My journey towards the three stars (3*)
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OP
- Messages
- 17,334
- Reaction score
- 13,743
- # of dives
- 100 - 199
OP
- Messages
- 17,334
- Reaction score
- 13,743
- # of dives
- 100 - 199
admikar
Contributor
Wingy
Contributor
@ Diving Dubai - it wasn't a skill being taught as per curriculum but in response to me saying I'd think I would have a fair ability to gauge my depth when discussing OOA options (don't use a long hose, just standard old fashioned buddy breathing) by how my ears felt and "looking around at sunlight penetration"........so, we went for a dive and I found out that I Was very wrong.
It actually was really a very exercise though. I think more people should try it and realise the surface may not be quiet as close as we think. As far as holding a safety stop, I tried using my lungs ... And apparently wasn't very good at that either.
I think I might try and find a pool and work on that one. I don't get my 3rd * til I manage that but like Storker, no intentions of working in the industry so I can take my time.
It actually was really a very exercise though. I think more people should try it and realise the surface may not be quiet as close as we think. As far as holding a safety stop, I tried using my lungs ... And apparently wasn't very good at that either.
I think I might try and find a pool and work on that one. I don't get my 3rd * til I manage that but like Storker, no intentions of working in the industry so I can take my time.
OP
- Messages
- 17,334
- Reaction score
- 13,743
- # of dives
- 100 - 199
Pool session #2 (formally #1, but who's counting?) and theory session #2
The program for the day was from 7:45am to 8pm. The instructor, himself having been a college student in a not too distant past, had planned to start at 8. So to compensate for the facts that college students are chronically late, we were told to meet at the pool at 7:45. We even have an expression for that phenomenon: the academic quarter. If you're lucky, everyone is present and able to start some fifteen minutes after the show was supposed to start. I was there at around 0743 (again, who's counting?), the first of the other students came in some five minutes past eight. At least I had a nice chat with the lead instructor who had flown into town for the class the night before.
The instructors had booked four full hours of pool time. I had been told that I'd probably be fine with just one tank, but since I'd recently filled every one of the family's tanks just the other day, they were all still in my car's trunk. Which turned out to be rather smart, but more about that later.
This time I'd learned some about getting sweaty in pool water, so I was wearing my trilam with just a wicking layer underneath. Worked decently well, but I'm not quite certain of whether my right wrist seal is punctured or if it was just the tendons in my wrist being troublesome. In any case, my right arm was soaked up to the elbow after the pool session.
We started out fairly easily with the kicks. Descend in pairs, swim from one end of the pool to the other using the different propulsion kicks, stop using the backkick and then turn using the helicopter kick. Lather, rinse, repeat. Back and forth. Back and forth. When we'd been swimming for some time, we surfaced and were given some general feedback. Nothing at the personal feedback level, at least not yet. We all did fairly well, but my backkick is my weakest, so some fumbling there. The other kicks were sitting decently, since I've basically been using the frog and modified frog for the last couple of years and have long discovered the utility of the helicopter turn.
After that, we started on the first instruction dive. In the syllabus, it's listed as just one dive, but the instructor was using that dive as a way to progressively task load us, so we got that one several times later. The first challenge was to demonstrate reg in/out, reg switch, reg recovery, mask clearing, mask removal and clearing and shooting a dSMB while keeping our buoyancy and trim. That was repeated until we were able to do that without too much clutter. And then we were challenged to pay sufficient attention to our "students" to notice if they - or rather, our instructor - didn't repeat the drill as demonstrated. So that dive was also the first "problem solving" dive. After a short debrief - and for the two of us who were diving singles, a change of tanks - we went to the rescue dive.
I mentioned that I had a bunch of tanks in my car's trunk. Even if it was accidental, I want to believe that it was pretty smart, because not only did I have a second tank to switch to before the last dive, but I could loan one to the other student who was diving a single. We were slightly distracted, since we were approached by a man and his son. We'd already noticed that people had been looking at us; after all scuba divers in full gear aren't that common in the public pool. Now this kid was extremely fascinated with those guys in their weird gear and had a bunch of questions. Which his father asked, since the boy was a mite timid. Yes, we were divers. Yes, it's pretty cool to be able to breath underwater. Well, it's a bit early to learn scuba at his age; the gear is pretty heavy and you ought to have enough body strength to be able to assist your buddy if something happens. But if he were really interested, he could look into freediving and then go for a scuba cert when he'd put on a few kg of muscle. The local freediving club is on the 'net and they have programs for kids. Just search for...
