Skittl's December 2014 Review- Tres Pelicanos, Suites Bahia, and lots of food.

[Tunaman68]

You can also use a $2.00 snorkel keeper that you loop around the same D ring as the clip.

 

[scubafanatic]

You might be surprised what "all divers" know (there was an impromptu lesson on the boat by Servando on using an oral inflate for the BC, one diver didn't know you could do that...). We had never used weight belts until we got to Cozumel. (I assume proper use is just "keep buckle in front for easy release" - is there something else to know?) I've heard something about rolling into them when you gear up in the water, but not knowing how to do that is one reason I won't jump in and gear up in the water in Cozumel, which is how I prefer to put my gear on at home (we rent weight integrated here, weight belts aren't an option), to save the back pain.


Thanks for the information about balanced/unbalanced etc. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend your gear rentals to other people. I just know that I'm exceptionally picky, and it was my first experience dealing with a regulator that got harder to breathe like that. It never stopped giving me air, I just didn't want to wait around to see if it would stop- which is why I switched to my buddy's octo. And also why, after talking with you on the boat and you said it was breathing fine, on the second dive when it did the same thing, I chose to just keep my buddy really close to me, rather than switching off to his octo again. I will say I was darn impressed at how nice the octo breathed. My previous experience with our local rental gear is that octos aren't as good as a primary, they leak water and are hard to breathe on... Turns out, our shop's octos just suck, I guess.

"Octos" can deliberately be tuned to breathe EITHER 'poorly' or 'brilliantly' , depending on one's preferences. There are actually legitimate reasons one may encounter a deliberately set to 'poorly' breathing reg:

1) cold water regs, are often detuned to be harder breathing, to reduce the chance of a freeflow.

2) even a warm water reg may be tuned to breathe poorly to reduce sensitivity to freeflows if one jumps/rolls off the boat.

3) octos are often 'cheapo' 2nd-stages, especially in a rental fleet, meaning they lack diver-adjustable 'knob'. On a more expensive 2nd-stage, this 'knob' allows divers to adjust breathing effort 'up' or 'down' to suit their personal preferences,on a 'cheapo' 2nd-stage (with no such knob) there's no way to fine custom tune the breathability, so dive shops go conservative and make them harder to breathe, as preventing freeflows is the lesser of two evils.

 

[chillyinCanada]

You might be surprised what "all divers" know (there was an impromptu lesson on the boat by Servando on using an oral inflate for the BC, one diver didn't know you could do that...). We had never used weight belts until we got to Cozumel. (I assume proper use is just "keep buckle in front for easy release" - is there something else to know?) I've heard something about rolling into them when you gear up in the water, but not knowing how to do that is one reason I won't jump in and gear up in the water in Cozumel, which . . .

Based on what you have said above, if you haven't misspoken then your training was inadequate. A refresher with an instructor is definitely required. If you don't know the basics, what else don't you know?

As for your regulator bite, I agree get yourself a comfort bite of some sort. That said, it is not necessary to bite down hard on your mouthpiece. In fact, better not to. Just have it in place, with teeth lightly closed but no pressure, lips closed around mouthpiece. This will become second nature in time. Hope I've explained this properly.

 

[Skittl1321]

Based on what you have said above, if you haven't misspoken then your training was inadequate. A refresher with an instructor is definitely required. If you don't know the basics, what else don't you know?

My training used weight integrated BCs. There were no weight belts. We learned how to take the weight pockets out of the BC, at depth, and reinsert them, as well as how to do that on the surface. That seemed to be what the PADI manual required- are you saying PADI requires weight belts? I did actually take a refresher, with someone else, and weight belts were not addressed there either- just weight pockets, because that is what the gear had.

-I- know how to oral inflate, both on the surface and at depth. That mini lesson was for a different diver. (Hence the "a diver on the boat", rather than saying I.)

I don't bite my mouthpiece, except usually very early on when I'm still nervous. I had a lot of jaw pain last year, but basically none this year.

---------- Post added December 18th, 2014 at 07:26 AM ----------

When your primary started breathing harder, you switched to your buddy's octo. How come you didn't just switch to your own octo?

Because in my training we were told that regulators start breathing harder when you are running low on air (unless you have one of the new kind that just stops providing air. I guess that is the whole balanced/unbalanced thing.). My gauge told me that my air was fine, but the message I was getting from my breathing was different. I didn't want to see how long my air would last before I found out my gauge was broken.

