Deep South Divers is hosting a skill drills day Saturday Nov 8th
- Thread starter Raven C
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
ScottyK
Contributor
Hey you two!
Thanks for the warm, Deep South welcome
Remember, we're moving to High Springs, hopefully by the end of February. We might be able to meet up for some spring diving without even having to travel.
Needless to say, after Christmas, our schedule will be booked until the move is completed. If something comes up in December though, we just might take a drive down if we can.
Nothing wrong with being spontaneous once in a while
Thanks Again,
Scott
Thanks for the warm, Deep South welcome
Remember, we're moving to High Springs, hopefully by the end of February. We might be able to meet up for some spring diving without even having to travel.
Needless to say, after Christmas, our schedule will be booked until the move is completed. If something comes up in December though, we just might take a drive down if we can.
Nothing wrong with being spontaneous once in a while
Thanks Again,
Scott
SeaJay
Contributor
That's right... High Springs for y'all...
Better not say that too loud or you'll end up with a whole bunch of "friends."
Better not say that too loud or you'll end up with a whole bunch of "friends."
ScottyK
Contributor
SeaJay once bubbled...
That's right... High Springs for y'all...
Better not say that too loud or you'll end up with a whole bunch of "friends."
Hey, you can't have too many dive buddies around!
I lived in Fla for two years while going to college. It was amazing how much more my friends "missed me" in the wintertime
I hope you all enjoyed your skill drills/dive day. Jen and I are going diving tomorrow morning. Air temps will be a bit below freezing when we leave the house
Our most important piece of gear this time of year is the post dive hot chocolate Thermos.
Scott
SeaJay
Contributor
Man, was that cool.
It started out at the pool, obviously... We spent a lot longer there than we thought we would. We went over some of my notes from DIR-F and talked about SADDDD.
We then took a standard set of skills... Focusing on the buoyancy and OOA donation skills... And hit the pool.
What a terrific tool a pool can be. We all agreed that it had been a great day of learning, focusing, and fine tuning.
I was floored at how smooth mgri looked underwater. Here's a guy with 30 dives under his belt diving a bp/wings, long hose, and a pair of jet fins. His buoyancy was spot-on... Much better than any of us looked like at 30 dives! For that matter, we had a tough time keeping up with him at all!
We probably played around mostly with the very challenging "backward kick." It's definitely not a feat for the weak of heart.
After the dives, we headed over to grab some much needed grub... We took the long route to the restaurant, but hey, we got there.
By the time we hit the river to do our fossil dive, it was nighttime and there was a chill in the air. Nonetheless, mgri and I (RavenC forfeited for the cold - she's prone to it) descended, and after doing another "fine tuning" of weight (saltwater now) we were off... The plan was 40 minutes at a max depth of 23 feet.
Well, our max depth was actually 31 feet... But we were spot on the 40 minute mark. We managed to never lose each other, which was quite a feat, given that it was a low-vis dive at night... In roughly a 1.5 knot current!
The nighttime marine life was fascinating. As usual for the May River, there was lots of shrimp... Which still hold their reputation correctly as swimming hypodermic needles. I got stuck once, and one managed to wedge itself between my head and first stage and 'bout scared the poop out of me when it "popped" out of there. Lol... Also, one (these suckers have got to be 6" to 8", too) managed to get between mgri's arm and side... When I went to brush it away, it, too, "popped," and he jumped... Which made me jump. I swear, this place has got more surprises than a carnival fun house.
Nerves jumpy, I 'bout freaked when I saw this huge claw come out of the blackness, aiming for my fingers... That's when I saw a gloved hand wrapped around it, and I began to hear mgri's laughter as he "assaulted" me with crab claw - apparently severed during some sort of crab territorial fight... I yelled at him, but he couldn't hear. Of course, the yelling ended in laughter.
We did manage to find an old bottle that is perhaps from the mid 20th century... Tough to tell. It's desalinizing in my sink as you read this.
What a great pair of dives. Simple fun, with an amazing amount learned today in the pool. We definitely need more of these "practice days." I'm going to see if we can find ourselves a closer/better location than the shallow pool in Bluffton.
