Six days of diving . . . my thoughts

I haven't posted a dive report here in a long time. But over the last two weeks, I've had six fantastic days of diving, that I thought merited a quick recap.

Gombessa posted about our Channel Islands trip, but I want to write a little bit about part of what made the weekend so wonderful. We had 22 divers on the boat, and they ranged from a year or so of diving, to several thousand dives, and entry level training to instructor, trimix, and cave exploration diving. We all dove with one another, sometimes almost at random; there was no drama, and there were no incidents, other than one group which got caught by current and driven too far from the boat to swim. They shot a bag, and everybody knew where they were, and the dinghy went and towed them back. It was a non-issue, because when things didn't go right, they had a strategy in place, and they used it.

This weekend, I did three days of diving off a friend's boat. I dove with people from out of town, with limited experience and training, and I dove with friends with lots of both. Again, no drama, no incidents, and even when things didn't go precisely as planned, we had the resources and the training to cope with the situation, remain relaxed, and know that everybody was going to end up safe and happy.

Training pays off. Practice pays off. Planning pays off. Prudence pays off. The time, and the money, and the effort invested in those things just makes diving smoother, less stressful, and more joyous. I happen to think that diving within a standardized system polishes all those things even further, but even if you don't elect to go that direction, getting more education, and practicing skills, and learning a template for dive planning (including gas planning) and buddy checks, will prevent a lot of issues and avoid discomfort. (For example, we did our head-to-toe equipment check on the boat today before a dive into known strong surface current . . . and I realized I'd forgotten to put on my weight belt, something which would have been a darned nuisance if the boat had had to chase me to pick me up, because I couldn't descend.)

It's like skiing. Put the time and the effort in to become graceful, and it's way more fun (and you're less likely to get hurt).

So nice to hear about great dive experiences
Brings back what my instructor said about training .. if you have good training, then the times when things don't go right is just a small incident that you take note of, and not one that causes a bigger one that causes injury or frightens you to give up diving
.. that you continue diving and thereby be involved with being a good steward for our oceans.

Some say get more dives, some say get more Training ... I think that unless your diving with a really well trained buddy, one that can pass along his skills and knowledge to you, then your better off getting more training from a (good) instructor, in a class, before you have to unlearn bad habits picked up diving

Great words. I feel the same way.
It is so nice to hear you dive report. It's wierd you really did not explain much of the dive but I feel like I know what you did. You are very encouraging to a diver like me. I cant seem to quit listening and learning more about dive skills. When I get to practise them it all seems to fall in place. Yet no complacency. It feels good to know you can be trusted even when not asked.

Well, Gombessa really wrote about the Channel Islands trip (which was outrageous fun) and even put a video in his thread.

My weekend was going out for three days on a friend's fabulous 36' boat. Friday and Saturday were spectacular, sunny, warm days, where enjoying the scenery from the boat was almost as much fun as the dives were. We had ugly tidal exchanges, so we did sheltered sites, which in Puget Sound tends to mean silty and not as colorful as where the current sweeps. We had fantastic viz (50 feet yesterday) and ambient light at depth, which always makes our diving more fun. We did walls and wrecks, and I saw the biggest giant dendronotid I've ever seen, and the largest school of black rockfish. There is something that gives me goosebumps about seeing a cloud of the dark fish, silhouetted against the light in the water, and fading off into ghostly shapes as they get farther away.

But what struck me was twenty dives in two weekends, and how smoothly everything went, and how relaxed the diving was. Good planning (and appropriate caution), good communication, and good diving skills by all involved just meant nonstop fun and no issues.

TSandM:

I haven't posted a dive report here in a long time. But over the last two weeks, I've had six fantastic days of diving, that I thought merited a quick recap.

Click to expand...

The pictures and video look like you all had an amazing time. All the x-torpedoes gave it the appearance of a warship.

Well put, Lynne! The big trip was so no-stress in part because I knew that every diver there was trained and/or experienced in handling whatever situation was likely to happen, on or off the boat, and that it would be consistent from diver to diver. It was like diving with a regular buddy, times twenty. I think the only point of confusion during the whole trip was whose extra scooters would be going out with the kicking teams

Also, thanks for the plug! For those not in the Norcal/Socal forum, we have a little video up at:



...and the entire hilarity of the trip is archived for posterity at DYFO #1 - thank you everyone! - The Dive Matrix Forums

Were you on Scott's boat?

Tom

Yes, it was Scott's boat -- what a cushy dive platform that boat is!

Thank you, Lynne. Sometimes we need a gentle reminder that we have the training and can handle most situations which may arise with ease and calmness. This last weekend at ITK we had a bit of current and navigational mishap that brought us to a spot well away from the boat. No problem. We just shot a bag and waited for our boat to come get us.

What was amusing was a swimmer/snorkeler swam over yelling/asking: which dive op we were with, how much psi we had and then manually grabbed our spg(s) to check herself. I have no idea who she was, but we didn't argue. She seemed to be on a rescue mission. We just did as she asked and waited for our boat...