Why don't you stay close to your entry point for one or two entire tanks, just working on your buoyancy and trim? Get back out, readjust some weights, get back in, assess trim, all the while try making good buoyancy a subconscious habit.
Then when you venture out again, your focus on navigation will not have to be split as much.
You may benefit from not trying to do so many things at one time. It may seem like a waste of time to circle around in one area, but it is a luxury to be able to do it (vs many new divers who need to follow DMs around and can't work on their refinements in peace).
Thanks
@Divectionist. It's strange how little things like these seem so simple in hindsight but, in the moment, they just don't come to you. I'm not entirely certain why we had decided that we needed to "go out" to where the lake gets to twenty feet. We could certainly do most of the buoyancy skills in ten or fifteen feet of water and be close enough to something that would allow us to tie off the flag. I will put this in my repertoire for the next dive.
First, big kudos to both of you for perseverance in colder waters, poor viz and everything else that is making your diving more difficult.
Thanks
@TerryC. I appreciate it. I honestly don't mind the low visibility and the cold water. That's part of the adventure and, while others have noted that Midwest lakes aren't the most exciting as far as lake bottoms go, I can already tell you we're having a great time finding "treasures" lost in the muck. I've already rescued a practically new fishing rod and reel, a handful of golf balls, and set of car keys. There's always something to see or do in any water, right?
I know you didn't ask, but I always mention that it helps to go through the motions of the skills you were taught in the pool
@TMHeimer, are you doing all of this on your sofa with your gear on? Regulator, BC (or BP/W), cylinder? This idea intrigues me, but it seems that (to do it properly) you'd want to have as much of a simulation out of the water as you would have in. Right?
How deep is your lake and how quickly does it get to that depth?
We run a family vacation resort. The resort is situated on the north side of a particularly long lake, which is bisected by a highway. Our side of the lake has a maximum depth of 54 feet (the other side drops as deep as 85 feet). We have been using the beach at our resort as our entry point, but the contour of the lake bottom on the north side is roughly the same throughout. It takes a good two hundred feet from shore to reach a depth of 30 feet. The slope is gradual. At about one hundred feet the depth is closer to fifteen feet.
That being said, we do have a lake "in our back yard" that is 60-feet deep and the contour there is much sharper. Within fifty feet from shore it drops to that 30-foot mark. This might be a better (though not-quite-as-convenient) option for us.
Hopefully you're not using thick line like rope to your dive flag, ...
Nope. I've got a regular old reel attached. It's not a finger spool (though I have thought about using a spool). The reel and line are easier to carry and manage right now.
If it's an option a peak performance buoyancy course is money well spent with a good instructor.
This is definitely part of the plan. Probably not for this year, but maybe next. Finding the instructor is going to be the key. Our LDS is great, but the "instruction" during our OW course left a bit to be desired. I do plan on participating in some of the "fun dives" the dive shop hosts. This should give me an opportunity to get to know some of the instructors and (hopefully) learn who would be good to take this course from.
You say you have to equalize every foot or two I assuming you mean adjust your buoyancy ...
Sorry for the confusion
@0321tony, I do mean equalize. I mention it only because it's one more thing for my hands to do. Tow a dive flag, hold my computer and compass, pinch my nose to equalize, adjust my BCD. I am aware of (and am trying to practice) equalizing without pinching my nose ... maybe wiggling my jaw or making that horrible gagging sound you do where your glottis becomes a piston forcing pressure into your sinuses ... but that's one more thing to try to learn.
... you are more than likely very over weighted. Next time out, at the end of your dive drop some weight and try to submerge if you drop like a rock then drop weight, you should just barely sink with no air in your BC and your lungs completely empty, go down 10 ft and see how you feel. If you have to struggle to stay down then add a pound or two and try again.
You may be right here. I do think I might be slightly over-weighted. I will try what you suggest. (This is one of the struggles I've had with my OW training. The LDS seems to have a standard operating procedure of just over-weighting everyone by default. I don't think we did a weight check once during the entire process.)
One thing no one may have expressly told you is to keep your flag tight. Keeps you from getting tangled in it and it helps with buoyancy in bad vis.
Thanks
@boat sju. I can attest to having first-hand experience with the tangling issue. My wife and I have not personally become entangled in our own line, but the line does tend to want to wrap around the reel when there's too much slack. Our first dive out, we had a dive flag failure when the line became snagged around the reel and too much pressure between me trying to descend and the flag trying to remain aloft caused the line to snap from where it was secured.
It seems a fine line to walk when trying to decide how much is too much slack. I figure you don't want so much that you're becoming entangled, but you don't want it so taut as to keep you from descending or moving about in the water column.
Thanks to everyone who has offered some advice. There is a lot of great information in here. This will definitely help us tweak our further training procedures.