Hello to everyone. Over the past weekend I finished up my open water certification. Having completed PADI e-learning several months ago, and pool work two months ago, I was dying for my work schedule to loosen up a bit and let me get up to Dutch Springs. I went along to a Discover Scuba pool session two weeks ago to refresh a bit (and get my fix) before heading to the quarry.
There were five of us doing checkout dives split between our instructor (a CD) and his assistant (MSDT). We did 3 dives each day, I was actually certified by around 9:30am Sunday. Here's a recap of the dives we did.
Dive 1: 26 mins to max 29 feet. I took 1600 psi out of an AL63 (all following dives were on AL80s). After sorting out weight requirements we headed down to the platforms at 25 feet. Had some issues descending (more on that later). Did skills then headed off to see the firetruck (I think). 30' viz (most people hadn't hit the water yet).
Dive 2: Max 36' for 32 mins. Did some more stuff. Gulped down 1750 psi. There were more depth changes during this dive so I was fooling around with the BC inflator more too. Viz still 30' at the platforms but was as low as 5' in popular areas (very silty). Stayed like this the rest of the weekend. On this dive I began to get a very good feel for buoyancy control through breathing. I set my BC to keep me right about neutral and varied my breathing to fine-tune. At one point I swam at least 20-25', with my torso no more than 12" off the bottom but never touching it.
Dive 3: Max 35' for 28 mins. Blasted through 2000 psi somehow, not sure why. On this dive I became slighly annoyed with the large brown cloud that followed us everywhere, as well as my kicking the bottom while trying to work on gliding right over it, and began attempting the frog kick I'd seen demonstrations of. Well, maintaining bent knees wasn't gonna happen--my weighting configuration and total lack of experience gave me comical trim and balance--but I did manage to do something similar with my legs mostly straight. Once I hammered out a method, it just felt so much more efficient. I went from a constant, slow scissor/flutter kick, to a single "frog" kick every couple seconds that I could really feel moving me through the water. I was easily able to keep up, and maintain the method for long periods.
Dive 4: Max 51' for 34 mins plus 3 min safety stop. I was actually somewhat pleased with my 2000 psi consumption. This dive took us through two thermoclines, from 75 degrees on the surface, to mid-60s at 25 feet, and then to high 50s below 45'. This was our first dive with hood and gloves added to our 7mm farmer johns. Good thing, too, as I became comfortable with the sub-60 degree water after only a minute or two. During the safety stop I tried to maintain 15' without holding on to the buoy line. I did OK, but kept drifting between 12-19 feet, which was a little frustrating to me as I had been getting good at maintaining a depth swimming over the bottom.
Dives 5 & 6: Max depths of 54 feet for 34 mins, and 64 feet for 25 mins. Broke the surface with 700 psi each time. These were the dives that really allowed me to relax and focus more on personal techniques. We also decided beforehand to make both dives count towards AOW.
I wore 22lbs of weight for all 6 dives. At depth I sometimes felt overweighted, based on the amount of air I was keeping in my BC. Yet, at the beginning of each dive I had to force myself halfway down before I finally started descending without effort. In fact on the first dive I had to pull myself halfway down the buoy line. I wanted more weight but my instructor encouraged me to keep diving without adding any. I'm glad he did, because by the 3rd or 4th dive I was able to descend with minimal effort and, on the 6th dive, probably could have shed a couple pounds.
Things I took away from the weekend:
First of all I'm very happy with my instructor. He is friendly and truly loves what he does. He doesn't hammer students on skills but he doesn't accept "almost got it right" either. He doesn't take shortcuts. He's also the owner and practically the only employee of my LDS, where he's familiar with everything he sells and doesn't put customers under pressure. His shop is small and somewhat limited in variety, but it's a one-man show and only about two years old. He deserves a bigger shop so I'm definitely sticking with the place for the majority of my gear buying.
I need practice through more diving. Lots of it. And I need to practice mask floods. I'm still snorting water.
I need to get some gear over the winter. BCD and tank are first on the list. I'm going for an Apeks WTX harness and wing (without hard backplate at first, I may add it to the harness soon after) and a steel HP100. I'm not a fan of any jacket BCs--I have a smaller torso and they feel so cluttered. I tried on an Apeks WTX and it felt pretty good. I'll also be happy to be rid of all the extra floaty things. Between that and an HP100 I'll really be able to drop a lot of weight, especially considering the buoyancy characteristics of that tank. Then I can get my trim right. Then I can get my buoyancy control right. Then I can get my propulsion right. I have an eye on wreck diving in the distant future. I know I need to get these things right.
I will never depend on anyone else to be there if I have a problem or equipment failure. We were grouped into buddy pairs, sure, but I feel as though the students treated it as more of an exercise than an important safety protocol. I kept track of my buddy but don't feel as if he kept track of me. I feel that many divers I'm likely to encounter are going to be far too interested in the dive to regularly check up on their buddy and stay close enough. I want to be as prepared as reasonably possible to handle problems on my own. In that spirit I've already bought a pony bottle and sent it off for hydro. Shears and knife also on the list of winter gear purchases.
I need to meet divers from the area who can dive Dutch Springs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and don't mind a noob who'll suck an AL80 dry in 35 minutes! It's only been a few days and now I REALLY need a fix.
Before I finish I really want to thank everyone who posts here. As a newbie, the New Divers section and A&I forum have been incredibly valuable resources to me. Thank you to everyone who makes these forums what they are. In particular I want to thank Jim Lapenta. I read his book, as well as his many posts here, and his advice has really shaped my impression of the type of diver I should try to be. His writings have encouraged me to be more cautious, be more prepared, and aspire to perfect my skills and techniques. But most of all, to remember that what I'm doing has killed many people, and can kill me in any number of ways, and is far more likely to do so if I become complacent.
