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Eglin's dive flight trains for sea exploration

By Samuel King Jr., Team Eglin Public Affairs / Published April 14, 2010

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EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Imagine exploring deep underwater caverns and reefs or checking out huge schools of multi-colored tropical fish and the sea life at the bottom of the ocean floor.

The base's Yacht Club and Dive Flight can help bring that fantasy to life. Eglin's Dive Flight, established in 1988, brings together groups of like-minded divers to explore the abyss. The flight has monthly meetings on the fourth Thursday of the month. The dive flight also hosts an annual trip to the Florida Keys, an underwater Easter egg hunt and underwater pumpkin carving.

"The dive flight meetings are a great way to meet other divers (with boats), get information, and learn more about diving whether you're a certified diver with thousands of dives or a novice with no dives interested in becoming a diver," said Robert Hyde, a dive flight instructor for five years at Eglin.

The flight offers Professional Association of Dive Instructor classes at least once a month to certify new divers for open water dives up to 60 feet. The four-day class takes place over two weekends and begins with fundamentals and ends with underwater dives into the Gulf of Mexico or Vortex Spring (during the winter months.)

Introductory classes are taught by Mr. Hyde, an instructor with 19 years experience, who learned to dive in the waters off Anderson AFB, Guam.

"I dive because I love the sea life, the wrecks and the history that goes with the wreck, I also enjoy the excitement of spear fishing," said the retired master sergeant. "I teach because I want others to see what I'm seeing in a safe environment."

The introductory classes are progressive in nature preparing the divers for the eventual "plunge."

Day One is primarily classroom with emphasis on learning terminology and communications, scuba equipment familiarization and tests.

Day Two moves to the water, specifically the base pool, where learning to swim, float and basic scuba skills like breathing through a regulator, flutter kicks, alternate air source breathing and removing and replacing the scuba unit are taught.

Day Three consists of two open water dives. The first dive is for acclimating to the underwater environment, while dive two is for the student to use the skills learned in the pool. Some of the skills required for dive two are mask clearing, regulator recovery, alternate air source breathing and a fin pivot.

Day Four consists of two more open water dives. These dives include navigation, more mask clearing, hovering and a controlled emergency swimming ascent.
Ken Sharp, 681st Armament Systems Squadron, and his three children just completed the course, March 29.

"It was my son's idea to take the class," he said. "His words were, 'we live in Florida, we might as well take advantage of it.' My other son and my daughter were also enthusiastic about learning, so I figured it would be a rewarding thing to do."

The retired lieutenant colonel added that the training was worth the investment because he learned to do it with his family.

"I enjoyed watching them gain skill and confidence," Mr. Sharp said. "I also greatly enjoyed our discussions about what we experienced and learned after we finished each dive."

Now that the family's certified, they have lots of ideas on what to do with their newly-acquired talents.

"I'm looking forward to diving as a family," said the test engineer. "We've talked about diving the local springs and the jetties to build up our experience level and just see what it looks like under the water we've only seen from the shore. My sons have the big idea of going after lobsters. My wife is going to be sorry she didn't take the class."

After taking the course, Mr. Sharp said he wished he had taken it sooner and recommended the opportunity to everyone.

"It opens up a great family outdoor recreation and a whole new area for exploration in the local area," he said.

Club membership is $6 a month with a $20 new member fee. As a member, the rental fee for a weekend of diving is $35, compared to $50 a day off base. Dive flight meetings are at 6 p.m. at the Yacht Club clubhouse on the fourth Thursday of every month.

"You do not have to be a member of the dive flight to take scuba diving lessons from us," said Mike Graham, dive flight manager. You only have to be enthusiastic about learning a new skill that will probably become a lifetime passion."