Hello from upstate NY

[momof3gr8boyz]

Hi, all,

I'm new to the boards and wanted to jump right in and post my introduction. I was certified about 4 years ago, but haven't done much since then. I've only been diving in c-c-c-cold, murky Lake George. I really want to dive in the tropics at some point, but travel isn't really something I get to do. I do own some of my own equipment since I was pretty excited when I first got certified and then it all petered out especially after the pregnancy/birth of my youngest 1.5 years ago. I tried posting some pics, but don't really know hwere they went to. LOL I would love to get into underwater photography as I love to take pics above water.

I have a couple fears... 1) losing my dive buddy and my way while under water and 2) having my mask come off. Yup, I'm a I've only been about 60 feet under and I really don't feel the need to go deeper. I would like to see some shallow wrecks. I think there are a few in NY waters that are about 60 feet.

Anyway, hope to gain some insights and the nerve to get back down there... even if it's only Lake George.

Best wishes,

Karen

 

[pasley]

Welcome momof3gr8boyz,
Your fears are normal (what ever that is) and reasonable.
Loosing your buddy on a dive never ever happens....well, OK, so it does happen and far too often. First start by agreeing before the dive what a dive buddy means and what is acceptable. Your lost contact may be another divers, "everything is fine, we are both still in the same ocean". So set the record straight before the dive and agree that a dive buddy can touch his/her dive buddy at all times. Each diver should approach the dive with "maintaining dive buddy contact is solely my responsibility" attitude. Get into the habit of looking at your buddy every 30 seconds or so. If one of the dive buddies is a photographer, put them in the lead as they will suddenly stop and go "ohhh pretty fishy" and promptly get lost in taking pictures and all too soon lost to their buddy too. Learn to recognize places or events that will cause buddy separation. If you are leading and go through a narrow place or have to slow down to negotiate a place, remember your buddy behind you will have to do the same thing, so wait on the other side for them. In limited visibility (and all other times too), keep your buddy in arms reach. In limited visibility sometimes you have to hold hands. If you stop to look at something, tap your buddy and show them too. But at the end, in limited visibility and good, you will from time to time loose your buddy. Have a pre-agreed dive buddy separation plan, search for one minute (stop, turn on your light which you carry day or night make two complete 360 revolutions waiving the flashlight up and down then back track for no more than 10 yards.). If you do not re-establish contact, then per your pre-agreed dive plan surface and stay there until your dive buddy surfaces.

Every diver should be a master at navigation. Make it a point even if someone else is leading the dive to always know where you are in the water and how to get back to the boat or beach. Some divers make the mistake of relying on their dive buddy for navigation, and then....buddyseperation or emergency, and it's how do I get back to safety? Or my favorite, we reach the turn and the dive leader points in the opposite direction as the way back. Know here you are in the water at all times. Practice navigation on shore by having a safety walk beside you (only to keep you from walking into a tree or hole) while you walk around the local park or large open field with a large towel or bag over your head so you can only see your feet and maybe 2 feet in front of your feet. Using only your dive compass navigate out 100 yards and back to the same location. Try a simple out and back, then a triangle pattern, then a rectangle pattern. You should come back to within say 6 feet of where you started. With practice you will get there. While on the dive, keep track by checking your compass and while you are at it, your gages every minute or so. You don't need to worry about 274 degrees for 10 minutes, just know you went west (just a tad north of west) for 10 minutes before turning due north for 15 minutes then East for 10 minutes and after that you will need...yes south for 15 minutes. That will get you in the right neighborhood. If there is a strong current on the first leg (always start the dive swimming into the current) remember the return leg will go faster if the current is still the same, to the east leg in the above example may become 9.5 minutes. With experience you will learn how to adjust. Best way to learn is to be the dive leader. Responsibility causes you to get good in a hurry. Tell your dive buddy to keep track too, but you do the navigation. Practice, Practice, Practice.

Mask coming off. 290 dives and I have not had it happen....yet. But it will. Try to keep you face out of your dive buddies fins. But from time to time you will wind up with fins in your face, turn your face away, raise an arm up in front of you to deflect fins. Other divers will cross over above you and kick you in the face with their fins (or worse). Just follow the above, and possibly carry a spare mask and try not to worry about it. It happens, but you are trained to deal with it.

With the exception of wrecks, most of the good stuff is above 60 feet anyway. So get into the water. You owe it to yourself and your body. SCUBA is an excellent aerobic exercise and promotes both excellent physical health, but mental health (OK, so we are all crazy) as well.

 

[momof3gr8boyz]

Thanks so much for the great reply. I'm getting that excitement back for the sport. Thanks for the great tips to conquer my fears... really liked the separation plan which I never thought about before.

Now to trade in my old wetsuit... since I still haven't lost a lot of the baby weight. Sigh!

 

[DandyDon]

Howdy and Welcome to SB.com!

Yeah, our Gallery is not user friendly. PM me if I can help. If you lose your buddy, follow your training; if you lose your mask - same.

I'm packing for Cozumel, Playa del Carmen and Holbox now but wanted to say Hi anyway...

Click Forums at the top to start checking all the choices, and try our feature. Hope you enjoy your time here. Click my Username to PM me if I can help? Helpful Hint: I have UserCP bookmarked as the page I go to first when I come onto SB.

don
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[ScubaSam]

Welcome to Scuba Board, Karen.

