Did my first boat dive on Saturday - a pleasant 42 minute drift dive at average depth of about 10m. Very good indeed and enjoyed it heaps. 
First dive using my DSMB - not a big issue but found it a little bit of work to stay in the safety stop at 5 m due to reeling in the SMB with the result that I hadn't dumped enough air from BCD.
Did my 2nd boat dive on Sunday and learned a few things! 1. Don't forget to change weights when changing cylinder size (I couldn't get down as I was too light) and 2. when you do get down in limited vis I should have worked harder to stay with my buddy -as it was I got down and was watching buddy descend above me, then I turned away as I got to 18m to check myself out and when I turned back buddy was gone! This too was a drift dive but the vis was perhaps 3-4m and I think buddy got caught in the current so it didn't take long to lose sight.
At least I stopped and followed my training, made sure I was happy with my setup/air/depth etc, then searched for about a minute in the direction I thought he had drifted. I couldn't see anything so deployed the SMB and started my ascent including safety stop. Up top boat came over and picked me up and a minute or so picked up my buddy.
So, second dive wasn't such a great dive but it was good in a way - I have learned a lot more from this dive than if everything had been fine - I hope this experience will make me a better divier next time out.
First dive using my DSMB - not a big issue but found it a little bit of work to stay in the safety stop at 5 m due to reeling in the SMB with the result that I hadn't dumped enough air from BCD.Did my 2nd boat dive on Sunday and learned a few things! 1. Don't forget to change weights when changing cylinder size (I couldn't get down as I was too light) and 2. when you do get down in limited vis I should have worked harder to stay with my buddy -as it was I got down and was watching buddy descend above me, then I turned away as I got to 18m to check myself out and when I turned back buddy was gone! This too was a drift dive but the vis was perhaps 3-4m and I think buddy got caught in the current so it didn't take long to lose sight.
At least I stopped and followed my training, made sure I was happy with my setup/air/depth etc, then searched for about a minute in the direction I thought he had drifted. I couldn't see anything so deployed the SMB and started my ascent including safety stop. Up top boat came over and picked me up and a minute or so picked up my buddy.
So, second dive wasn't such a great dive but it was good in a way - I have learned a lot more from this dive than if everything had been fine - I hope this experience will make me a better divier next time out.
