Avoiding "new diver" mistakes: from training, to gear, to edict, to... everything

[Neilwood]

As those above have said, slow down, relax and take it easy. Practise your skills (what else is there to do on a safety stop?) and get comfortable in the water with your gear. Slow down and relax.

Find a good buddy or group to dive with. That makes all the difference.

You will make mistakes - we all do. The trick is to make sure you don't compound them with others. My second last dive I took a gopro camera with me, got too interested in filming everything and wasn't checking my gas frequently enough (we were diving deeper than I am used to) so my air was going quicker than I thought and my mind was elsewhere. Ended up with a short safety stop because of it. Will know better next time that even filming, I need to watch my gas more.

Only add task loading a bit at a time. Don't immediately try to go out and do everything - you will probably not manage it. Get used to diving a bit at a time. When you truly feel comfortable with what you are doing, then add skills bit by bit.

Did I say slow down and relax? Diving is not a race so take your time and enjoy your time underwater. Rushing and being tense will only up your breathing rates and shorten your dives. If time allows, I like being able to take 15-20 seconds at the start of a dive to just chill, slow my breathing down and get fully relaxed.

 

[RainPilot]

@Neilwood if your buddy had run out of gas just before you ascended, what would the outcome have been? Genuinely curious.

 

[Neilwood]

@Neilwood if your buddy had run out of gas just before you ascended, what would the outcome have been? Genuinely curious.

Fortunately he was keeping a better eye on his than I was so we will never know. As it is I managed back on with some gas (not a lot) to spare. Probably would have air shared for as long as possible and either omitted the safety stop or cut it short. Was well within NDL so blowing the safety stop wouldn't have been too critical.

As I said, I know it was a mistake and I am learning from it. Will be a lot more careful in future.

 

[Hawkwood]

Based on your threads already, you need to pump the brakes and slooooooow dooooooown. Nothing in scuba should be quick.

I understand that you've done a ton of reading and are blasting through your course work and as such don't have such a great opinion of your open water training, but remember, you actually have very little experience in any of this. So slow down, take each situation as it comes, and don't try to get so far ahead of the curve that you never bother to embrace the basics of what you're doing. (Your mask situation is a prime example of this)

....

@JohnnyC...that was an awesome post!

 

[RainPilot]

@Neilwood
PLEASE don't take this as an attack, it really isn't meant as one. In the spirit of self-analysis and lessons learned, if he had a HP hose failure or a blown 1st stage at the moment you decided to ascend, would you have had enough for both of you to ascend safely? I find that MANY divers seem to forget that actually running out of gas from breathing it all is only one of several causes of OOG.

Also, while it may be possible to do a CESA after you've air shared a bit, you will now have 2 of you doing it, and thats not a nice thought.

Lastly, all dives are deco dives, just some of them you deco during your ascent. Even within NDL limits, if you surface at 30m a minute plus from doing a deep CESA you are VERY likely to have serious issues. The CESA is based on the principle that bends are treatable, breathing water not so much.

Dive safe and get good pics!

 

[islanddream]

A couple things come to mind that I learned early on that were important:

1) You'll most likely buy a DSMB or SMB because in some areas you have to have one so the boat can find you. I know when my husband and I went through OW, we were never taught how to deploy a DSMB. Diving in Cozumel (we do that a lot) and Jupiter (we live in FL), it's crucial to have a DSMB, and the skills to deploy it, because there's boat traffic and the boats don't anchor. Of course, the first time I deployed, I took a quick ride to the surface because I didn't really understand how my DSMB worked. After that experience I practiced, practiced, practiced with my dive buddy right close to me. I just bought a new, bigger DSMB. I was in St. Croix last week, and even though we didn't have to deploy a DSMB because the boat was anchored, I told the DM I wanted to try my new purchase out. I'm glad I gave it a try....I did OK but not perfect. It's a lot larger than my old DSMB so I know I need to get more practice in.

