I slept pretty well, for being under the sea.  I did wake up before dawn though.  I say dawn, but really what I was seeing was the view from pitch black lightening back to pea green.  I just lay in bed watching as schools of fish would come by the window.  Many of the fish were parrot fish and you could literally hear them munching on our habitat. Okay so they were munching on the life forms that were encrusting our habitat.

As it got lighter I noticed what appeared to be a very tiny fan flicking at the bottom of the window.  This was a real live barnacle throwing its net to catch its morning sustenance.  I finally got up and read some in Scott's book, “Deep Flight.”

When an astronaut gives a lecture on space, the inevitable question comes up, “How do you go to the bathroom in space?”  In a parallel line of thinking, the question could arise, how do you go to the bathroom in an undersea habitat.  Well, it is in a chemical toilet.  Sized much like the toilet in an RV, the habitat toilet was had a door just off of the wet room.

I would say that there was no experience that we had under the sea which we did not enjoy except for that chemical toilet.  The smell of the chemicals in this confined area was not too good.  It did have a benefit though as people were not prone to loiter in the loo.

For our breakfast we had cereal, milk, and fruit.  Lexie made up a sign to hold up in front of the closed circuit television camera in the wet room.  The sign said “Good Morning, Less.”  Okay so she misspelled his name.  She also took the clown fish pillow from the common area and swam it in front of the camera.  Les got a real laugh out of that and called us on the intercom.

After we finished breakfast, Les called to tell us that there was a change in plans.  He would bring us down lunch and then after lunch we would do our open water checkout dive.  That was fair enough, nobody really likes testing anyway.

That gave us the morning to relax.  Looking through the selection of videos that were available in the habitat we stumbled across one called “Hello Down There”.  I remembered this 1969 movie.  It starred Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh and was about a family who went to live in an undersea habitat.  I recalled that the movie was pretty funny and we decided to watch it.

The label on video tape made it sound like the original copies of the movie were destroyed and the only remaining copy was found on an air force base in Germany.  I'm not sure if that was true, but someone had given this copy to Jules Verne Lodge as a gift.

We watched the movie and Mary and Lexie really enjoyed it.  At one pivotal point in the movie there was a scene that really brought it all home. The wife in the movie (played by Janet Leigh) really didn't like water.  She really didn't want to live under the sea.  However it was important for her husband's (played by Tony Randall) job.  They had to demonstrate that a family could live in the undersea habitat that he designed for 30 days.

At one point the husband asked the wife what she was thinking about.  With anger the wife responded, "I hate you."  I simply could not believe it.  That was the very same thing that Mary told me after our first pool dive training session!  The sentiment, “I hate you!”, has been a standard response of wives to their husbands when asked about living under the sea for generations.  It was just too rich.

Mary, Lexie, and I were having a great time in our own little world.  Even though the visibility in the lagoon was poor, you could still see a fair number of fish come around to the large windows of the habitat.   There were small artificial reefs hanging in front of the windows and those gardens attracted the fish.

At one point we received a phone call.  Of all things, it was a call from a telemarketer.  Yes, even under the sea you cannot escape telemarketers.  Mary answered the phone and the telemarketer began by asking her if she currently owned her own home.  Playing along, Mary answered in the affirmative that it is currently our house.  The telemarketer then asked where the house was located.  30 feet under water was the reply.  At that point the telemarketer hung up.  I guess they were no longer interested in providing us an estimate for siding on our house.

Les came back at around 12:30 PM to provide our lunch.   Accompanying Les on this visit was another prominent space collector, Larry McGlynn.  Larry has a lot of diving experience and was interested in seeing the habitat.  Originally Larry was supposed to dine with Scott in the habitat the night after we left.   Those plans changed when Scott's rotator cuff acted up and it prevented him from further diving that week.

It was fun to see Larry.  It was just like if we were living on the space station and had a guest cosmonaut come for a visit.  The good news for Larry was that this visit did not cost the twenty million dollars that the Russians charge to visit ISS.

Larry told us that with all of his diving experience, he had never see conditions as bad as what he just came through in the lagoon.   We knew visibility was bad, but we didn't have any experience to compare it with.

