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You might be surprised what "all divers" know (there was an impromptu lesson on the boat by Servando on using an oral inflate for the BC, one diver didn't know you could do that...). We had never used weight belts until we got to Cozumel. (I assume proper use is just "keep buckle in front for easy release" - is there something else to know?) I've heard something about rolling into them when you gear up in the water, but not knowing how to do that is one reason I won't jump in and gear up in the water in Cozumel, which is how I prefer to put my gear on at home (we rent weight integrated here, weight belts aren't an option), to save the back pain.
Thanks for the information about balanced/unbalanced etc. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend your gear rentals to other people. I just know that I'm exceptionally picky, and it was my first experience dealing with a regulator that got harder to breathe like that. It never stopped giving me air, I just didn't want to wait around to see if it would stop- which is why I switched to my buddy's octo. And also why, after talking with you on the boat and you said it was breathing fine, on the second dive when it did the same thing, I chose to just keep my buddy really close to me, rather than switching off to his octo again. I will say I was darn impressed at how nice the octo breathed. My previous experience with our local rental gear is that octos aren't as good as a primary, they leak water and are hard to breathe on... Turns out, our shop's octos just suck, I guess.
You might be surprised what "all divers" know (there was an impromptu lesson on the boat by Servando on using an oral inflate for the BC, one diver didn't know you could do that...). We had never used weight belts until we got to Cozumel. (I assume proper use is just "keep buckle in front for easy release" - is there something else to know?) I've heard something about rolling into them when you gear up in the water, but not knowing how to do that is one reason I won't jump in and gear up in the water in Cozumel, which . . .
Based on what you have said above, if you haven't misspoken then your training was inadequate. A refresher with an instructor is definitely required. If you don't know the basics, what else don't you know?
When your primary started breathing harder, you switched to your buddy's octo. How come you didn't just switch to your own octo?
IScuba Pro MK25 first stage and the A700 second stage are top of the line. .
Based on what you have said above, if you haven't misspoken then your training was inadequate. A refresher with an instructor is definitely required. If you don't know the basics, what else don't you know?
Probably pointed at a weight belt and said, "that's a weight belt, here's how you put in your integrated pockets." That's the beauty of diving new places and with other experienced divers, you learn stuff you don't know. I never back rolled off a boat until Coz. Now you know how to use a weight belt, You win.