How to have a great dive

[Bogie]

Thanks TsandM for a great post.

Experience and training are different. You can have many dives and not follow good diving practices. I have dove with people with over 1000 dives that get irritated when I initiate buddy check procedures. One macho guy gave me a hard time so I let it go and he ran out of air, was over weighted, and did not know how to orally inflate his bc. Lucky I was there or macho man would be fish food.

Extensive GUE training is not necessary for all divers but I certainly see the benefits and have much respect for the GUE system. Also, when I dive with a GUE trained diver the buddy checklist is thorough, dive planning exact and I always feel safer and more relaxed when everything is double checked. Also, GUE folks are great buddy divers, very aware, predictable, and thoughtful divers.

The more training the better. Experience is open for interpretation. Number of dives is one. I have found people diving in warm clear waters have a tuff time in Monterey in a full exposure suit, weighted more heavily, cold, surge, waves, kelp, and poor visibility.

Thanks again for a thoughtful and interesting post.

 

[vladimir]

I would bet that all of the divers on TSandM's boat had been diving lately--say, within a month of that day. The big difference I see among divers who enjoy their dives and those who have issues--whether they be equipment issues, clearing issues or something else--is whether they dive regularly.

 

[soltari675]

I remember this woman who, as a new diver, couldn't descend to the bottom without landing tank-first on her back. She couldn't get within 20 feet of the surface without somehow going all the way. But she still had fun ... and usually came out of the water talking about what a great dive she had.

But she had a lot more fun once she started learning how to control her position in the water, and gained the confidence to start experimenting with new skills and gear. The more she learned, the greater her excitement level became. Now she's a very experienced diver, and derives excitement from sharing what she's learned with others.

It's funny, when I started, I could not descend without a line. I had such a hard time with it and I did the same thing when I got to 20 ft or less. I would just ascend no matter how hard I fought. I loved the dive though and it showed me what to learn. In my case, weighting. I am much better now, descend and ascend whenever I want. The learning itself can be a lot of fun.

So she was screaming and laughing through her regulator lots, but that's how she shows her enjoyment. And it made me feel good, that she was having a great time. It made my dives that much better.

I laugh through my regulator so often. I am always clearing my mask because I will giggle at something. We play tic tac toe underwater to decide who leads, have underwater sword fights, all kinds of stuff. If I don't laugh, it's not fun enough.

 

[Hank49]

Thanks for sharing that Lynne.
For me, the most critical of all the criteria mentioned, is diving with people I know and have done dives with before. The more dives, the better.
I prefer just one buddy in the water and a boatman. Not always easy to organize but it's a nice setup.
Maybe I'm gettin' old but I don't like the pressure of taking other divers out and feeling that I have to find fish or whatever for them. If it's just me and one buddy, take what comes. Relax.

 

[ScubaSam]

Thanks, Lynne, for your post and Dave for adding navigation to the thread. Great reminder whether you dive recreational or tech, cold or warm water.

 

[raoulsttexas]

I appreciate your post Lynne!

I have a good buddy/mentor, good equipment etc and sometimes, I forget how much goes into having / creating a good dive for myself. I dove the sound on the 27th, and my first dive was less than great.

I didn't notice that my neck seal had folded over and was "providing" double tension around my neck. it felt tighter than usual, but not horrible. within minutes of the descent, i had a headache and I can see from pics after the fact that my face was beet red. IE EQUIPMENT PROBLEM.

The 3 of us got separated, there was a miscommunication on remaining air, and we silted out the bottom.... IE BAD BUDDY SKILL, COMMUNICATION SKILLS, TECHNIQUE ETC

After ascending, we found each other quickly and headed to shore. I almost thumbed the 2nd dive as I had a bit of a headache, but after fixing my neckseal, I was fine. We went back over all our possible scenarios and what if's and headed back in after the SI.

The 2nd dive was honestly one of the best times I've had up in the sound. we had good communication, sac rates, buoyancy etc.

So, basically, all the things that Lynne listed were the exact contributors to not having a good first dive....they were also the exact contributors to having a great second dive.