For lunch we had a nice chicken salad.  It was a good meal for us and was not too heavy for our upcoming EVA.  After we finished our lunch, Les and Larry exited the habitat to look for Lexie's lost fin.

Somehow on the descent to the habitat the previous afternoon, Lexie lost one of her fins. In the murk, Les and Larry still couldn't find the fin.  Larry later recounted how he got lost in the poor visibility and was headed out of the lagoon, until Les brought him back to the proper heading.  That's just an indication of how bad things were even for experienced divers.

Before Les left, he told us he would be back at around 3 PM to do our open water checkout.  Actually he decided that based on the conditions he would only run us through some of our skills tests in the lagoon.  The remaining skills he would take care of with a couple of dives off of a boat on Thursday.   The dives from the boat would be off of the coast and we would have much better visibility.  That seemed like a good plan.

The time drew near 3:00 PM and my anxiety level increased again.  I still had fears that I wouldn't pass some of the skills testing.  Mary, Lexie, and I donned our wet suits and waited for Les to return.

Les popped back up in the moon pool at the appointed time.  He asked who wanted to go into the water first.  Much to my surprise, Mary volunteered.  I thought that was an amazing development.  Mary had finally found her inner courage.  Lexie was next in the water followed by my.

Underneath the habitat there was a small metal platform.  Our instructions were to kneel on the platform and Les would take us through our mask clearing skills and regulator recovery skills.

It was very dark underneath the habitat.  Visibility was atrocious.  I could make out the forms of Mary and Lexie, but I couldn't see their facial expressions.  Suddenly Mary bolted up into the moon pool.  Les went up with her.

It was difficult to figure out what the situation with Mary was.  I presumed that she had some kind of equipment problem with her mask.  Maybe it just wasn't adjusted properly.  All I could see at this point was Mary's legs and torso.  Her head and shoulders were up in the air of the habitat.

So Lexie and I waited in the gloom.  Finally Les came back down and moved over to Lexie.  He started taking her through the mask clearing and regulator recovery skills.  While they did this I attempted to remain stationary underneath the habitat.  I still wondered what was up with Mary, but assumed that Les would take care of the problem later.

Before long, Lexie and Les swam off.  I was left alone underneath the habitat while Mary remained standing in the moon pool.  It was not a great feeling to be along underneath the habitat.  My big fear was that I would float off of the platform and disappear into oblivion.  I figure that if I ever got lost from the habitat, Les would never find me.

The problem with trying to remain stationary is that I tried to hold on to the underside of the habitat.  That was not a pleasant thing, because there were plenty of very sharp barnacles occupying that surface area.

Time passed and I wondered how Lexie was doing.  I also wondered how Mary was doing, but at least I could see her legs.  I wish I knew Yoga because some peaceful meditation at this point probably would have been helpful.

I was relieved when finally I saw Les and Lexie swim back into view.  I don't know how long they were gone but it seemed like 10 or 15 minutes.  I was again surprised because Les and Lexie popped directly up into the moon pool instead of staying under the habitat with me.

Now the wheels of my mind began to turn again.   Perhaps Lexie had encountered some difficulty.  Now two members of our team were out of commission standing in the moon pool.  I didn't have too much time to ponder that scenario though as Les came back down to my level.  He started taking me through my mask clearing and regulator recovery skills.

Even in the dark gloom and murk underneath the habitat, I found that clearing my mask was a fairly simple operation.  Regulator recovery also went smoothly.  Les then indicated that we would swim out from the habitat.  He pointed out another line tied to the habitat and indicated that I should follow it.

I swam along the line, but had some difficulty maintaining my depth.  Breath control is a skill that I still need to get better at.  As I swam along the line, another habitat emerged from the murk.   It was neat to see this habitat pop out of nowhere.  That was the feeling that Bob Barth had described to me the day before.

This habitat was an educational habitat where student programs are often conducted. At that time the habitat was empty.  I let go of the line and Les pushed me down to the bottom of the habitat to look at something.  I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed be looking at.  I did note the smooth stainless steel walls of the pressure hull.  It was possible that was what he wanted me to see.

Les then had me look in the window of the habitat.  While I was looking, I started thinking, Okay, I've seen it, now let's get back to business and finish off this skill testing. I was less interested in sightseeing at this point than I was in finishing the test.

