Blue Hole/Perch Info needed

[noobascooba]

Ron- I understand I want too much too quickly, I just have a lot I want/ need to learn and it gets frustrating with not being able to dive often. I will probably stick to bouyancy work at BH because I know it will be tough. On the plus side, my SMB has a dump valve so it shouldn't explode . you would probably have plenty to laugh at with my crappy diving without me needing to blow up me gear

ABQ- yes we will be there on the sunday, does that mean we are your first class? you come highly reccomeded (by Jason anyway ) Cool, but I hope you have low expectations from your students, lol!

Ocean One- I go to Alpine to get air fills and bits and pieces, probably will be there on friday. We did try and arrange the drysuit course through alpine but I was told you needed six students to run a trip and basically I would have to wait till 4 other people signed up for courses- this was too vague for me to be able to make plans. I tried to get my reg adjusted there too but the person working that day couldn't give any info on pricing or time it would take.. so we do TRY and use alpine! You are our LDS even though you are 70 miles away!

 

[RonFrank]

Chilly!!! 50 - 60 is nearly tropical for us New England transplants!!! Let's go divin'!!!

Pete

As said earlier, 50's at the surface, likely mid 40's at depth which is where most of the diving happens.

 

[RonFrank]

Ron- I understand I want too much too quickly, I just have a lot I want/ need to learn and it gets frustrating with not being able to dive often. I will probably stick to bouyancy work at BH because I know it will be tough. On the plus side, my SMB has a dump valve so it shouldn't explode . you would probably have plenty to laugh at with my crappy diving without me needing to blow up me gear

I understand. When I started diving I wanted to do and learn everything quickly. Task loading however is more difficult that it may seem, and it's really good just to enjoy diving, and become a GREAT and aware buddy, before having to deal with too much photo gear, or an SMB or reel/whatever. Not to lecture, but remember, you have a responsibility to be aware of you buddy, and fiddling with a camera is not going to work out too well. Ask Dimitri, my Coz buddy! Even those of us with experience tend to become less attentive when shooting

Another thing to be aware of, especially in a Drysuit. If you stop paying visual attention to your depth, and focus on something else, if you don't have your buoyancy skills really down, you may find yourself in a run away ascent, or sinking to the bottom. New divers tend to either sink or float up if they close their eyes. Heck we all may to an extent. If you are not paying attention, and you rise even 10 feet that maybe enough to start an out of control ascent as the air expands in your drysuit, and BC bladder.

As you progress, you can add additional tasks to dive, and you will become comfortable with your gear so that having a camera, or a SMB, or wanting to do drills on dives becomes part of the fun.

ABQ- yes we will be there on the sunday, does that mean we are your first class? you come highly reccomeded (by Jason anyway ) Cool, but I hope you have low expectations from your students, lol!

I've never instructed with Kevin, but I've dove with him many times. He has the skills and personality to be a great instructor, so I'm sure he will be! He's been teaching as an AI for a long time, so while it maybe his first class as an Instructor, it's hardly his first time teaching students. I don't know if he is the one doing your DS class. Often an LDS will have more than one instructor teaching on a given weekend, and I'm not even sure he IS a full instructor as of yet, so this maybe part of his training.

Maybe Kevin will respond...

 

[noobascooba]

All good advice... maybe patience is the thing I should be practising

 

[Divedoggie]

Yes, as the NM economy is booming as opposed to the static Denver Area economy!

So Ocean One, are you out of the shop where Kent is now instructing? Just curious...

Yes! Ocean One is my friend and mentor!


I just got back to FC from the Butte. Unbelievable weather and GREAT skiing!

Still thinking about diving though!...

 

[Divedoggie]

Ocean One- I go to Alpine to get air fills and bits and pieces, probably will be there on friday. We did try and arrange the drysuit course through alpine but I was told you needed six students to run a trip and basically I would have to wait till 4 other people signed up for courses- this was too vague for me to be able to make plans. I tried to get my reg adjusted there too but the person working that day couldn't give any info on pricing or time it would take.. so we do TRY and use alpine! You are our LDS even though you are 70 miles away!

Ocean One,
We should talk about this.

 

[Jasonmh]

All good advice... maybe patience is the thing I should be practising

Hey noobascooba, how did things go with your drysuit?

 

[noobascooba]

Hi Jason
We had a great weekend, thanks for asking. First I'd like to say that everyone we met connected with NM Scuba Center were brilliant- friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. We also met some friendly divers and locals at the Hole so that set us on a good vibe for the course.

I found bouyancy control tricky, as you might expect. The big thing seems to be that by the time I realised I had a problem (i.e. had got positive or negatively bouyant) it was a bit late and took a lot of correcting. I think that will come with practice. By our third and final dive I was comfortable enough to relax and enjoy the dive and correct my mistakes reasonably quickly. It was a big improvement over the first dive where I spent a while kicking up silt on the bottom- sorry to anyone who got in after me!!!

The big problem I had was leg squeeze. By the time I figured out that I needed to make sure air was getting to my legs, I'd already rubbed my knees raw, which wouldn't be a huge problem except I have an old injury to one of my knees and it got swolen and sore... I don't think this will be an issue next time, experience is a good teacher!

There is still one thing I don't understand about drysuits though, and never thought to ask- assuming hypothetically I was using the drysuit to control bouyancy rather than the BC, what would I do with the exaust valve? Would I be continually opening and closing it as well as trying to add air? If so, why do people think this is easier to teach a noob than diving with the valve open and using the BC for bouyancy control? It sounds way more complicated and potentially dangerous.

 

[noobascooba]

BTW does anyone know if the guy who was taken to hospital is ok? We saw the ambulance and heard he gave an ooa and then rocketed to the surface from 60 ft. Apparently he wasn't showning any symptoms at the time.

 

[jchull]

It was two guys from my rescue diver class that pulled him out, the wife and I left Saturday night. I have only heard that he is going to be OK, but have not gotten any details since they are still preparing the incident report.