Hi, my name is Zac and I’m the new gear guy at Maui Dreams. I’m from the Wyoming prairie, which is where I was Open Water certified in the fall. The certification took place in Lake Desmit which had about ten feet vis! So when I got to Maui and first went snorkeling, you can imagine my excitement at getting to see at least 50 feet in front of me!!
Anyway, my instructor from Wyoming suggested that I meet with Rachel at MDDC, so I did. Once I assured them that I would scrub the floors, clean the toilet, be Katherine’s slave, and work for free, they said I could be their new “Gearboy”. Naturally, I lept at the opportunity.
Well, I found out that the job description was pretty accurate but also included cleaning equipment (under very stringent guidelines), filling tanks, and taking a bunch of guff from everyone in the shop. How much fun is it? It is a blast, and a very different brand of humor than what I’d previously experienced while working on the pipeline in Wyoming. I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far.
One day as I was washing gear, the boss asked me if I wanted to go diving. I was already having a good day, but my level of excitement and anticipation went through the roof as I casually said, “yeah, sure!”
So the next morning we went to Ulua Beach, geared up, and headed into the water. Mind you, all the diving I had done so far consisted of four open water dives over two days during my certification course and that’s it! This would be my first Maui and my first salt water dive. So, when we started, I didn’t even remember to breathe out during my initial descent and Rachel had to remind me. Once under water though, wow the vis was amazing (I think about 40 feet that day, which to me was like a mile!). We cruised around, looked at eels and even a turtle. On the second dive, we went to 50 feet, my deepest so far. I sat on the bottom, looked at the surface, and realized that diving is the key to a different world.
