keep physical contact, so we won’t lose each other and carefully hand tools back and forth. “Just don’t drop anything” I keep telling myself. We would never find it again on the mucky harbour ground.
… VIDEO COMING SOON …
“This is much easier than the stupid saw” I think to myself.
As there’s still some time and we have plenty of air in our tanks, we repeat some of yesterday’s exercises. I’m glad Ronan is cutting the piece of wood and not me.
By the time we get to the pier I feel like I’m frozen solid and trying to get my fins off to climb up the ladder, it takes me a while to loosen the buckle. I can barely feel my fingers. I’m glad to be out and able to warm up. But as I hang up my equipment to dry, I’m already thinking about what we might be doing tomorrow. I can’t wait to get back in the water.
English Class with Toffy
Since Commercial Diving often requires working in an international environment, today’s afternoon program is “English for Commercial Divers” with Toffy. Yes! Amazing! Finally, I will get a translation for all the technical, nautical and otherwise specific Spanish words I have absolutely no idea about.
Toffy is good at this and she seems to be having a good time. We’re all having a lot of fun at least, with hilarious mis-translations and fun little role-plays.
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