There were five of us doing checkout dives split between our instructor (a CD) and his assistant (MSDT). We did 3 dives each day, I was actually certified by around 9:30am Sunday. Here's a recap of the dives we did.
Dive 1: 26 mins to max 29 feet. I took 1600 psi out of an AL63 (all following dives were on AL80s). After sorting out weight requirements we headed down to the platforms at 25 feet. Had some issues descending (more on that later). Did skills then headed off to see the firetruck (I think). 30' viz (most people hadn't hit the water yet).
Dive 2: Max 36' for 32 mins. Did some more stuff. Gulped down 1750 psi. There were more depth changes during this dive so I was fooling around with the BC inflator more too. Viz still 30' at the platforms but was as low as 5' in popular areas (very silty). Stayed like this the rest of the weekend. On this dive I began to get a very good feel for buoyancy control through breathing. I set my BC to keep me right about neutral and varied my breathing to fine-tune. At one point I swam at least 20-25', with my torso no more than 12" off the bottom but never touching it.
Dive 3: Max 35' for 28 mins. Blasted through 2000 psi somehow, not sure why. On this dive I became slighly annoyed with the large brown cloud that followed us everywhere, as well as my kicking the bottom while trying to work on gliding right over it, and began attempting the frog kick I'd seen demonstrations of. Well, maintaining bent knees wasn't gonna happen--my weighting configuration and total lack of experience gave me comical trim and balance--but I did manage to do something similar with my legs mostly straight. Once I hammered out a method, it just felt so much more efficient. I went from a constant, slow scissor/flutter kick, to a single "frog" kick every couple seconds that I could really feel moving me through the water. I was easily able to keep up, and maintain the method for long periods.
Dive 4: Max 51' for 34 mins plus 3 min safety stop. I was actually somewhat pleased with my 2000 psi consumption. This dive took us through two thermoclines, from 75 degrees on the surface, to mid-60s at 25 feet, and then to high 50s below 45'. This was our first dive with hood and gloves added to our 7mm farmer johns. Good thing, too, as I became comfortable with the sub-60 degree water after only a minute or two. During the safety stop I tried to maintain 15' without holding on to the buoy line. I did OK, but kept drifting between 12-19 feet, which was a little frustrating to me as I had been getting good at maintaining a depth swimming over the bottom.
Dives 5 & 6: Max depths of 54 feet for 34 mins, and 64 feet for 25 mins. Broke the surface with 700 psi each time. These were the dives that really allowed me to relax and focus more on personal techniques. We also decided beforehand to make both dives count towards AOW.
I wore 22lbs of weight for all 6 dives. At depth I sometimes felt overweighted, based on the amount of air I was keeping in my BC. Yet, at the beginning of each dive I had to force myself halfway down before I finally started descending without effort. In fact on the first dive I had to pull myself halfway down the buoy line. I wanted more weight but my instructor encouraged me to keep diving without adding any. I'm glad he did, because by the 3rd or 4th dive I was able to descend with minimal effort and, on the 6th dive, probably could have shed a couple pounds.
Things I took away from the weekend:
First of all I'm very happy with my instructor. He is friendly and truly loves what he does. He doesn't hammer students on skills but he doesn't accept "almost got it right" either. He doesn't take shortcuts. He's also the owner and practically the only employee of my LDS, where he's familiar with everything he sells and doesn't put customers under pressure. His shop is small and somewhat limited in variety, but it's a one-man show and only about two years old. He deserves a bigger shop so I'm definitely sticking with the place for the majority of my gear buying.
I need practice through more diving. Lots of it. And I need to practice mask floods. I'm still snorting water.
I need to get some gear over the winter. BCD and tank are first on the list. I'm going for an Apeks WTX harness and wing (without hard backplate at first, I may add it to the harness soon after) and a steel HP100. I'm not a fan of any jacket BCs--I have a smaller torso and they feel so cluttered. I tried on an Apeks WTX and it felt pretty good. I'll also be happy to be rid of all the extra floaty things. Between that and an HP100 I'll really be able to drop a lot of weight, especially considering the buoyancy characteristics of that tank. Then I can get my trim right. Then I can get my buoyancy control right. Then I can get my propulsion right. I have an eye on wreck diving in the distant future. I know I need to get these things right.
I will never depend on anyone else to be there if I have a problem or equipment failure. We were grouped into buddy pairs, sure, but I feel as though the students treated it as more of an exercise than an important safety protocol. I kept track of my buddy but don't feel as if he kept track of me. I feel that many divers I'm likely to encounter are going to be far too interested in the dive to regularly check up on their buddy and stay close enough. I want to be as prepared as reasonably possible to handle problems on my own. In that spirit I've already bought a pony bottle and sent it off for hydro. Shears and knife also on the list of winter gear purchases.
I need to meet divers from the area who can dive Dutch Springs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and don't mind a noob who'll suck an AL80 dry in 35 minutes! It's only been a few days and now I REALLY need a fix.
Before I finish I really want to thank everyone who posts here. As a newbie, the New Divers section and A&I forum have been incredibly valuable resources to me. Thank you to everyone who makes these forums what they are. In particular I want to thank Jim Lapenta. I read his book, as well as his many posts here, and his advice has really shaped my impression of the type of diver I should try to be. His writings have encouraged me to be more cautious, be more prepared, and aspire to perfect my skills and techniques. But most of all, to remember that what I'm doing has killed many people, and can kill me in any number of ways, and is far more likely to do so if I become complacent.
Have fun diving!
