I am continuing to work on my buoyancy, which means I need to put the time in the water. Since my last post, I've gained confidence to dive further from shore, to other "wrecks". I am still diving no deeper than 20ft, so that in case of an emergency, I can safely CESA.
Also in order to save air and to practice using the oral inflation tube, whenever I surface, I don't hit the inflate button, I inflate my BCD orally.
The school bus "wreck" has buoyancy objects to swim through. Out of 10 attempts, I was able to successfully swim through 5 of them without hitting the sides. I'm looking forward to improving this 50% average but at least it's a great start. I've also swam parallel to the bus windows and use my lungs to move up or down. While I am happy with my progress I still have more work to do.
After a few dives, I determined that I have enough air left to complete two more dives. I decided to shoot an azimuth to the next buoy and swim at depth to it. There are also lines that I can follow. So I shot an azimuth to the buoy and submerged. As I was following the line it reached a junction point. I didn't realize it at the time but I took the wrong junction point. The lake that I am diving in has poor viz so you can't pick out an object in front of you as a reference. After so many kick cycles, I determined it was time to surface to see where I was at. As I surfaced I was dismayed that I went further out into the lake. Lesson learned,......TRUST the compass!!! I reassess and shoot another azimuth to the buoy that I can barely make out. I triple check it and away I go! So this time I am solely relying on my compass as there are no lines to follow and viz as I mentioned was very low. I also focused on my flutter kicks as I have been working those so I can be more efficient and glide better. I was so focused on my compass that I decided to use time as an indicator to surface. So after 5-7 minutes, I surface and to my joy there was the blue bouy about 20ft in front of me! I dove back down and continued on my heading, I didn't know it but I passed the wreck and surfaced about 7-10 feet away, closer to the shore line. I was elated, I trusted the heading on this second dive. Goes to show putting in the work, really helps out, I was calm, reassessed and eventually made it. To get one more practice in, I shot an azimuth to my exit point and finished out my dive for the day! I still need to work my compass skills but I am still elated that I was able to use my training to get out of a jam!
Also in order to save air and to practice using the oral inflation tube, whenever I surface, I don't hit the inflate button, I inflate my BCD orally.
The school bus "wreck" has buoyancy objects to swim through. Out of 10 attempts, I was able to successfully swim through 5 of them without hitting the sides. I'm looking forward to improving this 50% average but at least it's a great start. I've also swam parallel to the bus windows and use my lungs to move up or down. While I am happy with my progress I still have more work to do.
After a few dives, I determined that I have enough air left to complete two more dives. I decided to shoot an azimuth to the next buoy and swim at depth to it. There are also lines that I can follow. So I shot an azimuth to the buoy and submerged. As I was following the line it reached a junction point. I didn't realize it at the time but I took the wrong junction point. The lake that I am diving in has poor viz so you can't pick out an object in front of you as a reference. After so many kick cycles, I determined it was time to surface to see where I was at. As I surfaced I was dismayed that I went further out into the lake. Lesson learned,......TRUST the compass!!! I reassess and shoot another azimuth to the buoy that I can barely make out. I triple check it and away I go! So this time I am solely relying on my compass as there are no lines to follow and viz as I mentioned was very low. I also focused on my flutter kicks as I have been working those so I can be more efficient and glide better. I was so focused on my compass that I decided to use time as an indicator to surface. So after 5-7 minutes, I surface and to my joy there was the blue bouy about 20ft in front of me! I dove back down and continued on my heading, I didn't know it but I passed the wreck and surfaced about 7-10 feet away, closer to the shore line. I was elated, I trusted the heading on this second dive. Goes to show putting in the work, really helps out, I was calm, reassessed and eventually made it. To get one more practice in, I shot an azimuth to my exit point and finished out my dive for the day! I still need to work my compass skills but I am still elated that I was able to use my training to get out of a jam!