Anyway, the last pool dive was the rescue dive. Bring an unconscious buddy to the surface using their BCD, ditto using one's own BCD (who the heck does that? Firstly, a cold water diver with plenty gas left in their tank is so negative that unless you have a huge excess of buoyancy, you won't be able to do that. Secondly, if using one's own buoyancy, losing grip of the victim means that you will do a pretty good impersonation of a Polaris missile while the victim does an equally good impersonation of an anchor). Then transport of an unconscious diver horizontally, then ascent while sharing gas and finally a CESA from some 3m. Anyhow, it all should be pretty easy stuff if you've passed your RD in a decent way.
After that it was time to rig down, pack up, grab some food, fill up the tanks and have another theory session. While the other students went their way, I went over to my club where I refilled my empty tank, leaving it in the compressor room to cool down before topping it up the day after, and topping up the two tanks which had been used for the last pool dive.
The theory session materials hadn't improved particularly - or rather, at all - since the first theory session. Oh well. I'm able to read for comprehension. Coming home around 8pm, I "only" had to turn my drysuit inside out and hang it up to dry on the inside. That's the good thing about pool diving: you don't need to rinse down your gear outside in sub-freezing temps; you can do it in the pool's showers.
The program for the day was from 7:45am to 8pm. The instructor, himself having been a college student in a not too distant past, had planned to start at 8. So to compensate for the facts that college students are chronically late, we were told to meet at the pool at 7:45. We even have an expression for that phenomenon: the academic quarter. If you're lucky, everyone is present and able to start some fifteen minutes after the show was supposed to start. I was there at around 0743 (again, who's counting?), the first of the other students came in some five minutes past eight. At least I had a nice chat with the lead instructor who had flown into town for the class the night before.
The instructors had booked four full hours of pool time. I had been told that I'd probably be fine with just one tank, but since I'd recently filled every one of the family's tanks just the other day, they were all still in my car's trunk. Which turned out to be rather smart, but more about that later.
This time I'd learned some about getting sweaty in pool water, so I was wearing my trilam with just a wicking layer underneath. Worked decently well, but I'm not quite certain of whether my right wrist seal is punctured or if it was just the tendons in my wrist being troublesome. In any case, my right arm was soaked up to the elbow after the pool session.
We started out fairly easily with the kicks. Descend in pairs, swim from one end of the pool to the other using the different propulsion kicks, stop using the backkick and then turn using the helicopter kick. Lather, rinse, repeat. Back and forth. Back and forth. When we'd been swimming for some time, we surfaced and were given some general feedback. Nothing at the personal feedback level, at least not yet. We all did fairly well, but my backkick is my weakest, so some fumbling there. The other kicks were sitting decently, since I've basically been using the frog and modified frog for the last couple of years and have long discovered the utility of the helicopter turn.
After that, we started on the first instruction dive. In the syllabus, it's listed as just one dive, but the instructor was using that dive as a way to progressively task load us, so we got that one several times later. The first challenge was to demonstrate reg in/out, reg switch, reg recovery, mask clearing, mask removal and clearing and shooting a dSMB while keeping our buoyancy and trim. That was repeated until we were able to do that without too much clutter. And then we were challenged to pay sufficient attention to our "students" to notice if they - or rather, our instructor - didn't repeat the drill as demonstrated. So that dive was also the first "problem solving" dive. After a short debrief - and for the two of us who were diving singles, a change of tanks - we went to the rescue dive.
I mentioned that I had a bunch of tanks in my car's trunk. Even if it was accidental, I want to believe that it was pretty smart, because not only did I have a second tank to switch to before the last dive, but I could loan one to the other student who was diving a single. We were slightly distracted, since we were approached by a man and his son. We'd already noticed that people had been looking at us; after all scuba divers in full gear aren't that common in the public pool. Now this kid was extremely fascinated with those guys in their weird gear and had a bunch of questions. Which his father asked, since the boy was a mite timid. Yes, we were divers. Yes, it's pretty cool to be able to breath underwater. Well, it's a bit early to learn scuba at his age; the gear is pretty heavy and you ought to have enough body strength to be able to assist your buddy if something happens. But if he were really interested, he could look into freediving and then go for a scuba cert when he'd put on a few kg of muscle. The local freediving club is on the 'net and they have programs for kids. Just search for...
