Day 11: "If I hear a bang, I'll be sure not to hurry out."

After two days of time off I was ready to be productive. Today's main lesson was on filling nitrox tanks. For the non-divers, nitrox is a mix of air (about 79 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen) and pure oxygen, making a blend that's more oxygen rich than regular air. This allows divers to stay down longer, which is awesome.

I know, this may sound boring, but it's by far the most nervous I've been so far in my trip. Pure oxygen is prone to fires and explosions, and in a room full of tanks filled with pressurized air? Not something to take lightly. Add to that the hissing and creaking of the pipes, and the heat that comes from forcing air into the tank. I spent the better part of the morning in legitimate fear for my life. Peter left me to fill the last tanks on my own, leaving me with the quote above. After a while though, I managed to get my swagga' back, and was filling tanks like a champ. Then I got to learn how to test the tanks for the oxygen percentage. Even a slight percentage difference can mean death in the right circumstances. I managed to get the first few tanks, but the last few (the tanks when I had my swagga' back) were miserably wrong, making me an almost murderer. Luckily, the Abyss staff can fix that sort of thing, and it was only my first time.

The rest of the day I spent learning about nitrox diving, so I can use the tanks I don't mess up, and learning how to run the dive shop software. Bit of a slow afternoon, but book learnin does the body good.

Again, the night wasn't very eventful, so I was asleep around 10. Party animal!