2) Since you're a photographer, I'm guessing you'll do underwater photography. My husband and I have a pact....if one of us is filming, the other person doesn't carry a camera on that dive and that person stays VERY close to the person with the camera. If hubby is taking video today, I'll take pictures tomorrow. It's way too easy to get interested in the underwater world and not pay attention to depth, gas, and direction. So one of us is always monitoring depth, gas, and where we are headed. Again, this pact came about several years ago when my husband was using his camera and I was about 10 feet in front of him. Every couple of minutes I would check to see where he was. During one of these checks, I turned and didn't see him. I waited for a couple minutes and still didn't see him. I caught up with our other dive buddies and we decided to go to the surface. I few minutes later my husband ascended with a group from a different boat. He thought he was following our group, but due to the videoing, he wasn't paying enough attention. Since that experience and our new pact, it's never happened again.

Were we taught any of this in OW or AOW? No. It's with many dives and situations that pop up that we've learned some very valuable lessons. So....dive, dive, dive and learn from your successes and mistakes.

Happy Bubbles!

 

[Kharon]

The absolute best diver I ever met gave me this advice: "Your card is a learners permit. You need to practice all those skills you were introduced to till you have them down to a conditioned reflex. Do only one at a time till you perfect it before you move on the next. First buoyancy, then trim, then ...And always, ALWAYS minimize your task load."

 

[RainPilot]

The absolute best diver I ever met gave me this advice: "Your card is a learners permit. You need to practice all those skills you were introduced to till you have them down to a conditioned reflex. Do only one at a time till you perfect it before you move on the next. First buoyancy, then trim, then ...And always, ALWAYS minimize your task load."

Agree totally with the first part, however there is a place in training under controlled conditions to increase task loading wherever possible in order to increase the difficulty level and thus build the "muscles" needed, mental and physical. on an actual dive of course one minimises any task loading as much as possible.

Train Hard, Fight Easy

The caveat is of course that the skills need to be perfected individually and singly before being chained together

 

[Neilwood]

@Neilwood
PLEASE don't take this as an attack, it really isn't meant as one. In the spirit of self-analysis and lessons learned, if he had a HP hose failure or a blown 1st stage at the moment you decided to ascend, would you have had enough for both of you to ascend safely? I find that MANY divers seem to forget that actually running out of gas from breathing it all is only one of several causes of OOG.

Also, while it may be possible to do a CESA after you've air shared a bit, you will now have 2 of you doing it, and thats not a nice thought.

Lastly, all dives are deco dives, just some of them you deco during your ascent. Even within NDL limits, if you surface at 30m a minute plus from doing a deep CESA you are VERY likely to have serious issues. The CESA is based on the principle that bends are treatable, breathing water not so much.

Dive safe and get good pics!

I realise it wasn't an attack on me - just advice , which I am happy to accept and a mistake which I will not repeat. I allowed myself to get task loaded (or should it be task carried away?) and lost the focus on the more important factor.

I think with the remaining gas (about 30bar when I boarded the boat) we would have managed an ascent albeit with a short or omitted safety stop (which for NDL diving is recommended but not mandatory).

What I was trying to get over to with regards to the OP is we are human and we do make mistakes. Try to make sure they aren't critical and learn from them.

 

[wspalding]

I have to agree with everything that JohnnyC said, very good advice. I'll just add that you'll make mistakes and feel foolish, and probably all of us have been there. Unless you do something particularly egregious, don't sweat it and learn from it. Some common things I see are; setting up reg with the air source on the wrong side, setting up the reg before setting up the BC, setting up the up the kit on a charter without realizing that your reg now prevents you from being able to remove the bungee from the tank. Oh, and guaranteed that at least once you'll be geared up on a charter, go to stand up and find that you are still attached to the boat by the bungee on your tank. I'll suggest that as you are packing your bag (if you have your own gear), particularly if you are going on a charter, mentally think about gearing up as you put items in the dive bag. Nothing worse that expecting to have a great day of diving, getting to the dive site and find you have missing gear. And yes, I've learned that one from experience. Also, on a charter, keeping your gear contained in your space and out of the way is important.