Check Out Dives - What to expect??

[The Surly Mermaid]

You've gotten some really great advice above from people who have been right where you are now.

Even after a couple hundred dives there are still things that are outside my comfort zone. When I asked an instructor friend of mine how to over come my anxiety he asked..."What are you afraid of...and what would you do if it happened" When I thought about it I was amazed that I already knew the answers of what to do.

In your case it is your mask coming off unexpectedly or a mouth piece breaking.....So what would you do? If your mask gets knocked off or flooded (which this rarely if ever happens) you try not to get water up your nose and you put it back on and clear it. If you get water up your nose while your mask if off, you are going to cough through your reg and blow out through your nose to stop any other water from getting up it, and then you are going to put the mask on and clear it.

Nobody is REAL comfortable with their mask off. I suggest the next time you go the pool to sit for a while in the shallow end, underwater, breathing through your reg with your mask off. That way you get used to how it feels and will help reduce your anxiety about it. You need to get to the point in the shallow end where if you get water up your nose your first instinct isn't to stand up, but until you get to that point at least in the shallow end you CAN "surface" and won't risk injury.

If your mouth piece breaks under water...again VERY rare occurrence. You may get a little choked. STOP, THINK.... look at the reg to see if it's broken(mouthpiece off etc.). If so reach for your secondary air source, breath.... and start a controlled accent.

What ever worst case scenario you have probably will never happen, but it is wise to mentally prepared for how you would react. This will make you a safer diver, and reduce your anxiety.

You are very wise to continue your pool work until you are comfortable, and you will not be asked to do anything in open water that you haven't gone over numerous times in the pool. Be sure if you are nervous on your check outs that you let your instructor know. Don't beat yourself up for being nervous either. It's ok to be a little nervous during check outs, just don't let it control you. You are going to do fantastic. Keep a positive attitude and pretty soon you'll be a veteran with 400 dives under their belt offering advice to the new grommets.

 

[fisheater]

In addition to the great advice you've already gotten, I'd like to address your question about what you'll be doing in your open water dives.

(1) ASK THE INSTRUCTOR! Nothing is a secret. Nothing is a surprise. You'll be told before each dive what will be asked of you. There's no reason why you can't ask your instructor now for the syllabus of those dives.

(2) Consult your OW manual. I'm PADI certified and the material includes a description of the skills expected in each of the four OW checkout dives. I assume that the other agencies have similar descriptions.

LOTS of us had various levels of anxiety about the dives. Those who didn't were either supermen or fools. A certain amount of anxiety is what keeps us being careful and paying attention. Just don't let it grow into panic.

I firmly believe that working through serious anxiety during your pool and OW checkout dives makes you a BETTER diver than those who breeze through their training. Years from now, when something goes wrong, YOU will be able to recognize the signs of impending panic and have the tools, training and EXPERIENCE to quell it and deal with the issues at hand. Those who've never be anxious underwater would not have those skills.

 

[Thalassamania]

I've had to do many many checkouts over the years, every time I needed to dive at a new institution or off of a new vessel I had to one. Here is a description of the best designed check out that I ever had:

The first time I went down to work at the University of Puerto Rico’s lab at La Paguera, I was instructed to report to the Dive Locker at 10:00 A.M. Waiting there was the lab Diving Safety Officer, a man who was truly a legend in his own time, Walt Hendrick Sr.

Walt questioned us (there were two of us) closely about our diving background as we carried our gear bags and tanks up over the hill and down onto the dock. We were instructed to put our wet suit booties on and jump into the water beside the dock. Walt walked up and down the dock and continued to talk with us in a very quiet tone; we needed to swim back and forth to hear him.

Walt took our fins and masks (with snorkels) out of our bags. He put my fins together and pulled my mask over them to hold them together. He tossed them to me and repeated the process with my partner. “Put them on,” he said. This was a little complicated because when you pulled them apart you had three pieces, each headed in its own direction. I jammed my mask up over my left arm, took one fin in each hand, took a big gulp of air, and resting on the buoyancy of the air in my lungs, held my breath while I got my fins on. Then I put my mask on, my snorkel in my mouth and waited.

My buddy got his gear squared away and Walt said, ‘See that float over there?” He was indicating a crab pot buoy a goodly distance away. “I want you to make a surface dive, make ten kicks underwater, surface for one breath, dive, make 10 kicks underwater, until you reach the float.”

I took a breath and dove, ten kicks, take a breath, ten kicks, take a breath, ten kicks, take a breath, ten kicks (this is getting hard), take a breath, ten kicks (I don’t know if I can do this), take a breath, ten kicks (I’m done for), take a breath, five kicks (I give up), surface. There’s the float, fairly close by. Walt waives for us to return.

We snorkel back on the surface. We stop at the edge of the dock and Walt questions us, “Did you make it?” No, “Did you do ten kicks each time?” All but the last one. “Did you only take one breath each time,” Yes. “OK, get on out, you can dive at the lab." So we got out of the water, packed our gear up, and walked back to the dive locker.

I had a chance to talk to Walt a few days later, DSO to DSO. “What was that all about?” I asked, “I’ve never had a checkout like that, we never even went on SCUBA.” Walt smiled. “Here’s how it works,” he lowered his voice to a conspiratorial tone. “Most of it is misdirection. We had a long talk as you walked to the dock; this gave me two critical pieces of information. The first was who you think you are, the second is what kind of shape you're in.”

It had been kind of a long walk up and down hill carrying a full gear bag and a tank that we never used. “Now by the time we got to the dock I knew that if you two were, in fact, who you told me you were, I’d have no trouble letting you dive here.”

“You both modified your swimming to compensate for the booties, a good sign; you both dealt with the loose gear and getting it on; but most importantly you both told me the truth.”

“The truth about what?” I asked.

