Hi there! I'm a brand new diver (just completed my 6th dive) and have a question about air consumption rates. I check all the boxes that I've learned can increase this:
- Inexperience = nervousness = high breathing rate
- Haven't mastered buoyancy yet (I'm getting better with each dive, but aware that I'm still sculling with my arms too much and adjusting BCD inflation more than I'd like)
- I'm a big guy (in reasonable shape, but 6' 2'' and 215 lb)
- Cold water (Puget Sound = 49 degrees)
So I'm not stressing about how fast I currently use air, but boy I really am churning through it
On our most recent dive to 40 feet, I started with 3000 psi in an AL80, and was down to 2100 after just 10 minutes. Following the rule of thirds, that limits me to ~20 minutes total dive time. Which is fine for now and in these waters (I wouldn't want to stay down much longer anyway because of the cold) but as I start dreaming of future trips to dive in warmer climes, I realize I'm going to want to improve this. For instance I can imagine such a short limit being pretty annoying for others I might want to go on a dive tour with!
Is the best thing just to dive more locally, gain confidence, and work on my buoyancy? Or would more classes help? (at the moment I feel like I know what I should do and just need more practice to be able to do it consistently, but I can imagine finding the Advanced Open Water course useful at some point further down the road).
How much should I expect cold water (plus all the associated gear) to be a factor here? e.g. if I went on a trip to Cozumel tomorrow, without changing my current ability or experience, would the difference from Puget Sound waters be likely to affect air usage in any significant way?
