Hitting the pool

[Bubbletrubble]

Hows about a big jar for panoramar?

I would shudder without my torch and my redundant torch and my redundant torch?

This has to be the cleverest SB post...ever.

knowone, you have finally achieved poet laureate/guru/Yoda status.

[Cave Diver]

This sounds like a scuba version of the old text game Zork.

Let's see if I can add to it:
"You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike...It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue."

(Apologies to anyone too young or too smart to get this stupid joke)

The grue is a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of the earth. Its favorite diet is adventurers, but its insatiable appetite is tempered by its fear of light. No grue has ever been seen by the light of day, and few have survived its fearsome jaws to tell the tale.

I loved Zork!

[SoccerJeni]

I love asking for help about diving and learning information way beyond the diving environment. It cracks me up. I've never heard of Zork, but now, I know what to look for in the dark holes of the earth. Lol!

Off I go, to soccer then the pool...taking all the knowledge you guys have provided me. I feel like it's ridiculous to get excited to get in the pool...but I have to say I am.

[SoccerJeni]

I had so much fun today and here's what I learned at practice. Number one, I've got to get my own gear! It's kind of frustrating to have new gear all the time, and hard to know where everything is. Plus it didn't fit well. The BCD was too big and was tough to deal with because it kept sliding up my body.

I've also had several people lead me to putting the weights in my BCD instead of using a weight belt. And today I decided I'm done with that. I like the weight belt, and from now on I'm using the weight belt. The weights were just slid in my BCD pockets, and they had too much room to move around which really affects your buoyancy and trim. I like having the weight belt and distributing the weights evenly on each of my hips. I don't like weight in my back, I want them all on the sides. I think putting small weights in the BCD is fine, but I'm not doing full weight in the BCD again.

The skills I did practice were: reg removal & recovery, mask removal, removal of BCD underwater, OOA, share air, buoyancy, frog kick, helicopter (well I tried it), and riding the tank like a horse at the surface...giddy up, lol! Unfortunately I forgot to remove the inflator hose and orally inflate the BCD underwater, I really wanted to do that. So I do think I should make some flash cards as suggested.

The thing that was most difficult at first was being without a mask for an extended time. I was trying to do it while horizontal and at first my buoyancy was crazy and I kept rising and rising. Obvioulsy my breathing was getting more irratic, and I kept telling myself, you don't have to have a mask on to stay alive (wise words from a trusted source). But after keeping it off, doing it over and over I became very comfortable with it. I ended up taking the mask off, tossing it somewhere in the pool and swimming around without it. What I discovered I like best is to hold the reg with my right hand slightly to the right and tilt my head very slightly to the right so those bubbles would not go right up my nose on the exhale. I actually really liked it and was eventually able to maintain decent buoyancy without the mask on.

It was also sort of a test for me to pay attention to my surroundings because I dropped the mask, swam around and I couldn't see the mask after I was about 4 feet from it. I noticed I got a little bit disoriented and didn't know which way to go to get my mask. The next time I did it, I was paying much more attention to my surroundings.

Overall it was a great experience. I do really wish I had a mentor to spend time with. Where are the mentors in KC???? I need you!

Thanks for all your advice guys! I know I still have a ton of work to do.

[LoonDiver]

Awesome thread!

SoccerJeni: Thanks for starting this thread! Too bad you're not closer to southern Ohio -- I would love to dive with you. (I couldn't be your mentor though, still a newbie myself).

Thanks also to everybody else who posted useful information to this thread (couldn't find "Thanks" button on many of the posts). My husband and I are also planning a pool session for next week since we haven't been diving in almost two months and are definitely in withdrawal (sigh)...thinking about moving to Florida... Many great ideas here for our pool time.

[LakeCountyDiver]

When I went to the pool or go for that matter I work out buoyancy. Every time I buy a new piece of gear such as tanks or BC or wetsuit I go figure my weights for that on a near empty tank (300psi). I get down to the lowest amount of weight I can get away with. Knowing your weights will help your buoyancy, It will greatly help with other skills such as trim, fin kicks, and your regulator recovery.

[TSandM]

Jeni, I'm with you about the weight belt! And not only is it more comfortable, but if you did for some reason have to part company with your BC in the water, you won't suddenly become wildly positive, either.

I'm sure you're frustrated with the equipment you are using, but you are learning some very valuable things from using it. I wish I had had an opportunity to realize that poorly fitting gear would make my life miserable, and that what seems to fit in the shop doesn't necessarily work very well in the water. Tank stability helps a TON in solidifying buoyancy control. This is one of the reasons that, the first time I ever got a chance to dive a backplate rig, I looked at the person who owned it and said, "How much do you want for this? Because you aren't getting it back . . . "