Cold water diving is a PITA

[Peter_C]

I really hope Emily can get comfortable with cold-water diving. I hate it when I think this, but the second dive with just Kim and I was much more relaxing than the dives with Emily. I wonder how folks deal with the whole issue of “I want to dive much more than my partner”. To date, she has been wonderful about taking on the hobby, though clearly I am more passionate about it than she is.

There are times Adeline says she just doesn't want to go diving and I do not push the issue. Since Adeline has ear clearing problems we find 1 dive per day leaves her without barotrauma, so I either do one dive a day, or do the second one without her. (Kona was perfect for 1 dive per day as we spent the rest of the day touring around.) If Emily only wants to do one dive per day so be it. Go for a hike with her, or let her enjoy the surrounding area while you go for a dip in the ocean.

 

[billt4sf]

1. I got news for you... that was cool water, not cold.

My definition of cold water is this: When it feels like an electric shock when it enters your gloves, that's cold water!

 

[Groundhog246]

Just two observations from the OPs comments...

1. I got news for you... that was cool water, not cold. Come to the Great Lakes in April, and when you get back to California, you'll be diving it in board shorts and a rash guard. Last weekend, I commented to a friend after our dive at "how nicely the water was warming up." It had gone from 38F to 41F. Balmy. So quit your whining...

2. Most of your problems had nothing to do with the water temp. They had to do with the gear you needed. Overcoming that is easy... a little practice, making sure you get stuff that fits properly, starting with wings for a drysuit... jackets suck!

How much of the thread DID you read. Cold is a relative term. I've done Toby WET. I've done New Year's on Colpoy's Bay WET!! Also done it dry. So I DO know cold. People have different tolerances. What I find cool is too cold for my wife, she literally turns blue. And the OP had already switched to BP/wing, part of that $4000 he mentions.

To bill4sf, congrats on the progress. If she tends to suffer from motion sickness, surface swells, surge and BOATS will all be a problem. My wife has same. Try a dose of Bonine (Bonamine) before diving. Can't get it here in Canada anymore, it's otc in the US. We picked some up on our trip your way in early May. It's a 24 hour per dose, so she can take it well ahead of diving and it has much less sleepy effect than Gravol (dimenhydrinate). I have been nauseous on a dive and chucked it sue to vertigo. Our dive instructor actually covered the possibility in training and following that, keep your reg IN your mouth. If you chewed and swallowed it, it WILL pass through your reg on the way out. The first thing that happens after you chuck it, you will inhale. If you take your reg out, you WILL drown. Once your done, swap to your secondary and ascend, your dives done anyway.

---------- Post added June 16th, 2013 at 05:14 PM ----------

Forgot to address the diving together issue. I've done many dives with other buddies and my wife has done a few with others. We've done several aired off with another couple that helped us all improve and relax. If possible I'd recommend you both get some dives in separately with more experienced buddies. You will likely both be calmer and take post dive critique better from non-spouse buddy. And invite the critique on trim, etc.
You don't mention if you have kids or not. Even if you don't especially if you do, you need to have the very difficult conversation on what happens if one of you becomes entrapped (around here, the possibility of fishing nets is always there). At the time ours were still dependants and we came to the agreement that in a worst case scenario, the non-entrapped diver MUST leave with enough air for a safe ascent. Better the kids lose only one parent than both. Also a reason to dive with other buddies. We do everything we can to reduce the risk, but it is there. Too many buddies, spouse, relative, or not, stay too long to no avail. If you're on a charter, ascending for help (launch an smb on a line or trail a line if you can) while you both still have air is more likely to have a happy outcome.

 

[billt4sf]

If she tends to suffer from motion sickness, surface swells, surge and BOATS will all be a problem. My wife has same. Try a dose of Bonine (Bonamine) before diving. Can't get it here in Canada anymore, it's otc in the US.

We have tried it all. The scopolamine patch works best for her. She didn't put it on the night before because of the issues at home. I should have done it for her.

Our dive instructor actually covered the possibility in training and following that, keep your reg IN your mouth. If you chewed and swallowed it, it WILL pass through your reg on the way out. The first thing that happens after you chuck it, you will inhale. If you take your reg out, you WILL drown. Once your done, swap to your secondary and ascend, your dives done anyway.

