Disappointing OW Dive

[Lead_carrier]

Jodi, congrats on almost getting there. At least your instructor did know when to say no. As disappointing as it was for you, I'm sure it was just as disappointing for your instructor. Not many things I hate worse than having to call a dive or beach someone for some reason. Thankfully, everyone has always understood. Like you said.. you still have a LIFE time of diving.. Good luck

 

[Chebby]

Jodi,

Shore diving is the kind of diving I do 90% of the time and one thing I learned is that it’s best to let all the air out of BC (even suck it our while holding the manual inflate button) and if a wave is seen, try to get as low as possible and hold onto rocks (if there are any.) Also put the fins on your arm through the straps and put them in the water while on the bottom. It’s too easy to be knocked out while walking with fins on.

That said, on my first open water dive I got a free flowing reg, cold shock (rented wetsuit had more holes than my car's radiator, and that's a lot), blood out of my nose due to forgetting to equalize and severe ear pain. My second dive was awesome!

 

[JodiBB]

Chebby...

Sorry to hear about your first OW experience...at least you didn't let that set you back! Just to let you know, I didn't have my fins on (I was holding on to them), no air was in my BC and there were no rocks to hold on to! The 6' wave just caught us off guard and the rest was history! At least I've already completed my first 3 dives and know how fun the UW world can be...

I just have to coordinate my schedule with my instructor so we can tackle this baby again!!

Jodi

 

[horsemen]

was this sunday 19th at redondo beach?

 

[JodiBB]

was this sunday 19th at redondo beach?

Yes...the 19th...no....Laguna Beach @ Picnic Beach...

 

[MikeFerrara]

A big part of being a good diver is knowing when not to dive and you won't get certified by being injured or worse.

As an instructor I've hade to cancel lots of dives for reasons ranging from weather to lousy vis. Once I left a class at the surface with a DM while myself and another DM descended to check things out and tie up the float. Vis was about zero and I didn't find the gravel shaker that I meant to tie the float to until I hit it with my head. It took an arguement to get my students out of paying for a day of diving at the park with the manager suggesting that I take students down one at a time to do skills...like they would learn to dive that way.

There's always a ton of reasons to not abort a dive like...the money you spent, not wanting to wast vacation time, needing to get a class done or whatever. The only reason to cancel a dive is to avoid the off chance that things might go really wrong. Your instructor did the right thing and some might argue shouldn't have taken students down at all. If the instructor doesn't want to be diving then niether do you.

Better luck next time.

 

[airsix]

Jodi,
I know it wasn't "fun", but it was "educational" and that's what you payed for.
That beach dive (aborted) gave you some experience that will help you turn challenging situations into successful future dives.

-Ben

 

[JodiBB]

It took an arguement to get my students out of paying for a day of diving at the park with the manager suggesting that I take students down one at a time to do skills...like they would learn to dive that way.

Mike...none of the students were arguing with the instructor...in fact after my mishap and the other student's mishap 30' down, we were all in agreement with the instructor and had no problems with aborting the dive.

My disappointment is overshadowed by my need to be safe...no argument here...my only regret is that it's taking me SO long to get certified due to schedule conflicts, aborted dives, etc. Again...I'll get over it!

 

[Giggi]

I hope I don't sound callous, but if you're experiencing these kinds of problems (out of your control) in your first dives, you're probably more likely to recognize that diving can very quickly turn bad on future dives, and therefore you may be more likely to be more cautious. It's hard not to be disappointed, but don't be discouraged. Let every disappointment be a lesson in safety.

 

[MissyP]

Yes...the 19th...no....Laguna Beach @ Picnic Beach...

I did Heisler (Picnic beach) Saturday & the vis/surge were awful... Called the dive after 30 min. The surf was pretty tame though.

Tried Shaw's Cove (just a short walk from Heisler) on Sunday (19th) and once again, the surf was pretty mild (vis was pretty good too).
I think you guys must've just caught a bad set of waves in the surf..
Hope your next dive goes better