3 things to tell a new guy (In Monterey)

[mikemill]

Yeah, I dive wet and I have to watch myself on the surface. Even in Jan/Feb I could feel myself getting a little too warm. One really nice thing about diving wet is that you can just jump in the water, pull away the wetsuit to let the water in, and almost instantly get cool.

 

[Jon Nellis]

1. If you are going to trust your life to a dive computer, teach yourself not only how to use it, but what the information that it is telling you actually means. All too often, I see divers who's extent of knowledge about their computer consists of only reading the depth and tank pressure.

2. Learn how to navigate under water and always dive with a compass. Don't rely on the person/dive buddy you are following to get you back to where you started. If you both are keeping track of where you're going you stand a better chance of reaching a consensus on how to get back. You should be looking at your compass just as often as you look at your tank pressure and depth (and nitrogen loading and time to deco...).

3. My brother is NOT my keeper No matter how good the intentions of your dive buddy are, YOU are responsible for saving yourself and any extra help you can get in doing so is just icing on the cake. If you put your faith in someone else to save you instead of preparing yourself to handle anything that comes up, you will likely find yourself on the losing end of that deal. It only take a few seconds of distracted attention to become separated from your buddy and if something happens to you during those few seconds (however unlikely that is) you are on your own and you should be prepared to handle it. Personally, I think recreational scuba should be taught as if everyone were diving solo, so when you go diving with buddies it just becomes more of a social gathering.

Diving incidents (as well as most other "accidents") are almost always the culmination of a chain of poor decision and ignored observations, any one of which individually would not be a problem, but when combined in the right sequence with the right conditions, can end very badly. If something looks or seems strange, question it! You will either learn something or you just might break the chain of events leading down a bad path.


extra bonus point

4. If you can barely descend with a full tank, what do you think is going to happen at the end of a dive when you've breathed out the four or five pounds of air that was in the tank. Air in a full tank is just like lead only you get rid of it during the dive. Weight accordingly.



.

 

[sarita75]

3. Separation protocols. If you dive Monterey, you will become separated. Maybe it's for a few second or maybe it's longer - it will happen. Knowing and following your protocols can either make it a non-issue or an event.

Yes. Amazing how people forget to discuss this but how often it occurs, especially when we deal with less-than-optimal viz as we do.

On a softer note:

1. Limit the number of 'new' things you try in one day: Don't push yourself. Every time you add new gear, a new set up or what not - take it slow. As Ben_Ca said - back to the bunny slopes. Need to ensure that you are in a comfortable setting, without additional stressors like deep waters, etc., before taking a new set up out on a boat, etc.

2. Go slow: Enjoy the scenery. So much of what is so beautiful about NorCal waters will be missed by zooming over crevices, etc. Check it all out.

3. Wear a snorkel and/or learn the kelp crawl: Sorry, but I always wear my snorkel when shore diving where there is kelp. Nothing worse than getting a tank valve full of the stuff, knocking all those snails off.

 

[Hepcat62]

1) Gadgetry is probably your enemy. I am a self-diagnosed gadget-addict. I get sweaty palms when I walk into a dive shop because there are tons of gadgets available, and we wantsses the preciouses... It's taken a fair amount of discipline for me to get out of that habit when it comes to diving. So consider it with a heavy heart that I say, "carry as few things with you as possble." Any piece of unnecessary gear you bring (cameras excluded ) is really just a kelp magnet in disguise.

2) Don't give in to the dry-suit zealotry. Tons of people dive wet year-round in Monterey, and do so comfortably. Don't get put off Monterey diving because you're afraid of the cold... The Michelin Man is never cold in Monterey bay, and it's not nearly as bad as you think it is! Once you get past the first rush of water into the suit, it's smooth sailing (relatively speaking).

3) Give in to the dry-suit zealotry as soon as possible. Yeah... all that stuff I said before? You should dive like that for at least a few months. It builds character, like shoveling snow or walking 10 miles uphill (both ways!) to school in the winter. After a few months though, that's your public face. Start secretly saving your change for your used car, err, drysuit because once you go dry you'll probably never go back, plus you get the benefit of joining the zealots!

