First dive trip post OW

[TheHuth]

This Sunday I'm going out on a local dive boat to Catalina. Its planned for 4 days; which will effectively double the amount of dives I've done. Since this will be the first time without an instructor, any suggestions?

My OW dives were all short. I think 20 minutes top. I'm hoping to use all my tanks down to the 500cf mark and get some good bottom time. Of course I'll have to find people on the boat willing to take a noob out.

I'm looking forward to it. Its just 5 days out.

 

[undrwater]

Have fun.

 

[TMHeimer]

Bring a "dry bag" for stuff you want to stay dry and find out where the dry area is on board. Generally, don't bring anything you don't want to get wet unless you absolutely need it.
Keep track of the anchor line so you can return to it as a reference for ascending & safety stop. Enjoy.

 

[KDAD]

This Sunday I'm going out on a local dive boat to Catalina. Its planned for 4 days; which will effectively double the amount of dives I've done. Since this will be the first time without an instructor, any suggestions?

My OW dives were all short. I think 20 minutes top. I'm hoping to use all my tanks down to the 500cf mark and get some good bottom time. Of course I'll have to find people on the boat willing to take a noob out.

I'm looking forward to it. Its just 5 days out.

Dive safe. Don't exceed your training. How deep have the training dives been? How deep will the dives be that you will be doing? Do you have an idea of what the dives will be like and a plan for the dives?

Tank pressure is measured in psi, not cf. While it is nice to maximize bottom time, at this stage shooting for 500 psi might not be prudent. Dive conservative until you get some more dives in and are familiar with the site, your gear, etc. It's not fun watching the gauge to stay as long as you can and then surfacing with an empty tank because you stayed a little too long.

 

[Dan Bowkley]

Don't dive beyond your training, but do try to very gently push your boundaries a little. I also agree with KDAD, aiming for 500 psi remaining is probably a bad idea being inexperienced; personally I'd shoot for 1000 or so. Having a nice "oh poop factor" is a very good thing and may well save your life, and you can expect your air consumption to go up a good bit simply due to the excitement of your first unsupervised dives. And if you can, try to pair up with someone who's dove Catalina about a bazillion times and knows his/her way around the common dive spots. Granted it's pretty much all beautiful, but there are some neat little oohs and aahs to be found down there.

 

[The Chairman]

Have fun.

Yeah... what he said.

Listen intently. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

 

[scubasmacks]

Don't do anything you do not feel comfortable doing, and do not forget that YOU are the one in control of yourself !! Happy for you !! You're going to have a lot of fun !!

 

[TheHuth]

Thank you everyone. You're all right, conservancy will be my friend. I was more pointing to the fact that I want to actually stay for a while under water. During my OW dives, I surfaced with half a tank full each time. Deepest we went was ~60 feet or so. None were in Catalina, so this will be all new. I'll have to find someone to buddy up with who is willing to keep a close eye on me. Should be very exciting. Only 4 more days.

 

[KDAD]

It was a bit frustrating limiting the OW dives to 20 minutes and surfacing with all of that extra gas. It's nice to have the freedom to stay down longer post cert dives.

Try a few shallow water shore dives and see how pleasantly surprised you are when an AL80 lasts 90 minutes.

 

[scubasmacks]

Thank you everyone. You're all right, conservancy will be my friend. I was more pointing to the fact that I want to actually stay for a while under water. During my OW dives, I surfaced with half a tank full each time. Deepest we went was ~60 feet or so. None were in Catalina, so this will be all new. I'll have to find someone to buddy up with who is willing to keep a close eye on me. Should be very exciting. Only 4 more days.

You could always hire a divemaster to be your buddy. I did that on my first "real" dives, since I did not have a buddy, and it turned out to be a great decision for me.