leam
Contributor
Had my first dive with the new team yesterday. New to me, not a brand new team.
I've really been stressing about this as I've not been in real water for almost two years. Thanks to the local dive shop I was able to snag some pool time to ensure all the hardware, including the "between the ears" gear, worked. Had some performance worries going in to black water for the first time in a long while.
On my old team we mostly did anchored line searches. Down the line, move the weight, back down the line, move the other weight. This was generally a 15-20 minute dive and you came up when you were ready. I hadn't given much thought to that, nor that while I knew my dive history, the rest of the new team was taking my word on it. No one knew how much black water time I have nor how much I enjoy it.
So I'm down there happily groping through muck, looking for our target. Search into the ooze, move a bit, search some more, move a bit. I'm in a nice slow breathing rythym and happy as a clam. After a bit one of the other divers comes to get me; seems they were a bit worried that I hadn't moved a lot. They wanted to see a diver pop up every few minutes just to make sure things were good. We didn't have ropes on, and the water wasn't very deep at all.
When I came up to chat, the lead surface support team member was asking me questions to make sure I was alright. He sent a very strong message, by tone, questions, and behavior, that said "I'm here to take care of you and make sure you're okay". That was a very positive thing. Later on it was the same; if I needed water it was there, I was encouraged to take a break when it was time. No pressure to over-perform but no attitude of "you're not as experienced as we are" either. Even though I probably not as experienced as most of the other folks on the team.
All in all, a great day diving. Nasty as heck but everyone came up safe and supper afterwards was fun.
Leam
I've really been stressing about this as I've not been in real water for almost two years. Thanks to the local dive shop I was able to snag some pool time to ensure all the hardware, including the "between the ears" gear, worked. Had some performance worries going in to black water for the first time in a long while.
On my old team we mostly did anchored line searches. Down the line, move the weight, back down the line, move the other weight. This was generally a 15-20 minute dive and you came up when you were ready. I hadn't given much thought to that, nor that while I knew my dive history, the rest of the new team was taking my word on it. No one knew how much black water time I have nor how much I enjoy it.
So I'm down there happily groping through muck, looking for our target. Search into the ooze, move a bit, search some more, move a bit. I'm in a nice slow breathing rythym and happy as a clam. After a bit one of the other divers comes to get me; seems they were a bit worried that I hadn't moved a lot. They wanted to see a diver pop up every few minutes just to make sure things were good. We didn't have ropes on, and the water wasn't very deep at all.
When I came up to chat, the lead surface support team member was asking me questions to make sure I was alright. He sent a very strong message, by tone, questions, and behavior, that said "I'm here to take care of you and make sure you're okay". That was a very positive thing. Later on it was the same; if I needed water it was there, I was encouraged to take a break when it was time. No pressure to over-perform but no attitude of "you're not as experienced as we are" either. Even though I probably not as experienced as most of the other folks on the team.
All in all, a great day diving. Nasty as heck but everyone came up safe and supper afterwards was fun.
Leam
