Well last night was Scuba Tuesday. I practiced my surface dives and got much more efficient at it. He let me wear some weight so I could get down to the bottom without fighting body fat. Before I took off my gear I scoped out a spot near the wall and on a blue line at the bottom of the pool. First try I was not ready and only went down half way. Concentrated on my breathing, which someone out here gave me some practice tips on and that helped. Got down second try, grabbed the air, wrapped my legs around the bc and got my breathing under control. I was still to floaty so decided to put the bc on. I did struggle with that a little, looking like an upside down turtle, but finally got it on and buckled. Then I began to look for my mask which I had kicked about four feet away when I was playing upside down turtle. In hindsight I should have clipped that on to the BC like I did my fins. I brought two carabiners for the BC just to clip my fins on since last time I lost them. Anyway, I found my mask, put that on and cleared it. Sat down unclipped and put on each fin. Grabbed a superball that was bouncing by on the bottom of the pool and headed up slowly. He had different drills for me to do the rest of the night.
When I took everything off at the bottom I had it layed out nicely so the regulator was easy to see and get, and my mask was sitting on the bc and fins clipped to the bc. I practiced taking the mask off before ditching the gear and found if I pinch my nose as soon as I get it off, it made it easier for me to adjust to the flooding of water on my face so that was no longer a problem for me.
Having a plan helped, so thank you everyone for all of the great advice. Getting my breathing under control was key. Knowing where all the parts of my gear were helped. Ditching the gear near the wall and the blue line made it easier to locate. I think he was surprised I ditched where I did but it was a much smarter place to ditch. Being ok with the no mask helped as I was able to get the BC on without it mainly by feel. It was the first time using my own fins so being able to clip them to the BC made that a no issue. If I had to do it again, I would clip the fins both on one side and the mask on the other side. Knowing where everything was on the BC by feel also helped, and that's mainly because he has brought the same BC for me every week so I am familiar with it. There were weights in the BC as well.
So HUGE THANK YOU to everyone!! I feel more confident in my ability to do the quarry dives. I learned a lot from this exercise. Getting my breathing under control so I have time to think was a biggie. I really appreciate all of the advice and help that I received here. It made a difference.