Intensive Dive Class and Conservative Divers

[tyki]

Wow, what an intense weekend this has been. Although we prepared as best we could for this class, the intensity of the weekend wore us out.

We started class Friday night, 3 students in the class so there was plenty of time to get individual questions answered during the 4-1/2 hour session. We had all gone over the material and were pumped for class. We did great in the classroom and then selected the rental gear from the shop for Saturday morning. As the back of the van began to sag (only kidding) and the stack of gear piled up, we were eager to get started on Saturday. We headed for home and a good night's sleep.

Saturday morning, we had 3 students, the instructor and an instructor in training to help out. Lugged all the gear into the facility and proceeded with our swim tests, all three passed without a hitch. The practice we had done over the last two weeks was paying off. I didn't even feel out of breath at all. And to think just 2 weeks ago, I was wiped out after a 100 yard swim. We started at 10 AM and worked through till 1:30 before we broke for lunch. Still felt great but feeling a bit of energy drain. The 90 minute lunch break was welcomed. We ate, warmed up, and rested until it was time to start again at 3. Back in the pool from 3-7. I don't think I have gotten dressed and undressed so many times in a single day since I went shopping for wedding dresses 25 years ago. The instructor had us remove and dismantle all the gear between each module, besides the various exercises of removing and replacing gear that was included in the modules. At 7 we got back into dry clothes and headed back to the shop to get the tanks re-filled and to finish our academic modules. Sunday's class would be just my husband and myself as the 3rd student had work commitments, and we only had module 5's pool dives to complete. We finally got home around 1030 and were totally wiped out.

This is where we collided with being conservative.

Sunday morning, my husband woke up with a killer headache. His description of the headache was similiar to when he plays in a softball tournament and doesn't get enough fluids. He had apparently gotten dehydrated. We talked it over and decided he just really wasn't up to getting into the water today. Sooooooo.....I called the pool dive. I went to the facility (didn't have the instructor's phone number) and let the instructor know what was up. Told her that hubby just wasn't up to taking the class today. The instructor said, "No problem, we can schedule the final session for another day. Better to call a dive than overextend." The instructor also offered to let me use the tanks and gear today just to get some extra practice. At this point I wish I had taken her up on it, but I'm not in a race to get the certification. Hubby will be my dive partner for all the dives we want to do in the future. The practice we really need is time getting used to each other in the dive environment.

I guess we just confirmed for ourselves that we will definitely be conservative divers and that we need to continue getting in shape. Yesterday proved to us that we can do it, we just have to pace ourselves and drink lots and lots and lots of H20.

tyki

 

[turnerjd]

Hiya,

Firstly, welcome to the boards, you should find all the advice here to be good, and also it is very friendly here.

With your open water class you did the right thing, one of the first thing to learn with diving is to be prepared to call it off if you are in the least unhappy. I wouldn't call this being conservative, just an application of common sence!

Good Call, and hopefully, you will continue to dive sensibly.

Jon T

 

[zman]

Ku dos Jon T. Excellent confirmation of the right thing to do.
zman

 

[Dr Deco]

Dear tyki and Readers:

Always best not to dive when you do not feel up to the conditions are not physically fit. During the open water tests of the DSAT Recreational Dive Planner , there was at least one diver who surfaced immediately after getting into the water. She indicated to the dive assistants that she did not feel comfortable since the water was so unclear (it had rained the night before and runoff spoiled the visibility at 90 feet). She was concerned since sice she had taken a place in the boat to be a test diver, and she felt uncomfortable about dropping out.

Even though it cost money to bring each diver-subject on the boat to the San Juan Islands, I indicated to her that I had no problem with her calling off her part of the test if she thought it best. She then just dove around near the surface for the remainder of the time and had, as far as I could tell, a nice time of the remainder of the experience from the Star Fire .

There is always tomorrow - unless you do something really dumb....
______________
Dr. Deco

 

[tyki]

Hi guys,

I stopped by the shop that was hosting the class we were in over the weekend. The shop owner has another OW class going. He is going to the Bahamas next week, but said we could schedule our Module 5 pool session for 20 March (the other OW class has a session that night) and he will have an extra instructor there to take us through Module 5. So we will be able to finish up in time for our trip to Florida at the end of the month.

I have been really happy with this shop, they have been helpful, informative and flexible enough to meet our needs. Here's a big 'thumbs up' (oh wait, that means surface), well how about an "ATTABOY" star for the Miami Valley Diving School.

tyki

 

[turnerjd]

Tyki,

You will find as you become more experienced, that there are the OK places, and very occasionally, the exceptional places. It looks like you have found one of the few really good places, stick with them is all I can say.

Jon T

 

[Iguana Don]

Tyki,

As Jon and the others have said, you did the correct thing in calling the dive, also had the common sense to realize dehydration symptoms.

Remember this, there are no bad reasons to call a dive. And nobody I know will ever ridicule you for it.

You have gotten some very useful information in the previous posts, and you have used your head in a difficult situation. Good Work and don't slack off on it.

ID

 

[tyki]

Well we had fun last night in our last Confined water session. We were making up the session that we missed a couple of weeks ago. We had a different instructor, the shop owner, but the class consisted of the same 3 students that we had for the Exec Session class. It was kind of nice to finish up as a group.

