Massive Newbie Post - Depth, AOW/SSI, Mask, Next Trip Suggestions

[SeaBunny88]

Hello All,,

A friend and I passed our OW certification last Sunday in Key Largo. Our first two open water dives were in a lagoon, the second two were at reefs. I was very concerned that I would be devastated by the condition of the reefs, especially after this summer. However, I was surprised in such a good way--there was so much beauty still and a huge variety of fish. We went out to Elbow Reef and dove Mike's Wreck and the Ledges. We did swim over some serious bleaching, but there were still colorful formations with much more fish than I anticipated and fans in good condition. I felt like I was in a saltwater fish tank. It exceeded expectations (or rather my fears) in almost every way. Some highlights were hanging out with a green sea turtle on our first dive, seeing a ton of lobsters, barracuda, tons of angel fish, tons of parrot fish, and I found a sea lettuce nudi on my own. We didn't see nurse sharks or reef sharks, though others did. After thinking about the experience, I have a few questions.

1. We only dove to about 30 ft max. I was completely at ease the entire time. Is there any significant difference between the feel of 30ft and 60ft? I wish I would have been able to go a little deeper. The change from our training platform that subbed for the pool dives to the 20 ft mark to the 30 ft mark didn't feel significant.
2. On the way down for dive 1, I had to be a bit forceful with the Valsalva Maneuver equalization technique. I went very slow down the mooring line and equalized from the very top to the bottom. I did a combo of jaw wiggling, swallowing, and head tilting as well as Valsalva. I never felt any pain. At the bottom at one point, I felt a rush of water in my right ear--but it was similar to an ear cleaning, it felt kinda good. I assumed it was wax moving around and was constantly monitoring my ears for pain or pressure, equalizing the whole time. Is this normal? R/scuba said it wasn't, that I likely have barotrauma. I didn't have pain on either dive that day, I don't have pain now, and I don't have hearing loss. I have a little crinkling in my ears when I swallow (I should have paid attention pre-cert to see if this is normal, I don't really notice it unless paying attention). Since there was no pain and I was able to equalize I continued the dive. On the second dive, I equalized more easily and had a pleasant experience. I think I made the right call, but wonder what the Scuba Board opinion is (just looking for food for thought, I'm not expecting a virtual ENT consult or anything).
3. My friend and I are thinking about doing AOW this winter. We have different specialty interests, so we likely will go through it separately. Is going straight into AOW wise? I read mixed thoughts on pursuing AOW right after OW. Some people advocate hard for it, others say to just enjoy OW for a while. I'm not looking to drastically increase the depth at which I can dive (see question 1, I've only been to 30ft). I'm really interested in Underwater Navigator, Underwater Naturalist, and Nitrox. Drift Diving and DSMB are also of interest. Does anyone have thoughts on these selections or experience to share? Should I consider SSI?
4. I dove with a new mask on day 2, the Evo Isla, and it was great out of the box with a thorough cleaning. No fogging and a great seal. The nose was a little big, though, and the skirt dug into my upper lip with the regulator in place. I cut the skirt some based on the staff's suggestion, and now I have massive leaks (found out when snorkeling with manatees a few days later). My husband is going to help me clean up the cut, as it's a little uneven, but does anyone have tips here for what I should or shouldn't do when trimming a mask skirt? If the mask doesn't work after cleaning up the cut, I'll probably just buy a new one and not "customize" as it wasn't terrible, just a bit annoying and abrasive. I don't have easy access to a scuba shop.
5. Where should I go for my next trip? I was so comfortable at 30ft in the Keys. I wouldn't mind going back to Key Largo or perhaps Big Pine Key. My husband isn't a diver, so topside life needs to be engaging (good food, excursions). He likes to wildlife watch, sit on the beach with beer, hike, jeep, explore, etc (almost anything not water based). I was thinking about Grand Cayman as drift diving seems intimidating for someone with only 4 dives under my belt (ruling out Cozumel). I would be worried about being disoriented or not having buoyancy under control in a drift dive. I also like to go slow and inspect the small stuff. Grand Cayman seems to have a good topside (though expensive) and good diving. How does Isla Mujeres compare to Grand Cayman for beginners? Should I be intimidated by Cozumel? Should I stick with the Keys? I'd like to ease into deeper depths while still enjoying reefs. I'm not super interested in wrecks. I realize there is a lot of individualism to these questions, and I'm Googling options heavily, but wanted to hear from the good people of Scuba Board.

Thank you, I'm excited to join the diving community!

 

[johndiver999]

LOL, I never heard of cutting a mask skirt - unless of course it is to smooth out a rip, or a bunch of damage from cockroaches. You will be shopping for new mask soon. Hopefully the remainder of the dive related advice you've received is better than break out the scissors.

