JanR
Contributor
In August of 2005, I found the wonders of Diving while on my Honeymoon in Tahiti and joined this board the following month. I was hooked. I continued my dive education through AOW, several Specialty classes, and culminated in my Rescue Diver in the couple years following. Despite diving in Hawaii, the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" and the cold quarries of Northern Virginia, family and job commitments finding the time to dive was a challenge.
With orders to Germany (I'm in the Army), I figured that getting a dry suit would allow me to continue my diving in the frigid lakes there. So, I purchased a dry suit and completed the Dry Diving Course literally the weekend prior to the movers packing all of my gear (and the rest of household)--sure that once I got on the ground I would link up with a dive club and continue racking up the dives in Europe. It was not to be as yet another Iraq deployment and trip to Afghanistan got in the way.
Since 2008, I logged a total of four dives...all of which were while on vacation in Zanzibar last year. I came back to the States two years ago and just this month I have rediscovered diving at our local lake (Stillhouse Hollow, Texas)--logging 10 dives in the last three weeks. Finally, after eight years I've been able to change my profile to the 50-99 dives...logging number 53 and number 54 this afternoon. Of course, I'm humbled by another diver who qualified with her OW class about the same time as I did, but who now has well over 1000 dives...and continues to inspire me with her balanced view of diving and sage advice (thanks Lynne--TS&M).
Here's my lessons learned:
1. Diving is just as much fun as it was when I first saw the waves rise above my mask in Moorea.
2. While I consider myself an educated diver with little experience, Diving has so much to do with building muscle memory and the simple (but elusive) practice of just doing it.
3. If you had a good instructor during your Basic OW class who worked hard to instill good dive practices and inspire in you that in every dive you should aspire to be the "best diver" you can be, you are better prepared in the basics that will make diving after a long hiatus a much easier experience (thanks Fred Salas, wherever you might be.)
4. Buoyancy control is a skill that you must work for and when you get it right, the dives are so, so much more fun--and safer.
5. There's no reason to panic if you have air, re-learned two weeks ago at 72 feet in 61 degree water with 2 feet of visibility and darkness as we crossed through the second thermocline--although my first reaction was to disprove this theory for the first couple minutes.
6. In limited visibility, it's better to dive side to side of your dive buddy and not to follow him/her. Following your dive buddy is an instant recipe for the opportunity to practice your lost buddy drill.
7. It is true that the more you dive, the less air you will use. Even with the break in diving, I am getting nearly twice the dive time on an AL80 than I was the first year I was diving.
8. Hauling gear is the worst part of safe diving.
9. My kicks are still inefficient and need work. I appreciate the current thread on back kicks...a skill I worked on today with very limited success.
10. Diving dry will make you feel like a brand new diver until you get used to it...dry suit dives #3 and #4 went into the log book this afternoon.
11. A reprise of #3 above...having a good instructor and listening to him/her will prevent you from diving like some of the more experienced divers I've dove with in the last couple weeks who quite frankly make me look like a GUE instructor in comparison...and I'm so very, very far from that mark.
12. This is a wonderful sport that still has me hooked.
Unfortunately, tomorrow is likely to be my last dives for a while as I'm preparing to deploy to Afghanistan soon. However, tomorrow when I'm going through the drudgery of rinsing my equipment and putting it all away, I know I can't wait to pull it all out again and continue this wonderful, wonderful experience.
Just thought I'd share.
Jan
With orders to Germany (I'm in the Army), I figured that getting a dry suit would allow me to continue my diving in the frigid lakes there. So, I purchased a dry suit and completed the Dry Diving Course literally the weekend prior to the movers packing all of my gear (and the rest of household)--sure that once I got on the ground I would link up with a dive club and continue racking up the dives in Europe. It was not to be as yet another Iraq deployment and trip to Afghanistan got in the way.
Since 2008, I logged a total of four dives...all of which were while on vacation in Zanzibar last year. I came back to the States two years ago and just this month I have rediscovered diving at our local lake (Stillhouse Hollow, Texas)--logging 10 dives in the last three weeks. Finally, after eight years I've been able to change my profile to the 50-99 dives...logging number 53 and number 54 this afternoon. Of course, I'm humbled by another diver who qualified with her OW class about the same time as I did, but who now has well over 1000 dives...and continues to inspire me with her balanced view of diving and sage advice (thanks Lynne--TS&M).
Here's my lessons learned:
1. Diving is just as much fun as it was when I first saw the waves rise above my mask in Moorea.
2. While I consider myself an educated diver with little experience, Diving has so much to do with building muscle memory and the simple (but elusive) practice of just doing it.
3. If you had a good instructor during your Basic OW class who worked hard to instill good dive practices and inspire in you that in every dive you should aspire to be the "best diver" you can be, you are better prepared in the basics that will make diving after a long hiatus a much easier experience (thanks Fred Salas, wherever you might be.)
4. Buoyancy control is a skill that you must work for and when you get it right, the dives are so, so much more fun--and safer.
5. There's no reason to panic if you have air, re-learned two weeks ago at 72 feet in 61 degree water with 2 feet of visibility and darkness as we crossed through the second thermocline--although my first reaction was to disprove this theory for the first couple minutes.
6. In limited visibility, it's better to dive side to side of your dive buddy and not to follow him/her. Following your dive buddy is an instant recipe for the opportunity to practice your lost buddy drill.
7. It is true that the more you dive, the less air you will use. Even with the break in diving, I am getting nearly twice the dive time on an AL80 than I was the first year I was diving.
8. Hauling gear is the worst part of safe diving.
9. My kicks are still inefficient and need work. I appreciate the current thread on back kicks...a skill I worked on today with very limited success.
10. Diving dry will make you feel like a brand new diver until you get used to it...dry suit dives #3 and #4 went into the log book this afternoon.
11. A reprise of #3 above...having a good instructor and listening to him/her will prevent you from diving like some of the more experienced divers I've dove with in the last couple weeks who quite frankly make me look like a GUE instructor in comparison...and I'm so very, very far from that mark.
12. This is a wonderful sport that still has me hooked.
Unfortunately, tomorrow is likely to be my last dives for a while as I'm preparing to deploy to Afghanistan soon. However, tomorrow when I'm going through the drudgery of rinsing my equipment and putting it all away, I know I can't wait to pull it all out again and continue this wonderful, wonderful experience.
Just thought I'd share.
Jan