I don't actually think the gauge was broken, but equipment isn't fool proof, and if I was uncomfortable on the dive, to me, the best course of action was to safetly end it. If it was a faulty gauge- switching to my octo just gets me the same air source. I suppose I could have switched to my octo to see if it was the regulator, but I was already 52 minutes into the dive, so I wasn't going to be down there for more than another 10 or so anyway, and I was ready to go to do the safety stop and just surface. And (yes, I do still practice, and I took a refresher course before coming down to Cozumel for supervised practice)- I'm not really in love with changing regulators, so doing it once was better than potentially having to do it twice.

I had told my husband if the same thing happened at the beginning of the next dive (meaning it was the regulator behaving poorly) I'd switch to my own octo first, but it didn't happen until the end of the next dive, and I didn't end up switching to his, but rather just stuck close to him in case I got to the point I needed to.

 

[cvchief]

IScuba Pro MK25 first stage and the A700 second stage are top of the line. .

I have and love the 25 and a600. After diving unbalanced sherwoods on the deeper dives, I was all about the easiest breathing regs. I guess the unbalanced regs are more sturdy for rental use?

 

[AdivingBel]

Based on what you have said above, if you haven't misspoken then your training was inadequate. A refresher with an instructor is definitely required. If you don't know the basics, what else don't you know?

Hard to cover everything in OW. A weight belt seems pretty basic, but may have concentrated on other things that required more practice (mask clearing, buoyancy, air share, buoyancy, gear config, buoyancy). Probably pointed at a weight belt and said, "that's a weight belt, here's how you put in your integrated pockets." That's the beauty of diving new places and with other experienced divers, you learn stuff you don't know. I never back rolled off a boat until Coz. Now you know how to use a weight belt, You win.

 

[Skittl1321]

Probably pointed at a weight belt and said, "that's a weight belt, here's how you put in your integrated pockets." That's the beauty of diving new places and with other experienced divers, you learn stuff you don't know. I never back rolled off a boat until Coz. Now you know how to use a weight belt, You win.

Nope, a weight belt wasn't shown at all. From what I can see, PADI requires you learn how to properly weight yourself (which I know), and how to remove and replace your weight system (which we did, but not with a weight belt). It says nothing about using a weight belt specifically. So if there are things to know about a weight belt other than, put the buckle in front where it's easy to get off in an emergency, I'd love to hear them. I've learned from watch the DMs that the weights go on the side, not the back, and I know that like my computer I have to make it super tight on the surface so it doesn't slide at depth (though my hips would stop the belt)- but what else is there to know about a weight belt? What was the training supposed to cover? I could probably take a weight belt off and put it back on underwater, but I think above water fighting the waves it would be really difficult, my weight belt is heavy.

Someone previously suggested my training was substandard because we didn't learn how to roll (I said something about how I got a giant bruise when I straightened my leg accidentally and kicked the boat, apparently not straightening your legs is something taught when rolling...)- we always did a giant stride. (Didn't do that until we got to Cozumel too.) Not sure how you go about teaching a roll when the pool has a lip, and the quarry isn't set up for that in anyway. (And again, PADI doesn't require a roll be taught- just an entry.)

 

[Harro10]

Skittl1321,
One of the first things taught about weight belts, in my now ancient training, was to always hold them up by the open, non-buckle end. Otherwise when you take the belt off, in the water or on the boat, the weights could slide off the belt on to your foot or to the bottom. If the DM sets up your belt they usually put a twist in the belt over the first and last weight to stop them from sliding but it is up to you to check that. If you bring your own belt you can use stainless or plastic keepers to fix the weights in place or buy a belt with weight pockets.

 

[nodakdive]

We were taught that the belt should open to the right, meaning you open the buckle with your right hand, moving from left to right. This way, it's standardized and everyone knows how to release the belt without having to figure out which way it's on. Your buddy included. Sorta part of the "W" and the "R" in WBARF. (that's how I remember the letters. W and barf. I think in the book it's BWRAF.) You check your weights and releases so you know how to get stuff off quickly, especially weights.

 

[AdivingBel]

Since we're doing weight belt tips...I was taught to lay the configured weight belt on the deck with the buckle in the proper direction for a "right hand release." Step over the belt, squat, lift with your kees and slide the belt up the back of your legs as you stand up. When it gets to your butt, bend at the waist and support the belt on your lower back while buckling (takes all the weight off the buckle and belt and makes it much easier to fasten). I have my PADI Weight Belt Specialty card.