Is this a message or what!!!!!

[Bratface]

I'm wondering why you made a second attempt. Your BC was graciously carried to shore by the surf and when you tried the second time, it stole your fin. I guess if you had retrieved your fin and gotten back out somehow, your camera would have been next. Gllad you made it back to shore ok even if it was with one less fin.

 

[oncor23]

I always take 2 deep breaths off my reg before I get in the water.... I learned this from my daughter's attempt at a dive only to discover her air was off. She didn't notice until she was down 30' and I was already much deeper. She ended headed back up to surface (a very well trained girl of 14, I might add) after signaling me about the problem. Now we always always always take a few breaths before descending.

I'm just a beginner. I can't imagine getting down 30', or even close, before noticing that my air was off. I can't equalize that fast!

On my last (first...and only) dive trip, we were jumping off the dock at our "resort" or walking in at the more remote sites. Maybe because the jump was all of 4 ft, I had the 2nd stage in my mouth and took a couple of breaths before jumping. I am developing the habit of testing my 2nd stage (and octopus) before going in the water. However, two of the much more experienced divers I was with did the modified trick of turning on their air just barely to check the pressure gauge and see how full the tank was...and then not turning the valve the rest of the way. So, they had air at the start of the dive, but somewhere in the middle started to notice a problem. The most experienced guy in our group told me he knew something was wrong when he could see the needle on his gauge move quite a bit with every breath. He couldn't quite reach his valve, so we turned his air on for him. The other guy was able to reach his air and turn his valve fully open. I'm taking this as a lesson to open my valve fully after I check the gauge. Form the habit now.

One other comment...I went on a shore dive with the most experienced diver and we noticed a pretty stiff current after we got out 50 ft from shore...maybe 8 ft deep. He turned around and went back in...dive over. He didn't even bother to see if the current was less in deeper water. Lesson learned.

 

[ShakaZulu]

BTDT..... Only way I could get in was to swim on my back mask on my face...

 

[hudson]

I'm just a beginner. I can't imagine getting down 30', or even close, before noticing that my air was off. I can't equalize that fast!

Yeah you can. You'll probably run out on the third deep breath if it's been pressurized beforehand.

Initial descent is not a nice place to be OOA .. you risk hitting the bottom and mucking it up big time as you are dealing with it, you are susceptible to finning frantically to slow your descent, you risk flooding your regulator since you are descending and most buddies will not be able to help in low vis.

Breathing on the surface is an easy solution for warm water but if you are diving in cold air/water, then you want to dump a little air so your regs are submerged, take a breath while watching the needle and if you see no movement then dump the rest. Don't breathe your regs or use the inflator on the surface.

BTW, nothing really wrong with just cracking the valve to check the pressure IF you turn it off and purge right after. You don't want to leave your tanks lying around pressurized.

 

[Hank49]

BTDT..... Only way I could get in was to swim on my back mask on my face...

So where's the pic of all of you sitting outside on a flat, glassy day on your 7'8"s waiting for a giant set?
Shaka, what are you doing trying to dive on a day with surf like that? Look at the wave behind that grinder....looks like a decent right with a little offshore spray. You come from the land of Shawn Thompson....don't you fricken surf?

 

[alwayssummer]

Sorry to revive a long dead thread... but...

MARK - WHERE DID YOU GO? I HAVEN'T HEARD FROM YOU SINCE FT LAUDERDALE? YOU STILL OUT THERE?

 

[wilsoncs3980]

Where was your dive buddy or were you diving solo?