I started out feeling quite confident and got my tank, bcd and regulator all set up, then turned on the air valve and checked the pressure gauge and it said 0 PSI. I turned the valve off and then back on....still no air pressure. So I turned the valve off again and called Dave over, explained to him what was happening, that I thought I had hooked it all up right, but that I must have missed something. He checked over my set up and confirmed it was all set up correctly....except the tank he brought for me was EMPTY. OOPS! Pull out another tank and start the set up over again. So I was a bit behind the two guys as far as being ready to get in the water. We went through our pre-dive buddy checks and then got in the water. Dave ran us through demonstrating the skills we had learned before. No instruction, just direction as to what he wanted us to do....flood the mask and clear it, remove the mask and replace it, find a lost regulator, slow decent at the deep end, respond properly to instructor hand signals, share air, that kind of stuff.

Once Dave ran us each through the exercise we began the training for the night in earnest. The main lessons of the night were doffing and donning the BCD and tank, on the surface (2 different techniques), on the bottom (out of the BCD and back into it), then on the bottom out of the BCD swim to buddy and indicate out of air, share air and swim twice around the deep end and then back to the BCD and put it back on. We practiced some more swimming without the mask and learned (by turning off the air valve) what the regulator would breathe like if we ran out of air and then turning the air valve back on.

After about 2-1/2 hours of practicing these techniques, Dave told us we had covered all the requirements, and that he usually uses the last part of the session to practice situation handling, but we were gonna skip that and could just enjoy swimming around until we reached 500 PSI on our tanks.

Now the fun began. I got a chance to try some different fins and clearning my new snorkel. Hubby and I practiced swimming as a team and using hand signals to communicate....when out of nowhere my mask pops off. I kept my cool, grabbed my husband's calf (I was following him as we swam) and found my mask and put it back on. About the time I got the mask on, the regulator popped out of hubby's mouth. In other words, it was Dave's "situation handling" training. Perform the skills, not just copy the skills. Hubby reached 500 PSI first, so we signaled to our fellow student that it was time for us to get out because of the pressure gauge, and the 3 of us headed to the ladder to climb out of the water. Dave explained when we got out of the water, that learning the skills didn't do us any good if we didn't know when to use them and how to use them without panicking. I really think it was a good way to finish off the class.

I will note that all 3 of us had been very comfortable in the water throughout the class, no panic attacks throughout. The unexpectedness of the "situations" at the end made for an excellent reinforcer of being prepared for the unexpected. When on an actual dive, there won't be an instructor to tell you to get ready for a fellow diver to knock your mask off and that you will have to retrieve it, put it back on and clear it, it will just happen.

I've shown hubby the info from the dive medicine thread and we are taking a hard look at whether or not to continue with the open water dives in 2 weeks or not.

Will keep you all posted.

Have fun and get wet often

tyki

 

[Walter]

............was a good one. Now for the fun part - open water. Enjoy.

WWW™

 

[tyki]

Well Gang,

Our saga continues. Some not so good news followed by better news.

We made it to Florida for Brother-in-laws wedding over the weekend. Which was to be followed with our open water dives out of Ft Lauderdale.

Monday morning found us in the pool getting checked out on the gear and doing a skills review. Not a problem.

Monday afternoon found us on the boat, there were 1-2' seas projected. I ended up nearly being seasick before dive 1, hubby aborted his dive 1, and I was having trouble catching my breath after dive 1. We both opted to not even attempt dive 2. On the ride back to the marina, I succeeded in definitely getting seasick and was quite miserable as the seas had picked up to 2-4'. Hubby was feeling discouraged because he had panicked when it came time to submerge. All in all the day seemed like a bust. Lots of non-accomplishments.

We discussed what had gone right or wrong with Monday, whether or not we really wanted to continue to pursue diving. Whether we would be better off to just walk away of if it was just a matter of events stacking up against us.

Tuesday morning we got up, called and told the dive operator we would be there. I picked up some TripTone, and hubby had given himself a pep talk. The dive shop had designated a different instructor for us for Tuesday, and his focus would be strictly on the 2 of us. We got lots of TLC that was greatly appreciated. We successfully completed both dives Tuesday afternoon. The TripTone worked for the seasickness, and hubby's self-attitude adjustment worked. For whatever reason, Monday just had not been a day we were meant to dive, or we were just overexcited about the prospect of diving and shot ourselves in the foot.

Long story made short. With 2 afternoons out on the boat, we now have 2 OW dives under our belts (my first dive yesterday didn't count towards certification other than sheer survival, though I have entered it in my log book, 28' for 10 minutes). So we are still only partially certified. We can either join our local dive club on one of their trips this summer to complete the certification, or perhaps another trip to visit the in-laws so we can finish up with the crew down here.

The sites down below were incredible. After the second dive this afternoon, hubby asked, "Are you ready to go again?"

Unfortunately we have to fly home tomorrow and won't be able to finish the cert on this trip. But we continue to move forward, and hubby will have further incentive to continue getting into shape.

tyki
"damp around the gills"