Hi, new guy here. I have only 32 dives under my belt. *stands up*..... I am an air hog ... Because of this, I don't go on alot of dives being that I'm embarrased when I am partnered with someone and our dive is shorter than the rest of the groups because I gulped my air. Does any one have tips or helpful practice ideas ? I've been told I just need to dive more... (read previous sentence on why I don't). Should I just sit in the bottom of my pool and practice ?
Thanks in advance
Don't EVER be embarrassed about ending a dive before someone else for ANY reason. I can guarantee every other person on the dive sucked the air out of their tanks when they first started and anyone who give you grief for ending the dive needs to think back to when they were just beginning.
I was diving with a bunch of new people aa few years ago down on Isla Mujeres and one of the older guys just couldn't stop bragging about how he still had 1500 psi in his tank when we were all down to 500 and how he got certified in '68 blah blah blah blah. Well, the next day he came to Playa with a friend of mine and me to dive with the bull sharks. As soon as the sharks showed up, this guy let go of the line, went belly-up like a dead gold fish, and started to ascend uncontrollably. We got a hold of him, checked his spg and, lo and behold, he was at 700 psi after maybe 15 minutes at depth. We got him up safely and he proceeded to blame his bcd, weights, etc. Bullsh*t. He was terrified of sharks but his pride just wouldn't let him admit it.
So don't ever feel bad about ending a dive. It is your perogative and you will get better control of your breathing as you practice and learn how to stay still. Your new mantra should be, "move less". I say it over and over in my head.
Good luck and non-iligitum carborundum