mwhities
Contributor
This Saturday and Sunday I drove to Pelham AL to ABWA to partake in some AOW classes. AKA.. I was one of two students.
Saturday morning Jeff, Vic and I rolled into ABWA about 11:30 or so. There were already a few divers in the water. Since it was almost lunch and it'd be awhile before our instructor arrived, we decided to head to Hooters for lunch.
About an hour later we arrive back to ABWA and slowly start setting up our gear and waiting for our instructor to show up. Shortly after, Aletheia (instructor) shows up. We go over all of our paper work and sign the waivers saying that if she kills us, it's okay, she isn't responsible for it..
Our first dive was the deep dive. We were timed on tying a knot on the surface and then below the surface. I forget what Jeff did (the other student) but, on the surface I did my knots in 6 second.
So we suited up and headed for the platform. When we were ready to go, since I've dove Pelham quite a bit, I was asked to lead us to the sail boat, then to the bus and near the box. We started down to the sail boat and passed it on our way to the bus. once at the bus, I followed the line out toward the box. At or around 80ffw+-, we stopped and did our timed test with tying the knot. I really sucked and was only able to do it in 12 seconds. Doubled my time. Talking about losing buoyancy. I never hit the bottom but I did go up about 10 - 12'.
We then headed back to the bus and started our way back to the platform. If I remember correctly, the temperature was 56/57F... that was before the computer decided to puke on it's self. When we got the the up line to the platform, I motioned to my instructor that my computer died and I need a depth gauge. She handed me her back up computer and I slowly made our way back to the platform. From there, we were instructed to work on our trim and buoyancy some more. We idled for about three minutes then slowly made our way to the dock.
I'm going to say the max depth was 82ffw. (According to my instructors back up computer) and the viz was 15 - 20'. Temp around 56/57F at or below 30ffw+-. On the surface, a balmy 64F. BT was around 21 - 25m.
What did I learn on this dive? That narcosis can really affect you and you don't really realize it when you are just swimming. When you add in having to do a task of some sort, it really slows your motions and thinking down. I lost all situational awareness. So bad that I had NO idea where my buddy went and I came up 10 - 12' from where my instructor was hovering.
Great dive to show me what I need to practice on and that I need to be more aware of what's going on around me.
Michael
Saturday morning Jeff, Vic and I rolled into ABWA about 11:30 or so. There were already a few divers in the water. Since it was almost lunch and it'd be awhile before our instructor arrived, we decided to head to Hooters for lunch.
About an hour later we arrive back to ABWA and slowly start setting up our gear and waiting for our instructor to show up. Shortly after, Aletheia (instructor) shows up. We go over all of our paper work and sign the waivers saying that if she kills us, it's okay, she isn't responsible for it..
Our first dive was the deep dive. We were timed on tying a knot on the surface and then below the surface. I forget what Jeff did (the other student) but, on the surface I did my knots in 6 second.
So we suited up and headed for the platform. When we were ready to go, since I've dove Pelham quite a bit, I was asked to lead us to the sail boat, then to the bus and near the box. We started down to the sail boat and passed it on our way to the bus. once at the bus, I followed the line out toward the box. At or around 80ffw+-, we stopped and did our timed test with tying the knot. I really sucked and was only able to do it in 12 seconds. Doubled my time. Talking about losing buoyancy. I never hit the bottom but I did go up about 10 - 12'.
We then headed back to the bus and started our way back to the platform. If I remember correctly, the temperature was 56/57F... that was before the computer decided to puke on it's self. When we got the the up line to the platform, I motioned to my instructor that my computer died and I need a depth gauge. She handed me her back up computer and I slowly made our way back to the platform. From there, we were instructed to work on our trim and buoyancy some more. We idled for about three minutes then slowly made our way to the dock.
I'm going to say the max depth was 82ffw. (According to my instructors back up computer) and the viz was 15 - 20'. Temp around 56/57F at or below 30ffw+-. On the surface, a balmy 64F. BT was around 21 - 25m.
What did I learn on this dive? That narcosis can really affect you and you don't really realize it when you are just swimming. When you add in having to do a task of some sort, it really slows your motions and thinking down. I lost all situational awareness. So bad that I had NO idea where my buddy went and I came up 10 - 12' from where my instructor was hovering.
Great dive to show me what I need to practice on and that I need to be more aware of what's going on around me.
Michael
