first OW dive :)))))

[hedonist222]

WOW!!!!!!!!!

It is WONDERFUL!!! Today morning, 9 am, was the first open water dive (part of the 2 day OW classes for PADI OWD license). Man it was wonderful! At first, I did not know how to descend, I mean literally, I was not sinking. That was quickly solved by exhaling and just letting myself sink and holding onto the anchor rope. Today's dive took us down to the ocean floor, at about 9 meters. It was the instuctor , another student and myself. The other student, on the boat, seemed to be full of himself. " Im gonna dive like this, im gonna do this, do that...bla bla". I was like wow, thats great! Another excited noob diver. Well as soon as we back rolled into the water, went over the "5 points to descend" and begun descending, the other guy ,about 2 meters down started panicking and had to ascend. The instructor signed me to stay where I was,kinda in limbo because the whole depth was just 9 meters, and there I was dangling at about 3 meters down. Anyways, the instructor helped calm the guy down and begun descending, this time I was at about 7 meters and they were 2 meters above me when the guy panicked again and swam straight up. Again the instructor symboled for me to remain where I was. Slowly slowly I started sinking till I was standing on the bottom of the ocean floor. Thats when I kinda began to get tense, I woulndt say panick because I wasnt rushing up to the surface, but instead taking ,fast,short breaths. Reason was, I could see them (instructor + student) at the surface. And there I was alone feeling suffocated ( im a big guy and still not used to the tight *** wet suit). Thats when I got hold of myself and just relaxed! I can breathe right?? Equalized my ears perfectly! Nothing was hurting physically. So I decided to practice flushing out the water from my mask and tryin to achieve neutral buoyancy. About 5 mins later both of them descend and what a wonderful time we had! I saw manta rays! Lots of colorful fish! All kinds of corals, I even picked up a star fish! I was damn upset to see about 70bar or psi remaining and we had to ascend.


Ohh yah,second dive (same day but 40 mins later), the other guy did not go down with us. I do not know why. He just wanted to sit in the boat.


I reccomend all of you considering diving to do it! Remember to relax, take deep slow breaths and just enjoy the wonderful sea life.

P.S: Dive instructor just called me and cancelled tomorrow's second and last OW dive using the reason that it got "windy". Is he bull****ting me? I checked the weather forecast, its supposed to be a little windy, nothing like 10mph winds or anything. I think hes BS'ing me because he is always busy in the mornings (non LDS related stuff). I really wanted to go tomorrow for two reasons. First, man I cant wait to get back into the water and two, I want to finish this course so I can be a certified diver and begin diving diving with other groups!

 

[DBailey]

Thats when I got hold of myself and just relaxed! I can breathe right??

Perhaps one of the most important scuba diving skills mastered on the first dive. Congratulations!!!

Glad to hear that you had a blast.

Regarding the wind, it really depends on the location and the boat. I know on Lake Michigan, a 10 mph wind (from the right direction) can cause havoc for some of the boats. At the moment, I'd take it at face value.

 

[GraemeC]

Congrats on your first OW dive -- it sounds like it was a blast ... He may be BS'ing but i dont think so... even if he is, what can you do right? The wait will probably make the last two dives even better ... Cant wait to get my OW cert ... best of luck on the next 2 dives .

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Congratulations! My daughter and I were just certified last October. She had a heck of a time descending. Luckily, neither of us panicked. But it sure is surreal breathing underwater, isn't it! Thanks for the post.

 

[Karen Es]

CD,
Congrats! It seems you had a perfect time at the bottom! and all by yourself!!! Isn't it wonderful to discover so many things in the first dive? But the most amusing one is when you click, you're there, you're experiencing the blue!
Enjoy your next dives, and take into account the wind, you don't want to suffer while navigating to the diving spot, remember, diving should be a nice experience.
Cheers,
Karen

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Congratulations! Good job on remembering the basic essentials when you felt apprehensive, too: Stop. Breathe. Take action.

 

[spectrum]

Congratulations on your first dive and on keeping your cool when things didn't feel right.

One reason your breathing would feel labored is that you said you were standing. You lungs were a foot or so below your second stage. That means that air was delivered at a pressure equal to the water pressure at the depth of your mouth. Your diaphram was working against the difference in pressure and this made breathing a little labored. This disappears in the normal prone position. Breathing can be very freeer in a head down posture. In any position you can breathe but here are the subtle differences.

Good luck on your subsequent dives and we expect a full report.

Pete

 

[hedonist222]

thanks every one

the warm support is really encouraging

 

[Meng_Tze]

Manta's on your first dive? WOW that must be a good omen! Some of us dive for years and do not get to se one....... watch out now you have the bug.............now it gets expensive! hehehe.

 

[boomo26]

You sound like me after my first day in the water, but I was at a lake not at an ocean. All I wanted to do is get back in the water, I got certified in August and already I have taken about 50 dives. I can't get enough of it, I am going to get my advanced in about a month, then get my search and rescue, anything to get back in the water even if I have to look for dead people.

Boomo