Yes, we have talked about this. That is actually not the same as her actually doing it that way, especially when she's on the surface. She wants to take her reg out and mask off as soon as she hits the surface. Kim and I were both telling her to keep the reg in and mask on while going through the surf zone.



---------- Post added June 16th, 2013 at 05:14 PM ----------

If possible I'd recommend you both get some dives in separately with more experienced buddies. You will likely both be calmer and take post dive critique better from non-spouse buddy. And invite the critique on trim, etc.

Excellent suggestion! I had not thought of that.

You don't mention if you have kids or not. Even if you don't especially if you do, you need to have the very difficult conversation on what happens if one of you becomes entrapped

We don't, but yeah, I suppose we should have that conversation. But is there anything to be entrapped about in most dive situations that cannot be cut through with half-decent knife? We both carry them. We don't go into caves or wrecks, at least not at this point.

 

[dannobee]

Just two observations from the OPs comments...

1. I got news for you... that was cool water, not cold. Come to the Great Lakes in April, and when you get back to California, you'll be diving it in board shorts and a rash guard. Last weekend, I commented to a friend after our dive at "how nicely the water was warming up." It had gone from 38F to 41F. Balmy. So quit your whining...

You may not know it, but at depth our water temps drop to the high 30's on occasion. I've seen 38 a few times. And some of us routinely dive in 10-12 ft seas. Not hardly wimpy, by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[TSandM]

It's frequently true that couples don't have the same issues, or the same goals, or even the ability to negotiate an underwater truce with one another. Peter and I were completely incompatible in the water in the beginning, and we spent six months diving with other buddies before I gained the skill and confidence to even TRY to dive with him. To this day, we have differences in approach and philosophy, such that we sometimes have more fun diving with other people.

But diving together adds all the relationship dynamic stresses to the stress of coping with the challenges of the diving environment. And it may well be that the two of you will prosper better diving apart for a while.

However, motion sickness is physiologic. Some people are far more sensitive to rhythmic motion than others. I have actually never been motion sick, even in situations where people around me were miserable. I think it's the flip side of my total inability to orient in the water without a visual reference. My ears don't talk to me, and I don't listen to them. Other people's ears scream bloody murder with any motion, and it sounds as though your wife is one of those people. Meds are the answer; you can't talk yourself through inner ear motion sickness.

 

[Groundhog246]

We don't, but yeah, I suppose we should have that conversation. But is there anything to be entrapped about in most dive situations that cannot be cut through with half-decent knife? We both carry them. We don't go into caves or wrecks, at least not at this point.

If you don't have dependants it is not near as big a deal IMHO. And death diving or not is a tragedy, don't misunderstand me. But for any child, especially while still a dependant, to lose both parents at once is absolutely huge. As for entrapment risks in your area, I don't know. I've read stories about kelp, but no firsthand experience, so won't comment. We like to dive wrecks and in the area we live, wrecks are far more common and interesting to us, than other sites. We've also dove submerged locks in a strong current, from the original St. Lawrence seaway, flooded when new dams were built and the seaway deepened.
To date, neither of us has ever been entangled, but it's a conversation I thought we needed to have and we did. If push came to shove, would either of us actually leave? Don't know, I hope that if I was caught, she would. At the very least she knows I would expect her to. Which I hope would help assuage any guilt.

 

[tfitz]

We tried out the Rossi pool because we wanted to get some practice in our drysuits. When we called Rex it was a bit confusing because he said we just needed to head over to the Rossi pool on Monday night and ask the instructor if it was ok to use the pool. I am thinking this is in case we aren't certified, etc., because when we went to the Rossi pool on Monday night it was pretty simple to get set up. Even though they had a class going they had two instructors so we were able to hop right in.

Paid $35 / person for use of tanks and pool. We could have used some equipment they had there as well but didn't need it, so I can't vouch for it. Jim Steele, one of the instructors, helped us figure out our weight set up and gave some tips on using our equipment, which was greatly appreciated! Then we got to play around for as long as we wanted.

 

[billt4sf]

They had tanks for you to use?

Do they have this every Monday night? What time(s)?

What number did you call for Rex? I have never gotten a callback from him. Called every number I could find for scuba and Rossi pool to no avail.

- Bill

 

[jIM STEELE]

hay Bill any monday your friend Dr grass was testing his new camera to night in the pool just drop by or call me at steeles for sp requests