Nervous? Scared? Uncertain? Tell your Instructor BEFORE things go wrong.

[TMHeimer]

not trying to be an elitist.. BUT swimming IS a big part of scuba... you are in the water..

Being comfortable in the water is a big part of scuba. when everything is working fine, i agree that you can overcome and be OK... BUT when things go wrong, and they do, you need water skills.

I had a bc dump valve fail open at 70 feet, it would not hold air. If i was a weak swimmer i would have had issues. no lift from BC, still had to swim to surface, bc filed with water, so i had to remove bc at surface, hold onto boat with one hand, hold now negatively buoyant bc/tank/weights with the other, tie off gear to rope from boat, climb in boat then drag in gear...

i would have had BIG problems if i could not swim.

i think that it is like someone saying, i can't swim, but i want to water ski without a life jacket....

You did a great job to resolve that situation, especially considering your profile of just a few dives. You are fit, as you performed some demanding physical tasks both at the surface and getting there. Did you consider dropping your weights? Were you at the bottom at 70 feet or on your way back up when it happened?--just curious. You had fins on, and leg-muscled (arms mostly useless underwater) your way to the surface with only the help of an expanding wetsuit (if diving wet). All outstanding work. When did you swim?

 

[RJP]

I had a bc dump valve fail open at 70 feet, it would not hold air. If i was a weak swimmer i would have had issues. no lift from BC, still had to swim to surface, bc filed with water, so i had to remove bc at surface, hold onto boat with one hand, hold now negatively buoyant bc/tank/weights with the other, tie off gear to rope from boat, climb in boat then drag in gear...

Where was your buddy while all this was happening?

 

[WimW]

How about... dumping weights? :cool2:

not trying to be an elitist.. BUT swimming IS a big part of scuba... you are in the water..

Being comfortable in the water is a big part of scuba. when everything is working fine, i agree that you can overcome and be OK... BUT when things go wrong, and they do, you need water skills.

I had a bc dump valve fail open at 70 feet, it would not hold air. If i was a weak swimmer i would have had issues. no lift from BC, still had to swim to surface, bc filed with water, so i had to remove bc at surface, hold onto boat with one hand, hold now negatively buoyant bc/tank/weights with the other, tie off gear to rope from boat, climb in boat then drag in gear...

i would have had BIG problems if i could not swim.

i think that it is like someone saying, i can't swim, but i want to water ski without a life jacket....