Date diving

[markmssg]

All things considered, Lidja did great on the two dives. She displayed an amazing amount of trust in her Dive Buddy and listened with the intent of learning. The pool time was a great idea. She acquainted herself with the tech rig and practiced her buoyancy. That made all the difference on the Blue Lake dive. Yes, its a mud hole with poor visibility, but it's safe, uncrowded and playing in the thermal pools is fun.

The first dive was a little shaky since the new equipment is unfamiliar, but she did the right thing and surfaced whether than push a bad position. I spent too much time looking for her on the platform and was very relieved to find her waiting safely at the surface. Smart girl. She asked good questions during the Surface Interval and wanted to dive better.

Second dive, we held hands during the descent and that helped relax the pace of the dive. We spent a minute on the bottom taking the time to adjust buoyancy. Once she took the time to get dialed in, she was golden. She let me lead for a few minutes, but her curiosity and sense of adventure soon kicked in. We continued to hold hands, so I was lazy and just let her pull me along. Ha Ha. It was great fun to watch share her excitement as we explored the bottom. Good control, relaxed pace, and safe diving. It was a very good dive.

Lidja is a great dive buddy and I look forward to sharing more dives with her.

 

[Jersey]

All things considered, Lidja did great on the two dives. She displayed an amazing amount of trust in her Dive Buddy and listened with the intent of learning. The pool time was a great idea. She acquainted herself with the tech rig and practiced her buoyancy. That made all the difference on the Blue Lake dive. Yes, its a mud hole with poor visibility, but it's safe, uncrowded and playing in the thermal pools is fun.

The first dive was a little shaky since the new equipment is unfamiliar, but she did the right thing and surfaced whether than push a bad position. I spent too much time looking for her on the platform and was very relieved to find her waiting safely at the surface. Smart girl. She asked good questions during the Surface Interval and wanted to dive better.

Second dive, we held hands during the descent and that helped relax the pace of the dive. We spent a minute on the bottom taking the time to adjust buoyancy. Once she took the time to get dialed in, she was golden. She let me lead for a few minutes, but her curiosity and sense of adventure soon kicked in. We continued to hold hands, so I was lazy and just let her pull me along. Ha Ha. It was great fun to watch share her excitement as we explored the bottom. Good control, relaxed pace, and safe diving. It was a very good dive.

Lidja is a great dive buddy and I look forward to sharing more dives with her.

And you sound like a very good and patient buddy! Simiar to my situation, my buddy/boyfriend had been diving/working DM for 12 years before I certified, I had maybe 35 dives when we took our first dive trip. I was a wreck, but he took me somewhere with easy diving (Bonaire) and pretty fish, built my confidence, suffered nail marks during my first night dive because I wouldn't let go of his arm, gave constructive feedback and mentored me along. We enjoy diving together, make a strong dive team and have fun. The skills and confidence he instilled has enabled me to venture out, organizing dive trips with girlfriends or diving during my business travels.

 

[AmyR9]

But what about the snot? We need an update on this

 

[lidja]

Update: we have signed up for a lobster hunt excursion to San Diego later this month. I have been upgrading my equipment in anticipation of this 2.5 day liveaboard (my first liveaboard!). We took all the new stuff to Bear Lake (on the border of Utah/Idaho) last weekend and tested it in the cold water. I survived.

Oh, and my new Mares mask traps the snot very effectively. Gah. [emoji12]