3 things to tell a new guy (In Monterey)

[mikemill]

One thing to add: Don't be afraid to approach other divers to ask questions / advice / whatever. I have found Monterey divers to be friendly and more than willing to share their knowledge.

 

[micboucher]

Ben,

I want to thank you for posting these rules for new divers in Monterey. I would also like to add that it doesn't apply to just new divers but intermediate to advance divers as well.

I dove Saturday on the Escapade with Tony Sung the owner of Nautilus Aquatics in Concord. He charters out the boat to all divers through his dive shop, keeps for a close knit on who's on the boat.

We made a dive plan and Tony and one of his instructors let me know they were going to guide me throughout the dive; they both knew I was diving brand new gear, I had purchased the Halcyon Eclipse 30 lb BP/W.

My BCD changed in design but not in weight I was still diving 18 lbs, 12 ditchable on a weight belt and 6 lbs just the plate. This configuration closely matches my Apeks Harness with integrated weights.

I have dove weight belts before abalone diving and only did pool dives with them during open water. So the belt was new for me.

I was also diving Argon setup for the first time.

I entered the water with Tony and the instructor, again after a horrible boat ride that got me seasick.

One thing that I like about the Escapade is that they have on board a rescue diver Sharon that is suited up ready to dive in just in case anything goes wrong. She introduced herself to me before my dive and I let her know I had knew gear and might need assistance.

I also told her about my incident on the Sanctuary and how I failed to communicate with my dive buddy and got lost.

She assured me that she would keep an eye on me and showed me the dive gear setup that Jim the captain has on the boat, ready to dive in if Sharon comes up needing another diver for help in location of a diver.

I was really impressed on the safety aboard their ship.

As I got to the bow of the boat I couldn't hear my Argon turning on when I would depress the intake valve, it was because I was use to hearing it from my main tank right by my ear. The Argon bottle rest on my hip and you cannot hear it.

Tony and the instructor swam up to me and checked the connections and told me everything seemed okay from their point of view, at that time Jim and Sharon were asking me if I needed assistance.

Tony again let them know what was going on and I told them I was going to abort the dive that I couldn't feel the Argon and that the dive is over.

At that moment Jim the captain saw my exhaust valve ejecting bubbles and said, "it appears you are getting Argon into the suit your exhaust is showing".

At that moment I could finally feel my insides getting warm and after a few more shots of Argon I told Tony and the instructor I'm ready to descend and that I would continue the dive.

All went as plan and we communicated the entire time.

With all this being said would I change it? And the answer is yes I would have much preferred to dive the bunny slope with the new gear as all divers should.

Dannobee was at Break Water and when I asked him what he was doing he told me, "testing out some new equipment I have, want to make sure everything is okay".

He is an experienced diver in my eyes and he didn't go on the Zodiak with Yasaki and I.

Experienced divers and intermediate divers like me sometimes fail to realize the Ocean is not a place that gives second chances.

Dive at your comfort zone and never ignore the messages that begin to lead to panic.

They happened to me twice on Saturday, Argon bottle didn't seem to work since I had no experience with it, I was aborting the dive and then the flaw was discovered on error of diver.

I also had an accident on the Zodiak, when I flipped off the boat my left fin came off but inverted frontwards on my chin of my leg.

It was dangling around my leg and I didn't have use of it. I knew I had one working fin and I immediately let my diving buddy John know what was going on.

He saw me beginning to panic and said, "Calm down and don't panic, I'm hear just swim to the Zodiak and hold on to the side".

I quickly swam to the Zodiak and he assisted me and the fin was back on the foot and we continued the dive successfully.

Things can and do go wrong and panic is the worse enemy and I have a lot of experience with panic than most divers.

I pass on the statement that Ben is trying to magnify to all new divers in Monterey, please never dive beyond your comfort zone.

And to all the other divers like me, please do the same. It's not worth your life out there in the middle of the ocean.

Yes I had adequate protection from experienced divers but that doesn't excuse me from not beginning at the bunny slope, that is why so many experienced divers that change out their gear go to the Break Water, including divers like Dannobee.

MG

Hey Mike,

This really concerns me. :shocked2: Please tell me you'll take some time on a bunny slope to get used to all your new gear before you go out on any more boats. We really want to get a chance to dive with you again.

 

[masterof0]

Couple of other things to add specifically to Monterey

1) Don't just walk away based on what you see this minute. Conditions change about every four hours. So it may look rough now, but may be smooth as glass if you are willing to wait a few minutes

2) Know the tides. If you aren't familiar with Monterey, there are a lot of hidden obstacles that only rear there heads at low tide. If you happen to be entering at high tide, they are accidents waiting to happen.

 

[ryssyr]

i'd like to add my 2 cents... I have a few dives this past year, a fair amount in a drysuit and I'll be the first to say that I still consider myself a beginner diver. I still make mistakes, but I think that the long game approach that I have taken has probably saved me from myself more than once.

I still go on dives that are 'back to basics' where I go out with no camera, no extras, and just work on buoyancy or some other skill. I find that those dives at a place like breakwater can be some of the most rewarding and have really helped me become a better buddy and a better (but still beginner) diver.

I'd like to 2nd the take it slow approach. Whats the rush?

 

[Hepcat62]

i'd like to add my 2 cents... I have a few dives this past year, a fair amount in a drysuit and I'll be the first to say that I still consider myself a beginner diver. I still make mistakes, but I think that the long game approach that I have taken has probably saved me from myself more than once.

