Kodad
Contributor
This is my first post, but I have enjoyed reading and learning from all of you since I joined last year. I'll try to be as brief as possible.
First, a little background info. I was certified in the Keys in January. Since then all of my 20 dives have been done while island hopping in French Polynesia over the last 4 months. I wore a 3mm full suit, booties, gloves and a hood for my check out dives (cold is a relative term for Floridians). Since then I have worn a 3mm shorty and booties.
Fast forward to last week. I arrived back in the States on the 1st of July, and immediately head up to Hampton. NH to join my family at my folks summer house. Since I hadn't had time to unpack, I brought all of my dive gear with me, hoping to do some dives in the Atlantic or Lake Winnipesaukee. I chose the lake for my first outing.
There were 4 of us and a DM; One older gentleman who had 1,000's of dives, his grandson a relatively inexperienced diver, another inexperienced diver (14 dives) and myself. Our first dive was right by the shop, the Goodhue and Hawkins in 50' of (fresh) water. I wore my 3mm shorty over my 3mm full suit, booties, gloves and a hood. Also, I had a steel HP100 tank. The DM suggested I start with 20lbs of weight and that we could adjust it as needed on the subsequent dive. I thought that was rather much, but deferrred to his experience. When in the water, I felt a little heavy, but after doing a bouyancy check, I thought it was manageable.
The DM outlined the plan and my buddy and I did our checks and I felt comfortable with how everything was laid out. Right before we got geared up, the older gentleman's tank fell off the rack and cracked a hose. (ALWAYS secure your tanks!) He decided to skip the dive and repair his hose. That left his grandson to join my buddy and I as a threesome. (The DM was going ahead of us to attach a line to the wreck that would guide us to a second nearby wreck.) He told us we would need to drag a float, and I agreed to be the one, even though I had never done it before. I thought it would be a good way to learn a new skill.
As soon as we started our descent, I began having trouble unspooling the line on the float. Then, I started having trouble clearing my ears (something that I have never had any trouble with). I stopped, rose a little and thought I had them clear before I descended again. Then I hit the thermocline at around 35', (around 54 degrees...brrrr). I wasn't prepared for the sudden change in temperature. Then I reached the bottom a little behind my buddies. As soon as they hit bottom, a plume of silt rose up, and as soon as I hit, I further exacerbated the problem with my own plume.
It was too much. Struggling with the float, not completely clearing my ears, the shock of the cold at the thermocline and near blackout visibility, I was getting very uncomfortable. I got my buddies attention and thumbed the dive.
After a shortened safety stop (about 2 mins at 15'...so much was going on, I didn't realize I was actually slowly ascending). I broke the surface and my buddies came up right behind me. I told them what was going on and we had a short discussion about my issues. It turns out the float was entangled in the anchor line. We got everything untangled and my buddy agreed to take the float (he uses always uses a float at home and was trained during his OW classes).
After a few minutes I felt comfortable again and we decided to go down again, this time with with fewer surprises for me. We made it down without any problems. I realized that towing the float got me out of my habit of constantly clearing on my descent. The thermocline was still cold, but was not as much of a shock to me. Unfortunately, we had silted the bottom up so thoroughly that we could not find the reel to the 2nd wreck. We kept going around in circles until my buddy hit 900lbs of air, which was our agreed upon surface point.
The second dive at the wreck of The Lady of the Lake went off without a hitch and was absolutely enjoyable.
Lots of lessons here.
1) ALWAYS secure your cylinder. This was a 'freebie' lesson for me as it happened to someone else.
2) It's not necessary to try and learn a new skill every dive. Towing a float should have been learned in a controlled setting with a qualified instructor. There was a hint of doubt in my mind and I should have listened to it.
3) Don't let circumstances get you away from your good habits. I had never before had trouble clearing because I always practiced continually clearing on my descents. The first time I deviated from that practice, it became a problem.
4) Not much could be done to anticipate the shock of the thermocline, but now I have that experience under my belt and will be a little more ready for it.
5) When diving in silty locations, stop 4-5' before you reach the bottom. Learn, practice and perfect the frog kick.
6) NEVER be afraid to thumb the dive (I learned that here on Scubaboard more than I did in class). If you feel uncomfortable or out of your element, thumb the dive! Everyone in my group had no problem whatsoever with me thumbing the dive. As it turned out we had a great (and safe) day at the lake.