Anyway, the last pool dive was the rescue dive. Bring an unconscious buddy to the surface using their BCD, ditto using one's own BCD (who the heck does that? Firstly, a cold water diver with plenty gas left in their tank is so negative that unless you have a huge excess of buoyancy, you won't be able to do that. Secondly, if using one's own buoyancy, losing grip of the victim means that you will do a pretty good impersonation of a Polaris missile while the victim does an equally good impersonation of an anchor). Then transport of an unconscious diver horizontally, then ascent while sharing gas and finally a CESA from some 3m. Anyhow, it all should be pretty easy stuff if you've passed your RD in a decent way.
After that it was time to rig down, pack up, grab some food, fill up the tanks and have another theory session. While the other students went their way, I went over to my club where I refilled my empty tank, leaving it in the compressor room to cool down before topping it up the day after, and topping up the two tanks which had been used for the last pool dive.
The theory session materials hadn't improved particularly - or rather, at all - since the first theory session. Oh well. I'm able to read for comprehension. Coming home around 8pm, I "only" had to turn my drysuit inside out and hang it up to dry on the inside. That's the good thing about pool diving: you don't need to rinse down your gear outside in sub-freezing temps; you can do it in the pool's showers.
OP
- Messages
- 17,334
- Reaction score
- 13,743
- # of dives
- 100 - 199
Ocean dive day 1
Again, the schedule was 8am-8pm. We were supposed to do the skills dive, the underwater dive leader dive and the navigation dive. Plus some surface dive leader exercises. The site was the standard course site for the college club, just outside town. Nice, but rather unexciting site. Easy access, nice sloping sand bottom. The weather forecast - at least last time I checked - said moderate breeze from the south and cloudy. Nice, because the site faces north, so we can take quite a bit of wind from the south before it gets uncomfortable. They got the cloud cover right, but even as we arrived, we noticed that the wind definitely didn't come from the south, and that the waves were breaking a bit out from shore. Oh well. Only about half a meter waves close to shore, so that wasn't bad.
We were tasked to establish the site, with necessary equipment like the O2 kit easily available and made ready for use, kitted up and waded out. Now, our national regulations are rather demanding WRT safety, so we were required to have both a dive leader topside and a rescue swimmer suited up and ready to assist if any manure should hit the fan. With like half a dozen or more divers in the water, I believe that having someone keeping track of when everyone is supposed to surface is a good thing. But sometimes the rules we're supposed to follow is somewhat inflexible WRT what's practically feasible. In any case, this being a formal class, we did things according to the book. So, one guy wearing the dive leader west keeping track of run times, descent times and expected surface times, and one guy suited up in case of an emergency. Being a small group, we solved that in the only sensible way: two guys serving while the rest were diving, while at the same time getting ready to drop when the first competent buddy pair had come ashore and were able to take over the job.
The first dive of the day was the skills dive. For anyone fairly experienced, that was a breeze. Plan a dive to a decent depth, keep track of N2 loading and min gas, lead the dive and surface in a controlled manner. We were evaluated on pre-dive checks, dive light communication, mask drill, gas share, dSMB deployment and ability to keep our safety stop in free water. All the time while keeping our buoyancy and being decently in trim.
The next dive was the dive leader underwater dive. That dive was integrated with the skills dive. If you've done a few dives in an independent buddy pair, that ought to be the among the easiest dives in the syllabus.
When we surfaced, the conditions had become a mite more sporting, but given that we had gone a bit deep it was time for us single tankers to switch tanks. So we waddled ashore, got a half-decent SI and some snacks and went out again. Then we got another instruction dive, having to demonstrate some of the basic skills. This time in open water, so we had the extra task loading of keeping in place with a slight current while doing the demonstrations. We surfaced after each of the students in the team had done their demonstrations, and the weather was really picking up for each time we surfaced. Good thing there was a buoy there to paddle towards and hang onto while we got our feedback, because the waves were making it a mite difficult to keep a conversation if we were to float around without anything to hang on to.
The final dive of the day was the navigation dive. Parallel navigation and triangle navigation, using a compass. The exercise was made a mite more complicated by the fact that the waves were picking up, so the viz at moderate depth had deteriorated ever so slightly. I'd guess it was down to some 5m or so. And on a slightly sloping sand bottom, that meant that we couldn't pick a course based on the compass bearing towards any recognizable feature, but had to rely on the bearing alone. Which is a bit of a liability when there's a slight current. I did pretty well on the 180 degree thing, but messed up with some 10m on the triangle thing. And with a vis of some 5m, I wasn't quite able to find my starting point. Oh well.
