donning gear offshore

[DivingGal]

Originally posted by Starfish
Part of the reason I posted this thread was because my buddy and I were TALKING about possible scenarios and how to manage them.

Thanks for the words of advice. --Starfish

Glad to hear that some divers actually talk about "what if" scenarios. You'll be amazed how much this actually helps you deal with a situation should it arrive. Bravo Starfish, bravo!

As for your original question regarding entering the water from shore - I get fully "dressed" except my fins before entering the water. At a suitable depth, and depending of wave/surf action I get the fins on.

Why would you "float" your gear out?

 

[Starfish]

When my dive buddy/hubby and I were in Cozumel, we did a first day shore dive to check bouyancy and decide if we wanted to wear skins or dive suits. At the time, the wave action at the walk-in point at the beach off the Costa Club/Dive Paradise was strong and it is mainly constructed of stone covered in tidal action slime. We talked about stepping off the pier, but decided that a shore enterance would be a good idea since we would probably be exiting that way too. We donned our gear and walked in with no incident. I had trouble descending, so I thought I needed a pound or two more weight (turns out it was trapped air, but that is another thread). I went to exit the same way I went in. When I did this, I was getting beat up by the surf, got nearly knocked over, and conked my knee on the stone ledge I was exiting on.

My dh [darling hubby or darn hubby depending on the circumstance] exited with me. After getting the weight, we contemplated going back out the same way or taking a giant stride off the pier. One of the scenarios we discused was floating our gear past the wave surge and donning. We decided that there was too many potential problems with that scenario. After consulting with the Dive Paradise people to check for depth, we decided to take a step off the pier (now that seemed 3000 feet high when we did that!).

I started the thread to see what others thought and to try and determine if we had discussed all the options or missed a few