Sorry i this was a little long winded. I'm ready for any critiques and/or suggestions.
First, a little background info. I was certified in the Keys in January. Since then all of my 20 dives have been done while island hopping in French Polynesia over the last 4 months. I wore a 3mm full suit, booties, gloves and a hood for my check out dives (cold is a relative term for Floridians). Since then I have worn a 3mm shorty and booties.
Fast forward to last week. I arrived back in the States on the 1st of July, and immediately head up to Hampton. NH to join my family at my folks summer house. Since I hadn't had time to unpack, I brought all of my dive gear with me, hoping to do some dives in the Atlantic or Lake Winnipesaukee. I chose the lake for my first outing.
There were 4 of us and a DM; One older gentleman who had 1,000's of dives, his grandson a relatively inexperienced diver, another inexperienced diver (14 dives) and myself. Our first dive was right by the shop, the Goodhue and Hawkins in 50' of (fresh) water. I wore my 3mm shorty over my 3mm full suit, booties, gloves and a hood. Also, I had a steel HP100 tank. The DM suggested I start with 20lbs of weight and that we could adjust it as needed on the subsequent dive. I thought that was rather much, but deferrred to his experience. When in the water, I felt a little heavy, but after doing a bouyancy check, I thought it was manageable.
The DM outlined the plan and my buddy and I did our checks and I felt comfortable with how everything was laid out. Right before we got geared up, the older gentleman's tank fell off the rack and cracked a hose. (ALWAYS secure your tanks!) He decided to skip the dive and repair his hose. That left his grandson to join my buddy and I as a threesome. (The DM was going ahead of us to attach a line to the wreck that would guide us to a second nearby wreck.) He told us we would need to drag a float, and I agreed to be the one, even though I had never done it before. I thought it would be a good way to learn a new skill.
As soon as we started our descent, I began having trouble unspooling the line on the float. Then, I started having trouble clearing my ears (something that I have never had any trouble with). I stopped, rose a little and thought I had them clear before I descended again. Then I hit the thermocline at around 35', (around 54 degrees...brrrr). I wasn't prepared for the sudden change in temperature. Then I reached the bottom a little behind my buddies. As soon as they hit bottom, a plume of silt rose up, and as soon as I hit, I further exacerbated the problem with my own plume.
It was too much. Struggling with the float, not completely clearing my ears, the shock of the cold at the thermocline and near blackout visibility, I was getting very uncomfortable. I got my buddies attention and thumbed the dive.
After a shortened safety stop (about 2 mins at 15'...so much was going on, I didn't realize I was actually slowly ascending). I broke the surface and my buddies came up right behind me. I told them what was going on and we had a short discussion about my issues. It turns out the float was entangled in the anchor line. We got everything untangled and my buddy agreed to take the float (he uses always uses a float at home and was trained during his OW classes).
After a few minutes I felt comfortable again and we decided to go down again, this time with with fewer surprises for me. We made it down without any problems. I realized that towing the float got me out of my habit of constantly clearing on my descent. The thermocline was still cold, but was not as much of a shock to me. Unfortunately, we had silted the bottom up so thoroughly that we could not find the reel to the 2nd wreck. We kept going around in circles until my buddy hit 900lbs of air, which was our agreed upon surface point.
The second dive at the wreck of The Lady of the Lake went off without a hitch and was absolutely enjoyable.
Lots of lessons here.
1) ALWAYS secure your cylinder. This was a 'freebie' lesson for me as it happened to someone else.
2) It's not necessary to try and learn a new skill every dive. Towing a float should have been learned in a controlled setting with a qualified instructor. There was a hint of doubt in my mind and I should have listened to it.
3) Don't let circumstances get you away from your good habits. I had never before had trouble clearing because I always practiced continually clearing on my descents. The first time I deviated from that practice, it became a problem.
4) Not much could be done to anticipate the shock of the thermocline, but now I have that experience under my belt and will be a little more ready for it.
5) When diving in silty locations, stop 4-5' before you reach the bottom. Learn, practice and perfect the frog kick.
6) NEVER be afraid to thumb the dive (I learned that here on Scubaboard more than I did in class). If you feel uncomfortable or out of your element, thumb the dive! Everyone in my group had no problem whatsoever with me thumbing the dive. As it turned out we had a great (and safe) day at the lake.
Sorry i this was a little long winded. I'm ready for any critiques and/or suggestions.
)
