I apologize in advance for the length of this post
I was certified under 2 years ago and consider myself "inexperienced." However, with 170 dives in various conditions I also think I have experienced a relatively steep learning curve and would like to share some thoughts about Inawareness with other new divers. Some people only dive on vacations and therefore do not have the ability to develop what I would refer to as regular dive habits. Continuously diving with rental gear in new locations can only dictate the credo of always checking your air. Then there is another group of divers who regularly go to the same place, in the same conditions with the same gear. This set of circumstances is the foundation/perspective from which my experiences derive.
As a newly certified diver living first in VA and then PA, quarries were my only option if I wanted to dive every weekend. And dive I did. I ended up leading most of the dives with my regular dive buddy, probably because I was the less experienced and he could keep an eye on me that way, making it a more relaxed dive for him. As a result, I developed the habit, because I was always using my compass to nav, of flipping and subconsciously taking in my air consumption the entire time. That combined with a known matching air consumption and non variable depth of a quarry meant that without much thought, barring equipment failure, we always surfaced with proper air reserve.
Then one day I changed a piece of equipment (bc to wing , wetsuit to dry, not all on the same dive, but just giving examples here) Hmmm, well, darned if I didn't notice while I was fidgeting with that and leading as usual, I was going to give the thumbs up a little earlier than normal. (Note to self: comfort/experience with new equipment matters) Then one day I dived in the same location with the same equipment but with a new buddy, hmmm, noticed my air consumption went up on that dive. (Note to self: new buddies matter) Then I went to clear warm water and air consumption went waaaaay down. (note to self: conditions REALLY matter) Then I got a camera and noticed that distractions matter, same thing with a scooter. Really, the ability to recognize your distraction threshold is what matters. Then I went on a drift/wreck dive with strong current and that REALLY matters. Day v. night dives matter. I have used several sizes of tanks, which makes a difference. My experience on the first 50 dives compared to my last 50 made a difference on air consumption. All else being equal, behaviors matter. On one dive, I changed my equip config, where my air gauge was no longer on my upper right shoulder but on my lower right hip. (IOW out of field of vision) On the same dive, I did not lead, so I did not do my usual habit of subconsciously flipping my compass to check my air. On the same dive I had the distraction of both camera and scooter. On the same dive I had an equipment malfunction and went OOA at 70 ft at 17 minutes with a HP steel 100. (as a result of my altered behaviors I was not checking my gauge AS regularly, the equipment failure was not catastrophic IOW not immediate but rather a medium leak, and actually even more went wrong on this dive including poor dive plan) Analysis of that and other dive stories mentioned to me led me to a harsh realization that no matter how much you dive, every little thing MATTERS with regard to air consumption. And the negative impact is not linear, but exponentially increased with each varying factor from your norm. I am not a mathematician, this is just my instinct.
(I did not go into details here about locations, but profile contains addtl info for your reference)
I remember thinking when I read posts here about stupid divers, what, specifically about their comprehension made their logic faulty. I never considered myself stupid, however I thought it was possible to make the same errors as all the stupid divers. In denial perhaps, I made up another group, of which I included myself, those without enough information/experience.
Happy Diving
Donna