Failed Open Water Dive

[LowDrag]

1+ on training in the pool with wetsuit, hood, and gloves. If it gets too hot unzip the back completely or take the hood off as well. I'd at least try a few skill with it on especially the mask clearing drills. The trick to diving with hoods is getting the mask back on without the skirt getting on the hood.

I did my OW pool dives in my wetsuit, gloves, and hood. The gloves were optional but I wanted to train with them on since we would dive ocean with them anyways. I didnt get too hot nor was I uncomfortable.

Good luck. Hope all goes well and you get your cert!

I don't know if this original or not but this worked really well for me. During my skills testing when I would pull my mask off and re-seat it, I found that if I slid my mask side to side then I could get the skirt of the mask under my hood without having to try to stick my gloved fingers under it.

 

[So-Tx-Rich]

After the attempted OW dive, I asked about pool practice with full gear and did not get a positive response. Now that I've had two people recommend it, I'll insist. Thanks!

Please do. It is essential to get used to the gear you will dive in a real situation. Just the buoyancy alone wetsuit vs. no wetsuit makes it worthwhile (keep in mind you will need a little more weight in salt water)

 

[SeahorseDeb]

One thing I still do no matter if I've dove the site 0-30 times, I arrive early, take my time setting up my gear, and do my mental checklist to ensure I didn't forget anything (except for not having someone zip my drysuit that one time). I do not like to be rushed, because one small mistake could endanger myself or my buddy, and it isn't worth it. Yes, sometimes I too have to carry my gear in pieces to the site, I'm not going to risk a face plant into rocks if I trip because my gear weighs almost half as much as I do. And when I'm set up, I have extra time to help my buddy. It's supposed to be fun, not a lot of exhausting huffing work. Take a deep breath and the advice of the other posters, they've given you wise and sage advice!!! Keep asking questions here, your buddies are always here waiting to assist!

FWIW: I'm diving in the rain, in a lake tomorrow and the water is 43 and hopefully the surface around 40, however I'm in a drysuit too. I have a thermos of tea to warm up with after the dive. That thermos has been with me since I dove a wetsuit. Then it was used to pour warm water down inside my wetsuit to warm me back up! I didn't get to do a tropical dive until my 297th dive! Yes it was less gear, but I won't give up diving just to wait for the sun & a day of 80 degree temps. That's just not realistic for this landlocked diver. Good luck and keep us posted, we care!!!

 

[Kitty_Kat]

There has been lots of good advice in this thread so far! Here's my two (four?) cents:

1) Like (almost) everyone else has said, find a chance to play with the wetsuit in a pool somewhere. I did my rescue training with a dive shop in Portland (we too did our ocean dives in Hoodsport!) and I remember the pool being disgustingly hot. Even so, it would have been totally possible to spend at least 30 minutes in my 7mm, boots, gloves, and hood! This might be all the time you need to practice putting your fins/mask on and play with your weighting a bit. People are going to laugh at me for this next suggestion, but if you really want to get used to moving in/wearing your wetsuit, wear it in the shower once or twice. I've done it !

2) Most places overweight their OW students. We do it, as does every other local shop. It makes our job easier and makes sure that you will actually get to the bottom and get to do your skills. Plus, it takes a little bit of diving to get comfortable with the feeling of being truly neutral. Regardless, you sound WAAAY overweighted. Our students wear 7mm suits, gloves, boots, and 3/5 hooded vests and still only use 24-26 lbs on average (in SALT water, with AL80s). Yes we get the occasional students who need a little more, but divers who truly need 40+ are rare. A farmer john might add a couple of pounds, but it sounds like you need a good weight check... I wear 20 lbs with the gear listed above and am even slightly overweighted with the knowledge that I can give away a couple pounds underwater if someone needs it.

3) Octopus hole is a bad call for an OW class. I like the site, and have had a lot of fun on the occasions when I was there, but that cliff is treacherous. My land navigation skills are a little off, but we did some of our class dives in a state park just down the road from there, the name of which I can't remember. It was literally on the same road, there was no fee, and it has a SUPER easy shore entry. I'm sure one of the more local divers to the area will know the name... but it's a much better choice for OW and I know a lot of Portland shops use it... there were tons of OW classes there when we were. (and this was only a couple of years ago so things shouldn't have changed too much!)

4) This may sound awful, but as a female diver, it doesn't take much to get someone to help you with your gear if you need it . I can barely pick up my steel doubles when they aren't on my back. As stupid as it makes me feel sometimes, I will now always ask for help with them if I need it. It only took one time of dropping them on my foot and breaking a toe to learn this. In your case, falling down on that climb would have been worse. If there were many instructors/DMs present that day, someone should have helped you. We don't make it a practice to carry our students gear, but when conditions are bad, or someone truly needs the help, I have seen every instructor/DM that i work with step up and help out. A little bit of assistance can really prevent things from taking a bad turn fast.

Don't give up on cold water diving! It's great that you already want to come over to dark (green and murky?) side! All of us that like cold water diving are only a little crazy...

 

[MNJoe]

RJHinPDX, it looks like you have gotten plenty of good advice, so I will mostly add words of encouragement. Definitely practice with the hood and gloves before your open water dives. You can even dry practice at home doing things like putting on your mask and fins while wearing your hood and gloves.

The PNW offers some great diving!! I have dove Puget Sound a few times. So get your certification there and enjoy the great diving that you have in your backyard. Being able to deal with the extra thermal protection will make diving a breeze when you do travel to a warm location.