acteg
Contributor
Hey guys,
New to scubaboard but been diving for about 2 years now with 16 dives total to date. My friends and I have pretty hectic schedules so it's hard to find time to dive unfortunately. Anyway, I just thought I would relate my experiences with the dive and also with JDC.
JDC:
Nice shop. A little overpriced as expected at the LDS. The staff were friendly and professional. The rental gear was the best I've seen thus far in my diving career. Overall they seemed to run a tight ship. I had my own gear, but my buddy was renting.
My gear:
Oceanic Excursion BCD
Mares abyss / Aeris A2 / Aeris Atmos 2 computer
force fins
rash guard
AL80 (rental)
6lbs lead shot
This was my first time diving the Oceanic excursion. Prior to this I've used a Scubapro jacket style, a Zeagle Ranger, and a sherwood jacket style. The excursion was pretty comfortable, and fairly streamline (except for the weight pockets). The integrated weight system seemed foolproof and very robust. Between the excursion and the Zeagle Ranger, I felt like the ranger was more comfortable, and I like the ripcord weight system. So far the Ranger is probably the best BC I've used for overall comfort, trim in the water, and construction. My problem with the ranger is that it seemed huge, and I wanted something more streamline. There was a guy on the boat with a bp/w setup, and I'd like to try something like that next.
The Dive:
The first dive went off without a hitch. I set a max depth alarm (no real need for this on this particular dive) and a dive time alarm (as a backup to my computer telling me how much time I had left at each depth). We followed our dive guide while drifting through the current. Whenever she saw something noteworthy, she would clank her tank and point it out. Overall it was a good experience. Once we got to the surface (after a nice slow ascent and 3 min safety stop at 20ft) I had a little difficulty with my back inflate pushing me face forward. I tried laying on the bladder but was having some trouble. Some trim weight in the back would have helped I think, but I didn't have any 1 lb weights to do 2 lbs in each front ditchable pocket and 1 lb in each rear trim pocket. I'm sure diving a steel tank instead of AL probably helps as well. The rolling ocean started to make me feel a little sea sick as we were waiting for the boat, and it just got worse when I was on the boat. What really compounded things was the boat doing s-turns and u-turns to pick up divers and crossing over its wake.
Long story short I ended up getting numbness and tingling in my fingers, forearms, lips, and head. It seemed to get progressively worse, so I decided to mention it to the dive master just in case. She asked me about my symptoms and told me that it sounded like sea sickness. She talked to the Captain and they both asked me about my dive profile and if I violated my plan or anything. I told them I stuck to the plan and I believe they checked my computer to be safe. The Capt. told me its most likely just sea sickness and that I should head to the bow to get some air. A few seconds later I was puking over the side of the boat. I haven't gotten sea sick since I was a kid so this was a little unexpected. My apologies to the rest of the divers for having to put up with that. Not too long after I puked over the side, someone else puked as well (probably my fault, as puking can cause a chain reaction sometimes).
I tried drinking a lot of water which helped a little bit, but the water tasted like the compressed air I had been breathing. I'm not sure exactly how to describe the taste but I've experienced the same taste on other dive trips with different charters. Either way the taste made me a little nauseous as well.
So after puking I felt better, the tingling and numbness went away, and the Capt. told me I should do the second dive, as I would just continue to get sick, and being on the boat would be a hell of a lot worse then being in the water. So I did the second dive, it was much like the first. My breathing was a little off under water but my consumption wasn't too much more than usual. We ascended with another group of divers so the boat was right there when we hit the surface. Right as we got to the 5ft range and felt the ocean swell again I immediately began puking in my regulator. I puked about 5 times before hitting the boat. After hitting the boat I drank some more water and then sat on the bow. I was pretty much in hunched over feeling like crap mode for the rest of the trip and still feel a little queasy today.
Overall, my experience with JDC was positive. I haven't done a lot of diving yet in my career but they were probably one of the better run outfits that I have been with. I enjoyed the reefs a lot more than the reefs I explored in the keys and drifting a long was kind of a neat experience.
Lessons learned:
1. dramamine. I don't always take dramamine but I definitely should have in this case. I didn't anticipate all the slow speed turning the boat would be doing and wasn't prepared for it. In the future I will medicate prior to the dive so I won't get sick again.
2. If I can find a LDS that provides "tasty air" consistently, then I think it might be worth it for me to buy my own tanks and have them filled. I really don't like breathing weird tasting air. It's a minor complaint, but I've had air that had no taste to it enough times, that I don't see why it can't all be like that. In fairness to JDC, I've had air that was orders of magnitude worse than what they provided. It really wasn't a big deal, I'm just being idealistic here. If anyone can clue me into why there is different taste in air from shop to shop let me know. I don't think its related to my personal equipment since I've had air with no taste plenty of times.
3. I think I need more practice with a back-inflate and I think I want to go to bp/w, for the simplicity of it, if nothing else. The guy diving the bp/w had a setup from deep sea supply that seemed pretty nice and compact. JDC had some halcyon and scubapro setups in the shop but they were pretty spendy.
4. This wasn't really a lesson learned but one thing I don't remember being taught in my open water class was to dump air prior to ascending. I noticed on a previous dive with two of my friends who are new divers as well (padi cert, I'm ssi) they both started an uncontrolled ascent as we neared the surface because they still had air in their bladders. I don't remember being taught about using the pull dumps as well (just the power inflators). Do to the depths we were diving it wasn't a big deal, but I could see it being a problem in the future.
If anything I've said is incorrect or bad practice let me know as I am still learning and appreciate constructive criticism.