It started out at the pool, obviously... We spent a lot longer there than we thought we would. We went over some of my notes from DIR-F and talked about SADDDD.
We then took a standard set of skills... Focusing on the buoyancy and OOA donation skills... And hit the pool.
What a terrific tool a pool can be.
We all agreed that it had been a great day of learning, focusing, and fine tuning.I was floored at how smooth mgri looked underwater. Here's a guy with 30 dives under his belt diving a bp/wings, long hose, and a pair of jet fins. His buoyancy was spot-on... Much better than any of us looked like at 30 dives!
For that matter, we had a tough time keeping up with him at all!We probably played around mostly with the very challenging "backward kick." It's definitely not a feat for the weak of heart.
After the dives, we headed over to grab some much needed grub... We took the long route to the restaurant, but hey, we got there.
By the time we hit the river to do our fossil dive, it was nighttime and there was a chill in the air. Nonetheless, mgri and I (RavenC forfeited for the cold - she's prone to it) descended, and after doing another "fine tuning" of weight (saltwater now) we were off... The plan was 40 minutes at a max depth of 23 feet.
Well, our max depth was actually 31 feet... But we were spot on the 40 minute mark. We managed to never lose each other, which was quite a feat, given that it was a low-vis dive at night... In roughly a 1.5 knot current!
The nighttime marine life was fascinating. As usual for the May River, there was lots of shrimp... Which still hold their reputation correctly as swimming hypodermic needles. I got stuck once, and one managed to wedge itself between my head and first stage and 'bout scared the poop out of me when it "popped" out of there. Lol... Also, one (these suckers have got to be 6" to 8", too) managed to get between mgri's arm and side... When I went to brush it away, it, too, "popped," and he jumped... Which made me jump. I swear, this place has got more surprises than a carnival fun house.
Nerves jumpy, I 'bout freaked when I saw this huge claw come out of the blackness, aiming for my fingers... That's when I saw a gloved hand wrapped around it, and I began to hear mgri's laughter as he "assaulted" me with crab claw - apparently severed during some sort of crab territorial fight... I yelled at him, but he couldn't hear.
Of course, the yelling ended in laughter.We did manage to find an old bottle that is perhaps from the mid 20th century... Tough to tell. It's desalinizing in my sink as you read this.
What a great pair of dives. Simple fun, with an amazing amount learned today in the pool. We definitely need more of these "practice days." I'm going to see if we can find ourselves a closer/better location than the shallow pool in Bluffton.
mgri
Guest
SeaJay and Raven,
Thanks so much for everything today. I had a BLAST!
Great time in the pool, learning once again, I have a lot to learn.
Thought I had my rig dialed in until we started doing the basic DIR-f drills. Man, I felt like a cluster! Note to self, raise the D-rings, shorten the reg necklace. Also got to work on that backward kick! That is not something you can just pick up.
The night dive was great! Finally got back in the ocean after seven years. For the first ten minutes I was jumping at everything that passed by. I think I need to clarify something though, that was not some shrimp that startled me. It couldn't have been! Shrimps are...well, shrimps. That had to be some sort of killer prawn with a taste for blood There is no way some little shrimp could possible make me scream like a girl! When I found that crab claw I knew I had to scare you since you witnessed me wetting myself over a little shrimp. Unfortunatly, a menacing crab claw didn't scare you half as bad as that shrimp did me.
Looking forward to next weekend. I think my goal is going to be scaring Raven
Mark
Thanks so much for everything today. I had a BLAST!
Great time in the pool, learning once again, I have a lot to learn.
Thought I had my rig dialed in until we started doing the basic DIR-f drills. Man, I felt like a cluster! Note to self, raise the D-rings, shorten the reg necklace. Also got to work on that backward kick! That is not something you can just pick up.
The night dive was great! Finally got back in the ocean after seven years. For the first ten minutes I was jumping at everything that passed by. I think I need to clarify something though, that was not some shrimp that startled me. It couldn't have been! Shrimps are...well, shrimps. That had to be some sort of killer prawn with a taste for blood
There is no way some little shrimp could possible make me scream like a girl! When I found that crab claw I knew I had to scare you since you witnessed me wetting myself over a little shrimp. Unfortunatly, a menacing crab claw didn't scare you half as bad as that shrimp did me. Looking forward to next weekend. I think my goal is going to be scaring Raven
Mark
SeaJay
Contributor
Hahahahaaaa!!!
Well, you definitely got me... I did scream like a girl. What you didn't know is that I, too, wet myself more than once on that dive. Nothing like hanging in near-zero vis at night in the murky water and feeling something crawl up your leg and then "pop" off of it. It's even worse when something big just sorta "brushes by." You turn to look, but your legs can't be seen through the murk. Then your mind starts going... Could it have been - a shark? Alligator? Something else that's going to eat you? Then... You realize it's your buddy's fin that brushed you.
Once I did a dive just like that... But I was drifting... And something hit me HARD in the leg. I completely freaked. I was only in about 20' of water, but I still resisted the urge to bolt to the surface. I had to reach down to make sure that my leg was still there! I slowly surfaced (it felt like forever) to find myself under a neighbor's dock! Nothing had hit *me;* I had hit a piling from the dock. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. The area I was diving is the home to more than one salt-water alligator.
You looked great doing those skills... Man, if and when you take DIR-F, you won't believe some of the stuff you'll see. You're waaaay ahead of the game.
The only thing that worries me is the fact that when you do take DIR-F, you'll never get the opportunity to feel like "King Cluster." You're going to have mastered a good number of the skills before taking the class...
Well, you definitely got me... I did scream like a girl.
What you didn't know is that I, too, wet myself more than once on that dive. Nothing like hanging in near-zero vis at night in the murky water and feeling something crawl up your leg and then "pop" off of it. It's even worse when something big just sorta "brushes by." You turn to look, but your legs can't be seen through the murk. Then your mind starts going... Could it have been - a shark? Alligator? Something else that's going to eat you? Then... You realize it's your buddy's fin that brushed you. Once I did a dive just like that... But I was drifting... And something hit me HARD in the leg. I completely freaked. I was only in about 20' of water, but I still resisted the urge to bolt to the surface. I had to reach down to make sure that my leg was still there! I slowly surfaced (it felt like forever) to find myself under a neighbor's dock! Nothing had hit *me;* I had hit a piling from the dock. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. The area I was diving is the home to more than one salt-water alligator.
You looked great doing those skills... Man, if and when you take DIR-F, you won't believe some of the stuff you'll see. You're waaaay ahead of the game.
The only thing that worries me is the fact that when you do take DIR-F, you'll never get the opportunity to feel like "King Cluster." You're going to have mastered a good number of the skills before taking the class...
Yeah, I had a great time too. It was great meeting you and diving together. I know I definately learned a lot practicing too.
I was so excited to finally swim backwards away from that darn wall. Hahahaha I was so determined to do that before I got out of that pool.
It really surprises me how much difference little gear adjustments make.
The next dive meeting is going to be even more fun. I just know it. Besides you know what to expect from us. LOL Well, sorta. Hahaha.
Oh yeah, Mark at least we will recognize the drill the next time SeaJay takes off his mask and plays dead on the bottom. Hahaha
Lots of fun. Thanks for joining us. I look forward to the next time. I don't think you will scare me though.
Hahahahaha R
I was so excited to finally swim backwards away from that darn wall. Hahahaha I was so determined to do that before I got out of that pool.
It really surprises me how much difference little gear adjustments make.
The next dive meeting is going to be even more fun. I just know it. Besides you know what to expect from us. LOL Well, sorta. Hahaha.
Oh yeah, Mark at least we will recognize the drill the next time SeaJay takes off his mask and plays dead on the bottom. Hahaha
Lots of fun. Thanks for joining us. I look forward to the next time. I don't think you will scare me though.
Hahahahaha R
SeaJay
Contributor
Funny.
I signaled, "Watch me (skill test)," then signalled out of air. Before you deployed your hose, I ripped my mask off and hung there, waiting for someone to shove a reg in my mouth...
And waited... And waited... And waited... I figured you'd get it before I drowned. Good thing you did. Lol!!!
