Thanks Scubaboard

[chenry]

This is long winded, and for that I applogize.

Background: I am new to diving. My wife and I did a discover scuba dive on a cruise a couple years ago in St. Thomas, we were hooked on scuba then, but didn't act on it until recently. It was the best experience of that or any other vacation. We were going to take another tip to the carribean this year, so we decided to try to get certified before the vacation, PADI is available locally. We did all the confined pool dives here in Indiana, and decided to do the OW dives on a refferral in Antigua. We both got our OW cert cards after that, and I am working on the AOW cert. here at home.

I wan't to thank all you scubaboard staff and members for the wealth of information that you have provided on this forum. This information and experience that can be accessed on this forum is, IMHO the most imortant tool at my disposal for improving my diving skills after certification classes. Since I started certification, I have been browsing these forums every day that I have access to the internet. I can honestly say that I learn soemthing new every time I visit. Who knows, something I read here may help to save someones life ,or my own, some day. At the very least, I will learn how to have more fun diving.

Observations: When I did the confined dives in the pool with a group of ppl, the instructors were great, all the skills were covered thoroughly. My main problem was buoyancy control. I could hover fine, but I could never get trimmed properly. I had a tendancy to roll over to one side one day, couldn't keep my feet horizontal another day. I kept my trim by using my hands or finning when I shouldn't have. This wasn't the fault of my instructor, it was my fault for not saying I needed help. As far as the instructor knew, I was fine because I made sure I wasn't upside down when he was looking. After reading tons of threads on scubaboard, and later experience, I realize I was carrying too much weight and not properly trimmed. I also had to use a different BC each dive which didn't help matters.

During the OW dives in Antigua I had more time, and more dives, to improve on this problem. I started out with 15 lbs of lead and was down to 12 after one dive. I realize now that this was still too much weight. Still had the problem of a different BC on every dive. An instructor can teach you everything he knows, but its up to the diver to actually put this information to good use. At one time we were decending a bout 15 feet to look at some coral fomations and fans. I had been taught that when you go deeper he air in your BC is sompressed and you become less buoyant, but it didn't really hit home intill I was hovering over that fan, wait a minute... I'm not hovering over it. Im slowly sinking towards it! If taking in a big breath and holding it did not stop my decsent, I had to add a little puff of air to the BC. How much air to manipulate in the BC and how often you need to do it as you change depth are skills I'm still trying to master.

When I came back to Indiana I wanted to keep diving. It turns out my local LDS had a trip to Blue Springs quarry planned for that weekend. Now I had a whole new set of circumstances to consider. Previously I had dived with zero exposure protection. Now I was entering the water with yet another unfamiliar BC, 7mm wet suit, hood, gloves, boots, and a lot of extra weight. First time diving in a wet suit and first time diving in thermoclines. Needless to say, I had some more buoyancy issues to work out. But I had a blast doing it. Now I had been taught that as you use your back gas you become more buoyant. But out there in the real world there isn't a light or beeper that goes of that says, hey bud, if you don't let some air out of your BC immediately you are going to float slowly to the surface. Its even more frustrating when the borrowed BC refuses to let out its air fast enough when you ask it to. Also if you are throwing a bowling ball back and forth underwater, you need to use proper technique so you don't push yourself towards the surface only to realize, OK I uess I was neutrally bouyant a few feet deeper, but I am certainly not now. This is the last time I use this borrowed BC that doesn't like to give up its gas.

I have less than 10 dives under my belt now. I'm still a newbie, and I will be for a long time. I learn something new every day when I read the posts on scubaboard. I rely on that info to help me analyze what I have done wrong on past dives, and how I can be prepared for situations on future dives, and recognize and react to situations quickly before they become a problem.