He said, “When you were snorkeling out to the float I could easily tell if you made the same distance on each breath by looking at the distance between your ripples when yoiu surfaced; I could easily tell if you took just one breath; I didn’t care if you made it to the float, just that you told the truth about what you actually did. You see I can learn all kinds of things about you just by watching carefully.”

“What else did you learn?" I asked.

“Well, when ever you came to the surface and had to talk, you pulled your mask down around your neck. That tells me you’re from California and given the number of times you took it off you’re either an instructor or you’re not very comfortable having a mask on your face.”

I’m sure that Walt learned a whole lot more about us than he ever let on. I started going down to the lab at least once a year to work with Walt. The more time I spent with him the more I came to see that there was layer after layer after layer of information that he was able to gather from these simples exercises. I’m know that I never got the bottom of them all.

 

[Doc]

I too was checked out by a diving legend, Doc Radawski Doc of the Bay

As we loaded into the 10' boat and putt-putted out to Roatan's then closed Mary's Place, he smiled at my gear and asked, "They still make parts for that stuff?"

A brilliant story told above by Thalassa.

 

[DivingPrincessE]

I can not say that. Our experience with a good reputable shop in Key Largo said otherwise.

One skill that is not taught in OW classes is gear inspection. Start by checking the gears before you even walk on the boat. Pull on the mouthpiece to see if visible cracks present. Screw the regulator cap tight, if it is not already. Check the hose ends for visible cracks. Check the first stage filter to make sure it is not all corroded, green, or caked with salt. Inflate the BC manually with your mouth till it is tight, and listen for leaks when you squeeze it. Check the dump valve location and function. If leaks present, it is likely at the dump valves or the inflator hose elbow - just tighten it till it stops.

Once you are on the boat and have the gear hooked up, look up this list, and go through it. http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...15061-predive-gear-check-list-please-add.html. You should do this check list even if you had your own gears.

My statement that a reputable LDS would prevent you from getting malfunctioning equipment is based on the shop I did my AOW course with. The two of us that were using the shop's gear had torn BCD weight pockets, non-funtional depth guages, and not enough weights to go around. Another time I rented from them after the class, my reg was completely free flowing. After the reg incident I stop using the shop and found my new shop. I have my own gear now, but they said that if my original shop would have just serviced and properly maintained their gear all of those things shouldn't have gone wrong. When I rented gear while on vacation everything was fine except for a few o-rings that needed to be replaced. I think a shop as sub-par as the first one I used is rare (well at least I hope it is) and I'm just glad I was able to find a new one.

 

[Prostar]

and how often do accidents happen like your mask comes off, your mouthpiece breaks or your regulator freeflows?

My instructor told me a story about a guy he was diving with off the North Carolina coast. Inst. swam up to the guy who stuck his middle finger up the front of his mask. He saw that several times during the dive. After they got back on the boat, Inst. asks the guy why he was flipping him the bird. The guy said that his mask strap broke and he was just holding it on. He didn't want to miss out on any of the dive.

 

[Thalassamania]

In more than 10,000 dives I've never lost a mask and I've had my regulator pull out of the mouthpiece once.

 

[MikeFerrara]

In more than 10,000 dives I've never lost a mask and I've had my regulator pull out of the mouthpiece once.

I never had a mouthpiece pull off but I've seen it. The diver had a mouthpiece in their mouth but no reg on the end of it, trying to figure out why they weren't getting air. LOL

I've lost a mask on one dive when an old rubber mask strap broke. I continued the dive without a strap so it came off quite a few times. No big deal.

I've had masks knocked sideways on my face a bunch of times and I've had them flood for all sorts of reasons including looking the wrong direction in very high flow and having the current rattle it around causing it to flood.

The point is that niether should be a big deal. You need a mask to see well but you don't need one to dive.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Thanks to everyone. I go to the pool because right now I know I am not ready. I know that I have the tendancy to panic but I am learning!!! I have a few more pool sessions and each time I become less scared and better at the skills. I guess I am one of those people that just needs a little extra instruction.

Again, Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. It makes me feel better about the sport.

I too was one of the people needing extra instruction. I still dislike not having my mask on underwater and have to regularly do no-mask swims to keep myself comfortable with the skill. Spend an entire pool session with no mask if you get a chance, it really does make a difference. Also, ask your instructor if they can remove a mouthpiece from a reg and let you try to breathe off of it. You have to hold it in your mouth but other than that it's no different than breathing one with a mouthpiece on it. You can practice breathing from a free flowing reg as well, if it concerns you ask your instructor to let you try it. The things we try are less stressful than the unknown. A free flow is cold, noisy and distracting but manageable.

Getting your head into the game is the hardest part about scuba. Want a mental challenge, do a giant stride entry without your mask on and descend, don your mask near the bottom and clear it. Have an instructor by your side the entire time. It sounds incredibly easy but there's something about doing that exercise that makes it a mental hurdle for some people. When I was getting certified I finally got my head around that exercise and showed myself I could do it and a lot of my pool fears went away. It was a huge confidence boost for me.

I had somone in my class who didn't want to take her mask off or the reg from her mouth. just remember that the reg is right there and when you take your mask off your reg is in your mouth and you can breath.
Neil

Remember as well that your instructor probably isn't letting you do these skills without watching you closely. I know I have my octopus in my hand any time I ask a student to remove a regulator from their mouth. One student did the drop/retrieve exercise but his regulator got caught under the platform we were next to and didn't come on the retrieve. My heart jumped into my chest and my octopus as well as his buddy's octopus were immediately in front of him. He just waved us off, unhooked the reg (the hose was between two boards) and completed the skill. When we surfaced after the dive he said, "Scared you didn't I?" and laughed. I love it when my students are that comfortable underwater, I'm much older because of it though
Ber :lilbunny: