OP
GreenOllie
New
Thanks for all the suggestions. My instructor had us snorkelling out to the dive site on our first few dives. It was a real pain because conditions were pretty choppy. I'm not sure if i'll do shore dives from the beach in future, I'm a shorty so I get thrown around in the waves quite a bit upon entry, it's a bit unnerving, it was even a mission trying to get my fins on and off, and I ended up getting thrashed around on the beach when we were exiting. Waist deep for the other guys was about chest deep for me.
My air usage is also pretty high at the moment, I'm a heavy breather when I get anxious. I'm fine to dive with the anxiety, I just have to take my time, once I'm down I'm pretty ok.
I'm planning to go snorkelling for crabs in a fortnight, so I'll see how the purge valve on the Ultradry performs then. Hopefully it was a case of the valve sticking. It drains ok when it's out of the water, it's just useless while my face is in the water. I do have a basic J snorkel I got ages ago from those mask/fin/snorkel bundles from the sports store, but I struggled to clear it. I never seemed to have enough breath to get all the water out and I panic a little when swallowing sea water, I blame an old incident when I was a kid and almost drowned at the local waterpark. Last time I trusted my oldest sister to look out for my safety, she was floating right next to me!
My air usage is also pretty high at the moment, I'm a heavy breather when I get anxious. I'm fine to dive with the anxiety, I just have to take my time, once I'm down I'm pretty ok.
I'm planning to go snorkelling for crabs in a fortnight, so I'll see how the purge valve on the Ultradry performs then. Hopefully it was a case of the valve sticking. It drains ok when it's out of the water, it's just useless while my face is in the water. I do have a basic J snorkel I got ages ago from those mask/fin/snorkel bundles from the sports store, but I struggled to clear it. I never seemed to have enough breath to get all the water out and I panic a little when swallowing sea water, I blame an old incident when I was a kid and almost drowned at the local waterpark. Last time I trusted my oldest sister to look out for my safety, she was floating right next to me!