When we surfaced, the conditions were somewhat more sporting than I appreciated. 1-1.5m waves, breaking all the way to the shore. We were advised to approach the shore feet first (if you're thrown against the shore, it's better to hit that rock feet first than to hit it head first). When I was roughly chest-deep, I decided to take off my fins. Problem was, after removing my fins I wasn't able to reach the bottom. The surf had pulled me out, so when I dropped my feet to wade ashore there was no bottom there.
So there I was, fins in hand, but without bottom contact. Hm. Let's assess the situation. I have a working reg, it's in my gob, and I have some gas left. I have gas. So, no problem even if the waves are breaking over me. My wing is full and my DS is inflated, so I have ample buoyancy. Ergo, no emergency. I have time to solve the problem. Let's assess the alternatives. They were, as far as I was able to determine:
1. Shout to one of my buddies who were already on dry land that they had to come out to get me. Doable, but awkward. And somewhat embarrassing.
2. Use my fins as paddles to get closer to shore. Quickly abandoned, for obvious reasons.
3. Re-don my fins, paddle closer to shore and repeat doffing the fins. Quite doable, but was I guaranteed I wouldn't be pulled out again by the surf? Nope. And if I got too close to shore, I might well be stranded, thrown around like a half-beached whale with some 30-40kg of gear hanging on me, leaving me rolling like a... beached whale in he surf.
4. Just wait, riding the rollercoaster until the surf threw me closer to the shore. Could easily take some time, I was hungry, I was thirsty and I was beginning to feel the urge to take a p*ss. I really wanted to get back on solid ground, able to open my DS zipper pretty soon.
Luckily for me, option 5 presented itself all by itself. Another of the students had to pass on the day's diving, because his ears didn't quite agree. So, sitting there ashore he'd gotten bored and decided that since he already was suited up, why not do some body surfing? Suddenly he was beside me, grinning from ear to ear and asking if I needed some help. Sure, could he give me a tow? The situation was solved with minimum ego damage, and I learned that it may be pretty smart to keep your buddy literally at an arm's length until you're both safe and sound topside. You hold on to me while I'm doffing my fins, and I'll hold onto you while you do the same. And neither of us will be pulled back while struggling to doff our fins.
Again, the schedule was 8am-8pm. We were supposed to do the skills dive, the underwater dive leader dive and the navigation dive. Plus some surface dive leader exercises. The site was the standard course site for the college club, just outside town. Nice, but rather unexciting site. Easy access, nice sloping sand bottom. The weather forecast - at least last time I checked - said moderate breeze from the south and cloudy. Nice, because the site faces north, so we can take quite a bit of wind from the south before it gets uncomfortable. They got the cloud cover right, but even as we arrived, we noticed that the wind definitely didn't come from the south, and that the waves were breaking a bit out from shore. Oh well. Only about half a meter waves close to shore, so that wasn't bad.
We were tasked to establish the site, with necessary equipment like the O2 kit easily available and made ready for use, kitted up and waded out. Now, our national regulations are rather demanding WRT safety, so we were required to have both a dive leader topside and a rescue swimmer suited up and ready to assist if any manure should hit the fan. With like half a dozen or more divers in the water, I believe that having someone keeping track of when everyone is supposed to surface is a good thing. But sometimes the rules we're supposed to follow is somewhat inflexible WRT what's practically feasible. In any case, this being a formal class, we did things according to the book. So, one guy wearing the dive leader west keeping track of run times, descent times and expected surface times, and one guy suited up in case of an emergency. Being a small group, we solved that in the only sensible way: two guys serving while the rest were diving, while at the same time getting ready to drop when the first competent buddy pair had come ashore and were able to take over the job.
The first dive of the day was the skills dive. For anyone fairly experienced, that was a breeze. Plan a dive to a decent depth, keep track of N2 loading and min gas, lead the dive and surface in a controlled manner. We were evaluated on pre-dive checks, dive light communication, mask drill, gas share, dSMB deployment and ability to keep our safety stop in free water. All the time while keeping our buoyancy and being decently in trim.
The next dive was the dive leader underwater dive. That dive was integrated with the skills dive. If you've done a few dives in an independent buddy pair, that ought to be the among the easiest dives in the syllabus.
