What did you learn from your very last dive...

[Buoyant1]

I learned that diving in a dry suit is VERY different than diving in a wetsuit! (although MUCH warmer!) More on this as it happens!

 

[Cavs42]

I learned that diving in zero to 5 foot vis is much better than not diving at all! (we even managed to stumble across a wolf eel somehow.)

 

[AndyDragon]

Not my last dive, but one about a 100 or so ago:

I learned that sitting on the ice at the hole in a wet suit looking at inky black water is a lot more sobering than the frivilous 'Sure, I can do an ice course' comment back in November....

 

[Soakedlontra]

- that physical fitness and quitting smoking is important for comfortable diving.
- that i must plan the dive and look at the wreck schematic (or bring it with me) even though i'm diving with a great DM.
- that i'm going to get an SMB.
- that i'm going to follow the rule of thumb to wear a pony bottle as a redundant air source for dives exceeding the cubic feet in my back gas.
- that i'm going to practice air sharing and CESA the next time I go diving.
- that deeper dives and wrecks are where i need to go to expand my skills and comfort level.

The dive was actually fantastic, except that my buddy and I separated from the DM's group and ascended the wrong mooring line. I had taken over the role of checking my buddy's air and since he was low, I decided to ascend to our safety stop ASAP rather than look for the right mooring line. We decided that the swim to the boat would be manageable despite the current. I would have felt better if I'd deployed an SMB in case the current was stronger than we'd figured. The dive was both reinforcing and humbling.

--Peter

Great that with so few dives you were able to handle the situation pretty well. The only thing that it is not quite clear to me is: why did not your buddy communicate to you that he/she was low on air?

 

[mikeyjoe]

To do a better job of tucking in my neoprene neckseal on my drysuit.....

40F H2O + leaking neckseal = very wet and very cold.....

 

[SouthSideScubaSteve]

On may last dive I learned that vis can change dramatically in a virtual instant, particularly when diving in an area effected by tidal action!! :doh2:

In the days leading up to that dive, I learned that I get bored rather quickly while sitting on the beach wishing the seas would calm so I could dive!! :depressed:

Both of these insights simply reinforced for me the thought that breathing underwater is quite possibly the coolest thing I've ever done and I can't get enough of it!!!

 

[Reallydg]

I learned that being fighting bouyancy because I'm underweighted plus dealing with a strong current makes for a not-fun dive.

 

[wreckless1]

Great that with so few dives you were able to handle the situation pretty well. The only thing that it is not quite clear to me is: why did not your buddy communicate to you that he/she was low on air?

I don't know, I don't think he was looking at his gauge enough. Maybe he wasn't estimating his air use very accurately? I was using Nitrox 29 actually, so maybe that explains the discrepancy in use, but not why somebody wouldn't worry a little more. Usually I'm the air-hog.

That ship is pretty deep compared to the shallow reefs I'm used to, and we also spent a minute or two in the 114-117 foot range near the deck. I "asked" before descending but I was caught up in the experience and probably should have been more responsible. (In my defense, I had never heard of "rock bottom" at the time, I did not know he was low on air until later, and I did have enough gas for the safety stop and the swim to the boat; I only hit 500 psi while holding on to the line.)

But nobody really knew when to turn the dive, we were all just guessing. On the first of the two dives the DM turned it at 2000, on the second we ascended when I had 1500.

 

[Soakedlontra]

I don't know, I don't think he was looking at his gauge enough. Maybe he wasn't estimating his air use very accurately? I was using Nitrox 29 actually, so maybe that explains the discrepancy in use, but not why somebody wouldn't worry a little more. Usually I'm the air-hog.[QOTE]

Well I hope he has learned something and next time he will be more careful. At that depth it is pretty serious to be low on air and who knows, maybe he was narced.

That ship is pretty deep compared to the shallow reefs I'm used to, and we also spent a minute or two in the 114-117 foot range near the deck. I "asked" before descending but I was caught up in the experience and probably should have been more responsible. (In my defense, I had never heard of "rock bottom" at the time, I did not know he was low on air until later, and I did have enough gas for the safety stop and the swim to the boat; I only hit 500 psi while holding on to the line.)

But nobody really knew when to turn the dive, we were all just guessing. On the first of the two dives the DM turned it at 2000, on the second we ascended when I had 1500.

Did you not learn about Rock Bottom when you did your AOW class with PADI?

It seems to me that you guys got really lucky.

Before starting my AOW class I have heard of 'Rock Bottom' and 'the Rule of Thirds' from my regular buddy. We applied the 'rule of thirds' during the few dives that I did below 60ft but not deeper than 84 feet but we never tried to calculate a rock bottom.

Now that I am taking the AOW and he is taking a class in Deep Diving we are both learning more about Rock Bottom and how important it is to understand it when you want to dive deep, even within the recreational limits.

I had a similar experience few days ago but it was the opposite of what happened to you and your buddy. I was keeping track of my gas and with anxiety I was looking at my pressure going lower and lower while my instant buddy kept taking pictures and he did not seem to care about my air consumption rate (It's a scuba-myth that women consume less air then men!)

Thank GOD that we were not at a depth of 114 but just 30/40!!!@@@???. I had to chase him around and keep telling him that I was getting low on gas. At some point I thought that I had to leave that guy down by himself because I did not want to use up all the freaken PSIs in my tank! Eventually he agreed to surface and then he asked me to stay on the surface while he was going back down to use up the 800 PSI of gas he had left. He was his last dive in Seattle after all!

I have never experienced this kind of buddy's behavior before so I did not have a clue of what to say to him. Then after thinking that he is used to go diving solo when he cannot find a buddy I let him go back down and I surfaced swam back to the beach alone.

You mentioned that you got 'distracted' by the awesome experience of looking at a wreck in deep water. I know pretty well now what you mean from my little experience I have, because I did it myself and by also looking at other divers, like the case of this new buddy that I mentioned.

'Situational awareness' (I think it is called in this way) it is a rather hard thing to do as a beginner diver and I am still struggling with it. I have found that the AOW class and the dives I have been doing with instant buddies lately are helping me out to keep my mind somehow more alert.

 

[CoachSteve]

I took my nitrox and AOW courses this weekend and did the pool portion at GT. Although I do not want to jump on the bandwagon, because I am not Fully converted yet, I loved the BP&W I swam with. I was not ideally setup for me since it was my Instructors setup, but let me just say that as a new diver who is used to jacket style BCs, and the roll you can get, this had no roll, and I was able to control my bouyancy completely different than using the Jacket style BC.

I still have a few things I need to loook into as far as what is best for me as a setup but am definitely leaning towards the BP&W setup. I will still be testing stuff out.