Next thing I knew, I had a reg in my mouth, and someone had grabbed my hand so that I could feel the signals. I can't open my eyes underwater because I wear contact lenses. A few seconds later, I had my mask back in my hands, and I put it back on. We never lost buoyancy, either. Pretty impressive, y'all... We're gonna get super-good at this stuff if we keep throwing "situations" at ourselves.
We should do it a lot more... You know... Get really, really good at it. IMHO, it makes the dive more fun, anyway... It's challenging.
I'll tell you what I thought was wild... I turned to check out RavenC, and I found her floating upside-down, with her knees bent and touching the surface. She was hanging head-down, staring at me intently. It was a super-odd position, and I was wondering, "what the heck?" She wasn't looking too alive there for a moment!
Later, she told me that she was testing her new regs... Seeing if she could get them to breathe wet. She wasn't able to get them to breathe wet under any angle, apparently. These are new ATX50's from Apeks. Very nice indeed!
Honey, what do you think about trying to get pool time at the "Y" in Port Royal? I'll bet they'll let us in there... And they might have a deep end, which would be really nice.
The pool at the high school is identical to Bluffton's... That is, it's like 5 feet deep. It would be nice to have a little more room for skills.
I signaled, "Watch me (skill test)," then signalled out of air. Before you deployed your hose, I ripped my mask off and hung there, waiting for someone to shove a reg in my mouth...
And waited... And waited... And waited...
I figured you'd get it before I drowned. Good thing you did. Lol!!!Next thing I knew, I had a reg in my mouth, and someone had grabbed my hand so that I could feel the signals. I can't open my eyes underwater because I wear contact lenses. A few seconds later, I had my mask back in my hands, and I put it back on. We never lost buoyancy, either. Pretty impressive, y'all... We're gonna get super-good at this stuff if we keep throwing "situations" at ourselves.
We should do it a lot more... You know... Get really, really good at it. IMHO, it makes the dive more fun, anyway... It's challenging.
I'll tell you what I thought was wild... I turned to check out RavenC, and I found her floating upside-down, with her knees bent and touching the surface. She was hanging head-down, staring at me intently. It was a super-odd position, and I was wondering, "what the heck?" She wasn't looking too alive there for a moment!
Later, she told me that she was testing her new regs... Seeing if she could get them to breathe wet. She wasn't able to get them to breathe wet under any angle, apparently. These are new ATX50's from Apeks. Very nice indeed!
Honey, what do you think about trying to get pool time at the "Y" in Port Royal? I'll bet they'll let us in there... And they might have a deep end, which would be really nice.
The pool at the high school is identical to Bluffton's... That is, it's like 5 feet deep. It would be nice to have a little more room for skills.
Sorry, I checked; the Y doesn't like the idea of divers in their pool. At least not yet anyway. We'll see if we can change their mind. LOL
You'd think that you would recognize that "hand" by now. Hahaha
Yeah, I love those regs. No leaks. I tried pretty much everything but they didn't breath wet. And, they breath like a dream.
Yes, we need to practice drills at least a thousand more times. Especially now that I can go backwards. That means more free hands and less push offs. Right? Hahaha
I can tell you this, being able to switch to my backup without any hands is great; I'm breathing off my air before my OOA buddy. I am surprised that we got that bungee perfectly positioned without testing it in the water. I guess, dry run practicing on the land pays off too. Nothing like hanging off the edge of the bed to practice proper positioning. ROTFL Got keep doing that with my kicks. R
We'll see if we can change their mind. LOLYou'd think that you would recognize that "hand" by now. Hahaha
Yeah, I love those regs. No leaks. I tried pretty much everything but they didn't breath wet. And, they breath like a dream.
Yes, we need to practice drills at least a thousand more times. Especially now that I can go backwards. That means more free hands and less push offs. Right? Hahaha
I can tell you this, being able to switch to my backup without any hands is great; I'm breathing off my air before my OOA buddy. I am surprised that we got that bungee perfectly positioned without testing it in the water. I guess, dry run practicing on the land pays off too. Nothing like hanging off the edge of the bed to practice proper positioning. ROTFL Got keep doing that with my kicks.
RSimilar threads
