SoccerJeni
Scuba Baby
I was able to take AOW class finally and it was awesome! I have gained so much knowledge from SB, so I wanted to post about my AOW experience in case I could help some others learn and I could continue to learn from all the great people here.
Dive Location-Beaver Lake, Arkansas; Vis-8 to 10 feet; Air Temp-High 90's; Water Temp-mid 70's; 1st thermocline-60's
Classes: Navigation, Computer & Multi-level diving, Search & Recovery, Deep, and Peak Performance Buoyancy
Navigation
This class was a blast! I actually ended up taking the Navigation Specialty because the person I was partnered with was doing the specialty. We started out by descending to a shallow depth, then headed out on a compass bearing for 15 kick cycles. Once I reached my location I would drop a float to mark the spot. I then turned 90 degrees and went the same 15 kick cycles and dropped another float. I did that same thing for 2 more 90 degree turns until I made a square...except the first time I didn't make a square, I didn't do it right. And the second time I didn't do it right, so I had to do it again. The 3rd time I finally did it right! Next we did the same basic idea, but this time we laid out a triangle, and this time I did it right the first time. For the final dive of the specialty the instructor laid an underwater course, we were to descend to find a float below the surface with a compass bearing and a distance in feet. Once we travelled that distance we were to find another float that would give us a new compass heading and distance, and so on until we made 5 turns to get back to the starting point, and I did it perfectly! That was sooo much fun! I was actually thankful I did this class in a lake with less than ideal vis, because you had to be tighter with it or else you would easily miss those floats.
Computer & Multi-level diving
If there was one dive this weekend that I could switch out it would be this one. I read every chapter in the book that I was told we would possibly be doing. This chapter had good information, but most of it seemed to repeat the basics in OW. The dive we did for this class was to just do a basic dive down to about 35 feet and to keep an eye on our NDL on the computer. Mine actually never changed. We didn't stay deep enough long enough because it was very cold. But, the good news is I was diving during this class and that's more than enough to put a smile on my face.
Search & Recovery
I had a great time on this dive! The basics are that the instructors put a weight belt somewhere on the bottom, then gave us a general description of where it was. We descended and started to make a U shape pattern back and forth trying to locate the weight belt. Once we found the belt we attached a lift bag, and slowly put small puffs of air in the bag until the weight belt was neutrally buoyant. I did everything right, except, I forgot to look up above me making sure there was nothing overhead at the surface when I began to recover the weight belt.
Deep Dive
I think a deep dive in the lake is different than a deep dive in the ocean (with good vis like 100ft). We had about 8 to 10 feet visibility and around 40 feet it was pitch black. I felt extremely comfortable with the instructor I had for this course and he did one very good thing before the dive. He told me the terrain and what I could expect. He told me we would be going into pitch black darkness around 40 feet and that we would be descending over rock ledges that would be about 7ft, but that I would definitely have a bottom every time we went over a rock ledge. So, even though he told me that, I still had apprehension once we got to that point. I believe most of my nerves came from the fact that I was negatively buoyant and I never got neutrally buoyant. But had he not told me what to expect I could imagine I would have had a lot of fear. We ended up at a max depth of 63' and with my light I could barely see 5ft.
Peak Performance Buoyancy
This was by far my favorite dive of the weekend! If I could have had it my way this would have been the first dive of the weekend. I had been over weighted all weekend and had dropped several pounds before this dive. We descended to 15ft and I was to get neutrally buoyant then I wasn't allowed to touch my inflator hose for the remainder of the dive. We were doing a saw tooth dive going between depths of 25ft to 10ft and all I was allowed to do was adjust my breathing. We would go over large rocks, back and forth. I then was instructed to swim along a rope that was set up and to keep my hands shaped in a circle around the rope, not letting my hand touch the rope at all. That was sooooo fun! There were times I did touch the rope or descended to where my body touched the rope, but it was such a great way to learn about using my lungs! I could do that type of skill over and over again and have a blast!
Extra Fun
I was also fortunate enough to do 3 fun dives with a couple of instructors. My most favorite of the fun dives was with the instructor I was most comfortable with. He decided to make me the lead on the dive to where I could practice some navigation. He gave me some great tips on navigating, one of which he said you almost always come back to your starting point faster than you go out to your turn around point. I find this type of diving with a mentor type person invaluable. I hope I can continue to meet mentors in my area.
Couple of lessons I learned
1. I've been noticing that I have a lot of tension in my shoulders, neck and upper back during my dives. As soon as I relax those muscles I sink like a rock. I love the feeling of being completely relaxed, and I'm excited that when I get better at remaining relaxed I can start dropping more weight off my belt.
2. Before the last fun dive I turned off my air, and I even thought to myself, this could be an issue. And it was. I descended, took a breath and the reg quit delivering air. I was glad I had not 1 bit of panic, and it even took me a couple seconds of holding my breath before I could notify my buddy I had an issue. However, I am sure that a good portion of my calmness was due to the fact I was in water I could stand up in. I get pretty upset with myself about mistakes because I know that there are mistakes that could cost me my life, so lesson learned, ALWAYS take those 2 breaths while looking at the SPG. On a side note it was very easy for me to turn my valve on while the tank was still on my back. That is good to know.
Overall this experience was fantastic! And I was so thrilled at some of the compliments I received from the instructors I worked with. I really appreciate it when someone takes the time to give a compliment they may be thinking, so if you're an instructor and you think someone did something great, it means so much when they hear it.
