How were your first experiences in diving?
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DeputyDan
Contributor
First ocean dives (certified in the Quarry) were at Key Largo.
Since you are on your own there - we were pretty well lost till a group of divers from Oklahoma took us under their wing and helped with what is obvious stuff now !!!
Anyway their vacation was to start on the Texas gulf - dive a couple of days then on to the Florida panhandle dive - down to Tampa dive -down to the keys dive - up to Ft. Lauderdale - dive you get the drift.
They turned a clueless experience into a pleasure.
Since you are on your own there - we were pretty well lost till a group of divers from Oklahoma took us under their wing and helped with what is obvious stuff now !!!
Anyway their vacation was to start on the Texas gulf - dive a couple of days then on to the Florida panhandle dive - down to Tampa dive -down to the keys dive - up to Ft. Lauderdale - dive you get the drift.
They turned a clueless experience into a pleasure.
ZephyrNight
New
My first dive was clouded by nerves (and of course the sludge I was kicking up with my fins) but as soon as a few fish came in to focus I was hooked.
1_T_Submariner
Contributor
Welcome to ScubaBoard!
My first open water was in a Quarry with 5ft-10ft vis and cold. I don't have anything against cold it's the visability that makes it less enjoyable for me (that was last spring). In the Fall I went to a different Quarry in cold clear (45Ft+ Vis.) water Did 6 dives in 2 days (1st Deep 110ft, 1st Night) really had a great time.
My first open water was in a Quarry with 5ft-10ft vis and cold. I don't have anything against cold it's the visability that makes it less enjoyable for me (that was last spring). In the Fall I went to a different Quarry in cold clear (45Ft+ Vis.) water Did 6 dives in 2 days (1st Deep 110ft, 1st Night) really had a great time.
WOW My first experiences were in Jarak in Malaysia. I had no problems at all, in a short period me continue to PADI Advanced diver course.
I know that many new divers have Mask clearing and ear problems, but you can dive and learn getting better.
Cheer
Jason
I know that many new divers have Mask clearing and ear problems, but you can dive and learn getting better.
Cheer
Jason
divinginn
Contributor
our class did our checkout dive in in n fla springs,90 ft. on 1st dive,dont think they do that anymore,had trouble equalizing,had to slow down on desent and keep blowing,when i got to the bottom i just layed down and looked up the surface looked like a huge mirror.comming up i saw some catfish hanging out under logs and some kind of freshwater flounder kind of fish about silver dollar sized,really enjoyed that trip
Scuba Jerm
Contributor
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My first OW dive was in Fiji, wow what a place! I just couldn't believe it! I guess starting in Fiji spoiled me a bit as my next trip (which was about 2 weeks after Fiji) was in Hawaii, and I remembered feeling a little let down with Hawaii. Don't get me wrong Hawaii was breathtaking, but Fiji, with all the soft corals and amazing number of fish around, Hawaii failed in comparison. In Fiji I remember thinking to myself as I entered the water, "is this a pool, or is it really salt water?" The water was soo clear and warm it felt like the pool I got certified in. I had a wonderful experiance in Fiji, if anyone is thinking of going, it's well worth the trip. Plenty of dive sites and some world class surf too. Just a great place to dive, surf, and eat awesome food.
miked10
Registered
my first dive was interesting. it was a night drift dive in 5ft viz bumping into cars and trees under water. then to top it off i ran out of air 38minutes in and shared air with my dive buddy who was using doubles for 30 minutes and at the end i smashed into a large drain pipe and rolled over it out of the water. after that i was hooked and havent stopped since.
I think back to my frist dive and shudder. It was off a cruise in Aruba. Took the intro course. Got about 20 min lecture at the side of a pool, 30 min in a pool learning drills with the other 3 people in my group(all friends), one of which was not doing the drills without standing up so spent 20 min freezing underwater in the pool not doing anything. This was all followed by being dumped in the ocean in about 30 feet of water. As I got in a lady from another group wanted out, I knew this because she was screaming, swearing, and flailing about. I was told to go to the bottum and wait, so I stood on the seafloor looking up hoping the rest of my group and our "DM" would come down at some point. I guess that was basicly my first and only, to this point, solo dive for about 10 min until I finally got a buddy and a DM to guide us. To this day still cant figure out why I was the first one to run low on air
. Guess that was good enough to make me and my wife get cert.
