Advice please....

[melissawest]

Hello everybody,

I've just been OW certified not too long ago and I'm absolutely keen on having more experience and proceed to getting my AOW as soon as my skills are already polished. My main concern at the moment is controlling my buoyancy and be able to relax more. Thing is when I'm already underwater I tend to over think things

In addition I've already started to complete my own gear, what I don't have now is a regulator and a dive computer which I really want to get soon! Am I doing this too fast? Is having a dive computer gonna hinder me from focusing on the basics? What is too much and too soon for a newbie like me?

Your advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[tstormdiver]

It is not at all unusual for new divers to feel a bit overwhelmed their first 20- 30 dives ( a type of survival mode). Your body is trying to tell you what you are doing is not natural. There's also so much to remember & so much to see,.. all at 1 time. The good news is, there's light at the end of he tunnel, it does get better. It sounds like it may not hurt for you to maybe spend a little more time in a pool, or some shallow, quiet, calm body of water getting used to the underwater world. Just get neutral concetrate on your breathing, listen to your heartbeat, be at peace with your equipment & your surroundings. Then once you are calm, practice some of your skills,... you'll be surprised how much better they'll be when your calm & relaxed.

As for a computer, thay are nice, but not an absolute must That said, they can be had realatively inexpensively. They do make life much easier. If you can not afford one, the what you need is a depth gauge, timing device & either a NDL dive planner or your dive plan written down for reference & a couple of contingencies.

 

[melissawest]

Hey tstormdiver, thanks for the advise... I sure will practice more As for the computer I can afford it but people are telling me it's premature to buy one now....

 

[TSandM]

The thing about diving tables is that they are EXTREMELY conservative, unless you are doing square profile dives. Building in that much conservativism is useful if you are prone to buoyancy "oopses". And for most new divers, what ends the dive is not pushing no-deco limits, but rather getting low on air. So, since the biggest utility of a dive computer is to allow multi-level diving that doesn't fit on the tables, owning one as a novice diver is probably money you could better spend on other parts of your kit. But as you become more relaxed and find you are terminating your dives because of the table limits, a computer will start looking like a very good investment.

 

[warmwaterturner]

Relaxation is a huge key to controlling ones bouyancy. Controlled regular breathing is the mechanism for bouynace and not adding and venting air. "Overthinking" as you put it does not lend itsenf to relaxation. Focusing on something else might ......that is why I kind of like your idea about the computer. Perhaps if you had a new computer to play with on the bottom it would take the focus off the up and down of bouyancy and you would just relax. Just a thought.

 

[Bubble_Boy]

I did the same thing as you.... Went beserk afer my OW, bought all my gear and did my AOW as quickly as possible...

Was it necessary? no... but I'm obsessed so I did it.

As for the buoyancy, a couple more dives and you'll have it down... just pay attention to it.

 

[Culcuhain]

My wife just recently got certified.
We both bought new regs and a dive computer (Atomic B2 and Aeris Ai).
these are my life support system for breathing in a hostile non human friendly environment. I like the computer. It has everything I need at my finger tips.

Our first dive since she got certified was hit the 20foot platform and get used to the computer under water and playing around with it. The 2nd dive that day we just cruised around working our buoyancy. We were comfortable with our gear then.
Now we are a lot better with our buoyancy and my gas using is dropping... (no more >1 SAC... down to .77-.84) (I am a short fat dude.)

Just my thoughts. Do you what you are comfortable with... no need for a $1k computer, but a nice $300-$500 is a good start. Good luck!

 

[melissawest]

Thank you all so much for being helpful. Much appreciated I'm so glad I joined scubaboard! I can't stop thinking about diving seriously all day and all night I regret not starting this hobby years ago.

Thanks again.