Deal Me In
Registered
i just had to share this expeirence here to get some hints and hopefully make some people laugh. yesterday i did my first dive with double tanks. now i have to start by saying that the conditions were horrible. we were at shark canyon off of west palm beach, vis 10 feet, 6 foot swells, bad surge.
now here i am with double 130 on my back for the first time as part of my decompression procedure class. now we gone over the gear configuaration, the classroom material and the skills we are going to go over. i'm feeling a little nervous but confident that i can figure this out.
first off, is it just me or is there alot more equipment on the boat in 6 foot swells then on land. finally get in the water for a bouyant entry. let a little air out, nothing. let some more out, nothing. let some more out, nothing. let some more out -- all of a sudden i feel like i'm skydiving. it's all i can do to clear my ears fast enough. looking for inflator button -- why did i put that deco tank there? -- clear ears -- find button -- little air -- little more air -- little more air -- clear ears -- little more air -- wow i can't see anything -- little more air -- hit bottom at 97 feet.
collect myself, look for instructor who is hovering over me with that what are you doing look? the surge is dragging me all over the bottom silting up the whole area. about this time i realize that my harness isn't tight enough. i get off the bottom and start to get a handle on my bouyancy. thanks to the surge my harness goes right, i roll over. push it back to left roll over the other way. surge is killing me.
man there is alot of stuff here. hoses everywhere, where did i put my computer, -- what is this stupid deco tank doing here, why does my manifold keep hitting me in the back of the head. i try to stop this by leaning a little forward which causes me to do a somersault. no i'm getting frustrated. pull on the straps to tighten my harness -- yelp into regulator, eyes pop out of head -- now i know what the crotch strap is for! can't seem to get the harness tight enough, it keeps shifting causing me to roll over. surge is still killing me.
instructor finally calls the dive after about 19 minutes. i won't bore you with the 10 ordeal of getting back into the boat in 6 foot swells. got back on the boat and everybody else was there wondering why we stayed down so long. they cancelled the second dive and we went home.
sorry so long, it was just a very interesting day. i learned alot about what not to do. back to the drawing board with the harness and will go and try again next week. hope everybody had a chuckle at my expense.
thanks for your time.
now here i am with double 130 on my back for the first time as part of my decompression procedure class. now we gone over the gear configuaration, the classroom material and the skills we are going to go over. i'm feeling a little nervous but confident that i can figure this out.
first off, is it just me or is there alot more equipment on the boat in 6 foot swells then on land. finally get in the water for a bouyant entry. let a little air out, nothing. let some more out, nothing. let some more out, nothing. let some more out -- all of a sudden i feel like i'm skydiving. it's all i can do to clear my ears fast enough. looking for inflator button -- why did i put that deco tank there? -- clear ears -- find button -- little air -- little more air -- little more air -- clear ears -- little more air -- wow i can't see anything -- little more air -- hit bottom at 97 feet.
collect myself, look for instructor who is hovering over me with that what are you doing look? the surge is dragging me all over the bottom silting up the whole area. about this time i realize that my harness isn't tight enough. i get off the bottom and start to get a handle on my bouyancy. thanks to the surge my harness goes right, i roll over. push it back to left roll over the other way. surge is killing me.
man there is alot of stuff here. hoses everywhere, where did i put my computer, -- what is this stupid deco tank doing here, why does my manifold keep hitting me in the back of the head. i try to stop this by leaning a little forward which causes me to do a somersault. no i'm getting frustrated. pull on the straps to tighten my harness -- yelp into regulator, eyes pop out of head -- now i know what the crotch strap is for! can't seem to get the harness tight enough, it keeps shifting causing me to roll over. surge is still killing me.
instructor finally calls the dive after about 19 minutes. i won't bore you with the 10 ordeal of getting back into the boat in 6 foot swells. got back on the boat and everybody else was there wondering why we stayed down so long. they cancelled the second dive and we went home.
sorry so long, it was just a very interesting day. i learned alot about what not to do. back to the drawing board with the harness and will go and try again next week. hope everybody had a chuckle at my expense.
thanks for your time.