Some Things I've Learned

[sambolino44]

Thanks, everyone, for all the great responses. And TSandM, I'd never consider you a blowhard!

I've remembered a couple of other tips I wish someone had shared with me when I was new.

I got a cheap ($15) indoor/outdoor rug/mat for changing. This one simple item has made a huge difference in how my "day is going". It makes it so much easier to stay clean(er) and dry(er) when changing, even indoors because the floor in those public toilets is ususally pretty icky.

We take a small bucket every time these days. This was a free one I got out of the trash at the laundromat (I think it was for detergent). We use it for soaking our camera and other small items after a dive, but it's come in handy a lot of times for all kinds of uses.

 

[katdiver]

Every dive is an adventure I always get a thrill when the skipper throttles back the engine as we come up to the jump in point.

 

[gypsyjim]

Started diving as a teen in 70', but I am enjoying diving even more now. Better equipment, better training, a lot more experience behind me, many new friends that just make diving fun, and now I can aford (occasionally) to go where the water is warmer to dive!

Never have gotten around to making that list, but last year's rescue class, with all the timed speed responses, got me into a much more organized frame of mind as to what goes into the bag and in what order.

 

[sabbath999]

Every dive is an adventure I always get a thrill when the skipper throttles back the engine as we come up to the jump in point.

That is a very cool sound/feeling, isn't it? The part I like the best is when you have really clear water, looking over the side and seeing the garden of wonders that awaits.

 

[Soakedlontra]

I know exactly what you mean.

For full coverage of this frustrating incident go to:

Open Water Bubbles: Hood Tale

I envy those who have managed to etch the list in their brains. Will it ever happen to me?:depressed:

Well last Sunday by a strange coincidence another diver forgot to bring his hood and asked us if we had a spare one...and BINGO! We realized that we had forgotten our spare gear bag at home, where a spare hood may have been hiding in there!

Unfortunately the diver could not drive back home like I did two Sundays ago, he came from Canada (somewhere near the border)!
So his buddy and he put together a kind of bandana with a piece of neoprene and surgical tubing that covered the top of his head down to his ears and went diving with it.

We met him later after his first dive and he told us that his improvised 'hood' was better than nothing and did protect him a little bit.

You never know what a piece of neoprene and some plastic tube can do for you!

 

[ScubaSteve]

Every time I suit up, if I had a tail, I'd be wagging it like a dog!

I am the same way. I dive the same location/site for most of the cold water season and have probably just shy of 200 dives on it. There really is not too much to see but as we drive away from the site, my dive buddy hear's the same words..."Man do I love diving!" This happens when we see a semi-large fish (yes it is that boring for wildlife) and when we see nothing but rocks, zebra mussels and crayfish. I just love diving.

 

[PScUba]

My diving has become progressively more enjoyable with every dive. At first you are too worried about your gauges, trim, equipment, buoyancy... to really enjoy the dive. As you dive more these skills become more and more second nature and you can focus more on simply enjoying what you are doing.

 

[jwalko]

Yeah...the idea of a list has kind of escaped me too...I put one together once but then decided that it was too incomplete and rather than make another, I threw it away.

Then we decided to go diving one day and were half way to the site when I realized we forgot our masks at home...fortunately a quick trip to the local Dick's Sporting Goods and $60.00 and we were good to go (lesson learned...)

As someone else posted here, I go through the suit-up checklist each time I load stuff into my gear bag. I lay everything out, as if I was putting it on. Once I can see everything there, it goes into the gear bag.

I'd like to add a thought...one of the things I've learned...take your time and slow down. Early on when diving, I was in such a rush to get into the water and "see what I could see" that I missed a lot of things. Diving for me has become more relaxed...slower...easier paced (I can hear the age jokes in the background). But seriously, I enjoy the dives more when I slow down.

John

 

[ScubaSteve]

.....As someone else posted here, I go through the suit-up checklist each time I load stuff into my gear bag........

I do this however I go through it mentally as I am putting it into the bag and then a mental refresher once I am pack ("OK so I have BC, Suit, diver skin, fins.....") but do not actually lay the items out on the ground. Then I close the bag and wait anxiously for my alarm to go off in the AM.

One thing I have found.....if your routine changes go through it again. A lot of my diving is at the same spot....same time of day usually....same almost everything. If we choose to drive further for a charter then I will go through the mental list again as I unload the car and put the stuff on the boat to ensure nothing gets left behind. I have almost lewft weight behind and that I think was because we were late leaving, therefore late getting on the boat and was very rushed....I did not take the time to go through the mental list.

As long as you are comfortable with your gear, I think you can easily do a mental list rather than a written list, but one or the other is a good idea.

 

[maged_mmh]

Split fins are of no use in currents