Some things that I haven't learned yet

[Soakedlontra]

No matter what the wrist seals leak some water.

Wearing wet gloves it makes me feel my hands even colder than when I wear them with my semi-dry suit (to solve this problem I have to buy dry gloves!). However it seems to me that my feet are a bit warmer.

My fins are not comfortable anymore. Either they seem to be too loose (without the padding) or to tight (with it). Next time I will try to wear my buddy's old boots.

I think I do not wear undergarment that it is warm enough.

I still don't understand where the air travels to.

If I try to be more horizontal with my lower legs up my body begins to tilt forward, if I put my lower legs too horizontal I feel more squeeze and not much warmth!

Santa Pazienza! (Holy Patience!)

 

[Soakedlontra]

Ha!!! I still remember my first open water dive. My instructor and I meet at the beach. It's not long before he asks me where my inflator hose is on the 1st stage. Two lessons learned at once. 1) Always check my gear (even after a pro shop puts it together, e.g. 1st/2nd stage). 2) Do an equipment check before leaving home.

I actually do a head to toe check with gear in the bag already. Once it's in there, I'll check hood, suit, gloves, boots, goggles, fins in that order every time. Then i check BC, weights and anything extra such as lights, camera, marker, etc. Last, I'll check the pressure in the tank. Then I hook up my reg and breath from both primary and octo a few breaths to make sure they're working and that the computer is registering correctly. Then I immediately put it in the bag.

I do not use a list but since doing it this way, I've never forgotten anything that would stop me from diving. Yeah, I could end up forgetting the camera or something but I'm certainly going to be blowing bubbles that day!!!

I thought I had this issue of forgetting gear nailed down by now...Never take things for granted! The other day I convinced myself (without checking my list) that everything was in my bin but when I got to the dive site I had a frustrating surprise: the regulator was missing!

Fortunately I did not have to drive too far to go back home and pick it up! But still I could have saved that gas if I had not been so 'mentally' lazy

cheers

 

[Soakedlontra]

So far I have done about 10 dives with my Mobby's dry suit. I haven't taken a dry suit class yet. Yesterday was the first time that I dived with this suit to a deeper depth than 60ft (it was 78Ft).

Lately at each dive I have been adding more air to the suit because my buddy told me that it looked too wrinkled as if there was not enough air inside. Yesterday I cranked up the valve to see if I could feel something...I mean air circulating in the suit. At some point I did feel the air to my feet and my buoyancy was a bit wonky!

I did not use the wing to control my buoyancy but the air in the suit and for the first time I felt that I did not like it! I am reading the dry suit manual and it suggests using the suit to control the buoyancy. I understand the point that for a beginner it may be too difficult to deal with to bubbles rather than one. I guess I will follow the book when I take the dry suit class but I am really beginning to think that it is not a good idea...

As undergarment I am using underwear etc. that I have found in my draws at home. It is not ideal but I can get by with that stuff for now that the water it is not too cold. However not wearing the proper scuba undergarment may make me more confused about the amount of air I am supposed to put in the suit...

The struggle has just began...

too many wrinkles?

 

[Soakedlontra]

The other day I practiced back kicking for the first time...and it was a mess!

I talked to more experienced divers about it, watched several videos on You Tube and my buddy was very good at showing me how he does it...

Still I could not get it right! It is going to take several tries and maybe months before it will sink in!

When I learned how to turn at the end of a pool while swimming I was able to do it not because I read books or watched videos about it but because I 'spied' smarter swimmers through my fogged goggles for months in the pool until something clicked one day and ...bingo!

My memory doesn't seem to make much sense to me...

 

[ligersandtions]

For your drysuit issue, you want to use an amount of air that you're comfortable with. Based on your post, you're not comfortable using your drysuit for buoyancy (I, too, do not like to use just my drysuit as too floaty of feet makes propulsion hard). However, you don't want to use such little air that you come out with "hickie" from you suit rubbing you, feel uncomfortable from the wrinlkes in your drysuit pushing against you, or have such little air in there that you are cold.

