Wednesday morning began just like the past two, a short briefing of the day's events and discussion of the new skills to learn. Tim Gallagher, our proven Aquarius trainer, added some more equipment to our setup for today's session - an emergency pouch to our BCs. The pouch contains a site map that identifies excursion lines for diving out of Aquarius, a sausage buoy, a secondary light, and an emergency strobe. This is equipment that we might need if we ever become lost, or accidentally end up on the surface. Tim carefully explained the function and operation of each piece of equipment. The sausage buoy generated a lot of discussion. Deployment seemed straightforward. A line reel is attached to the end of the buoy and then carefully the buoy is inflated and deployed to the surface. However, when the buoy is filled with air it rockets to the surface when released. Deployed correctly, the fully inflated buoy is quite visible. My main concern was getting tangled in the line, which could take me to the surface with the buoy.

At the end of our briefing, Tim carefully explained additional training skills that we would practice today, including all the hand signals so we would understand what he expected. Along with the sausage buoy deployment, we were going to conduct "lost line" drills. This is the procedure to follow if you get lost and can't find a navigation line back to Aquarius. It involves a primary tie-off using one of our cave reels, then deployment of the line, marking your start point, and a circular swim until you cross a line. There are about 25 things that can go wrong if you're not careful. Still it's not that difficult, except for a major complication - no masks allowed today! This is my third Aquarius mission, but the first time training included trying to find something in the water without my mask. Since I wear contact lenses I close my eyes whenever I have to take my mask off. Tim explained how training "improves" and "evolves" over time. I can only remember opening my eyes underwater as a child in the swimming pool. Needless to say, I was particularly anxious and was also concerned about losing my contacts underwater. Tim did warn us on Tuesday about the "mask-off" drills for Wednesday so I came prepared with an extra set of contacts in case of a wash out.

Luckily, the weather was relatively calm on our trip out to Conch Reef. The fronts and lower pressure areas that threatened us at the start of the week are still offshore, and to the north. Everyone was excited about the challenges ahead, but dreading the mask-off drills, at least I was. Steven was my assigned dive buddy. Allison and Steve Gittings were paired together. Both Steven and I were anxious about roaming around the reef without our masks, especially since we were equipped with a line reel that could conceivably entangle us both into a mummified mess. Regardless of our hesitation, we determinedly set out for out for what we hoped wouldn't be too big an adventure.

As it turned out, the first few moments without a mask were awkward and a little painful. The saltwater stung my eyes more than I thought it would, but I was surprisingly calm. I remember thinking about the hundreds of hours I have worked underwater and my swimming ability (I swam competitively in college), which seemed to calm my nerves. I am not sure how Steven felt, but we both managed to find the line back to the habitat. Even better, my contacts were still in my eyes when I finally received my mask from Tim. Unfortunately, both Steven and I cut our fingers on the excursion line during our search - a small price to pay when the alternative is ending up on the surface. All in all, Tim seemed pleased that we completed the skill successfully. His praise is meaningful to us all.

Feeling extremely proud of ourselves after the mask-off drills, we performed our daily shutdown drills and began the deployment of the sausage buoys. After a little fumbling on all our parts, we deployed our buoys the first time without getting tangled in line. The second deployment went more smoothly, although Tim and Thor tried to distract and entangle us, especially Allison. We ended the dive with buddy breathing drills, thankful to have our masks but confidant that we could find our way back to the habitat without them.