Just Returned From My OWD Course - Redang Island - Malaysia

[archiebald]

I live in the mountains of Japan (not much scuba here), but just did my OWD in Redang Island at this resort along with my 12 year old daughter. (PADI) Berjaya Redang Resort | Holiday Dive, Spa & Beach Resorts in Redang, Malaysia

Due to time constraints my daughter and I both signed up for the PADI E-learning course about 3 months before departure. It costs a little but it was well worth it because we were able to study at our own pace and have all the bookwork complete before we traveled. As a result we were able to pass all the paper tests with 100%.

On arrival at the resort, we took a quick review test which we both aced before starting on our practical. We were fortunate in that it was only the two of us with our course instructor Vincent Toh. Did all the pool work easily. The first two open water dives were done at the house reef off a pontoon, second two were done from one of the resort's dive boats.

The practical was done over 3 full days - The entire course was very comfortable, we then did another 3 days of diving to bring our tally to 10 for the week.

What I particularly liked was that the other dive masters knew we were novices and even after the course finished during gear assembly they would test us either by questions or make a small deliberate mistake hoping that we would pick up on. (We did, every time!!)

Here is a gallery I found of Toh's work.
Underwater Photos Vincent Toh

And, here is a gallery of some shots I took during the 6 post course dives. All underwater shots are using a Canon S95 with a Canon housing and no external strobes. I was really pleased with the results considering that I was trying to concentrate on my buoyancy control while shooting. Paul's Vacation 2011 generated by VisualLightBox.com

The only problem I found at all was maintaining depth control at the safety stops. I had no trouble at all while moving near the bottom but trying to maintain posture, balance and depth at 5 meters was really difficult. However, I could see some improvement towad the end of the week. I guess it will get better!!

Now looking forward to planning the next vacation!!

 

[TSandM]

Sounds as though you made excellent use of the e-learning, and spent your in-water time efficiently! It's great that you had more days to continue diving and consolidating your skills. I hope you used the camera as a spur to better buoyancy control and awareness; it can work the other way for new divers.

 

[archiebald]

You are right about buoyancy and the camera!!

I am a fairly experienced general photographer and one of the tips that is always taught is to hold your breath just before shooting to steady you body and avoid camera shake, especially in low light situations.

Obviously, a big no-no for diving and I caught myself doing it once or twice and mentally having to slap my face. Apart from the obvious implications, I found myself drifting up or down when doing so, depending on what part of my breathing cycle I was on.

By far the hardest part was remaining stationary while shooting, getting as close as possible, while at the same time avoiding contact with the coral.

One point that should be stressed a little more in the training is the effect of all that weight you are lugging around. While it is true that you are, or should be virtually weightless while diving, I didn't read anything that explained about mass. In the notes, they mention moving slow and gently to avoid over exertion but they fail to mention that changes of velocity or direction can be much harder than you expected due to the mass of the tank, weights and other gear that wants to keep you moving in a straight line.

And the thing I hated the most about every dive.... climbing back into the boat!! Two reasons, 1) It remind you how heavy the cylinder is, 2) I just loved being in the water and I wanna go back!!!

 

[TSandM]

I hear you about climbing back on the boat! I keep threatening to go to Cafe Press and make a T-shirt that says, "Gravity sucks!"

One of the keys to buoyancy control and photography is to learn to use the BC with finesse. Although breathing is a good way to make brief buoyancy adjustments (to pass over a coral head, or the like) it is NOT a good way to adjust buoyancy for a prolonged stop somewhere. This is for several reasons -- one, any distraction and you will forget to use that adjusted breathing pattern, and lose buoyancy control, and two, you suck gas doing it. Learning to come in to the place you want to pause and then adjust your buoyancy precisely with your BC will make you more stable and lower your gas consumption when shooting.

HERE is an excellent essay on this topic.

And I'll share a secret -- most photographers hold their breath. And I know you were taught never to do it, and as a novice diver, you shouldn't. But if you think about it, holding your breath is dangerous if two things are true: Your airway is closed, and you are ascending. When I talk about a closed airway, I mean closing the glottis. You can experience this by trying something. Take a deep breath in and hold it, and try to grunt without making any sound (Valsalva). You can't move any air through your throat, right? Now take the same deep breath, only pant very, very shallowly as you hold it. Feel the difference in the back of your throat? That's an open airway. As long as your airway is open, you can allow expanding air to escape, and you won't be injured. Close that glottis, and the whole picture changes.

And, if you have adjusted your buoyancy precisely, and arrest your breathing at midcycle, you won't ascend. You won't change depth. That's the whole purpose of holding one's breath in the first place.

This is, I will repeat, NOT recommended for novice divers to try at all. There are few things in diving more reliably lethal than arterial gas embolism, and if you are not experienced enough to be aware of whether you are ascending, or whether your airway is open, you are FAR better off simply remembering "never hold your breath" and sticking to it. But most of the folks taking the fantastic photos you see are arresting their breathing for stability.