Logged first dives and am certified!!!

[Paco]

Congratulations. Yes, plan your next dive vacation, but plan to dive locally as well.

 

[JohnQPS122]

Congrats, Deb! My wife learned to dive last year and had a similar first experience with a great instructor. Have Fun!

 

[thedebinator]

Boulder john to answer your question of where we dove we did the Palancar Gardens, which was beautiful but as a new diver I was a little nervous about swimming through the coral corridors and the 70 ft depth concerned me at first, but after a few minutes the depth was no longer an issue(even though i prefer a 50 ft dive or less right now). wehn we descended it was sunny and calm, when we returned to the surface it was windy raining and the waves were very big. Quite the suprise. My buddy said i climbed the ladder to the boat like a monkey (which is pretty amazing if you consider that when we were doing cert dives from shore i slipped and ended up on my knees and thought i was never going to be able to get back up and it was only with the help of my buddy and the instructor that i was able to stand-man that gear is heavy).

The second dive was at Yucab-I enjoyed this very much, it was a 50 ft dive and the wildlife was plentiful.

I learned a lot on these two dives-primarily how planning dive ahead of time (depth, bottom time) and not relying on the divemaster. I did notice that none of the divers knew exactly where we where headed when we got on the boat other than Palancar (caves, Gardens, Horshoe etc) It also seemed to me that no one was really worried about log info (interval, bottom time, etc) except depth with the exception of one diver. We had hired a private divemaster for just my buddy and I since it was our first dive after certification, so I am not really sure what the the other divers were really doing, but i didn't see anyone figuring out what pressure group they were in after the first dive or logging anything. I just know that i will be ever diligent about tracking times, depth, interval etc. in order to be safe.

That said it was a fabulous experience. I did come home with a slight case of tourista, but hey that's the risk of going to mexico. LOL

 

[Grover48]

Congrats!!!!!!!!

Now is the season to get in some more dives and reinforce what you learned. Try to hook up with someone to dive with that you both can enjoy the same type of diving.

Most of all have fun and stay safe.

 

[2905luvsbubbles]

thedebinator, you will find that some divers do not truly plan their dives or record their dives. For safety sake you should always plan your dives and then record them. It helps you manage weighting, buyonacy and air consumption if you log these items, as least it did for me as I have a handy reference if I am switching between steel and aluminum tanks, wetsuits or dry suits, as well as between salt and freshwater. It is also refreshing to see the progress you make as you log your dives. If you want to do more than 1 dive a day, you definitely need to plan out your dives including depth and surface intervals. Keep diving and enjoy your newfound sport.

 

[Sas]

Congrats on your certification

 

[Aylen]

Congrats!!! I too completed mine this past weekend. However, it was not as nice as Cozumel. We did our OW dives at Blue Water Quarry in Pelham, AL and the visibility really sucked. But, we had a great time and it makes me even more ready to head to the ocean! The people there were very friendly!

 

[martinwaller]

congratulations!

My wife and I were just certified as well and can't wait to do some more diving. We are hoping to take a first trip to Florida this August.

Martin and Justine