PamJScuba
Guest
Hi Everyone,
Just thought I would share that this weekend I had my Open Water check-off dives. They went great!
On Saturday, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and the lake was extremely calm, like glass. The visibility was between 10 to 15 feet the first day. Vis did drop some towards the end because of all the muck being stired up off the lake floor. Unfortunately, I didn't see any fish. The water temperature was a balmy 66 degrees. I had a 7mm wetsuit on, and was boiling afterwards. I was really surprised at how warm I stayed after 45 min. of diving & approx. 1:40 at the surface floating and doing various skills. I must admit that the first day in the lake was a bit disconcerting and definitly more challenging than the confined water dives. I had a much harder time clearing the mask, but I also didn't like the hood and wetsuit around my neck. I've never liked having anything tight around my neck becuase I can't feel like I can swallow so I had to conscouisly make my self swallow and occasionally, I would pull the wetsuit & hood away from my neck.
I did have some technical difficulties with my BCD the 1st day. The velcro didn't want to stay latched and I had a hard time with the size of the BCD along with the 7mm suit.
Today the weather was just as beautiful. A wonderful 70 degree fall day with the lake, again still as glass. The water temp was again, 66. I also felt much more comfortable with a different BCD, 7 mm wetsuit and hood. Vis was between 15 to 20 feet. I saw tons of little Sunfish swimming around and checking us out. They were hilarious how they would swim up to the mask. They actually looked like they were wondering what the heck we were! Today I did add an additional 4 lbs and that also made a big difference with my descent and bouyancy control. So the total weight for today was 26 lbs. After our final skill, bouyancy control hover, we took a tour of the lake. At first the bouyancy control while swimming was dicey, but I quickly figured it out and did extremely well. I just need to be careful to not overswim another diver in front of me.
I really enjoyed the compass work as well, but I have a fair amount of experience with using a compass through orientation courses.
Well, this weekend was a blast and I can't wait to go on my next dive! Now I just need to encourage my Fiance to complete his SCUBA training.
Pam
Just thought I would share that this weekend I had my Open Water check-off dives. They went great!
On Saturday, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and the lake was extremely calm, like glass. The visibility was between 10 to 15 feet the first day. Vis did drop some towards the end because of all the muck being stired up off the lake floor. Unfortunately, I didn't see any fish. The water temperature was a balmy 66 degrees. I had a 7mm wetsuit on, and was boiling afterwards. I was really surprised at how warm I stayed after 45 min. of diving & approx. 1:40 at the surface floating and doing various skills. I must admit that the first day in the lake was a bit disconcerting and definitly more challenging than the confined water dives. I had a much harder time clearing the mask, but I also didn't like the hood and wetsuit around my neck. I've never liked having anything tight around my neck becuase I can't feel like I can swallow so I had to conscouisly make my self swallow and occasionally, I would pull the wetsuit & hood away from my neck.
I did have some technical difficulties with my BCD the 1st day. The velcro didn't want to stay latched and I had a hard time with the size of the BCD along with the 7mm suit.
Today the weather was just as beautiful. A wonderful 70 degree fall day with the lake, again still as glass. The water temp was again, 66. I also felt much more comfortable with a different BCD, 7 mm wetsuit and hood. Vis was between 15 to 20 feet. I saw tons of little Sunfish swimming around and checking us out. They were hilarious how they would swim up to the mask. They actually looked like they were wondering what the heck we were! Today I did add an additional 4 lbs and that also made a big difference with my descent and bouyancy control. So the total weight for today was 26 lbs. After our final skill, bouyancy control hover, we took a tour of the lake. At first the bouyancy control while swimming was dicey, but I quickly figured it out and did extremely well. I just need to be careful to not overswim another diver in front of me.
I really enjoyed the compass work as well, but I have a fair amount of experience with using a compass through orientation courses.
Well, this weekend was a blast and I can't wait to go on my next dive! Now I just need to encourage my Fiance to complete his SCUBA training.
Pam
