TracyN
Contributor
Hey guys I am a recently certified advanced open water diver and I have some information to share with you so that hopefully you don't repeat the same mistakes I did. This weeked I went on my first real open water ocean dive with a dive group I found on meetup.com. I thought I was fully prepared for what I was about to experience but I was not. Once I saw the reef I was overcome by it's beauty and made some potenitally serious poor decisions. I didn't realize how easily it was to become overtasked when you have pretty fish darting here, there, and everywhere and and seeing animals you have never seen before for the first time. The group I dove with had pretty experienced divers and an instructor who was the one who set the dive up. There were only a couple of us newbies there and two of them were husband and wife so they were a buddy team. I had no buddy and was told to stick around with whoever I could find and I was also told that the reef goes in a straight line and as long as you follow the reef you will be able to find your way back to the boat or find someone on their way back. Basically I was flying solo. Most likely my instructors would not be please if they heard about this.
Mistake #1
Newbie Diver with brand new $300 underwater camera. I was so excited to be seeing all the wonderful sites on the reef that I wasn't really paying attention to my buyoancy or where the other group of divers were. I was looking for the next photo opportunity. I found this very colorful fish that was eating some coral so I tried to take a picture of it not paying attention to where I was floating. I had to grab onto a piece of non living coral in order not to fall into living coral. In the process I lost my camera that was strapped to my wrist. It floated away never to be seen again. Of course I was mad and started frantically looking for it which consumed a good amount of air. Then I look at my pressure gauge and see that I had just under 1000 left. I couldn't find any other divers. I finally saw the instructor and tried to play charades to let him know that I had lost my camera. He thought that I wanted my picture taken which I did not but the lady with the camera took it anyway. Then I show him my pressure gauge and he takes me over to the anchor line to make sure I can make it without running out of air. I get on the boat and the divemaster told me I should have surfaced when I lost it and he might have been able to find it. That thought never crossed my mind because I figured an unplanned ascent would make the other divers think I had an emergency. Moral of the story: Please get more dives under your belt before even considering underwater photography. Buoyancy control is most important. Also PAY ATTENTION TO THE DIVE GROUP if you don't have your own personal buddy.
Mistake #2
Newbie diver somehow loses right sided weight pocket without knowing it. This was the second dive at a different location and once again I got caught up in looking at all the fish and other strange creatures. I thought I was swimming a little sideways but figured that it was just my tank slipping sideways so I adjusted my tank position. Buyoancy was easy to control when I got myself neutral but if I went up I had a hard time getting down. I"m swimming around the reef with the others when I spot a cool looking starfish. I pick up the starfish to look at it and then I let it float down into the sand. It landed by some kind of shell creature and I got caught up in watching this shell creature back away from the star fish every time it moved. It was entertaining. Meanwhile the dive group once again left me and when I looked up I saw no one and visibility was only 10 feet at the most. Mild panic set in but I knew that if I had to surface that I was in the general vicinity of the boat and that I just might have a long surface swim. I decided that if I swam back in the same direction I came that I would run into the other divers. However because of my irregular breathing patterns trying to maintain my buoyancy I was starting to feel strange. My vision became very bright and I felt mildy lightheaded and giddy. I knew something strange was going on and I had no dive buddy around me to help. I decided to swim a couple more minutes to look for someone and if I didn't find anyone that I would surface. I finally caught up with the group but they were doing their own thing and it was imperative that I surface so I ascended alone. It didn't occur to me until I got to the safety stop when I found out I couldn't maintain it that I had lost my weight pocket. I had a moderate surface swim but it wasn't too bad. I made it back to the boat and told the dive master my symptoms and he said that it wasn't nitrogen narcosis but that he didn't have an answer for me. Fortunately I posted on the boards and people told me it was probably CO2 build up from not properly inhaling and exhaling. Moral of this story...STAY IN CONTACT WITH YOUR BUDDIES OR GROUP and always perform a buddy check before you get into the water to make sure all of your equipment is tightly attatched. That simple step would have prevented me from losing my weight belt and adverting a potential bad outcome from the co2 buidup and by not being able to maintain the safety stop. Fortunately we were only in about 40 feet of water.
Hard lessons learned never to be repeated again. I had a few guardian angels looking over me that day I believe
Mistake #1
Newbie Diver with brand new $300 underwater camera. I was so excited to be seeing all the wonderful sites on the reef that I wasn't really paying attention to my buyoancy or where the other group of divers were. I was looking for the next photo opportunity. I found this very colorful fish that was eating some coral so I tried to take a picture of it not paying attention to where I was floating. I had to grab onto a piece of non living coral in order not to fall into living coral. In the process I lost my camera that was strapped to my wrist. It floated away never to be seen again. Of course I was mad and started frantically looking for it which consumed a good amount of air. Then I look at my pressure gauge and see that I had just under 1000 left. I couldn't find any other divers. I finally saw the instructor and tried to play charades to let him know that I had lost my camera. He thought that I wanted my picture taken which I did not but the lady with the camera took it anyway. Then I show him my pressure gauge and he takes me over to the anchor line to make sure I can make it without running out of air. I get on the boat and the divemaster told me I should have surfaced when I lost it and he might have been able to find it. That thought never crossed my mind because I figured an unplanned ascent would make the other divers think I had an emergency. Moral of the story: Please get more dives under your belt before even considering underwater photography. Buoyancy control is most important. Also PAY ATTENTION TO THE DIVE GROUP if you don't have your own personal buddy.
Mistake #2
Newbie diver somehow loses right sided weight pocket without knowing it. This was the second dive at a different location and once again I got caught up in looking at all the fish and other strange creatures. I thought I was swimming a little sideways but figured that it was just my tank slipping sideways so I adjusted my tank position. Buyoancy was easy to control when I got myself neutral but if I went up I had a hard time getting down. I"m swimming around the reef with the others when I spot a cool looking starfish. I pick up the starfish to look at it and then I let it float down into the sand. It landed by some kind of shell creature and I got caught up in watching this shell creature back away from the star fish every time it moved. It was entertaining. Meanwhile the dive group once again left me and when I looked up I saw no one and visibility was only 10 feet at the most. Mild panic set in but I knew that if I had to surface that I was in the general vicinity of the boat and that I just might have a long surface swim. I decided that if I swam back in the same direction I came that I would run into the other divers. However because of my irregular breathing patterns trying to maintain my buoyancy I was starting to feel strange. My vision became very bright and I felt mildy lightheaded and giddy. I knew something strange was going on and I had no dive buddy around me to help. I decided to swim a couple more minutes to look for someone and if I didn't find anyone that I would surface. I finally caught up with the group but they were doing their own thing and it was imperative that I surface so I ascended alone. It didn't occur to me until I got to the safety stop when I found out I couldn't maintain it that I had lost my weight pocket. I had a moderate surface swim but it wasn't too bad. I made it back to the boat and told the dive master my symptoms and he said that it wasn't nitrogen narcosis but that he didn't have an answer for me. Fortunately I posted on the boards and people told me it was probably CO2 build up from not properly inhaling and exhaling. Moral of this story...STAY IN CONTACT WITH YOUR BUDDIES OR GROUP and always perform a buddy check before you get into the water to make sure all of your equipment is tightly attatched. That simple step would have prevented me from losing my weight belt and adverting a potential bad outcome from the co2 buidup and by not being able to maintain the safety stop. Fortunately we were only in about 40 feet of water.
Hard lessons learned never to be repeated again. I had a few guardian angels looking over me that day I believe