Drysuit diving is more work than wetsuit diving, but it's so worth it in cold waters (I can't imagine diving wet in the PNW....I did it once and will never do it again!). Get out there and play with it....put a little in, put a lot in, put just some in....get it in your feet a bit, learn how to avoid a feet-first ascent.

I don't know if your normal buddy dives dry as well (or how much experience he/she has), but if you can go out with someone with a LOT of experience, like many of the PNW divers, and have them give you some feedback, you may find it very beneficial.

 

[Soakedlontra]

I don't know if your normal buddy dives dry as well (or how much experience he/she has), but if you can go out with someone with a LOT of experience, like many of the PNW divers, and have them give you some feedback, you may find it very beneficial.

He is a bit more experienced than me and dives with a neoprene dry suit (High Tide) so I guess he doesn't have the issue of the suit wrinkling. But it seems to me that with his suit air travels faster and he has to be more careful of not letting too much air in his feet...

With my suit it seems to me that it needs a lot of more air to reach that point...

I try to dive with more experienced divers than my regular buddy whenever I can, here on the island I don't know experienced divers who would be willing to dive with me. They are mostly solo divers. So I had to travel to the Seattle area, something that I can afford to do occasionally.

cheers

 

[ligersandtions]

He is a bit more experienced than me and dives with a neoprene dry suit (High Tide) so I guess he doesn't have the issue of the suit wrinkling. But it seems to me that with his suit air travels faster and he has to be more careful of not letting too much air in his feet...

With my suit it seems to me that it needs a lot of more air to reach that point...

I try to dive with more experienced divers than my regular buddy whenever I can, here on the island I don't know experienced divers who would be willing to dive with me. They are mostly solo divers. So I had to travel to the Seattle area, something that I can afford to do occasionally.

cheers

Ahhh, I see! My husband is just learning to dive in a drysuit and dives with a shell suit....I, on the other hand, dive with a neoprene suit. I find it hard to explain to him how it's supposed to feel since the suits are fairly different and I only have one experience in a shell suit.

I think your (and his) best bet is to just keep playing with it and see what works for you. Best of luck working out your drysuit issues....it will get better!

 

[Soakedlontra]

Ahhh, I see! My husband is just learning to dive in a drysuit and dives with a shell suit....I, on the other hand, dive with a neoprene suit. I find it hard to explain to him how it's supposed to feel since the suits are fairly different and I only have one experience in a shell suit.

I think your (and his) best bet is to just keep playing with it and see what works for you. Best of luck working out your drysuit issues....it will get better!

Bingo! (My husband, who is my regular buddy, is in the same dive 'brakets' as you)

I will keep trying and thanks!

Good luck to you guys too!

 

[Soakedlontra]

Yesterday I did my first Dry Suit Class and I left the Dive Shop more confused than ever...

I think Scubadiving 'rules' are a realm of knowledge on their own...One time they seem to be written on stone, another on sand...

When a dive master told me that he always keeps his legs straight because he doesn't want to have air going in his feet I was ...So does it mean the he never swims with the frog kick?

So what about all those divers who do swim mostly with a frog kick? Are they all ‘thrill’ seekers? Why they would do that if there was such a danger to have air in the feet and risk go head down and feet up?...MA!

 

[TSandM]

If you are running a big bubble of air in your dry suit, and turn head down, it is quite possible to have all the air run to your feet, expand and start you to the surface. It is also possible that the gas in your feet will make your boots so loose that you kick out of them, rendering you fairly helpless.

On the other hand, if your torso is horizontal or tilted ten degrees or so upward, there is no reason for all the gas in the suit to run to your feet, even if your knees are bent and your feet are higher than your shoulders. I can keep gas around my shoulders to combat my head-heaviness in doubles, and put a little gas in my feet for balance. The person who says it is not possible, has not done it.