Seriously though, I really want to echo Sarah's point about the snorkel/kelp-crawl. The kelp crawl is a skill that you SHOULD learn IMO. Practicing a crawling beach exit so it's instinctual can be a real life-saver too. I've never been seriously rolled (haven't been to Monastery yet), but I got tipped over and pushed towards some rocks at MacAbee once, and my body knew the fastest way out of the water at that point.

 

[sarita75]

Nothing wrong with accessorizing with a snorkel. :snorkel2: All ladies love a guy with a big ... well, snorkel.

 

[nilsdiver]

1) Go Dive and some experience diving. Get out as often as you can. Find some regular buddies that are just as excited about diving. Diving it is why we dive... right?

2) Go Dive in different places. Go somewhere new. Forgot going to the standard spot for the 100th time and find something new where you have never been. CA has a huge coast and most of it is a dive spot.

3) Go Dive with different people. Get exposure to the different ways people dive. Everyone does stuff different even if it just a little different.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

3. Separation protocols. If you dive Monterey, you will become separated. Maybe it's for a few second or maybe it's longer - it will happen. Knowing and following your protocols can either make it a non-issue or an event.

And agree with your buddy on separation protocols. If you are both
on two diffferent protocols, you are both on the wrong protocol.

 

[Ben_ca]

3. I am my brother's keeper. I commit to my buddy that I will be the best buddy there is. I look after him and he looks after me. We are a team and prepare for the dive by making sure we are ready the best we can. Physically we work out and rib each other when we do not... it's our responsibility to our families that we look out for each other and we are prepared the best we can so that we all make it back to our beds at night. Mentally we hone our minds with "scuba math" and situational awareness to make sure that we know that our buddy's primary dive computer is 100% and running all the time. Anyone of these factors is a cause to hold off on a dive and maybe go for some coffee or chowder at the Breakwater and have a heart to heart chat with my buddy. I know if I wasn't 100% he would let me know as well.

3. My brother is NOT my keeper No matter how good the intentions of your dive buddy are, YOU are responsible for saving yourself and any extra help you can get in doing so is just icing on the cake. If you put your faith in someone else to save you instead of preparing yourself to handle anything that comes up, you will likely find yourself on the losing end of that deal. It only take a few seconds of distracted attention to become separated from your buddy and if something happens to you during those few seconds (however unlikely that is) you are on your own and you should be prepared to handle it. Personally, I think recreational scuba should be taught as if everyone were diving solo, so when you go diving with buddies it just becomes more of a social gathering.

I just wanted to put these side by side for discussion purposes because I think that they are both putting forward 2 very important points...

As a cohesive group the buddy pair is a great thing... but if one is overly dependent on the other it becomes a "trust me dive" that puts both of them at risk if/when they get separated.


Good points put out by all... Remember if that we are all learning here... So please listen and not just nod with the crowd...

 

[masterof0]

Although this thread was about Monterey, all of these points are good points to a new diver regardless of Monterey or any other dive site.

One of the biggest challenges I have seen with divers new to monterey is weighting. As several of posters has pointed out, weighting important for the descent/ascent, but just because you can break the surface doesn't mean that you are properly weighted. With the number of people that get certified in Monterey, including myself, I cant tell you how many times I have seen divers bouncing around the bottom due to being overweighted. Just because you got certified with 30lbs doesn't mean that is what you should continue to dive with. Instructors typically overweight to ensure that students can stay down and don't dart to the surface. Take the time out to test your weighting and ensure that you are properly weighted...It makes all the difference in the world.

 

[mikemill]

Well looking at the wording they aren't necessarily opposites.

"I am my brother's keeper" can mean that you take the responsibility to look out for your buddy in an active and engaged manner.

"My brother is NOT my keeper" can mean that you will not be reliant solely on your buddy. You will keep track of yourself and your situation and be prepared to handle it.

In theory if we stuck to both then we'd always have two people watching each person (themselves and their buddy).

All that said I know I need to work on it. So used to doing things by myself that actively working in a group is almost a foreign concept. Even when I'm working on a "group" project each person is working alone.