I'm not familiar with NY diving because I have always been a vacation diver. Since joining SB and meeting local SB'ers, I am now more open to local fresh water diving. Maybe I'll see you in the local waters.

Lake George is beautiful although I was not a diver when I was there last.

Keep diving.

 

[momof3gr8boyz]

Welcome momof3gr8boyz,
Every diver should be a master at navigation. Make it a point even if someone else is leading the dive to always know where you are in the water and how to get back to the boat or beach. Some divers make the mistake of relying on their dive buddy for navigation, and then....buddyseperation or emergency, and it's how do I get back to safety? Or my favorite, we reach the turn and the dive leader points in the opposite direction as the way back. Know here you are in the water at all times. Practice navigation on shore by having a safety walk beside you (only to keep you from walking into a tree or hole) while you walk around the local park or large open field with a large towel or bag over your head so you can only see your feet and maybe 2 feet in front of your feet. Using only your dive compass navigate out 100 yards and back to the same location. Try a simple out and back, then a triangle pattern, then a rectangle pattern. You should come back to within say 6 feet of where you started. With practice you will get there. While on the dive, keep track by checking your compass and while you are at it, your gages every minute or so. You don't need to worry about 274 degrees for 10 minutes, just know you went west (just a tad north of west) for 10 minutes before turning due north for 15 minutes then East for 10 minutes and after that you will need...yes south for 15 minutes. That will get you in the right neighborhood. If there is a strong current on the first leg (always start the dive swimming into the current) remember the return leg will go faster if the current is still the same, to the east leg in the above example may become 9.5 minutes. With experience you will learn how to adjust. Best way to learn is to be the dive leader. Responsibility causes you to get good in a hurry. Tell your dive buddy to keep track too, but you do the navigation. Practice, Practice, Practice.

THANKS so much for your detailed reply. I love the idea of practicing on land like that. I'm so happy I found this forum.

 

[momof3gr8boyz]

Howdy and Welcome to SB.com!

Yeah, our Gallery is not user friendly. PM me if I can help. If you lose your buddy, follow your training; if you lose your mask - same.

I'm packing for Cozumel, Playa del Carmen and Holbox now but wanted to say Hi anyway...

Click Forums at the top to start checking all the choices, and try our feature. Hope you enjoy your time here. Click my Username to PM me if I can help? Helpful Hint: I have UserCP bookmarked as the page I go to first when I come onto SB.

don
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[/c]

Thanks for the reply and the tips. Have a GREAT, SAFE trip!!

 

[momof3gr8boyz]

Welcome to Scuba Board, Karen.

I'm not familiar with NY diving because I have always been a vacation diver. Since joining SB and meeting local SB'ers, I am now more open to local fresh water diving. Maybe I'll see you in the local waters.

Lake George is beautiful although I was not a diver when I was there last.

Keep diving.

Thanks for the welcome and for the reply. I have never really been on a vacation so I'm stuck right now to the local cold waters. I hate wearing the hood, gloves and boots... not to mention getting the thick wetsuit on. Grrrrrr

Thanks again for the reply and I hope to "see" you around the boards more.

 

[CJM]

welcome to the neighborhood. Where in NY are you? I'm in Orange County and there's a couple of us looking for people in the area.

Pasley had a great idea of trying the nav on land. Thats a great way to get used to using a compass. As for the mask coming off.. well that's what we're trained to encounter. I saw someone in my class having an issue when we did the drill of removing our masks for 30 sec then replacing and clearing it, the guy actually held his breath when the mask came off, I guess out of instinct. Just remember to keep breathing since your reg is not part of your mask you can still breath, so maybe you cant see that well but do you have a fear of opening your eyes under water? I always open mine and actually dont like keeping them closed.. it may be very blurry but at least you can see something. Practice in a pool with a snorkel and remove your mask.

Good luck and if you're in the area.. there's a groups of us looking to get together

 

[momof3gr8boyz]

welcome to the neighborhood. Where in NY are you? I'm in Orange County and there's a couple of us looking for people in the area.

Pasley had a great idea of trying the nav on land. Thats a great way to get used to using a compass. As for the mask coming off.. well that's what we're trained to encounter. I saw someone in my class having an issue when we did the drill of removing our masks for 30 sec then replacing and clearing it, the guy actually held his breath when the mask came off, I guess out of instinct. Just remember to keep breathing since your reg is not part of your mask you can still breath, so maybe you cant see that well but do you have a fear of opening your eyes under water? I always open mine and actually dont like keeping them closed.. it may be very blurry but at least you can see something. Practice in a pool with a snorkel and remove your mask.

Good luck and if you're in the area.. there's a groups of us looking to get together

Hi, thanks for the reply. I'm in Saratoga County. I had a hard time in my class taking my mask off in the pool. It's not the opening of the eyes rather the water up the nose. I tend to instantly breathe through my nose when my mask is off. During class I worked on the side with a master diver to overcome my fear. At one point in the deep end of the pool I took my mask off and instantly paniced. It happened really quick and the guy said I threw my regulator out of my mouth and bolted for the surface... he grabbed my leg to try and hold me down and calm me, but I kept on going. During my checkout dive it took me a minute to psych myself up to take the mask off. I was very controlled doing it, but in the event my mask if kicked off during a dive... I won't be in control and I fear the panic/bolting.

Anyway, I just need to get back in the water and get more experience. It's been a few years and I only went out a few times after getting certified. Once I'm under I love how peaceful it is.