First Cold Water Post-dive Thoughts
- Thread starter Litefoot
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For me, it’s not the allure, but the availability of fresh water. If I lived in CA or FL, I would never consider driving to Utah to dive. But I imagine that for all the landlocked divers, those trips to the ocean are ever so much more glorious.
Hey, buddy! I'm an instructor at Neptune Divers in SLC. Good to see you trying new things and getting in some local diving, albeit "cold". I'll admit I prefer warm water, so I do very few "fun dives" here in Utah. I usually only dive locally out of necessity with students. It's hard to enjoy 10 feet of viz and 60 degrees looking at rocks when you go to the Caribbean a few times a year. LOL! That being said, there are some decent dive sites here. As far as diving cold water, it just takes a few times to get the hang of it and to get used to the extra gear and weighting differences. I'd suggest trying a 7mm suit for most local dives like the Gorge and pretty much everywhere else in the winter (minus The Crater and Belmont of course), rather than layering 5mm pieces. The mobility in a good 7mmm suit will be better. Oh, and take copious notes about gear and weight in your log book for reference so you can dial it in and know what you dove the previous time in similar gear and conditions!
Koko,
Thanks for your suggestions. I’ve had a hard time finding buddies. But then I discovered, to my surprise, that two long-time acquaintances here in Vernal are divers. But here’s the funny part. When I retired from the DOE, one of the divers took my job and the other diver took his job at the Bureau of Rec; kind of a circle of life thing.
We’ve all spent lots of hours working inside Flaming Gorge dam.
Thanks for your suggestions. I’ve had a hard time finding buddies. But then I discovered, to my surprise, that two long-time acquaintances here in Vernal are divers. But here’s the funny part. When I retired from the DOE, one of the divers took my job and the other diver took his job at the Bureau of Rec; kind of a circle of life thing.
We’ve all spent lots of hours working inside Flaming Gorge dam.It was a family trip to Tahoe for other purposes. It was dive there or not at all. In retrospect, not at all would have been a better answer.
I just returned from Hawaii today. Reinforced I’m very much so a warm water tropical diver.
Hey everyone. I just wanted to let you know that I went back up to Flaming Gorge yesterday and did a 48 min dive in the same spot. In the last few weeks, I made a few changes to my gear. First, I bought some dive booties with soles to handle walking on the rocks. I now have a QR crotch strap to facilitate getting the weight belt on and off. I loosened my shoulder straps to ease the donning / doffing of the harness and I bought a HP 100 tank.
One of my experienced dive buddies immediately saw my struggles with buoyancy as we dove into the void with little reference except the dive computer depth gauge. He suggested we find a rock at 30 ft where I could sort out things. After a few minutes, I got my buoyancy dialed in and had a GREAT rest of the dive. I was able to hold depth pretty steadily at the safety stop, so I feel like I made a breakthrough in diving these conditions.
Here's the interesting part. I know that I was slightly over weighted on my last dive, so I dropped from 20 to 16 lb. I sank like a rock. So I dropped the weight to 10 lb (took off the 6 lb weight belt) leaving me with 4 lb on the upper back plate and 6 lb on my waist. The trim and buoyancy felt really good! I think the steel tank was a great addition to my gear!
One of my experienced dive buddies immediately saw my struggles with buoyancy as we dove into the void with little reference except the dive computer depth gauge. He suggested we find a rock at 30 ft where I could sort out things. After a few minutes, I got my buoyancy dialed in and had a GREAT rest of the dive. I was able to hold depth pretty steadily at the safety stop, so I feel like I made a breakthrough in diving these conditions.
Here's the interesting part. I know that I was slightly over weighted on my last dive, so I dropped from 20 to 16 lb. I sank like a rock. So I dropped the weight to 10 lb (took off the 6 lb weight belt) leaving me with 4 lb on the upper back plate and 6 lb on my waist. The trim and buoyancy felt really good! I think the steel tank was a great addition to my gear!
SuitableSkies
Registered
That's awesome! I'm really glad I got a SS backplate - will have to try a steel tank as well. What are the fun things to see in Flaming Gorge?
RobPNW
Contributor
A few dives in a 7mm wetsuit at 44F in the Puget Sound was enough to convince me I'm a warm water travel diver. Although, some people live for that stuff.
LOL! Not much to see; rocks, underwater canyon walls, fishing gear. There are quite a few bass that seem to take an interest in divers.
Well then maybe I should consider myself “lucky” to have water in the 55-65 degree range.
Addressing the long hose issue, clip the 2nd stage (it should have a clip) to your right shoulder d-ring and tuck the ext hose under your waist belt. It will work when it isn't wrapped around your neck.
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