Monilite
Guest
If you are reading this hoping for a hair curling underwater faces of death story you are in for a bitter disappointment. If you are looking for a rookie domino of mistakes to laugh at (and be aware of so you dont do it too), then you are in luck. As the subject indicates, this was my tenth open water dive counting my certification dives. Last week I purchased an air tank completing my scuba gear set (except for a dive computer). I was looking forward to having my first dive where I didnt have to rent anything. Since I only got one tank I didnt want to go on a two-tank boat dive and sit out one of the dives, so I decided to go on a beach dive. I dont have a dive buddy yet, so I just drove to the local site that is very popular and hoped to tag-along with somebody. The first group I asked was an instructor and his open water class, so he politely refused me. The second group I asked accepted me; they were 2 guys and a 10-12 year old boy, the son of the younger guy. I am male, about 35 pounds overweight, but otherwise healthy; my three new buddies looked like pro soccer players. I had a few very poor nights of sleep and was wrestling with a small mouth sore (none of which I thought about at the time). When I bought my dive buoy I thought bigger is better, but the buoy these guys had was much smaller (the correct buoy type for this location). It is very important to dive this site at high tide to get good visibility and minimal current. All 4 of us thought high tide was 30 minutes before it actually was, therefore we were entering the water 45 minutes before slack tide and the current was a little stiff. I had wanted to try something new, so stopped at a gas station on the way to the site and got a small bag of cheese puffs to attract, feed and photograph fish (I didnt account for the extra buoyancy when I stuffed my weight belt; I left my extra weights in the car even though my buoy has a large storage compartment). This was the first time I was diving with a weight belt instead of a rented weight-integrated BC and they feel really different; the weight on my hips instead of my shoulder straps made them feel at least twice as heavy as they were. Walking over the sand to the surf entry point was more tiring than I had expected. Since it is February I decided to wear thermal underwear under my 3mil wetsuit. I live in S. Florida near the gulf stream, so was overheated the entire time. Ive used my buoy while snorkeling, but this was my first time using it while diving; I kept getting tangled up in the line. I was fighting to stay at depth (suit squeeze didnt have the correcting effect I was hoping for after I first entered the water and realized my buoyancy problem). I saw some really neat wildlife and took a few pictures, but was very disappointed with myself. I felt like a wimp, but I waved bye, signaled up and aborted the dive only 10 minutes after entering the water.
So, this was my situation. I was sleep deprived, had a low grade fever was overheated, over exerted before even entering the water, hyperventilating (not Nitrox certified), positively buoyant, struggling to keep up with my more athletic buddies, on the verge of leg cramps and trying several new things on the same dive. All in all I STILL have to say a bad day diving beats a good day working. Happy bubbles everybody and be self aware and honest with yourself when planning to dive I sure will be next time!
So, this was my situation. I was sleep deprived, had a low grade fever was overheated, over exerted before even entering the water, hyperventilating (not Nitrox certified), positively buoyant, struggling to keep up with my more athletic buddies, on the verge of leg cramps and trying several new things on the same dive. All in all I STILL have to say a bad day diving beats a good day working. Happy bubbles everybody and be self aware and honest with yourself when planning to dive I sure will be next time!