After taking an SDI refresher course last month, I was able to hit the water in Maui yesterday. We did two dives at Mala Wharf; was supposed to be one there and then Black Rock, but the winds and surge apparently made Black Rock unsuitable. There was some surge at Mala, but not bad. Rental gear was Scubapro BCD, Go Sport fins, 3mm shorty wetsuit, and what I think was a Suunto puck computer in the console. The DM had me figured for 16lbs of weight which seemed ok - circumstances didn’t allow a lot of fine-tuning, but I might’ve been able to get away with a little less.
Everything seemed good skills-wise, not that much was needed. Buoyancy was ok, not perfect. Bounced off the sand a couple times and while I was able to do some swim-throughs without issue, I found that I had to time my breathing so my buoyancy was good going through, if that makes sense. I’m sure additional practice and time in the water will help with that. No problems with equalizing.
Finning was a bit wonky, that’ll take some practice. I was happy to see they were using Go Sports as those are on my list of fins I’m considering. I could do the old-fashioned flutter kick just fine, but trying to fin like the DM (modified frog kick, I think) will take practice. The only problems I’d say I had were the regulator and some back pain. The hose on the second stage felt like it was trying to pull the reg out of my mouth - like pulling out on the right side. And I was getting low back pain, particularly during the second dive. Not sure what that was about and would welcome opinions. Maybe trying to stay level yet keep my head up?
And trip report-wise: viz was just ok. The bad conditions elsewhere had every dive shop in Maui there, as well as a bunch of snorkel boats. Some areas it was 60+ feet, others it was 10. Saw trumpetfish, parrot fish, and lots of other stuff I can’t name. Plenty of turtles - they were everywhere - and 3-4 whitetip reef sharks. Saw one stonefish the DM pointed out. We had 6 people in the group, no one with more that 30 dives. It was a great place to get my feet wet again and I would certainly do it again in better conditions.
Everything seemed good skills-wise, not that much was needed. Buoyancy was ok, not perfect. Bounced off the sand a couple times and while I was able to do some swim-throughs without issue, I found that I had to time my breathing so my buoyancy was good going through, if that makes sense. I’m sure additional practice and time in the water will help with that. No problems with equalizing.
Finning was a bit wonky, that’ll take some practice. I was happy to see they were using Go Sports as those are on my list of fins I’m considering. I could do the old-fashioned flutter kick just fine, but trying to fin like the DM (modified frog kick, I think) will take practice. The only problems I’d say I had were the regulator and some back pain. The hose on the second stage felt like it was trying to pull the reg out of my mouth - like pulling out on the right side. And I was getting low back pain, particularly during the second dive. Not sure what that was about and would welcome opinions. Maybe trying to stay level yet keep my head up?
And trip report-wise: viz was just ok. The bad conditions elsewhere had every dive shop in Maui there, as well as a bunch of snorkel boats. Some areas it was 60+ feet, others it was 10. Saw trumpetfish, parrot fish, and lots of other stuff I can’t name. Plenty of turtles - they were everywhere - and 3-4 whitetip reef sharks. Saw one stonefish the DM pointed out. We had 6 people in the group, no one with more that 30 dives. It was a great place to get my feet wet again and I would certainly do it again in better conditions.
