3 down 2 to go (THANKS EVERYONE)

[doghouse]

Thanks everyone for putting up with my crazy questions, they helped greatly.

I did my first 3 OW exam dives yesterday. It was a long day, but the instructor was impressed with how I did.

Things I learned, that I hope will help others.

1. Cold water hitting your face will surprize you, no matter how well you think you are prepared for it. Before you do your mask flood, get mentaly prepared for it. You have plenty of time, don't rush.

2. Being overweight sucks. As you change depth the boyancy changes quickly and you have to be ready to react quicker. Always calculate ALL of the weight you have then double check how much you have put in/on.

3. Breathing can give you depth changes. Long inhales with quick exhales will float you up, Long exhales with short inhales will allow you to sink. It is realy quite cool when you get to a depth, then float 2' from the bottom following the contours with your breathing rates.

4. Watch how your gear is attached. I tried a "new" method for attaching my console to the bc. When it came to dump weights, I could not find the handle for the weight pocket, I kept grabbing the console.


Again thanks everyone for the answers to my crazy questions and all of the great additional tips I was able to gleen off of here. I am not saying that this is the place to learn how to dive, but it will help with all the little extras.

 

[Diveral]

Congratulations, I'm glad that your dives were so successful.

#1 Still gets me after 25 years.

#2 Truer words have never been spoken. Work on the weights and trim, it'll pay off in the long run and your diving will become much more enjoyable.

#3 Wow after 3 dives, you are well on your way to getting it,

#4 New methods and configurations are capable of getting old divers as well.

Glad you enjoyed it! :14:

AL

 

[haha49]

ya and if you arnt useing an oct make sure you dont breath off the snorkle i did that and i could tell my instructor was laughing as he was handing me his oct..

 

[spectrum]

For all of the hubbub and excitement of a 3 dive check-out day you assimilated a lot of new learnings. Great work. It's that kind of observation and follow-up that will make you a really good diver. Congratulations, we expect a full report when you wrap it up.

Pete

 

[diverdown247]

doghouse,

Sounds like you have plenty of dive wisdom already. That can be something we as experienced divers can even take for granted within ourselves. Overconfidence is the mother of all mistakes. No dive is "routine".

Congrats on making it this far. Now if I could just find a way to write a bunch of stuff off on my taxes for 2007!

 

[Ber Rabbit]

One tip for the cold water, get your face wet on the surface. Acclimating your face to the cold water while you're still on the surface makes the flood/clear exercise a little less shocking.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[wunat]

congratulations and welcome to the underwater world.