bc214
Contributor
A little over a year ago I finally decided to pull the trigger and start diving. I picked out a local shop that was referred to me by a few people, and started my OW training. After completing my check dives I tagged along with my instructor whenever he had more classes, just to build on my skills. I focused on buoyancy, fin techniques, no mask, etc.
I started a few easy ocean dives here in Jersey from shore, and kept logging dives whenever I had time. I passed through a bunch of equipment, eventually landing in a BPW setup. After a few dives of tweaking, and some custom weights ordered, I felt like I was making progress. I constantly worked to get my trim as good as it could be.
In October, I drove up to RI for my AOW course, which was a blast. Lots of shore diving, low visibility, all the good stuff.
Over the winter I took a trip down to Freeport and did some carribean diving. Holy clear water! This was a great time, but also where I sadly learned that many vacation divers are horrible, and clearly don't work on anything. I saw all the typical things, but for what it was worth, it made me feel good about my training.
Starting on that trip, and continuing to the present, I have been working on learning underwater videography. I put together a nice little gopro kit, and have been having a blast. I still tag along with the dive shop, and get some video/images of the students, many of whom where very excited to have a record of their first open water dives. This gave me a good chance to continue to work on my trim, but now with the added camera tray to throw a wrench in the works.
As it turns out, and old friend was at the quarry the other day and was doing some still life. He snapped a few shots of me, and I got to see how I look with the camera. I was in a great mood when I left, as a few people complemented me on my buoyancy and trim, but when I got home to the email from my friend, I was even more happy to see that it almost looks like I know what I'm doing!
I still have a long way to go, and this past year has been fun, but I'm using this thread to share a little bit of my happiness with my progress.
Thanks for all the support from SB during my adventures in diving!
-BC
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I started a few easy ocean dives here in Jersey from shore, and kept logging dives whenever I had time. I passed through a bunch of equipment, eventually landing in a BPW setup. After a few dives of tweaking, and some custom weights ordered, I felt like I was making progress. I constantly worked to get my trim as good as it could be.
In October, I drove up to RI for my AOW course, which was a blast. Lots of shore diving, low visibility, all the good stuff.
Over the winter I took a trip down to Freeport and did some carribean diving. Holy clear water! This was a great time, but also where I sadly learned that many vacation divers are horrible, and clearly don't work on anything. I saw all the typical things, but for what it was worth, it made me feel good about my training.
Starting on that trip, and continuing to the present, I have been working on learning underwater videography. I put together a nice little gopro kit, and have been having a blast. I still tag along with the dive shop, and get some video/images of the students, many of whom where very excited to have a record of their first open water dives. This gave me a good chance to continue to work on my trim, but now with the added camera tray to throw a wrench in the works.
As it turns out, and old friend was at the quarry the other day and was doing some still life. He snapped a few shots of me, and I got to see how I look with the camera. I was in a great mood when I left, as a few people complemented me on my buoyancy and trim, but when I got home to the email from my friend, I was even more happy to see that it almost looks like I know what I'm doing!
I still have a long way to go, and this past year has been fun, but I'm using this thread to share a little bit of my happiness with my progress.
Thanks for all the support from SB during my adventures in diving!
-BC
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
