I had asked earlier if it was reasonable for me to take my friend, who just finished OW, out to dive. Got a lot of moral support for doing so.
Well, we went out today. It was a grey and blustery day, and the LDS warned us that the wind could pull up a lot of chop. But in fact, the water was glassy smooth, and current, at least when we started, was negligible. And NOBODY else was diving . . . made me nervous, actually, thinking everybody else knew something I didn't. But there really wasn't any reason not to dive. Viz was super, current was not there, and it would have been a lovely day for a dive.
What we did instead was spend an hour trying to get my friend properly weighted and trimmed and into a controlled descent where we could get her onto her belly and horizontal and stable enough to swim. There were times when I felt like screaming that I was not an instructor and just didn't know enough to do this, but we perservered and eventually got it right. Once I got her down and horizontal, we went "on tour" with me holding her hand. All she had to do was kick a little. We didn't see much of interest, because we didn't get out very far or very deep, but it was her first dive without an instructor, and she did it. My goals were that she not get scared and that we get a little dive in, and we met both.
I'm not sure I'd recommend doing this to someone else. It was nerve-wracking and I really didn't feel like I could help her as much as she needed help, but I sure got a new appreciation for my instructors and the people who have mentored me as I fought through the same newbie problems.
Well, we went out today. It was a grey and blustery day, and the LDS warned us that the wind could pull up a lot of chop. But in fact, the water was glassy smooth, and current, at least when we started, was negligible. And NOBODY else was diving . . . made me nervous, actually, thinking everybody else knew something I didn't. But there really wasn't any reason not to dive. Viz was super, current was not there, and it would have been a lovely day for a dive.
What we did instead was spend an hour trying to get my friend properly weighted and trimmed and into a controlled descent where we could get her onto her belly and horizontal and stable enough to swim. There were times when I felt like screaming that I was not an instructor and just didn't know enough to do this, but we perservered and eventually got it right. Once I got her down and horizontal, we went "on tour" with me holding her hand. All she had to do was kick a little. We didn't see much of interest, because we didn't get out very far or very deep, but it was her first dive without an instructor, and she did it. My goals were that she not get scared and that we get a little dive in, and we met both.
I'm not sure I'd recommend doing this to someone else. It was nerve-wracking and I really didn't feel like I could help her as much as she needed help, but I sure got a new appreciation for my instructors and the people who have mentored me as I fought through the same newbie problems.