----THE END OF THE AOW NOVEL-----
Dive Location-Beaver Lake, Arkansas; Vis-8 to 10 feet; Air Temp-High 90's; Water Temp-mid 70's; 1st thermocline-60's
Classes: Navigation, Computer & Multi-level diving, Search & Recovery, Deep, and Peak Performance Buoyancy
Navigation
This class was a blast! I actually ended up taking the Navigation Specialty because the person I was partnered with was doing the specialty. We started out by descending to a shallow depth, then headed out on a compass bearing for 15 kick cycles. Once I reached my location I would drop a float to mark the spot. I then turned 90 degrees and went the same 15 kick cycles and dropped another float. I did that same thing for 2 more 90 degree turns until I made a square...except the first time I didn't make a square, I didn't do it right. And the second time I didn't do it right, so I had to do it again. The 3rd time I finally did it right! Next we did the same basic idea, but this time we laid out a triangle, and this time I did it right the first time. For the final dive of the specialty the instructor laid an underwater course, we were to descend to find a float below the surface with a compass bearing and a distance in feet. Once we travelled that distance we were to find another float that would give us a new compass heading and distance, and so on until we made 5 turns to get back to the starting point, and I did it perfectly! That was sooo much fun! I was actually thankful I did this class in a lake with less than ideal vis, because you had to be tighter with it or else you would easily miss those floats.
Computer & Multi-level diving
If there was one dive this weekend that I could switch out it would be this one. I read every chapter in the book that I was told we would possibly be doing. This chapter had good information, but most of it seemed to repeat the basics in OW. The dive we did for this class was to just do a basic dive down to about 35 feet and to keep an eye on our NDL on the computer. Mine actually never changed. We didn't stay deep enough long enough because it was very cold. But, the good news is I was diving during this class and that's more than enough to put a smile on my face.
Search & Recovery
I had a great time on this dive! The basics are that the instructors put a weight belt somewhere on the bottom, then gave us a general description of where it was. We descended and started to make a U shape pattern back and forth trying to locate the weight belt. Once we found the belt we attached a lift bag, and slowly put small puffs of air in the bag until the weight belt was neutrally buoyant. I did everything right, except, I forgot to look up above me making sure there was nothing overhead at the surface when I began to recover the weight belt.
Deep Dive
I think a deep dive in the lake is different than a deep dive in the ocean (with good vis like 100ft). We had about 8 to 10 feet visibility and around 40 feet it was pitch black. I felt extremely comfortable with the instructor I had for this course and he did one very good thing before the dive. He told me the terrain and what I could expect. He told me we would be going into pitch black darkness around 40 feet and that we would be descending over rock ledges that would be about 7ft, but that I would definitely have a bottom every time we went over a rock ledge. So, even though he told me that, I still had apprehension once we got to that point. I believe most of my nerves came from the fact that I was negatively buoyant and I never got neutrally buoyant. But had he not told me what to expect I could imagine I would have had a lot of fear. We ended up at a max depth of 63' and with my light I could barely see 5ft.
Peak Performance Buoyancy
This was by far my favorite dive of the weekend! If I could have had it my way this would have been the first dive of the weekend. I had been over weighted all weekend and had dropped several pounds before this dive. We descended to 15ft and I was to get neutrally buoyant then I wasn't allowed to touch my inflator hose for the remainder of the dive. We were doing a saw tooth dive going between depths of 25ft to 10ft and all I was allowed to do was adjust my breathing. We would go over large rocks, back and forth. I then was instructed to swim along a rope that was set up and to keep my hands shaped in a circle around the rope, not letting my hand touch the rope at all. That was sooooo fun! There were times I did touch the rope or descended to where my body touched the rope, but it was such a great way to learn about using my lungs! I could do that type of skill over and over again and have a blast!
Extra Fun
I was also fortunate enough to do 3 fun dives with a couple of instructors. My most favorite of the fun dives was with the instructor I was most comfortable with. He decided to make me the lead on the dive to where I could practice some navigation. He gave me some great tips on navigating, one of which he said you almost always come back to your starting point faster than you go out to your turn around point. I find this type of diving with a mentor type person invaluable. I hope I can continue to meet mentors in my area.
Couple of lessons I learned
1. I've been noticing that I have a lot of tension in my shoulders, neck and upper back during my dives. As soon as I relax those muscles I sink like a rock. I love the feeling of being completely relaxed, and I'm excited that when I get better at remaining relaxed I can start dropping more weight off my belt.
2. Before the last fun dive I turned off my air, and I even thought to myself, this could be an issue. And it was. I descended, took a breath and the reg quit delivering air. I was glad I had not 1 bit of panic, and it even took me a couple seconds of holding my breath before I could notify my buddy I had an issue. However, I am sure that a good portion of my calmness was due to the fact I was in water I could stand up in. I get pretty upset with myself about mistakes because I know that there are mistakes that could cost me my life, so lesson learned, ALWAYS take those 2 breaths while looking at the SPG. On a side note it was very easy for me to turn my valve on while the tank was still on my back. That is good to know.
Overall this experience was fantastic! And I was so thrilled at some of the compliments I received from the instructors I worked with. I really appreciate it when someone takes the time to give a compliment they may be thinking, so if you're an instructor and you think someone did something great, it means so much when they hear it.
----THE END OF THE AOW NOVEL-----
