Got Lost on a Dive

[txgoose]

OP, thank you for sharing. I appreciate the conversation and your candor.

I exclusively use my butt dump.

This has been a godsend for me as I have worked at my buoyancy, trim and weighting. Go a little bit head down and pull. Seems to be the only way to get even close to zero air in the BC.

As a slight digression, I purposefully went overweighted this weekend so that I could get my "heavy breather" son to try out less weight. (We didn't have a good combination of one, two or three pounders for all four of us. I made him take my six pounds and I took his ten.) It was fairly drastic how much more I had to futz with my BC to get neutral, and how much that could change with depth. I also used more air as I worked to swim up or down. His gas consumption was noticeably better and my comfort level was noticeably not. LDS will be visited promptly for more weights in the small range.

 

[dberry]

I'm curious how you presented your experience level to the 2 insta-buddies. It sounds like you're on a nice trajectory, but still lacking in experience (With over 100 dives I still consider myself relatively inexperienced, too.) It might have been tempting to tell the prospective buddies about your recent AOW and nitrox certs, but not focus on the number of dives you've logged (19). Personally, I'd rather be underestimated than overestimated when it comes to a situation like that. Unless your "buddies" were total #*$&@s, they might have paid closer attention if they realized your experience level. Never feel embarrassed to be "that guy" - anyone can thumb the dive, any time, for any reason.

And like others have said, do a weight check in any new situation. Although most of the conversations on SB focus on being overweighted, being significantly unweighted is a Bad Thing, too.

 

[CoralSeaMan]

My experience with "insta-buddies" led me to a pony-tank. I am responsible for me so my back up is with me if I have no one else.
Consider it!

Many of your weight issues will resolve themselves as you acquire experience.
At this point the key is to stay calm. With that low viz it is no wonder you had buoyancy issues. Heavy breathing related to stress also causes buoyancy issues. Experience will do wonders.

 

[2airishuman]

Buddy with me, and i'll be at least as diligent with my buddy obligations as if I'm diving with a long-known clubmate. Probably more, since we haven't dived before. It's a matter of mindset; as soon as we're buddied up, to me we're a team.

So, bully for you, but the world isn't always like that and it's unrealistic to expect it.

One of my first open water dives was on Molasses Reef. On the boat, there was a family group of 3, me, and a very experienced photographer who wanted to dive solo. The boat buddied me up with the photographer who made it quite clear he was none to pleased with the arrangement but would consent to letting me follow him around. Halfway through the dive he disappeared over a ridge, I looked around for a minute and surfaced, and he continued the dive while I went back to the boat.

I suppose I could chalk it all up to him just being a complete ******* and that is certainly one side of it. The other side of the story is that he wanted a solo dive, preferred a solo dive, paid his $85 or whatever to get the dive he wanted, and didn't want to get stuck babysitting someone new to diving. Which, to some extent, I can sympathize with.

You meet all kinds of people on the dive boat. Some are good at being buddies and are tolerant of new divers, but not always.

 

[Steve_C]

Some commetns

-The density of fat varies from 0.8 to 0.9. 10 pounds of average fat (instead of an equal volume of muscle) needs a pound of lead.

BCDs vary as to how buoyant they are.

-I think that trying for the minimum possible weight, is not wise, especially with rental equipment and a new dive site. As you discovered a couple pounds over is better than a couple pounds light in open water.

-learn to shoot the smb. It should be marking where you are long before you get up there.

-the weight of tanks themselves varies. Even with AL80s there are high density ones that weight more.

-Personally if it is low viz and I am going to leave contact with the wreck I will run a line. Carry a reel with you. (You need one for the SMB anyway). If you find yourself without the wreck. Stop and look carefully in all directions. If you are at all close you may notice that in one direction it seems a little darker or hazier. That could well be the wreck.

-Taking a compass heading is nice but if you are near a large hunk of metal when you do so, it may not mean much. Run a line as noted earlier.

 

[INQuarryDiver]

I told them I was pretty new. The DM made the pairing. They didn't volunteer. I did not communicate with the others like I should have retrospect. Going diving with total strangers is kind of awkward at first. It's been a big learning experience.

Just curious, how does everyone accumulate so many dives? It's been a real challenge to get my dives in locally.

 

[txgoose]

Just curious, how does everyone accumulate so many dives? It's been a real challenge to get my dives in locally.

If your shop has a pool (with open sessions), try and spend a good amount of time in it. They are great for overall comfort.
For my wife, who is slowly removing task loading issues, familiarization is everything. Simple things become rote memory. More complex things simply become more familiar.
I use the pool time to work on trim, buoyancy, and my finning technique. I am starting to occasionally feel like a rock star and plenty of days I wonder if I'm suffering narcosis or if the laws of physics have changed because I can't seem to get it right. But, we're both getting better at the parts we're working on.

 

[2airishuman]

Just curious, how does everyone accumulate so many dives? It's been a real challenge to get my dives in locally.

There is one diveworthy lake that is about a 5 minute drive from my day job (Holland Lake) and another one that is about a 30 minute drive from my house (Lac Lavon). There are a handful of other lakes nearby that I dive in late spring and early summer before they warm up enough for the algae to take over. I dive these lakes frequently and make it a point to go out once a week except when the lakes are iced over. It doesn't cost anything but whatever I pay for air fills and gas for the car.

I dive other lakes that aren't really dive destinations once in a while for variety and when the opportunity presents itself. Usually the viz is poor and the dive is shallow but I still have fun. If I'm with family at a lake for other reasons I'll usually dive and see what I can see -- last couple of years we've been out in the Black Hills area (South Dakota) and while not known for its diving there are a couple of nice divable lakes and a few more that are iffy.

There is fantastic diving at a variety of sites in northern MN. I make that trip several times a year and usually make 3-5 dives per trip. Again these are shore dives so while there's travel and lodging costs it's not expensive.

Add in a tropical trip with a half dozen dives a year and that's it.

 

[Steve_C]

Just curious, how does everyone accumulate so many dives? It's been a real challenge to get my dives in locally.

Note sure I have so many (465) but
-local quarries
-trips to the ocean (2.5 hours away)
-a few trips for a few days to the Keys
-business: Not sure what you do for a living but if I am near water I will try to arrange for a dive or two. I usually bring just the key stuff: my regs, my mask, my dive computers (and my camera). Regs since not all work the same and I want to know they are good. Mask since it is prescription (actually I bring 2), dive computers because I want to know how to read and use them effortlessly. Over the years this has lead to dives in Hawaii, Vancouver, Greece, Mexico, San Diego, Catalina, Florida, and LA.
-family stuff - Family stuff like weddings and vacations are treated like business. Have worked in dives at St. Thomas, Caymans, South Carolina, Florida, NC. Lots of diving in FL be it north or south.

 

[Storker]

the world isn't always like that

You don't say.

My point was in fact quite similar to yours: that one single person's experience isn't particularly universal.