Did my first two OW dives Sunday

[Ioncloud9]

This was not at all the way I expected to do it, honestly. I'm doing it through Coastal Scuba in NMB, SC. (They are great by the way.) We went 10 miles off shore in 4-6ft waves to the Charleston Tug. It was a little.. "sporty" they called it haha. There was a tropical storm a few hundred miles away that was providing the lovely conditions. They tried an alternate dive site 4 miles off shore first, but there was zero visibility. They couldn't see 6 inches. We made it to the Charleston tug and the waves were still pretty huge. So we obviously dove right in. For the conditions the visibility was fantastic. At least 20ft. From the surface I could see pretty far down and had no problem spotting the wreck or the thousands of fish just chilling in the surge. Yeah there was some pretty good surge down there. We only went to 40ft being our first OW dives, but even if we could, there was no visibility below 50-55ft from the surge kicking up the sand into a cloud. We did all the skills needed, made two dives, and got out of there. Holding on to the ropes tied to the boat and anchor line was like an amusement park ride. Sometimes a large wave would hit the boat and rocket us up 5ft. I ended up throwing up both times I got back on board the boat from the rocking. Getting out to the site I was fine. It was when we stopped and the boat rocked that I started getting sea-sick.

In hindsight not feeling seasick anymore it was a really fun experience, even though my girlfriend looked queasy most of the time (I ended up throwing up more than her. Should've took the medication like she did) Plus we got to try out our new Deep 6 Signature regs with the cave adventure's swivels. Worked fantastic. Really looking forward to dives 3 & 4 now. Hopefully better conditions so we can actually finish all of our surface skills too.

 

[Marie13]

Next time before you do a boat dive take the meds the night before and then in the morning. Makes a huge dfference.

 

[flyboy08]

Congrats! Thats a heck of a first dive experience!

 

[Saltyhawg]

Wow, my OW dives seem mundane now (68 degree water at Vortex Springs).

Try scopolamine patches. Need to put it on at least an hour before you get on the boat. Works great for me and side effects have never been a problem for me.

 

[GreggS]

Oh, look, another new guppy.

Congrats on the first dive. I've been out with Coastal several times. Good outfit.

 

[Bert van den Berg]

After that you will likely be very relaxed with your next dives!

 

[jlcnuke]

I'm surprised they took you out and let you dive in those conditions. I've had charters cancelled by the boat captain for waves that size.

 

[snowdog61]

And now you know... Getting onto the boat is the hardest part (well other than hanging on in heaving seas). Timing is everything - let the boat do the work. But if you can do fine in conditions like that, everything else is a cake walk.

 

[Saniflush]

Congrats.

 

[txgoose]

Welcome to the adventure!!