We moved around the habitat and Les directed me a rubber platform in front of it. On this platform he had me demonstrate the fin pivot and hovering.  I was relieved when I was able to demonstrate those skills on the first attempt. 

I also noticed that the bottom of the lagoon appeared to be covered with indoor outdoor carpet. This was done in an effort to keep the water in the lagoon clearer.  Obviously there was more at play in the murkiness of the lagoon than having the bottom stirred up.

After hovering Les had me follow the line back over to the Jules habitat.  We popped up in the moon pool where Mary and Lexie were still standing.  I felt really good, I had passed all of the skill testing that Les put me through.  I knew I had passed because he gave me a big high five when the skill was completed successfully.

After surfacing in the moon pool I was able to find out what Mary's issue was.  Soon after she got in the water underneath the habitat, she had a terrible attack of claustrophobia.   With the darkness, the murkiness, and the small distance between the bottom of the habitat and the top of the platform, I could understand how claustrophobia might be an issue.

This attack was worse than any anxiety that she face in our pool sessions.  She was mortally gripped with fear.  Les asked her if she wanted to try again, but Mary wasn't going to get back in the water anymore that day.

Les told her that was fine and she could doff her BC and hop out of the moon pool. He then asked Lexie and me if we wanted to go for a swim around the Jules habitat.  We both thought that would be nice, so off we went.  Les was in the lead and Lexie and I were to follow.

Soon after emerging from underneath the habitat I found myself floating towards the surface.  Try as I might, I just couldn't seem to get back down to Les's depth.  Finally, Les looked back and saw my predicament.  He swam up to my level and pulled me down by my fin.  For the rest of the dive Les kept a hand on the back of our tanks to ensure that I didn't float off again.

We looked into the window of the habitat's common area.  I found it difficult to stay in place and brushed the rim around the window with my fingers to stabilize my position. That really wasn't a good thing to do.  Fortunately I didn't damage my fingers too badly though and it didn't hurt to bad.

We returned to the moon pool opening underneath the habitat and surface in the moon pool.  Les then told us to remove our BCs and hop out of the pool.  He asked Mary how she was doing and she said fine.  He asked her if she wanted to try testing some of her open water skills tomorrow morning and she said that she thought she probably would try.

I was glad to have some of the skill testing behind for at least Lexie and me.  Diving in the murky conditions wasn't easy but we succeeded.  I later found out that even for a person as experienced as Les, the visibility conditions were bad.  When he had Lexie out on her swim, Les himself couldn't find the rubber platform near the educational habitat so that Lexie could demonstrate fin pivot.  Lexie would get to demonstrate her fin pivot and hovering during our boat dives off the coast on Thursday.

Even though, I had relief about Lexie and my testing, I was heavily conflicted about Mary's situation.  It was nearly 30 minutes after she had gotten out of the water and she still didn't appear to have calmed down.  I was really worried about her.  She drank a coke, lay down on the bench in the common area and closed her eyes.

I wasn't sure how Mary was going to be able to get out of the habitat.  The only way in is to swim in via scuba and the only way out is to swim out via scuba.  If she could not get beyond the claustrophobia, how would she make it back to the surface?  I dearly wanted Mary to succeed, but certainly didn't want to push her beyond her abilities.

While Mary rested and tried to relax, Lexie drew a picture in the Jules log book.  As she did that I sat next to the large window in the living area, looking at the fish and reading my book.

Before Les returned to the surface he asked us what we wanted for dinner.  The previous day he had mentioned that he even delivers pizzas to the lodge.  That's a trick because the water tight containers normal float vertically due to the weighting at the bottom.  He assured us though that he was able to deliver pizza with out of the toppings slumped off.

Having a pizza delivery underwater sounded like a fun thing to do.  So we opted for pizza instead of a more elegant meal.  There are probably not a lot of people around who can say that they have had a pizza delivered 30 feet underwater.

Before long Mary was up and around.  She was calmer, but still did not understand the fear that overcame her underneath the habitat.  She said that she was fine and then all of a sudden she just had to get out.  Even standing in the open air in the moon pool she found that she wasn't able to breathe.  The fear had paralyzed her that badly.

