Blue Hole/Perch Info needed

[noobascooba]

thanks, I might have found a place to teach us at BH, but we would have to wait until the following weekend when they have an instructor availble. I hope it happens, I keep looking at my drysuit and sighing.

 

[RonFrank]

thanks, I might have found a place to teach us at BH, but we would have to wait until the following weekend when they have an instructor availble. I hope it happens, I keep looking at my drysuit and sighing.

I am NOT an instructor, nor is Dan. However we have both done the PADI drysuit specialty, and believe you me, just get together with some experienced drysuit divers, and dive the thing.

If you want to *try* it out, take it to the pool first. I had done about 7 dives Dry when I took the Class. I would not have done the class except it was a freebie.

If you want to come out and dive dry on the 17th or 18th with Dan, myself, and others (included at least ONE AI on the 18th) feel free to do so. Unless you are very new to diving, a drysuit will take a few dives to get used too, but it's nothing difficult to learn, and the PADI class is rather.. hmm... slim so to speak. I can tell you everything they are going to cover in a 5 minute briefing.


Followup!
Hmm, I see you ARE a new diver. So do you have your buoyancy together with a BC. If so you can work on the Drysuit. If not, work on buoyancy with a BC more. Actually up north OW students take their OW training DRY. So it can be done, but IMO task loading for a new diver is not highly recommended.

 

[noobascooba]

Thanks Ron. We are both inexperienced, but I think we have good bouyancy for newbs, it's something we have worked on in the pool a bit. I still faff with my weighting in my wetsuit, which proves I don't have everything perfect yet, and last time we went to Seabase I did have a few moments where I had to make an effort to regain bouyancy control, but generally we are doing ok with it.

I was wondering if maybe diving dry wouldn't be so much a case of task loading because of not using the bc for bouyancy control underwater, so essentially I'd be replacing one task with another. I could be wrong, it was just my feeling on that.

The store in alburquerque we were looking at doing the training with might not work out because they want us to do the classroom and pool on thursday, do nothing on friday then do the open water dives on the saturday. Seems a bit of a weird way to do it.

I think practicing bouyancy control in a pool is a good idea, the reason I haven't is mainly because I need to trim my neck seal and I don't feel like doing it myself. Maybe I should just take it to Fort Collins and ask one of the dive stores there nicely.

I'll have a think about the best way to do this.. thanks for the advice.

 

[amascuba]

Thanks Ron. We are both inexperienced, but I think we have good bouyancy for newbs, it's something we have worked on in the pool a bit. I still faff with my weighting in my wetsuit, which proves I don't have everything perfect yet, and last time we went to Seabase I did have a few moments where I had to make an effort to regain bouyancy control, but generally we are doing ok with it.

I was wondering if maybe diving dry wouldn't be so much a case of task loading because of not using the bc for bouyancy control underwater, so essentially I'd be replacing one task with another. I could be wrong, it was just my feeling on that.

The store in alburquerque we were looking at doing the training with might not work out because they want us to do the classroom and pool on thursday, do nothing on friday then do the open water dives on the saturday. Seems a bit of a weird way to do it.

I think practicing bouyancy control in a pool is a good idea, the reason I haven't is mainly because I need to trim my neck seal and I don't feel like doing it myself. Maybe I should just take it to Fort Collins and ask one of the dive stores there nicely.

I'll have a think about the best way to do this.. thanks for the advice.

Many instructors will teach a student to use their drysuit as a buoyancy device instead of their BCD, thinking that it will be easier on the student. In the long run it doesn't work out so well and can lead to other problems with having to much air in the BCD. My advice is the same as Ron's, just get out and dive with experienced drysuit divers. You are more than welcome to join the bunch that will be out there. I'll actually be taking a class, so I won't have much free time during the weekend, but that sunday there will loads of great people from the Alburquerque area and many of them dive in drysuits.

What I always tell people who are new to drysuits are ask about them are that it's like being in your own personal ziplock baggy and it will feel different at first. You will step into the water and immediately notice the squeeze on your feet and legs. As you descend you will feel the suit getting tighter around your body. You want to add just enough air into the drysuit to slightly remove the squeeze. You still want to drysuit to gently hug you though. I also usually have my exhaust valve completely open. This is a personal preference though, some people like to have it slightly closed. I would probably buy the drysuit book because it goes over the care and maintenance of the drysuit and there are a few skills that can be taught by a drysuit diver with about 10 minutes of water work. Beyond that you will probably spend the first couple dives just getting used to the drysuit and adjusting your weighting as you get more comfortable diving the drysuit.