New to scubaboard but been diving for about 2 years now with 16 dives total to date. My friends and I have pretty hectic schedules so it's hard to find time to dive unfortunately. Anyway, I just thought I would relate my experiences with the dive and also with JDC.
JDC:
Nice shop. A little overpriced as expected at the LDS. The staff were friendly and professional. The rental gear was the best I've seen thus far in my diving career. Overall they seemed to run a tight ship. I had my own gear, but my buddy was renting.
My gear:
Oceanic Excursion BCD
Mares abyss / Aeris A2 / Aeris Atmos 2 computer
force fins
rash guard
AL80 (rental)
6lbs lead shot
This was my first time diving the Oceanic excursion. Prior to this I've used a Scubapro jacket style, a Zeagle Ranger, and a sherwood jacket style. The excursion was pretty comfortable, and fairly streamline (except for the weight pockets). The integrated weight system seemed foolproof and very robust. Between the excursion and the Zeagle Ranger, I felt like the ranger was more comfortable, and I like the ripcord weight system. So far the Ranger is probably the best BC I've used for overall comfort, trim in the water, and construction. My problem with the ranger is that it seemed huge, and I wanted something more streamline. There was a guy on the boat with a bp/w setup, and I'd like to try something like that next.
The Dive:
The first dive went off without a hitch. I set a max depth alarm (no real need for this on this particular dive) and a dive time alarm (as a backup to my computer telling me how much time I had left at each depth). We followed our dive guide while drifting through the current. Whenever she saw something noteworthy, she would clank her tank and point it out. Overall it was a good experience. Once we got to the surface (after a nice slow ascent and 3 min safety stop at 20ft) I had a little difficulty with my back inflate pushing me face forward. I tried laying on the bladder but was having some trouble. Some trim weight in the back would have helped I think, but I didn't have any 1 lb weights to do 2 lbs in each front ditchable pocket and 1 lb in each rear trim pocket. I'm sure diving a steel tank instead of AL probably helps as well. The rolling ocean started to make me feel a little sea sick as we were waiting for the boat, and it just got worse when I was on the boat. What really compounded things was the boat doing s-turns and u-turns to pick up divers and crossing over its wake.
Long story short I ended up getting numbness and tingling in my fingers, forearms, lips, and head. It seemed to get progressively worse, so I decided to mention it to the dive master just in case. She asked me about my symptoms and told me that it sounded like sea sickness. She talked to the Captain and they both asked me about my dive profile and if I violated my plan or anything. I told them I stuck to the plan and I believe they checked my computer to be safe. The Capt. told me its most likely just sea sickness and that I should head to the bow to get some air. A few seconds later I was puking over the side of the boat. I haven't gotten sea sick since I was a kid so this was a little unexpected. My apologies to the rest of the divers for having to put up with that. Not too long after I puked over the side, someone else puked as well (probably my fault, as puking can cause a chain reaction sometimes).
I tried drinking a lot of water which helped a little bit, but the water tasted like the compressed air I had been breathing. I'm not sure exactly how to describe the taste but I've experienced the same taste on other dive trips with different charters. Either way the taste made me a little nauseous as well.
So after puking I felt better, the tingling and numbness went away, and the Capt. told me I should do the second dive, as I would just continue to get sick, and being on the boat would be a hell of a lot worse then being in the water. So I did the second dive, it was much like the first. My breathing was a little off under water but my consumption wasn't too much more than usual. We ascended with another group of divers so the boat was right there when we hit the surface. Right as we got to the 5ft range and felt the ocean swell again I immediately began puking in my regulator. I puked about 5 times before hitting the boat. After hitting the boat I drank some more water and then sat on the bow. I was pretty much in hunched over feeling like crap mode for the rest of the trip and still feel a little queasy today.
Overall, my experience with JDC was positive. I haven't done a lot of diving yet in my career but they were probably one of the better run outfits that I have been with. I enjoyed the reefs a lot more than the reefs I explored in the keys and drifting a long was kind of a neat experience.
Lessons learned:
1. dramamine. I don't always take dramamine but I definitely should have in this case. I didn't anticipate all the slow speed turning the boat would be doing and wasn't prepared for it. In the future I will medicate prior to the dive so I won't get sick again.
2. If I can find a LDS that provides "tasty air" consistently, then I think it might be worth it for me to buy my own tanks and have them filled. I really don't like breathing weird tasting air. It's a minor complaint, but I've had air that had no taste to it enough times, that I don't see why it can't all be like that. In fairness to JDC, I've had air that was orders of magnitude worse than what they provided. It really wasn't a big deal, I'm just being idealistic here. If anyone can clue me into why there is different taste in air from shop to shop let me know. I don't think its related to my personal equipment since I've had air with no taste plenty of times.
3. I think I need more practice with a back-inflate and I think I want to go to bp/w, for the simplicity of it, if nothing else. The guy diving the bp/w had a setup from deep sea supply that seemed pretty nice and compact. JDC had some halcyon and scubapro setups in the shop but they were pretty spendy.
4. This wasn't really a lesson learned but one thing I don't remember being taught in my open water class was to dump air prior to ascending. I noticed on a previous dive with two of my friends who are new divers as well (padi cert, I'm ssi) they both started an uncontrolled ascent as we neared the surface because they still had air in their bladders. I don't remember being taught about using the pull dumps as well (just the power inflators). Do to the depths we were diving it wasn't a big deal, but I could see it being a problem in the future.
If anything I've said is incorrect or bad practice let me know as I am still learning and appreciate constructive criticism.
but frankly they are a great dive center and a great place to dive with. 
