Local shore dive shook me

[crab lover]

Go to Walmart and buy some of those caribiner clips, attach them to your BC at chest height, then attach at least your fins to them (I attach EVERYTHING, mask, fins, camera, to them so that when I am getting in the water I have BOTH hands to help me keep balance). When you get in the water, take them off one by one and put them on. I find I'm not trying to juggle everything and worrying about things floating away and I can concentrate on one thing at a time. One of my dive buddies, who's been diving a lot longer than me, actually went out and bought one for her fins now!!! Walmart has like a 5 pack for about $6 in the hardware dept and mine have not started even show rust yet!

 

[TheRedHead]

Go to Walmart and buy some of those caribiner clips, attach them to your BC at chest height, then attach at least your fins to them (I attach EVERYTHING, mask, fins, camera, to them so that when I am getting in the water I have BOTH hands to help me keep balance).

Suicide clips, eh?

 

[crab lover]

????????????????

 

[crab lover]

Ok, my bad. I have now educated myself on the fact that the caribiner clips are a VERY touchy subject here... sorry, disregard my earlier posts.

 

[TheRedHead]

Ok, my bad. I have now educated myself on the fact that the caribiner clips are a VERY touchy subject here... sorry, disregard my earlier posts.

They're not safe diving in kelp or anywhere you can clip yourself off and not be able to get loose.

 

[nessum]

4. Have no air in your BC to start. This lowers your center of gravity which will keep you a little more planted. Add air once you have your fins on and are about to flip into your back and kick out.

Yikes. Ok, there was a LOT of good advice in Scubapatton's post, but this little tidbit isn't some of it. Do NOT enter at shore with your BCD empty. I teach the EXACT opposite. If you do fall, consider how much weight you are wearing... what if you are turtled in the surf AND negative? Or face down and negative. This just seems like common sense. If you find your BCD restrictive when entering the water consider getting one that doesn't inflate around your body. This may help.

And as far as words of encouragement go: Keep at it! Seriously, going from warm boat diving to cold shore diving is QUITE the transition. One that many give up on too easy. There's beautiful diving in cold water and often shore diving is the most (financially) practical way to do it. I say this as a female cold water shore diver that used to fear having to keep up with the boys. Don't worry, one day they'll be trying to keep up with you!

Happy diving!

 

[MissyP]

Do NOT enter at shore with your BCD empty. I teach the EXACT opposite. If you do fall, consider how much weight you are wearing... what if you are turtled in the surf AND negative? Or face down and negative.

Happy diving!

When I DM on shore dives, we teach the same thing as Scubapatton does... Empty or nearly empty bcd while entering the surf.... To get knocked down with a full bcd is just asking to make the situation worse~ you'll pop up like a cork and get tumbled as the wave is breaking over you. The power of a wave is on the surface so that's what we need to avoid....
While your bcd is empty, you hold your reg in your hand and be ready at ALL times to put it in your mouth in case you do get knocked down or need to duck under the wave.... So even if you end up turtled, you have the one thing you need-- air.

 

[shoredivr]

Just keep your reg in your mouth....

 

[D_B]

good advice has already been given

I hope you make it out to Catalina in November, going to be there myself, It's one of my most favorite places to dive .. you will love it, I'm sure

heh, "salty comments" lol

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Great advice already! Like the others said, making the change from Fiji to Cali involves a steep learning curve. You should come to the Wrinkles Dive in November, my husband and I are flying out from Ohio to attend We can learn the surf entry stuff along with you and I expect you to feel free to laugh as I get tossed butt-over-bunny-ears by the first wave that comes my way :rofl2: The experience you had is what your "dive story repertoire" is made of
Ber :lilbunny: