First Certified Dive

[Addicted2H2O]

Like everyone has mentioned, congrats on your first post-training OW dives! Hopefully despite the issues you encountered they were still a wonderful experience and didn't discourage you too much from this wonderful way of life. Seems like most of the possible causes for increased air consumption have been covered, save one. Unless I missed it, I didn't see anyone mention anxiety as a possible factor. It could be that you were just really anxious with this being your first time diving outside of your OW class and without an instructor watching over you. You were responsible for your own safety and actions. That coupled with less than stellar surface conditions and improper weighting, which likely made it fairly difficult for you to stay down, probably increased your anxiety a bit, which in turn could've increased your heart rate and triggered faster breathing and air consumption. Or maybe you were anxious in a good way and just really excited to finally be diving the way you wanted to and not how the instructor said you have to, performing skills and such. Any of those things could trigger your anxiety and increase your air consumption. The more you dive, the more comfortable you will become with diving (which sounds a bit stupid to say) and the more relaxed you will be with each subsequent dive you make. So just keep diving and you'll get it. If you have the opportunity and there are places around you locally to dive (quarries, etc.), maybe consider making a few dives there every now and again to hone your skills.

 

[mi000ke]

Welcome to the world of diving! You've received a lot of good advice, especially about leaving the camera behind to concentrate on your diving technique, and about relaxing underwater to conserve air. I'm a sax player and have been practicing what is called diaphragmatic breathing for many years (you can search youtube for videos on how to do this) which involves long, slow, deep breathing (subject to your buoyancy needs of the moment). I always describe my ideal mental state when diving as being zen-like, as mentioned by some others here. You mention age and cardio as possible factors. I got certified at almost the same age as you, and do an hour of cardio every morning, and almost always get an hour or more on a 50' dive. So age should not be a major factor, and cardio should actually help. I also have very little body fat and wear a 5mm to dive here in the Caymans until summer when the water gets above 85, then I might use the 3mm full suit until the water gets to 98.6 when I'll think about abandoning the wetsuit entirely. Staying warm will also help to relax you a bit and conserve air.

 

[mac66]

Some more comments to your comments....

I really appreciate the advice everyone is giving.

I was actually pretty comfortable in the water despite it being my first time. I definitely am going to do it more.

One of the things I noticed this time, that I didn't notice on my OW cert dives is the use of a dive belt instead of pocket weights. On this dive I was issued a belt. Though I cinched it tight it had a tendency to shift around and throw me off balance sideways. Didn't have that problem with the pocket weights. Going to have to pay more attention to the weight belt position next time.

Excellent advice to go back into the pool. It just so happens the guy I did my confined water portion of the OW class does it in a high school pool. He allows students to come back anytime he's running a class to practice for just what the HS charges for the use of the pool. He even provides equipment at no cost. I went back to the pool to practice after my confined water session and before I left on a cruise to do my referral dives. That's one of the reasons I bought a wet suit, the pool was freezing (comparatively speaking). I plan going back into the pool several, if not many more times to work on my buoyancy and breathing and before my cruise in December.

 

[chillyinCanada]

When you go back to the pool to practice, tell your instructor that you would like a weight belt instead of loading the weight pockets in the bcd. That way, you'll be closer to diving under one of the conditions you'll be encountering until you get your own gear.

Did your instructor teach you about using a weight belt properly during the course?

 

[mac66]

When you go back to the pool to practice, tell your instructor that you would like a weight belt instead of loading the weight pockets in the bcd. That way, you'll be closer to diving under one of the conditions you'll be encountering until you get your own gear.

Did your instructor teach you about using a weight belt properly during the course?

We used weight belts in the pool but I apparently forgot how to adjust it on my first dive.

I did my OW dives as referrals while on a cruise i.e, two different islands with two different instructors. They used pocket weights on both of those. Had no problem.

 

[Neilwood]

Congratz on your first open water dive without an instructor. Ignore any "experienced" diver that rolls their eyes at new divers - we all started somewhere.

WRT the weightbelt - I have found that when I was using one, I needed to tighten it after descent no matter how tight I felt it was on the surface. Another thing to do is to try to distribute the weight in various places such as at the back and on the sides and also using triglides to hold the weight in position (if you have time to thread it properly) to minimise the chances of it slipping.