. Guess that was good enough to make me and my wife get cert.
RyanCY
Registered
My first boat dive was last sunday (I passed my PADI OW exam on the monday).
It was at a reef called Bellbuoy, about 2 to 3 km offshore. It's not known for excellent vis, we had about 5m which is apparently very good.
It was my second last OW qualifying dive, so I still had to do some skills at the bottom, some 13 metres down. It was slightly daunting, up to then I thought that the 4m deep dive pool we had our pool sessions in was quite deep.
I got off the rubber duck, and suddenly realised just how fast we were moving in the water, it was quite choppy. After eventually making it to the buoy my DM was towing on his way down I started descending. After seeing nothing but blue for a while I was a bit nervous. Then I hit the thermocline, water temp dropped from a nice 20 dec C to about 16 deg C. I was amazed how abruptly that happened. Started getting a bit shivery, I was using a 5mm full suit with no gloves or hoodie.
Eventually I saw the reef, and everything was perfect. My instructor was in a large gulley waiting for all of use to get down, it took the girls in the group even longer as they were too positively bouyant. I was amazed at all the underwater life that was all around me.
After carefully psyching myself up to do the full mask flood I took off my mask and carefully spat my regulator out. That sent me into a panic, I had to decide whether i wanted to breathe, see or go up. Luckily my instructor held me down and I managed to get the regulator back in my mouth, purge it and only breathe in a small amount of water. Clearing my mask was a breeze after that shock. Eventually everyone else was ready and we followed our instructor onto a ridge.
That was when I saw a 2 metre ragged tooth shark. It's hard to describe the first time you see a shark thats in the same water that you're swimming in. I was elated and terrified at the same time. After the shark disappeared I saw my instructor pointing into a gulley to our right. Just for good measure 3 more slightly smaller raggies came swimming along. They were so close to us that the DM bringing up the rear could have patted one on the head.
We swam through a big shoal of fish, and I noticed that I only had 50 bar left - the panicking from the mask incident and seeing my first shark had made me completely forget about conserving air/energy. I signalled to my instructor that I had little air left and a few minutes later he ended the dive.
I'm completely hooked now. I was hoping to do my first post cert dive this weekend, but unfortunately wont have time.
It better be soon...
It was at a reef called Bellbuoy, about 2 to 3 km offshore. It's not known for excellent vis, we had about 5m which is apparently very good.
It was my second last OW qualifying dive, so I still had to do some skills at the bottom, some 13 metres down. It was slightly daunting, up to then I thought that the 4m deep dive pool we had our pool sessions in was quite deep.
I got off the rubber duck, and suddenly realised just how fast we were moving in the water, it was quite choppy. After eventually making it to the buoy my DM was towing on his way down I started descending. After seeing nothing but blue for a while I was a bit nervous. Then I hit the thermocline, water temp dropped from a nice 20 dec C to about 16 deg C. I was amazed how abruptly that happened. Started getting a bit shivery, I was using a 5mm full suit with no gloves or hoodie.
Eventually I saw the reef, and everything was perfect. My instructor was in a large gulley waiting for all of use to get down, it took the girls in the group even longer as they were too positively bouyant. I was amazed at all the underwater life that was all around me.
After carefully psyching myself up to do the full mask flood I took off my mask and carefully spat my regulator out. That sent me into a panic, I had to decide whether i wanted to breathe, see or go up. Luckily my instructor held me down and I managed to get the regulator back in my mouth, purge it and only breathe in a small amount of water. Clearing my mask was a breeze after that shock. Eventually everyone else was ready and we followed our instructor onto a ridge.
That was when I saw a 2 metre ragged tooth shark. It's hard to describe the first time you see a shark thats in the same water that you're swimming in. I was elated and terrified at the same time. After the shark disappeared I saw my instructor pointing into a gulley to our right. Just for good measure 3 more slightly smaller raggies came swimming along. They were so close to us that the DM bringing up the rear could have patted one on the head.
We swam through a big shoal of fish, and I noticed that I only had 50 bar left - the panicking from the mask incident and seeing my first shark had made me completely forget about conserving air/energy. I signalled to my instructor that I had little air left and a few minutes later he ended the dive.
I'm completely hooked now. I was hoping to do my first post cert dive this weekend, but unfortunately wont have time.
It better be soon...
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