I still go on dives that are 'back to basics' where I go out with no camera, no extras, and just work on buoyancy or some other skill. I find that those dives at a place like breakwater can be some of the most rewarding and have really helped me become a better buddy and a better (but still beginner) diver.

This makes me want to say a few more things...

Anytime I hear someone like Ryssyr call themselves a beginner, it acts as a welcome reminder that I'm an absolute noob. Like somebody else said, complacency is almost as bad as, if not worse than, most other mistakes you can make while diving, and as a new diver it's easy to become overconfident. Even if you can handle yourself, are you really prepared to help someone else if you have to?

Some of the most rewarding dives I've had since getting certified have been in far less than ideal conditions, usually because I've been diving with someone that I can learn a lot from through observation. A great example of this is a dive that I buddied up with Ryssyr on at the Breakwater. Vis was not so good, and the water was an absolute minefield of sea nettles (with the occasional moon jelly). To be honest, avoiding all of those things was a bit unnerving, but I still learned a lot just from observing Ryssyr.

So the advice I'd add, which is certainly not specific to Monterey, is - actively pursue opportunities to dive with people more experienced than yourself (beyond instructors and DMs). Every dive is a chance to learn, and the amount that can be absorbed even just through observing during a fun dive is substantial.

 

[mikeguerrero]

Hey Mike,

This really concerns me. :shocked2: Please tell me you'll take some time on a bunny slope to get used to all your new gear before you go out on any more boats. We really want to get a chance to dive with you again.

Hi Michelle,

Yeah I'm back to basic diving after my two ordeals on the big boats, I survived but it's not worth the rush to complete a dive, like many others have said, you can dive other days.

I'm glad I placed myself through it and it's now behind me. I'm also glad that I got so many responses from many experienced and novice divers about my mistakes.

I can only hope that divers read my mistakes and learn from my error on the boat dives; over confidence and wanting to rush things.

Even though I took my camera on all three boat dives, the camera remained on the boat. I had never dove my gear and was just trying to get use to it. The camera would've been my Achilles heel.

I plan on being at Break Water for quite some time to practice my SMB with reel and of course more navigation. I should have lots of fun since the gear I have is top notch and I'm literally in love with my BP/W setup.

Halcyon makes really great equipment and I've never felt so streamlined as I do now. Only wish I had purchased it in the beginning Michelle, I would have 65 dives logged to this rig.

MG

p.s
Thanks for your concern about my errors in diving...

 

[Divenomad]

1. Good procedures pay off exceptionally well here. Not rushing, buddy checks, good communication with hand signals, masks on, regs in the mouth during entry, etc.

2. Keep your gear in good service order. Beach diving is exceptionally hard on gear. Do a couple crawls and you'll see what I mean.

3. Good in water buddy skills. I have a buddy, and she had a bad habit of drifting behind me. I talked to her about it, and her comment was, "Well, I want to keep you in sight" I flummoxed her with my response. "Has it occurred to you that I would like to able to see you too?" Problem solved. It can be tough here, with the kelp and other obstructions, but that only makes it more important.If you swim through a dense bit, immediately stop, turn and wait. The dominant diver syndrome seriously annoys me, because, as the usually dominant diver, I have to keep turning around and looking. I sometimes feel like telling them the sharks eat the rearmost divers.

I had to laugh at a friend who I "brought up" diving here. At about 80 dives, he finally took a trip to the clear and the blue. He was sort of discombobulated his whole trip. He was waiting for the "effort quotient" to kick in. And the divemaster kept trying to give him newer divers. he kept thinking, I'm a newbie!

-Nomad

 

[sarita75]

It's funny. When I hit Dive #50 I thought I was getting good as a diver. Funny, age and time wises you up and as I near Dive #100, I can sit back and realize the road to becoming a truly good diver is alot longer and more challenging than I thought 50 dives ago.

 

[micboucher]

Hi Michelle,

Yeah I'm back to basic diving after my two ordeals on the big boats, I survived but it's not worth the rush to get into diving, like many others have said, you can dive other days.

I'm glad I placed myself through it and it's now behind me. I'm also glad that I got so many responses from many experienced and novice divers about my mistakes.

I can only hope that divers read my mistakes and learn from my error on the boat dives; over confidence and wanting to rush things.

Even though I took my camera on all three boat dives, the camera remained on the boat. I had never dove my gear and was just trying to get use to it. The camera would've been my Achilles heel.

I plan on being at Break Water for quite some time to practice my SMB with reel and of course more navigation. I should have lots of fun since the gear I have is top notch and I'm literally in love with my BP/W setup.

Halcyon makes really great equipment and I've never felt so streamlined as I do now. Only wish I had purchased it in the beginning Michelle, I would have 65 dives logged to this rig.

MG

p.s
Thanks for your concern about my errors in diving...

That makes me happy Mike. A BP/W is definitely on my list of things I need next...too bad the list outweighs the bank account right now though. :depressed: Have fun with all your new toys!

 

[Gombessa]

3. Good in water buddy skills. I have a buddy, and she had a bad habit of drifting behind me. I talked to her about it, and her comment was, "Well, I want to keep you in sight" I flummoxed her with my response. "Has it occurred to you that I would like to able to see you too?" Problem solved.

One of my friends does this too - I think it's been described here as a "DFA" Diver - Death From Above. He tends to stay directly above and behind his buddies, partially to enjoy the wide angle view, partially so he always has us in sight. But it's also the ABSOLUTE WORST place for a buddy to be, right in the biggest blind spot possible. You can't see them out of the corner of your eye, you can't see them when you turn your head, you can't see them when you tuck your chin to your sternum. Arrrgh!