Your biggest "lessons learned"

[Yoyoguy]

60ft, to me, seems a bit deep to be practicing an OOA drill. Also, when you donate the long hose, make sure that the recipient has positive control of the regulator by placing a hand on the hose so you can't pull it out of their mouth.... Just a bit of advice that I picked up from my fundies class this past weekend.

We do not practice at that depth. That was just the depth he chose to see how I would react in that situation. He has hundreds maybe thousands of dives under his belt and is a tech diver /dive master. He knows I want to pursue becoming a rescue diver/tech diver. We do all our "practice" at about 15-20ft now. Honestly though, I am glad he did what he did because it was a big eye opener for me and I do exactly what you say now every time we practice OOA. Another thing I do after I donate my reg, is to try and "calm" down both myself and the OOA diver before doing anything else.

 

[Steve_C]

1. The last few minutes before you splash, stop talking to others, and focus on a check of your equipment and its assembly. Lesson learned when I suddenly got an instabuddy and switched into DM mode talking to them and forgot to put on my wrist computer.

2. Last thing before going into water is to breath on regulator while looking at pressure gauge. Saved my ass in Cancun.

3. When you get down the line to the anchor take a couple minutes to scout the area so you can locate it again. If viz is not good and natural navigation iffy then run a reel. Took me four times under different situations including a couple of open water assents to learn this one.

 

[RJP]

The most important question you can ask your instructor is "Why?"

Without an understanding of the "why" knowing the "what" and the "how" is really of limited utility.

 

[BRT]

1. The last few minutes before you splash, stop talking to others, and focus on a check of your equipment and its assembly. Lesson learned when I suddenly got an instabuddy and switched into DM mode talking to them and forgot to put on my wrist computer.

2. Last thing before going into water is to breath on regulator while looking at pressure gauge. Saved my ass in Cancun.

3. When you get down the line to the anchor take a couple minutes to scout the area so you can locate it again. If viz is not good and natural navigation iffy then run a reel. Took me four times under different situations including a couple of open water assents to learn this one.

Great advice!

 

[Phil_C]

If you regularly dive in different gear configurations make sure you know what gear you have with you !

I did a drift dive off a boat, warm water, 100' vis, slight current, hard bottom, ideal conditions really. Plan - complete dive to a set time, start to ascend, shoot our SMB's and slow ascent whilst the boat follows to pick us up. I have a 100' reel I normally take, with a medium sized DSMB and on the way up I assembled the DSMB to the spool at about 60' and sent it up -

Yes, I did say spool, as I let it go I realised I was carrying my travel spool not my reel and had just sent the bag up from 60'. My spool only has 25' of line on it - doh !

Lesson learn't - boat picked it up for me, and I made a free ascent along with my buddy who had his 100' reel.

Now when sending up my DSMB the last check I make is my depth and look at the reel to make sure I have enough line. - Phil.

 

[high/baric]

Keep breathing! Your headache wasn't from overexertion: it was a CO2 buildup! In addition to causing headaches, Carbon Dioxide induces confusion, a higher respiration, vertigo, high heart rate and more. You breathe as much to get rid of the CO2 as you do to get O2.

Yep, exactly, which is why I said overexertion AND trying to conserve air. The exertion was ramping up my metabolism, burning more oxygen and thus creating more CO2, necessitating an increase in breathing rate to get rid of it. But since I was running out of air, I did the exact opposite, which was trying to save air (so my lack of NDT had turned into two more problems and with my worsening headache even one more). I see I only half-explained that in my original story, sorry for the confusion. NetDoc's advice is not only valid, but an essential rule of scuba diving. Later I have, in fact, learned to pause the dive and go sit on the bottom to breathe steadily for a while, if it seems I can't otherwise get rid of the excess CO2. It takes at most half a minute and can make the difference between enjoying a dive, and silently counting minutes until it's over. In worst case scenario this is followed by a painful surface interval and having to skip the next dive. It is much easier to get rid of the headache during the dive, when you feel it starting, than afterwards on the boat when it's already been building up for half an hour or more. So that's another lesson I have learned not from one, but from several experiences (and invaluable advice from fellow divers).

 

[Yellowdog]

"2. Last thing before going into water is to breath on regulator while looking at pressure gauge. Saved my ass in Cancun."

What happened?

 

[phoenix31tt]

I'm relatively new so most things are learning experiences but three things that are my mantra...

1. Always be prepared, especially equipment wise. Know what you need, ensure that you have it and know how to operate it.

2. Try to do something better on every dive until it's as close to perfected as possible. Finning, breathing, buoyancy etc.

3. Be extra observant when diving with a group.

 

[Doc]

#1) Just because I sleep with you doesn't mean I'll buddy-up with you.

 

[Nasser]

Stay aware... it's good to be relaxed but stay on your toes and maintain good situational awareness. Whether it's your gear, your state of mind and physical condition, the diving conditions, your buddy etc., being in tune with what's going within you and around you helps to identify any potential issues and pre-empt them before they can escalate into something more significant.