If you still want to take a class though. There is an instructor in Amarillo that can teach you. He teaches through Amarillo Scuba Center

 

[amascuba]

Hey, glad to hear someone else signed up! do you know who it is?

Have no idea, just noticed it on the gue.com website. This should be interesting.

EDIT: just looked at the gue.com website. Three students are registered for the class. I got an email from Rob about a week ago. He said that he got the new presentation material for the class and said that it's much more extensive and wants to start the class earlier. We maybe starting off with some lecture on Friday evening.

 

[noobascooba]

We have now signed up to do a dry suit class with a store in Albuquerque the weekend after. I know some of it will be a no-brainer, but I think having some supervision in the pool and a couple of open water dives will be invaluble given our noob status.

I checked with the store, the owner is very experienced with drysuit diving and she said her instructors teach to continue using the BC underwater and just add air to the drysuit to offset the squeeze.. so I guess we will have a steep learning curve but hopefully avoid getting into bad habits.

I had a few other things I was hoping to practice that weekend (general underwater skills, smb deployment, taking photographs) but it sounds like I will have PLENTY to practise with the drysuit alone!

Off to find something big to stretch my neck seal... I'm excited!

 

[noobascooba]

I had another question... 2 actually. Does the dive place at BH rent out weights & belts or do they just have tanks?

Also, can you take a rental tank off site for a few hours or are you restricted to using them at BH? I'm just asking in case we are feeling confident enough to go to Perch after our drysuit course (unlikely I know)

 

[Jasonmh]

We have now signed up to do a dry suit class with a store in Albuquerque the weekend after. I know some of it will be a no-brainer, but I think having some supervision in the pool and a couple of open water dives will be invaluble given our noob status.

I checked with the store, the owner is very experienced with drysuit diving and she said her instructors teach to continue using the BC underwater and just add air to the drysuit to offset the squeeze.. so I guess we will have a steep learning curve but hopefully avoid getting into bad habits.

Great, hope you like the course. Who is your instructor/shop?

I had a few other things I was hoping to practice that weekend (general underwater skills, smb deployment, taking photographs) but it sounds like I will have PLENTY to practise with the drysuit alone!

Off to find something big to stretch my neck seal... I'm excited!

You might find that you have enough to practice just with the drysuit, but never a bad idea to practice the skills. If you can deploy an smb will maintaining buoyancy with your drysuit you will be doing reall well!
Have fun.

 

[Jasonmh]

I had another question... 2 actually. Does the dive place at BH rent out weights & belts or do they just have tanks?

Also, can you take a rental tank off site for a few hours or are you restricted to using them at BH? I'm just asking in case we are feeling confident enough to go to Perch after our drysuit course (unlikely I know)

I hate to sound negative, but take my advice:
Do not count on ANYTHING at Blue Hole. They are in a big transition right now, and while it sounds like they will have a pretty professional setup in place soon, they do not now. I have been out there when they didn't even open on a weekend (the shop that is, not BH). Usually you will be ok, but you can't count on it. A few months ago we ran into a couple from AZ who drove all the way over to dive, and the shop was closed that weekend, and they had to drive all the way back without getting to dive.
But, this should not be a problem for you, the shop you are taking the class from can provide everything.

 

[okiejeff]

I had another question... 2 actually. Does the dive place at BH rent out weights & belts or do they just have tanks?

Also, can you take a rental tank off site for a few hours or are you restricted to using them at BH? I'm just asking in case we are feeling confident enough to go to Perch after our drysuit course (unlikely I know)

From what I remember, Stella has a little of everything on hand to rent and at very reasonable rates. I have no doubt that she would let you tanks over to Perch lake. Perch lake, in case you are not familiar, is just about a mile down the road from Blue Hole. Much more to see there (fish, car body, airplane, pipe that could be used for lift bag training, and on one occasion a snake swimming at the surface), but with lower visibility.

Jeff