Back in the saddle again

[chepar]

I am ecstatic to report that I finally was able to do a couple of dives this past weekend after a 4 month hiatus.

I had been forced to be dry for about 2 months starting in October due to a severe cold and subsequent rib fracture - and then my regulator going for service in November and not (yet) coming back. I finally decided that I would just use a rental reg and hit the water.

It was WONDERFUL! A little chilly, but it was so good to get back in the water.

Up until now, I guess it has been my good fortune to dive with people that had either decent buoyancy skills or were actively trying to better their skills. I had never really seen much of the much discussed standing on the reef, walking on the reef, kicking up a sandstorm, etc. behavior that has been discussed so much on the board. That is, until this past weekend.

I was amazed - I was buddied with this girl who sank like a rock to the bottom and consistently stood, stepped and whacked the reef with her fins. When we finned along the sandy bottom, each downward kick hit the bottom <whap!> and up puffed this enormous cloud of sand. Up on deck, she blamed being overweighted by 2 lbs for being unable to rise off the bottom.

On another dive I was in a group with a father and son - the son stated his last dive had been 2 years ago, his father's was 5 years ago. Wow - they didn't seem to be too concerned with the length of time since their last dive, though. They too churned up the bottom and beat up the reef, not to mention swimming over me consistently and kicking me in the face with their fins.

It was all an eye opener, to be sure. It made me feel grateful to the quality instruction I received and also to this great board for all of the continuing education it provides.

I don't really know why I'm rambling - I guess I'm just so excited to have been back in the water, I had to tell you all about it.

 

[jbd]

hear that you are recovered and back diving. Sorry to hear about your recent experiences with less than adequate divers.

Having lived in Hawaii, I'm wondering what you are calling chilly water

 

[pchelp]

Hi Cheryl,

Glad to hear you are back diving again, how was the rental gear, vs. your own? What was the water temp. and vis? Lately it's been 58-60 degree water temp, and vis. has been 10-20' if you are lucky and go a long way (30+ miles) from shore.

Say hello to Beau and Chris.

rusty

 

[chepar]

jbd once bubbled...
Having lived in Hawaii, I'm wondering what you are calling chilly water

I know, I know - chilly for me sounds heavenly for a lot of divers. Let's see - I still got away with my 3/2 mil wetsuit - water temp was probably around 70 -72 degrees. It wasn't so much the water temp but the lack of sun back on the surface, with a little bit of a breeze.

Hey Rusty-

Sounds like you may be a bit chillier than I am down here.
We dove the Sea Tiger and Turtle Canyon that day - vis was not so good - maybe 35 - 40 feet on the Sea Tiger and 25 feet at Turtle Canyon (which was not helped by the sandstorm my buddy was creating).

I only rented a regulator, and while it was ok, I sure did miss my own gear. The mouthpiece was a little large so I had to bite down a bit to get a good grip and it breathed a little wet. While the reg came with a computer, I also planned the dives with tables as a backup - I was unfamiliar with the computer's display (and while it wasn't hard to figure out) there's something to be said for diving your own gear and being familiar with it. I also realized that I depend more than I thought on my Vyper's ascent indicator (the rental didn't have one) - I think I need to work on being less dependent on it.

 

[jbd]

it is nice to have plenty of sunshine during the surface interval and no wind is really good.

Not quite a year ago I got slightly hypothermic when ckharlan and I went diving in Indiana. Air temp 55. Cold rain falling, pretty good wind blowing water temp was close to 40 as best I recall.

I got chilled before we even got in the water. I made it through one dive but simply could not get warmed up during the surface interval so we cancelled the rest of the diving for the day.

The good thing, actually the best thing, about the whole day was spending it with some really great people.

 

[ckharlan66]

Are you sure that is the right term?

Chad

 

[jbd]

slightly is the right term I was cold and shivering pretty good but still coherent(well as coherent as I can be on any given day) so that means slightly hypothermic.

BTW do you recall the water temp? I'm thinking it was warmer than the 40's maybe in the 50's???

 

[ckharlan66]

The water and the air were both 55 degrees that day.

 

[jbd]

the more I thought about it, it just seemed like the air and water temps were close together.