Questions about my first boat dive

[BCC]

Go to the bathroom before you get on the boat.

Make sure your car fob isn't in your bathing suit.

Put on your fins before your tank.

Sit near the stern of the boat if you tend towards queasiness.

Stand up when you are ready to go.

Tip the crew.

 

[BabyDuck]

especially if you're early, ask permission to come aboard, and listen if they say 'no'. if they say 'yes', pick a spot. if where the sun is matters to you, think about that when picking (i try to stay out of the sun, but i'm a redhead and burn at the thought of the word 'sun'). boats and areas do things differently, but if there are tanks already at your spot, go ahead and set up for the first dive - put your bc and reg on a tank. *be careful if there are bungees!* unbungee, put your stuff on the tank, check with the pressure on, turn the pressure back off, and re-bungee. yes, at some point sometime, you'll try to get up with your tank still bungeed to the boat. we all have.

ask about how long once the boat is underway before you get where you're going. offshore nc, it's about 2 1/2 hours. off of the lauderdale area, about 20 min, so things differ. if you have quite a bit of time, organize and stow the rest of your gear under the bench or wherever they show you, and hang out with the other divers. be aware on long rides that lots of folks have taken dramamine or benadryl and may nap going out. chat with whoever is awake.

there will be a call to get dressed. leave your dry stuff in the dry area - keys, phone, wallet, clothes, etc. go put on your suit and booties, unbungee your tank and turn it on, put on your bc and snug it up, take your breaths while watching your gauge, spit in and put on your mask, all while at your spot. when they announce the pool is open, check that your buddy is ready and shuffle to the exit with your fins. either you or the mate will put your fins on. they may have a protocol to give them a number or another method to check off who is leaving the boat. they should tell you that in the briefing. hold your reg and mask, and weight belt if applicable, and hop grandly off! when you bob up, give a big 'ok' by tapping your own head, then go to wherever you and your buddy (or guide) were going to meet, whether at a line or at 20 ft or whatever y'all decided.

have a great dive. check your gas often.

coming up and going down, if the crew says to follow the anchor line down and up, then you follow the anchor line down and up. there are places that have different layers of current and you might can see the boat but a free ascent still might not be a good idea. do what you're told if at all possible. ditto how they tell you to handle their ladder - fins off and over your wrists, a fins-on ladder, handing fins up to a crewmember - all these are possible ways to handle it. if it's 'sporty' (unlikely off the panhandle), watch what the ladder is doing and time your upward scamper to take best advantage of how it is moving, sorta like riding a bronco.

change tanks. have a snack. keep your area neat and things out of folks' way. if someone sets a tank on your mask that was in the tank well instead of stowed, not their fault.

do it all again! it's a lot of fun.

larry says 'show up, look at the boat, look at the waves, go find a good cave instructor', but he's grumpy this morning.

 

[BabyDuck]

he also says 'remember to tip the dm and don't rinse the pissy wetsuit in the camera rinse bucket and don't dunk the first stage unless it's on a tank and don't depress the purge on the second stage while rinsing either.'

 

[AZNetEng]

I cannot think of anything significant to add here, all good advice. I too prefer to be ready early. I am usually the 1st one to the boat, build my rig and relax. Im also typically early in when the pool opens, so I can avoid the flurry.

Relax, listen the to crew, watch the other divers and see what they do as well.

@Marie13, have fun this weekend!

 

[AdivingBel]

Does anyone know if the Blue Angel resort (Cozumel) boats require rollback entry?

Depends on the boat. The large boat(s) have a platform for a giant stride. The small, fast boats you back roll. The back roll is easy. Just check that it's clear behind you before you "roll" so you don't land on someone. Usually the DM will tell you if it's clear. If everybody has their "stuff" together, you'll go in order, down current people first so they will naturally float away from the next person entering. Less likely to have someone roll in on top of someone else. As soon as you enter, kick away from the boat a few kicks. Have fun.

 

[mcpowell]

0) Dramamine the night before, morning of .
1)Better a bit early to the boat, and then hang out with coffee, than late and rushed.
2)Most boats told us no flip flops, close toed sneakers for stability, and protection against "tank-toe-troubles"
3)no "man-spreading" on tiny boats!
4)Towel in ziplock bag due to sea spray hosing you and your stuff as boat zooms along
5)an unusual entry we only did once, was all of us ready to go, not in a line, but as array, so four jumped, then four more, then four more. That was a night dive, so I got behind my kid so no one landed on top of her by accident.
6) have a few small weights near boat exit in case you are ambitiously underweighted, as I was once.
Have fun!

Could you please define "man-spreading"? So many thoughts come to mind....

 

[Gary_D]

he also says 'remember to tip the dm and don't rinse the pissy wetsuit in the camera rinse bucket and don't dunk the first stage unless it's on a tank and don't depress the purge on the second stage while rinsing either.'

Baby duck, thank ya for a great post, gee where do i start all good info, i see the bunge thing happening at least once

 

[dmaziuk]

Rollback entry: Never done this and actually nervous to try it. Just don't like the idea of falling backwards & not seeing where I'm going......

Keep your knees and chin tucked in, that's all there's to it. I prefer it to the stride, actually: less chance to get your mask dislodged/flooded. Do a couple of backrolls on a carpet at home to get the feel for it.

My OW instructor had us backroll into the pool on one of pool days, doesn't everyone do that?

 

[Bubblesong]

Keep your knees and chin tucked in, that's all there's to it. I prefer it to the stride, actually: less chance to get your mask dislodged/flooded. Do a couple of backrolls on a carpet at home to get the feel for it.

My OW instructor had us backroll into the pool on one of pool days, doesn't everyone do that?

Backrolls disorient me a bit, so the practice advice is good, headed to the pool now.

Could you please define "man-spreading"? So many thoughts come to mind....

The phrase does sound like a movie I wouldn't take the kids to, however... American men like to sit with legs spread wide to keep certain areas cool, but on a boat, in which every body get small seating area, this squooshes left and right neighbors. If fellows could find a different method of cooling, while keeping knees together, (perhaps clamped on a cold beverage? ) it would be kinder.

 

[mcpowell]

The phrase does sound like a movie I wouldn't take the kids to, however... American men like to sit with legs spread wide to keep certain areas cool, but on a boat, in which every body get small seating area, this squooshes left and right neighbors. If fellows could find a different method of cooling, while keeping knees together, (perhaps clamped on a cold beverage? ) it would be kinder.

Is this practice limited to American men? It seems men all over the world would want to keep the boys cool.

Guilty