First OW dive today at Buddleigh. 
Vis was around 3 m and bottom temp 15 oC.
There was a bit if a current /surge at the beach and I didn't go far enough in to stay stable to put fins on...in the end by class mate buddy put them on for me.
Next thing was to check buoyancy - did this and seemed weighted about right but I noticed my weight belt was slipping a little, I mentioned this to the instructor and we agreed that was on the bottom I could doff/don getting on exercise done and sorting the belt out....never got that far.... After being pushed around for a little and before we descended I noticed the weight belt really was heading south. :shakehead This resulted in a few attempts to correct it with the DM helping. It was sorted in the end but I think I spent a bit more energy than expected doing that.
We descended and finned out a bit but the current was making life a little more difficult to make headway. Anyway, we hadn't planned on any skills it was just a 'get-to-know-the-sea' type dive. Depth was 5m and logged 20minutes. At that point my air had reached our agreed turn-around of 120 and one of the other divers signalled a problem equalizing....so we ascended, checked we were okay and then snorkelled back in the 100/150m from the shore.
My next problem came on exit...too far up the shore before attempting to remove fins meant I had no chance standing on my feet. I was pushed over pretty quickly and must have looked like a beached whale...I fought for a while but realised I wasn't gonna win...the instructor came over got me fins off and helped me out...I took off the rig and took a breather on the pebbles - which gave me a chance to run over what happened with the instructor.
:14:
Okay, some might say that I should have known 'x' or 'y' and the instructor should have done 'z' but I learned a lot today and I believe that the experience will be good for me.
During the dive I was happy with everything (as far as it can be at this point).
So, tomorrow we do the 3 remaining OW dives - most likely at the same shore dive spot. Back at the LDS/training centre after logging the dive I spent a good while with the helpful folks looking at different weight options (shot belt, harness, integrated). In the end we settled on staying with the weight belt but redistributed the weights which made it more comfortable - and I know that I need to tighten it up over the wetsuit a bit better next time!!!
Vis was around 3 m and bottom temp 15 oC. There was a bit if a current /surge at the beach and I didn't go far enough in to stay stable to put fins on...in the end by class mate buddy put them on for me.
Next thing was to check buoyancy - did this and seemed weighted about right but I noticed my weight belt was slipping a little, I mentioned this to the instructor and we agreed that was on the bottom I could doff/don getting on exercise done and sorting the belt out....never got that far....
After being pushed around for a little and before we descended I noticed the weight belt really was heading south. :shakehead This resulted in a few attempts to correct it with the DM helping. It was sorted in the end but I think I spent a bit more energy than expected doing that.We descended and finned out a bit but the current was making life a little more difficult to make headway. Anyway, we hadn't planned on any skills it was just a 'get-to-know-the-sea' type dive. Depth was 5m and logged 20minutes. At that point my air had reached our agreed turn-around of 120 and one of the other divers signalled a problem equalizing....so we ascended, checked we were okay and then snorkelled back in the 100/150m from the shore.
My next problem came on exit...too far up the shore before attempting to remove fins meant I had no chance standing on my feet. I was pushed over pretty quickly and must have looked like a beached whale...I fought for a while but realised I wasn't gonna win...the instructor came over got me fins off and helped me out...I took off the rig and took a breather on the pebbles - which gave me a chance to run over what happened with the instructor.
:14: Okay, some might say that I should have known 'x' or 'y' and the instructor should have done 'z' but I learned a lot today and I believe that the experience will be good for me.
During the dive I was happy with everything (as far as it can be at this point).
So, tomorrow we do the 3 remaining OW dives - most likely at the same shore dive spot. Back at the LDS/training centre after logging the dive I spent a good while with the helpful folks looking at different weight options (shot belt, harness, integrated). In the end we settled on staying with the weight belt but redistributed the weights which made it more comfortable - and I know that I need to tighten it up over the wetsuit a bit better next time!!!