Les returned about 6:30 PM to deliver our pizza.  As promised, he delivered it, right side up with all of the toppings in place.  The trick we learned was that he did not use the normal weighting system for the transfer containers.  Instead he had a strap fashioned to the container so that he could float it horizontally in the water.

Les gave us a debriefing of what he thought went well and what he thought could have gone better with our checkout dives.  I imagine the astronauts go through a similar exercise after the completion of their EVAs.

The pizza was great.  I think all of us were very hungry after our big adventure.  Les cleaned up the trash and packed it in a transfer container so that he could return it to the surface.  He told us that he would be back at 8:00 AM to run Mary through some skills testing if she was up to it.  Once we got back to the surface, Les would then complete our surface skills testing.

After Les left, we retired to the bedrooms.  All of us really appreciated where we were.  Even Mary, who had been gripped by claustrophobia, was still really glad to be living under the sea in the habitat.

We watched a couple of more movies and went to bed with the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine movie playing.   The song, Yellow Submarine had taken on new meaning for all of us in particular the section with the words:

So we sailed up to the sun
'Till we found the sea of green
And we lived beneath the waves
In our yellow submarine

Indeed we had found the sea of green.  In fact it was so green that you could barely see your hand in front of your face.  But there we were, living beneath the waves.

The morning came around and I woke up early.  I had a lot of anxiety about Mary's situation.   I hoped that she would be able to make it back to the surface without another panic attack.  I felt really sorry for her and wished that there was something that I could do for her, but it really was out of my hands.

I wanted to leave a personal entry in the Jules Verne log book that remains in the habitat.   So I went over to the common living area of the habitat and started writing in the log book.   In the log I thanked Scott and the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation for making available the wonderful experience.   I thanked the people associated with Jules and in particular Les for taking such great care of us.  Finally I recognized Mary's love for me, which I don't think could be more evident than from her support, words of encouragement, and finally agreeing to go with me an this crazy adventure.

I resumed reading my book and enjoyed the view out of the big circular window at the end of the common area.  I watched again as the view turned from black to dark green, to lighter green.  It was apparent the over the span of the last two days, the clarity of the water improved quite a bit.  Instead of not being able to see your hand in front of your face you could probably see 6 feet or more.

Mary and Lexie got up and we had cereal and fruit for breakfast.  We tried to tidy up the habitat as much as we could so that it wouldn't be a big job to clean up after our stay.  We organized our belongings so that Les would be able to pack them in the transfer containers.

It was with a twinge of sadness that the three of us prepared to leave our home for the past two days.  We really had more fun down there than we ever imagined.   The lodge staff and the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation were skeptical when we told them that we wanted to stay in the lodge for the full two days.  Most people apparently cannot deal with the closed environment.   Mary, Lexie, and I found it to be invigorating.

Les arrived at the appointed 8:00 AM hour.  With him, Les brought Lexie's missing fin.  He finally found it in the murk of the lagoon. He then packed our belongings into the transfer containers.  We had already donned our wet suits in preparation for departure.  Les told us that he would first take Mary out, while Lexie and I remained along on the habitat.

It was my belief that this was another excellent decision on Les's part.  Lexie and I would be fine with our exit.  Mary was the one that would need the extra looking after and guidance.

Mary and Les were in the moon pool and Les asked her if she was ready.  Mary indicated that she was and off they went.  Later Mary would tell me that the way she made it out was by closing her eyes.  She let Les guide her and with her eyes closed, she did not have an issue with the claustrophobia.

Lexie and I waited patiently in the wet room of the habitat. It did not take too long before Les came back for us.  He cheerfully replied that Mary did great.  She had made it safely to the surface without any issues.  That was a big relief to me.

Les then told Lexie and me that we would swim out by ourselves.  He would not guide us.  It was up to us to find our way back to the top.  He did watch over us, but we were on our own.

Les went out followed by Lexie.  I left the habitat last.  Lexie made her way to the line and started up towards the surface.  One thing we were instructed was to slowly ascend, because of the excess nitrogen in our blood stream.  Lexie went up somewhat faster than I and before long; I could no longer see her.  Les came back to check if I was Okay and I was.  I was just taking it nice and slow, enjoying my return trip to the surface.

