1st Boat Dive for Daughter and I - Pura Vida Divers ROCKS!

[1000RR]

My daughter (13) and I had our first boat dive yesterday. Went out of West Palm Beach, FL. We researched recommendations from Scubaboard and called around. Interestingly, another dive operation also recommended Pura Vida since my daughter was a Junior OW. I am only posting one picture, as that sums up the trip for my daughter and I .

My daughter, during our first beach dive as well as our training dives was kicking my butt on air consumption. This time, not so much... her RMV was around 0.66 cfm and my best was at 0.58 cfm. I had even reserved HP100's for me anticipating that I'd need the extra air to not be our limiting factor. In hindsight she better understood what the DMs were saying with current (both dives were drift dives) being stronger when you're higher above the reef. She seemed not to hunker down closer as much and said she finned a bit more to stay and see stuff.

I had her go through some calculations the day before to calculate turn around/ascent pressures (Rock Bottom) so that when the DM provided direction on the dive or her computer was providing information to her, she could put it into context as to what that meant to her and I if we had an OOA or something at the bottom. She managed her air very well and together we had an awesome time. First time for us doing a safety stop mid-water so that was cool. We held the 15-20' mark pretty well and didn't cork to the top. Also first time deploying an SMB. We did that on the surface. We used hers... which is not a DSMB, just an SMB. Next time I think we'll practice deploying mine (DSMB w/reel) so we can shoot it from our safety stop for added safety.

She saw what she hoped to see which was a shark (4-5' nurse), 2 large sea turtles, and 4-5 Goliath Groupers (400-500lbs, season for them right now). It was great! Can't say enough about Pura Vida Divers. The crew was awesome, really made us feel comfortable. The DM paid my daughter and I a really nice compliment as well as our OW Instructor too - he said if he didn't know ahead of time that was our first boat dive (a drift dive at that), he would have had no idea, he quickly realized he didn't need to worry about us. Also said we must have had a really good instructor (we did).

Buoyancy was decent, neither of us slammed the bottom, actually never touched anything on the bottom for that matter. Held our safety stop pretty good. My daughter said she was managing her BC a bit (squirts of air, and releasing etc.). I think that will subside as she continues to dive but we also might drop a couple pounds for her too. At her safety stop, with about 600psi, she was still finning a little to maintain and that was with some air in the BC (not a ton). Similar for me, but I had an HP100... only had 2lbs on me, so I'll get rid of that next time out with an HP100. It also tells me I can likely shed a couple pounds with an AL80 which I suspected too.

All in all, an absolute amazing time and can't say enough about Pura Vida Divers!!

 

[Ricardo V.]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Drift diving in Palm Beach - Jupiter is accelerating and can be very rewarding when it comes to wildlife encounters. Glad your daughter saw what she was expecting to see, and that the experience was very positive.

I would recommend you both rinse and repeat... your air consumption will stabilize, your buoyancy will develop and your overall diving skills will grow. Do practice deploying your surface marker right when you commence your safety stop, that way nearby boat Captain's put a visual on your whereabouts and your actually increasing safety conditions prior to surfacing. Let your daughter practice this too. This is a critical skill when it comes to drift diving around these parts.

Enjoy, have fun, rinse & repeat often, and be safe.

Ricardo

 

[sportxlh]

Fun picture and good report. Glad you guys had an enjoyable experience

 

[RTC'83]

Thanks for the report. Will bookmark for future reference. I think that diving with our kids is the best!

 

[1000RR]

...Do practice deploying your surface marker right when you commence your safety stop, that way nearby boat Captain's put a visual on your whereabouts and your actually increasing safety conditions prior to surfacing. Let your daughter practice this too. This is a critical skill when it comes to drift diving around these parts...

We will definitely do that. The increased safety aspect for other boats is what came to my mind as we first poked our head above the water. Being it was our first time doing (and maintaining) a safety stop, I didn't want to make things overly complex with two new endeavors at once. But next time I will give it a whirl, and hopefully prior to then, maybe we can do a shore dive and practice deploying it a time or two prior to doing it on the next drift dive.

Do the boats/captains care if you deploy your DSMB a few minutes prior to surfacing? I was thinking maybe deploy it as we're just entering the safety stop and then hang out with it... plus I could tie some knots in the line to represent 15', 20', etc.

 

[Sam Miller III]

NO INTEREST

 

[Ricardo V.]

1000RR,
A good Captain welcomes your deployment as you start your safety stop, some even before even encouraging as you start your assent.

Think of it this way. There are all kinds of boats out and about, sometimes other dive operators with divers that all look the same like ninjas, in the water - overlapping reefs, so getting a solid visual is very important for Captains to see you. I've seen several instances where divers get confused and end up surfacing with a different group not even noticing they switched from one group to another underwater... but that's a different topic.

Second, not all boats make noise when cruising above you. It could be a sail boat or a vessel adrift. Rule of thumb here is "Always deploy!!!" Unless you surface with a guide that is carrying the flag and even then, I'll tell you now that I still deploy when surfacing with others. No matter. Always deploy.

Third but not least, practice, practice, practice. This is a very valuable skill.

My wife and I have been diving these reefs just about every weekend over the last five years and we have never encountered a Captain that discouraged us from deploying a marker or a "safety sausage" as locally referred to.

When traveling, we alert operators of our habit of deploying as we start a safety stop and even then, Captain's have never discouraged us from doing his, but to the contrary, welcome it.

I'll tell you, if we had a Captain tell us not to, that would be the last of our business with that operator.

Cheers,
Ricardo

 

[1000RR]

@Ricardo V. - Thanks for the details on that. I suspected so, but thought I'd ask. I didn't even think of the stealth sailboat! I will make a point to practice this for sure. Seems like it might be better to deploy right before your safety stop so you can focus just on the one thing, then just follow the line up slowly which would also assist in making a more consistent appropriate ascent. I've got some knots tied into my real at 15', 20', and 30'.

Thanks again!