Greg Doyle
Registered
All great points, Thanks.Steel tanks? Yes! I love mine.
However, if you're chewing through your air, might I suggest a few things.
- Get your attitude right
- You should be flat, flat, flat!
- Often referred to as 'trim'.
- Hold your hands together in front of you.
- Flailing (sculling) wastes energy
- Sculling ruins trim
- Sculling scares fish
- Holding your hands in front of you, actually helps with trim
- SLOW DOWN!
- It's a big ocean and you're not going to see it all in one dive
- Why even try?
- Going slow will allow you to stay down a lot longer!
- The slower you go, the more you will see.
- Make your buddy/DM stay back with you, not you up with them!
- Use down lines correctly
- Pull your self down: DON'T KICK!
- Pace yourself. Did I mention going slow?
- If you seem to be panting when you hit the deck, you're doing it wrong.
- Stay out of the current!
- Usually the closer to the bottom, the better off your are.
- Hide behind structure whenever possible.
- Use the rules of Dodge ball...
- Dodge
- Dive
- Dip
- Duck and...
- Dodge
I took my buoyancy class a few weeks ago as part of my PADI AOW and those points were made clear. It's the practice though isn't it......
Regarding the difference using 100's vs. 80s, I did six dives this weekend down in the Keys with Key Dives in Islamorada. My first two dives on Saturday were on the AL100's and I was able to stay down about 10 mins longer than I have ever before at depths between 65-45 feet. My first two dives on Sunday, the same. It felt great to not be the 1st guy to head up!
The last two dives on Sunday afternoon, I went back to AL80s and needed to add 2lbs more weight to get negatively buoyant. However, my dive time, for me, was about the same as on the 100's at 40'-30'. Just a few minutes longer. This was with a strong current and really cloudy water. So, yeh, I'm starting to get there.
I definitely am getting more relaxed and pacing my breathing, counting to 5 in, counting to 7 out, but sometimes I just feel like I need to really exhale and inhale deep. About every 3 or four cycles of pacing my breathing.
It's frustrating to see a kid on the dive that's crazily waving his arms around, flailing his legs all over the place and blowing a constant stream of bubbles end his dive with 500PSI more than me. Getting old sucks but it beats the alternative.
Thanks everyone for the input.
G