I surfaced about 10 feet from the steps of the dock.  I was comforted to see Mary on the dock and Lexie floating nearby in the water.  The next order of business was that Les was going to go through our surface skills.  He asked Mary if she wanted to participate, but Mary declined.  She was out of the water and she was glad to be there.

I was somewhat concerned with the surface skills that we had to go through.  One of the skills to demonstrate was to remove our BC in the water and then show that we could put it back on.  We hadn't really practiced that one in the pool sessions so I did not have a lot of confidence in it.  It worried me quite a bit.

Les selected me to go first for this exercise.  First he had me remove my weight belt.  He then had me remove my BC.  I followed those instructions and was floating there holding on to my BC.  His recommend method of putting the BC back on in the water was to straddle the scuba tank like you were riding a horse.  I tried that but fell off.  I also have had little experience with horses.

Les selected me to go first for this exercise.  First he had me remove my weight belt.  He then had me remove my BC.  I followed those instructions and was floating there holding on to my BC.  His recommend method of putting the BC back on in the water was to straddle the scuba tank like you were riding a horse.  I tried that but fell off.  Although I grew up on a farm I have had little experience with horses.

After I feel off I decided to just try and put the BC on like a coat.   That worked and it was a huge relief to me to demonstrate that skill.

Les then handed my weight belt back to me and told me to put it on.  That was one skill where I had a lot of practice at from our pool training session.  With ease I place the belt around my waist and snapped the buckle.  I told Les that I was done, and he had a look of astonishment on his face.   I guess my speed in this skill took him by surprise.

The next task to demonstrate was switching between regulator and snorkel while swimming along the surface.  That was another skill that I felt comfortable with after the pool training sessions.  I demonstrated that skill without any problems.

The last surface skill Les asked me to demonstrate was the tired diver tow.  We had not practiced that in the pool sessions, but I found it to be pretty simple.

Les then moved on to Lexie to run her through the surface skills.  I was thrilled, another round of running the gauntlet and I survived.

Lexie was a little worried about demonstrating the snorkel and regulator exchange skill while swimming along the surface.  In the past she had difficulty with clearing her snorkel.  She did fine though, as she did with the rest of her surface skills.

Lexie and I climbed out of the water using the stairs on the dock.  We doffed our equipment and hit the showers.  While we did that Les retrieved our belongings from the habitat.  I was relieved to find that my books had survived and that there was no water intrusion in the transfer containers.

Mary, Lexie and me had a sense of euphoria; we had just completed one of the greatest adventures of our lives.   The three of us lived together underwater for 40 hours.  By staying under water for longer than 24 hours, we were now officially aquanauts.

As Wednesday wore on, Mary, Lexie and I found ourselves getting more and more tired. We were simply exhausted.  Les told us the next day, that our exhaustion was due to dehydration.  Even though we tried to drink lots of water while we were living in the habitat, the dry air we were breathing left us in a state of dehydration.

Thursday morning was another day of facing the unknown.  Lexie and I were to complete our open water certification with Les during a couple of dives off of the Florida coast.  On this dive boat would also be Larry McGlynn and Linn LeBlanc.  They would be dive buddies during the two dive stops.

Mary planned on coming along on the dive boat even though she would not be diving.  Motion sickness has been something that has plagued Mary in the past, so she took some Bonine medication in advance to prevent it.

When we got to the boat, Mary found that the head on the boat did not have a door.  It was a fairly crowded boat and Mary was not comfortable with the missing door.  For that reason, she begged off from going out on the boat and headed back to the hotel.

The boat pulled out from the dock and schedule and we headed out to the first dive site. It did not surprise me when the apprehension began to well up inside of me.   I was pretty concerned with what Lexie and I were going to do.

After a 20 minute or so boat ride, our boat captain stopped the vessel at a reef called “Pickles.”  The boat was tied up and we were waiting dressed in our scuba equipment.  All of the other divers on the boat were experienced and they did the giant stride into the water before us.

Les was also in the water at this point, so it was only Lexie, me, and the crew.  Lexie didn't want to go first, but I insisted that she be the first of us to get into the water.  Once again I had concerns that she would freeze and not be able to do the giant stride.  Finally Lexie got into the water.