I went ahead and bought all my own gear. I had a mask snorkel and fins before Antigua. I bought a dry snorkel. It kept the waves out, but it also is invariably closed when I want to take a breath. I would not buy another one. I bought ScubaPro twin jet fins. Now before I get slammed for that, I plan on getting some used jet fins off of ebay soon. Since most of my diving will be in a lake I'm not in a huge hurry. I now have a DSS backplate and wing, I have yet to dive with it. Was this a wise choice? I don't know, but I don't think I've seen one post where someone has said I prefer my jacket BC to my BP/W. All those ppl can't be wrong. I have full 7mm exposure protection now. I went with Triple-L custom made wetsuit. No matter how many suits I tried on in the LDS they all fit poorly in one way or another. For the price from Triple-L I couldn't pass up a custom. I went with Aqualung Legend LX 1st and second stages , and an ABS Octo. My LDS can support and repair them. I bought a Suunto D9 dive computer. Do I need it? No I don't. Did I pay too much money for it? Probably. Its really cool though, and every day I go to work, I make more money, to spend on the things I think I need. If I was worried about spending money, then I wouldn't be diving. I will rent tanks until I know what I want for sure.

I have to work in Waco, TX for about a month. I am going to take my dive gear and find a LDS to go diving with. I hear there are some pretty cool dive lakes out there. Any info on diving in that are would be helpful.

Thanks
Chris Henry

 

[herman]

Welcome to the board Chris.
It takes a while to get one with your equipment and to get things just the way you want them but looks like you are well on your way. Understanding what you are doing right and what is wrong and then practicing your skills will make you a much better diver. For what it's worth, I for one do prefer my back inflated BC (not a jacket type) over the BP. Nothing wrong with either, just personal preference.

 

[D_B]

I too was exposed to diving on a cruise (Roatan!!) and and felt as you do, was the best thing I have ever done
Good to hear your working on your AOW , more training is always good and with a good instructor, is priceless
It sounds like you have what you need to work out your trim and buoyancy issues

Welcome to the Board Chenry, while they can be an opinionated bunch , thats just because they love diving and have passion for the subject

I also would like to thank ScubaBoard for the wealth of info. that I have gotten here thank you

DB

 

[Ted S]

chenry,
On behalf of the entire staff you are very welcome but more importantly, thank you. This community exists and continues to thrive because of new users. Users who are looking to learn more and are open to asking questions, posting sharing their experiences and ultimately who are here for learning and community. Enjoy your diving experience and we hope to see you come back to continue to share your own insight with other divers as they join the board.

 

[SHARKBAIT94]

Welcome to the board. I also prefer my black inflate over the bp/w, to each his own. Any question you could possibly have others have answers so don't be afraid to ask. Some will give little jabs at you for asking, but take it with a grain of salt. Your on your way to a whole new world under the water. Good luck and don't forget to check back and post a question or experiences you had we love to read them and reply.

 

[spectrum]

Welcome Chris!

First I'm glad to see your're embracing diving on the home front. Once you get used to the exposure protection it's a grat time too. I got used to it skin-diving so for scuba it just meant one more layer of gear.

I hear what you're saying about gear du jour. I learned the same way. Look at it this way... You've handled some significant task loading by relearning your BC for each dive. Congratulations on the DSS sysyem, if the SCUBA DIVING magazine writeup had run a few weeks earlier I think that would have made me start that way too. I got a Sherwood Avid and like it fine.

We just did dives 8 & 9 today and it's a wonderful thing to own your gear and to really as you said become one with it. What has been working out nice for my wife and I are shallow shore dives in the 15-25 foot range. If you can control your bouyancy there you can do it anywhere and at those depths even as newbies we're hitting one hour on dives, lots of practice time. As you mention and we learned trim is everything and until you make sense of that bouyancy will be a struggle, with trim and what you've learned you may be preasently surprised how quickly you can become fairly decent.

Latest observation... Know you BC and think ahead, doing down, have the inflator at hand to prevent a "freefall". Going up, especially if it's a gradual contour that's not noticable, be prepared to dump air. With attention you can dump/add small amounts and stay in control. Don't forget your lung volume riding that is the coolest.

Have fun and dive safe,
Pete