When we surfaced, the conditions had become a mite more sporting, but given that we had gone a bit deep it was time for us single tankers to switch tanks. So we waddled ashore, got a half-decent SI and some snacks and went out again. Then we got another instruction dive, having to demonstrate some of the basic skills. This time in open water, so we had the extra task loading of keeping in place with a slight current while doing the demonstrations. We surfaced after each of the students in the team had done their demonstrations, and the weather was really picking up for each time we surfaced. Good thing there was a buoy there to paddle towards and hang onto while we got our feedback, because the waves were making it a mite difficult to keep a conversation if we were to float around without anything to hang on to.
The final dive of the day was the navigation dive. Parallel navigation and triangle navigation, using a compass. The exercise was made a mite more complicated by the fact that the waves were picking up, so the viz at moderate depth had deteriorated ever so slightly. I'd guess it was down to some 5m or so. And on a slightly sloping sand bottom, that meant that we couldn't pick a course based on the compass bearing towards any recognizable feature, but had to rely on the bearing alone. Which is a bit of a liability when there's a slight current. I did pretty well on the 180 degree thing, but messed up with some 10m on the triangle thing. And with a vis of some 5m, I wasn't quite able to find my starting point. Oh well.
When we surfaced, the conditions were somewhat more sporting than I appreciated. 1-1.5m waves, breaking all the way to the shore. We were advised to approach the shore feet first (if you're thrown against the shore, it's better to hit that rock feet first than to hit it head first). When I was roughly chest-deep, I decided to take off my fins. Problem was, after removing my fins I wasn't able to reach the bottom. The surf had pulled me out, so when I dropped my feet to wade ashore there was no bottom there.
So there I was, fins in hand, but without bottom contact. Hm. Let's assess the situation. I have a working reg, it's in my gob, and I have some gas left. I have gas. So, no problem even if the waves are breaking over me. My wing is full and my DS is inflated, so I have ample buoyancy. Ergo, no emergency. I have time to solve the problem. Let's assess the alternatives. They were, as far as I was able to determine:
1. Shout to one of my buddies who were already on dry land that they had to come out to get me. Doable, but awkward. And somewhat embarrassing.
2. Use my fins as paddles to get closer to shore. Quickly abandoned, for obvious reasons.
3. Re-don my fins, paddle closer to shore and repeat doffing the fins. Quite doable, but was I guaranteed I wouldn't be pulled out again by the surf? Nope. And if I got too close to shore, I might well be stranded, thrown around like a half-beached whale with some 30-40kg of gear hanging on me, leaving me rolling like a... beached whale in he surf.
4. Just wait, riding the rollercoaster until the surf threw me closer to the shore. Could easily take some time, I was hungry, I was thirsty and I was beginning to feel the urge to take a p*ss. I really wanted to get back on solid ground, able to open my DS zipper pretty soon.
Luckily for me, option 5 presented itself all by itself. Another of the students had to pass on the day's diving, because his ears didn't quite agree. So, sitting there ashore he'd gotten bored and decided that since he already was suited up, why not do some body surfing? Suddenly he was beside me, grinning from ear to ear and asking if I needed some help. Sure, could he give me a tow? The situation was solved with minimum ego damage, and I learned that it may be pretty smart to keep your buddy literally at an arm's length until you're both safe and sound topside. You hold on to me while I'm doffing my fins, and I'll hold onto you while you do the same. And neither of us will be pulled back while struggling to doff our fins.
OP
- Messages
- 17,334
- Reaction score
- 13,743
- # of dives
- 100 - 199
Having crossed over and read our 1* and 2* syllabi, I can say pretty confidently that CMAS 2* is PADI RD "light". Yes, CMAS teaches rescue skills already at 1* level, and again at 2* level. But the extent of that is usually less than what you get at PADI RD. Even if PADI and CMAS have agreed that RD and 2* should be considered equivalent.
My opinion is probably influenced by the fact that I'm a geek and love reading about stuff I like to do, so I've probably learned more theory than a run-of-the-mill PADI RD has gotten from PADI. But if the student is motivated, there's a lot of good learning in the OWD, AOWD and RD books. It - "just" - requires some motivation for self-learning beyond what is given in class.
But given my experience, I believe that a motivated and somewhat capable student will get a better knowledge base by climbing the PADI ladder up to RD and then crossing over to 3*, than by climbing the 1*-2*-3* ladder in CMAS. YMMV, of course. And it all depends on the diver, of course.
Bottom line: how much theory do you really need to be a very competent diver? I suspect less than I like to learn.
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