Now it was my turn.  I'm not sure how many giant strides it takes before you become acclimated to doing it.  Each one seems to present its own set of concerns.  In the lagoon, at Jules’ Undersea Lodge, the water was so murky; you had no idea what you were jumping into.   Here in the ocean, the water was so clear you could see the bottom.

The boat in the ocean did not provide a stable platform though.  The wave motion just added to the concerns.  Finally I made my giant stride into the water.  It wasn't a thing of beauty, but it was successful.  Being in the water I was more relaxed.  It seems like I have more anxiety waiting to get into the water than I do once I am actually in it.

We descended along the anchor line down to the bottom.  I was amazed at how much you could see here.  This was a lot different that the murky lagoon.  There were plenty of corals and fish to be seen.

Les had Lexie demonstrate the fin pivot and hovering, since she had not gotten to do that in the lagoon.  After that, it was time to demonstrate emergency ascents.  Les had me demonstrate the shared air ascent with him.   When we got to the surface he had me inflate my BC by blowing into the inflation tube.  The inflation seemed a little difficult but then I remembered that I had to depress the inflation button before blowing.

While I demonstrated this skill, Lexie remained on the bottom.  I was concerned about it, but Les kept an eye on where she was and knew that she would be fine.  Lexie had a great view watching a crab on the bottom while I did the ascent with Les.

We went back to the bottom and Les had me demonstrate the controlled emergency ascent.  This is the one where you breathe out all of the way up.  This was another skill that I was apprehensive about.  Would I have enough air, to breathe out all of the way?

Les and I were locked arm in arm.  With his other hand Les put his hand on my regulator.  By doing that he would be able to tell if I didn't cheat and take a breath off from the tank during this emergency ascent.  Upward I finned.  As the surface grew closer I became more and more relieved.  I was still breathing out.  I had not run out of breath.  We got to the surface and I was very happy.  What I had thought would be the most difficult skill to demonstrate, really wasn't all that bad.

Les then took Lexie for the shared air ascent.  It was now my turn to stay on the bottom. It was pretty peaceful down there for me since, my ascent testing was over.  Lexie did fine on the shared air ascent.  We had run into the end of our dive window though, so Lexie would have to demonstrate the controlled emergency ascent on our next dive.

It was a big sense of relief to have completed the first dive and to have demonstrated several scuba skills.   There was not much time to relax though as the captain of the boat had us at our second dive site in short order.  The name of this reef was “Pillars.”

Once again we donned our diving equipment.  As it was on the previous dive, Lexie and I were the only divers left on the boat.  All of the experienced divers were already in the water.    Lexie wanted me to go first with the giant stride.

 I felt comfortable at this point that she would not freeze, so I agreed to her request.  The second stride off of this boat was better, but the motion of the boat still took some getting used to.

Lexie demonstrated her controlled emergency air ascent.  Les then had us demonstrate compass navigation skills on the surface.  Lexie swam a straighter line than I did, but we both passed.  The final skill for us to demonstrate was compass navigation underwater.  We both passed that skill as well.

That was it.  There were no more skills for us to demonstrate.  Les now took us for a tour of this underwater sanctuary.  The fish were beautiful.  Their colors were brilliant.  Lexie and I were exploring a strange new world.

Before long it was time to return to the boat.  I was glad that we had Les along, because it made it a lot easier to find the boat.  I finned over to the line that trailed the ladder to get back on to the boat.  Lexie was directly ahead of me so she got on the ladder first.

One thing that Les cautioned me was to not get to close when someone is on the ladder.  If they fell off the ladder you don't want to be below them.  That made a lot of sense.  It was a scenario that I had not considered.

We got back on the boat and removed our equipment.  We were tired but relieved.  Les announced that there were now two more certified scuba divers on the boat.  Both I and 11 year old Lexie had passed the muster.

We met back up at the hotel with Mary.  She was feeling no pain at this point.  A single glass of wine on top of the Bonine that she had taken earlier had a big effect.  Mary was still overcoming the effects of her bout of claustrophobia under Jules’ Lodge.  She had said that she tried to force herself to get into the swimming pool at the hotel and even putting her face in the water there bothered her.