First fresh water dive

[BabyDuck]

I'm not familiar with the shoulder dump cognizance. What is that?

he means concentrate on dumping from one spot well rather than fighting three and not doing any of them well. remember when you're dumping that the place you're dumping from needs to be the highest point right then - so if you're vertical, trying to dump from a butt dump won't help and if you're horizontal, the shoulder might be harder to work than the butt dump.

good for you for taking a practice day & learning lots!

 

[j yaeger]

thanks,baby duck!!
as you may know...
sometimes i have touble with "knowone"'s vernacular
zen thingy koan and such
yaeg

 

[TSandM]

This is a WONDERFUL post!

When people ask about experience, what I try to tell them is that becoming a well-rounded diver really requires diving in a variety of conditions. You explored colder water and low viz, and found out there was a lot to learn from this new environment. You will definitely be the better for it!

Diving without visual references really gives you a reality check on how aware you are of other cues for buoyancy and orientation. You become much more aware of the feeling of the equipment on your back, or if you are diving a dry suit, how the suit feels. You learn to watch the particles in the water for information about whether you are going up or down, and really listen to your ears. You have to depend on much more subtle sources of information than a simple visual check of where you are. It will make you a better diver, and it will also mean that, if you're ever somewhere where you lose your visual reference unexpectedly (flooded or lost mask, or somebody kicking up a silt cloud) you will have a lot of cues to use to maintain your stability.

 

[SoccerJeni]

This is a WONDERFUL post!

When people ask about experience, what I try to tell them is that becoming a well-rounded diver really requires diving in a variety of conditions. You explored colder water and low viz, and found out there was a lot to learn from this new environment. You will definitely be the better for it!

Diving without visual references really gives you a reality check on how aware you are of other cues for buoyancy and orientation. You become much more aware of the feeling of the equipment on your back, or if you are diving a dry suit, how the suit feels. You learn to watch the particles in the water for information about whether you are going up or down, and really listen to your ears. You have to depend on much more subtle sources of information than a simple visual check of where you are. It will make you a better diver, and it will also mean that, if you're ever somewhere where you lose your visual reference unexpectedly (flooded or lost mask, or somebody kicking up a silt cloud) you will have a lot of cues to use to maintain your stability.

I thought about this and realized I wasn't clear in my original post, so I wanted to say I'm sorry and clear it up. When I was talking about not seeing the bottom, I meant I didn't have the ocean floor, or coral bottom to know exactly where my limits were. On this fresh water dive I did have a visual refrence because I was descending along a wall. It was pretty steep (maybe 45 degree angle). What made me nervous was I had no idea how deep the wall went, 100' or 500'. Having that reference did give me a little bit of comfort. I wish I was good enough to descend without any reference but I'm afraid I'm just not there yet.

I am glad to learn all this infromation from you though to remember when I do get to that level. I can't wait until the day when I can post on here and say, I had no visual reference, no bottom and bad visibility!

Thank you so much, I really admire you and learn a lot from you.

 

[scubadiver888]

I thought about this and realized I wasn't clear in my original post, so I wanted to say I'm sorry and clear it up. When I was talking about not seeing the bottom, I meant I didn't have the ocean floor, or coral bottom to know exactly where my limits were. On this fresh water dive I did have a visual refrence because I was descending along a wall. It was pretty steep (maybe 45 degree angle). What made me nervous was I had no idea how deep the wall went, 100' or 500'. Having that reference did give me a little bit of comfort. I wish I was good enough to descend without any reference but I'm afraid I'm just not there yet.

I am glad to learn all this infromation from you though to remember when I do get to that level. I can't wait until the day when I can post on here and say, I had no visual reference, no bottom and bad visibility!

Thank you so much, I really admire you and learn a lot from you.

It sounds like you did a great job. It just takes practice. At some point you'll feel fine doing a descent with no reference.

I started by diving crystal clear waters where I could see the bottom. Next was wall diving in crystal clear water. I couldn't see the bottom as it was over 300 feet deep but the wall was not uniform. I could focus on a point on the wall. How quickly it appeared to be going up or down helped me realize how fast I was going up or down.

A low viz wall was a little harder. It was a granite wall which seemed slightly uniform at first. But as I looked at it, I could see veins and cracks. I could then use those as a reference for how quickly I was going up and down.

When I finally got to open water descents with low visibility, the particulate in the water actually helped. I could focus on the bits in the water and know how quickly I was going up and down relative to them. I still have to check my gauges more than some of the people I dive with but I get better with every dive.

 

[Cyprian]

I'm just starting out...so I have so much to buy and so little budget. What do you think would be best thing to buy first? I was thinking a computer then reg then BCD? What do you think?

I live in KC. I did not know that Joplin had a dive site. Is it a Lake?

Jeni,

I would recommend you buy a BC first and a computer or reg next. The reason is exactly what just happened to you with the rental BC. When it comes to practicing your trim and buoyancy, you need to have your own BC so you can trim out in a variety of conditions (different wetsuits, fresh versus salt, etc) but the constant is your BC, which you become comfortable with and used to operating.

Take care.

 

[James R]

I was the DM for the charter and Jeni's dive buddy. She did better than she thinks she did! She had a lot thrown at her: cold air temp, cold water, low viz, gear she never dived in, lots of neoprene, and some crazy dude she doesn't know (!!) for a DM :mooner:

You that say she had too much weight are absolutely right, probably 4-6lbs too much. This, as you all know, is very common in newer divers and isn't anything I hadn't expected once we started.

Here's the good you did, Jeni, and something to build on. Dive 1 vs Dive 2 was like diving with someone else! You took all the advice, tips, and hints from Robert and I and made HUGE improvements in just one day of diving. You weren't bouncing off the bottom, going up and down, or anything else. You did great! You got to see what night diving is like too, just during the day since there's no ambient light down there where we were.

It was pretty steep (maybe 45 degree angle). What made me nervous was I had no idea how deep the wall went, 100' or 500'. Having that reference did give me a little bit of comfort. I wish I was good enough to descend without any reference but I'm afraid I'm just not there yet.

The walls we dove go to about 150-170' IIRC. The reason we didn't (and I don't basically ever in Lake Travis) do any free decents is because there are stumps and lots of other jagged things like rebar, lumber, barrels, broken bottles, and who knows what else down there that we don't want to crash into should we start descending too fast. It's easy to get disoriented making a free decent in low/no viz, which makes it pretty easy to come crashing down on the bottom. I will admit nothing and make counter-accusations if you ask if I know this first hand.

Keep diving...we hope to see you back next year.

Best,
James

 

[TSandM]

James, you just confirmed my suspicions from the original post -- Jeni tried something new, stretched her limits, learned a lot and I hope had a bunch of fun!

 

[SoccerJeni]

I definitely did have a bunch of fun! The first dive I came up saying "Oh my gosh, what the heck, I was horrible" The second dive I came up saying "That was AWESOME!"

James you were so great and I can tell you're a jokster, but you were being gentle with me the newby. I still giggle when I think of descending the first time, you asking what was wrong, me saying, I don't know, you saying, well, you're kicking for one. HAHA! I do think I was a little intimidated while descending the first time adjusting to all the new things. But I was dang sure not going to have that problem again on the 2nd dive. I'm too competitive for that.

I definitely plan to come visit you guys again! Everyone was really kind and made me feel very comfortable. Thank you for everything!


P.S. I talked to my local dive shop about what could have been wrong in why I couldn't get the air out of the BCD. When we were talking about lifting the inflator hose it hit me like a ton of bricks...I didn't unvelcro the hose, so it was still hooked to the BCD and in a U shape while I was holding up the end. Of course the air won't come out!!! Live and learn. I'll know for next time.

 

[DevonDiver]

I definitely did have a bunch of fun! The first dive I came up saying "Oh my gosh, what the heck, I was horrible" The second dive I came up saying "That was AWESOME!"

I think most good divers would candidly tell you that they had experienced this emotion on many occasions during their diving development.

Breaking out of your comfort zone, coupled with a self-critical attitude, provides you with targets for development.

Sounds like you had an excellent experience. Congrats to James for how he helped you.