Hi Pacificgal,
I'm in your area, so hopefully I can help provide some location relevant information:
This happens to all of us, don't think you're alone in experiencing these issues!
Can't really help here, it really sounds like an equipment issue. I'm not sure if I would have wanted to continue the dive tethered to the DM either, but I have seen this kind of thing happen a few times in resort locations (and considering that I have fewer than 25 tropical dives, that's too much!) and it unfortunately isn't rare.
A couple of things. First and foremost, this sounds like a team/buddy awareness issue. 5 minutes is a LONG time, and I suspect it only felt like 5 minutes to you. But when my buddies and I dive, we're *constantly* making ourselves aware of where each other are, several times a minute. It doesn't mean we make eye contact and "OK" all the time, but we work hard at staying together and staying in eyeshot. There's nothing like being in a pickle and seeing your buddy swim blithely away. I'd work on communicating expectations with your buddies, frequent checks, emphasizing diving together as a team. I find I have a lot more fun this way.
Also, getting stuck in kelp sucks, but it's usually not a big deal. Our local kelp is pretty fragile, and breaks easily. Bend it over itself like you're snapping a carrot and the kelp will do the same. If you find you can't move, just stop, look around and underneath you to see what you're snagged on, and deal with it one strand at a time. If you try to spin around, you'll likely entangle yourself more.
Totally normal. Having no visual reference is one of the toughest things to deal with, and a lot of people get vertigo in these situations. Take it slowly, watch your depth, try to focus on particulates in the water to track your motion, and use your 15ft safety stop to "simulate" blue water so you get more used to the feeling.
I hate this as well, and it's another buddy communication issue. Whenever it happened to me, I just suffered quietly, letting resentment build up. Not the best way to handle it. Let your buddy know you'd feel safer surface swimming together, and if he gets too far away, call out and ask them to slow down or come back. Chances are your buddy just assumed you were fine, but is happy to slow down.
If you spend some time hear, you'll see there's not a lot of respect for AOW class, which many feel is just the equivalent of a few more dives in the company of an instructor. This just means again, you're not alone. Getting better and more comfortable at diving is all about experience--doing more dives--and not the number of classes or cards you have. Just take things slow, get out there more, and to feel more comfortable with mask clears and drills, use the shallows at the end of your dive to run a drill - do a mask clear, switch to your octo and back, try an out of air drill with your buddy. It'll give you some practice with critical basic skills and help you feel better in the water.
In case you haven't done so, visit the NorCal subforum here - we have a great community of enthusiastic divers, experienced and new, who love to chat, share stories and experiences, and help each other. It's also a great place to seek out new buddies for dives.
Don't give up, you're in exactly the same place many of us have been with ~40 dives!
I'm in your area, so hopefully I can help provide some location relevant information:
This happens to all of us, don't think you're alone in experiencing these issues!
Can't really help here, it really sounds like an equipment issue. I'm not sure if I would have wanted to continue the dive tethered to the DM either, but I have seen this kind of thing happen a few times in resort locations (and considering that I have fewer than 25 tropical dives, that's too much!) and it unfortunately isn't rare.
A couple of things. First and foremost, this sounds like a team/buddy awareness issue. 5 minutes is a LONG time, and I suspect it only felt like 5 minutes to you. But when my buddies and I dive, we're *constantly* making ourselves aware of where each other are, several times a minute. It doesn't mean we make eye contact and "OK" all the time, but we work hard at staying together and staying in eyeshot. There's nothing like being in a pickle and seeing your buddy swim blithely away. I'd work on communicating expectations with your buddies, frequent checks, emphasizing diving together as a team. I find I have a lot more fun this way.
Also, getting stuck in kelp sucks, but it's usually not a big deal. Our local kelp is pretty fragile, and breaks easily. Bend it over itself like you're snapping a carrot and the kelp will do the same. If you find you can't move, just stop, look around and underneath you to see what you're snagged on, and deal with it one strand at a time. If you try to spin around, you'll likely entangle yourself more.
Totally normal. Having no visual reference is one of the toughest things to deal with, and a lot of people get vertigo in these situations. Take it slowly, watch your depth, try to focus on particulates in the water to track your motion, and use your 15ft safety stop to "simulate" blue water so you get more used to the feeling.
I hate this as well, and it's another buddy communication issue. Whenever it happened to me, I just suffered quietly, letting resentment build up. Not the best way to handle it. Let your buddy know you'd feel safer surface swimming together, and if he gets too far away, call out and ask them to slow down or come back. Chances are your buddy just assumed you were fine, but is happy to slow down.
If you spend some time hear, you'll see there's not a lot of respect for AOW class, which many feel is just the equivalent of a few more dives in the company of an instructor. This just means again, you're not alone. Getting better and more comfortable at diving is all about experience--doing more dives--and not the number of classes or cards you have. Just take things slow, get out there more, and to feel more comfortable with mask clears and drills, use the shallows at the end of your dive to run a drill - do a mask clear, switch to your octo and back, try an out of air drill with your buddy. It'll give you some practice with critical basic skills and help you feel better in the water.
In case you haven't done so, visit the NorCal subforum here - we have a great community of enthusiastic divers, experienced and new, who love to chat, share stories and experiences, and help each other. It's also a great place to seek out new buddies for dives.
Don't give up, you're in exactly the same place many of us have been with ~40 dives!
