AOW check out dives...

[mikeguerrero]

Hi all,

Just wanted to let all you guys know that Daniel and I have our check out dives Saturday and Sunday. We booked a room at the Marina dunes so we can rest up for Sundays diving.

We are going to be hitting up Ball Buster for our deep dives, looking forward to that. But also wanted to thank Brandon and Cliff for taking us out a few weeks back to Monastery.

It was there that we did our first fair deep dive to 97 feet and I then made the decision to change up my entire gear and want to take diving more serious.

I'm a little nervous about my entire new setup since I haven't dove it at all. I'm now diving the Apeks WTX harness with steel backplate and integrated weights. Even though I have the DUI drysuit I will not be diving it for my AOW.

I will be in my same wetsuit but I do have new regs, the Apeks XTX200 on a 7ft hose and my Legend LX supreme as my backup/octo regulator.

Hopefully everything will turn out as plan.

Hope to see you guys/gals around at Break Water....

MG

 

[Gombessa]

From the looks of it, conditions on Sunday will be "interesting." Be safe this weekend!

 

[bbianchi]

Indeed, Sunday looks like a fun day to go out on a boat . If you get seasick perhaps take some ginger before going out.

 

[Peter_C]

Funny how many people after seeing and or using tech gear, want all new gear Been there myself. What I do not understand is why dive shops chose not to stock the tech type equipment.

I agree with others this is not going to be a pretty weekend on the water. Make sure you have a bright flashlight in case of bad vis. Also remember anyone can call the dive at any time. Sometimes it happens before even getting wet.

 

[bbianchi]

Also remember anyone can call the dive at any time. Sometimes it happens before even getting wet.

For any reason too, good point to mention Peter.

 

[jwhite83]

Hello,
I too have my a/o/w checkoput dives in Monterey this weekend. We are doing the boat dives tomorrow morning, the night dive Sat evening and the navigation dices on Sunday morning (from the beech). Itoo have some new equipment which I used for the first time on my OW cert. dives. I hope the weather wont interfere with the dives. Good Lyck

Jeff

 

[mikeguerrero]

Well,

My check out dives went well, we did navigation and night diving on Saturday at the Break Water.

On Sunday monrning we went out with three boats a total of 8 divers and attempted Ball buster. It was awesome, visibility was not that great but I was able to drop to 103 feet and safely remove reg and place it back in while showing bubbles.

My computer did place me into a Deco stop which I quickly came up on the anchor line and let the numbers count down; then I was okay to begin my ascent.

After that we dove this area that has a huge anchor that has been dropped on some shelfs, that was spectacular, visibility there was about 20 feet.

Then we did our last dive, they dropped us off just in front of the Metridiums and we ascended with no anchor line to the bottom, took our heading to the field, missed it but made it to the shore. Break water was covered in slime, bad vis.

Overall a great day for completion of our AOW dives... There was this one rumor that I heard the morning of our boat dives.

Some divers had spotted a Great White Shark right off of lovers, strange thing is one of the divers had a camera/video and filmed or photographed the shark not from a boat but from within the water, submerged. I'm yet to see if that is true or not but a lot of divers were talking about it.

They are in the waters and I was pretty much thinking about it as I geared up and went backwards into the water at Ball Buster. As I waited for the other divers to get into the water as I started to think, okay my split fins are red and I'm moving my flippers like a seal, if he comes he comes.

Then they said, "Mike swim to the other boat where your instructor is at so you can drop on his line". So I start swimming on my back in open ocean, once again I start thinking if he comes now, well then he comes. But it all went away once we descended.

I just don't like being on the surface bopping up and down.

This was a very exhausting day for me since all my gear was new, harness/backplate and a brand new regulator and thus having to find my correct bouyancy.

MG

 

[zf2nt]

... It was awesome, visibility was not that great but I was able to drop to 103 feet and safely remove reg and place it back in while showing bubbles.

My computer did place me into a Deco stop which I quickly came up on the anchor line and let the numbers count down; then I was okay to begin my ascent.

If this was a PADI AOW course, I really would encourage you to send a write-up of this dive to qa@padi.com. I promise, they would be very interested in hearing of your AOW deep dive.

 

[mikeguerrero]

If this was a PADI AOW course, I really would encourage you to send a write-up of this dive to qa@padi.com. I promise, they would be very interested in hearing of your AOW deep dive.

I wasn't the only one to get DECO on this particular dive, my dive buddy also did. We both dive the Oceanic VT3 and at 100 feet the computer started flashing and beeping that I was in DECO.

I looked at my instructor and he asked if I was ok, I signaled to him NO I was not okay and he swam up to me.

I then showed him my computer and he showed me his, he dives a SUNTO and there was no DECO on him.

He had me ascend 10 feet where the computer started counting back in minutes until the DECO was gone.

We were on our way back up at this time and I did my safety stop at 15 feet and I wasn't or do I feel bad today.

In fact I have felt worse with headaches in previous shallow dives for lack of fluid pre/post diving.

Is there something that I'm missing about your concern with PADI and this experience that I had?

If so, I'd like to know...

thanks,


MG

 

[bbianchi]

Interesting, do you know if your instructor was using nitrox? When I had my Oceanic I found that it wasn't as conservative as the Suunto's. Granted id imagine hitting deco in an AOW class isnt something thats desired, since PADI is all about rec limits and no deco diving. How long were at 103fsw for?

Was the reg remove and replace done for your motor skills test to see if you were feeling the effects of narcosis? Again, id imagine that there better "puzzles" to solve at 103fsw to see if your narc'd than taking away your air supply and putting it back. Think of how bad it could have been if someone wasn't able to put it back.

Glad to hear that you made it back, and enjoyed your dives. Congratulations on getting your AOW cert! I may also have to agree and say that you might want to let PADI QA know about this. Had I been in your situation I would not have felt safe.