If your ear feels fine now, there is probably nothing to do, but you need to be gentle with your ears all the time or your diving career will be over before it starts.

I believe, it is important to dive several times, ASAP after the OW course. You need to find easy, simple dives and people to go with. You will forget what you learned quickly if you don't dive a bunch after the course. Taking the AOW course is also a very valid way to rapidly gain the experience that you need, and hopefully will be well supervised by a good instructor.

60 feet feels different than 30 and 90 feels different than 60. Once you do several dozen dives at those depths, the difference may be almost inconsequential, but depth is a significant aspect of a dive which sets the "mood", if nothing else.

 

[lowwall]

1 Depth. In warm, clear water you aren't going to feel any difference due to the depth at 60'. It will look a little different due to the colors on the red side of the rainbow getting absorbed by the water. It's only around 80'-100' that you start to notice some of the first effects of nitrogen narcosis (slightly muddled or slow thinking and maybe slight anxiety) and that's only if you are really paying attention. All of this will happen at a shallower depth if it's colder and especially if visibility is poor.

2 Clearing. I think you are fine. You would have had other symptoms by now if you'd suffered barotrauma to your ears. Keep taking it easy on the descent. If you can't clear at one depth, go up a few feet and try again.

3 AOW. I'm on the side of doing it right away. If nothing else, you'll get some more supervised instruction before you have time for bad habits to get ingrained. From a purely educational perspective, you'd be better off skipping the course and taking full specialties or one-on-one instruction for any areas that you feel you need to work on. But the reality is that you need the card to avoid being relegated to the diving equivalent of the kiddie pool in many parts of the world, so go ahead and take it.

To elaborate, PADI's AOW and the SSI equivalent Advanced Adventurer are not actually advanced anything. The core elements of navigation, buoyancy and deep only cover skills that you theoretically "mastered" during OW training. IMO, the agencies have cut the OW course down too far trying to make them cheap and fast and are relying on AOW to make it back to where they used to be. The optional part of the course are tasters, not the full specialty and are mostly either ads for the full course (ex. photo, wreck, and the naturalist courses) or something that can be quickly checked off to keep the course short (boat diver, trash collector). The only one I'd really recommend is the night dive, because warm water night dives are amazing.

4 Mask. Don't try to trim mask skirts or otherwise mod masks other than replacing the strap. There's such a huge variety you will eventually be able to find one that fits. And don't assume you need an expensive scuba mask. As long as it has a tempered glass lens, it will work for diving. For example, the mask I use started out in TUSA's scuba line, but they've since relegated it to their snorkel line. Which means the price halved and I get a bonus snorkel with each purchase.

5. Destinations. It's tough to find destinations that are good for both diving and non-diving, because good reefs tend to come with rocky shorelines. I will say that guided drift dives are fine for beginning divers. My wife loved them when she was starting out.

 

[tursiops]

Hello All,,

A friend and I passed our OW certification last Sunday in Key Largo. Our first two open water dives were in a lagoon, the second two were at reefs. I was very concerned that I would be devastated by the condition of the reefs, especially after this summer. However, I was surprised in such a good way--there was so much beauty still and a huge variety of fish. We went out to Elbow Reef and dove Mike's Wreck and the Ledges. We did swim over some serious bleaching, but there were still colorful formations with much more fish than I anticipated and fans in good condition. I felt like I was in a saltwater fish tank. It exceeded expectations (or rather my fears) in almost every way. Some highlights were hanging out with a green sea turtle on our first dive, seeing a ton of lobsters, barracuda, tons of angel fish, tons of parrot fish, and I found a sea lettuce nudi on my own. We didn't see nurse sharks or reef sharks, though others did. After thinking about the experience, I have a few questions.

1. We only dove to about 30 ft max. I was completely at ease the entire time. Is there any significant difference between the feel of 30ft and 60ft? I wish I would have been able to go a little deeper. The change from our training platform that subbed for the pool dives to the 20 ft mark to the 30 ft mark didn't feel significant.
2. On the way down for dive 1, I had to be a bit forceful with the Valsalva Maneuver equalization technique. I went very slow down the mooring line and equalized from the very top to the bottom. I did a combo of jaw wiggling, swallowing, and head tilting as well as Valsalva. I never felt any pain. At the bottom at one point, I felt a rush of water in my right ear--but it was similar to an ear cleaning, it felt kinda good. I assumed it was wax moving around and was constantly monitoring my ears for pain or pressure, equalizing the whole time. Is this normal? R/scuba said it wasn't, that I likely have barotrauma. I didn't have pain on either dive that day, I don't have pain now, and I don't have hearing loss. I have a little crinkling in my ears when I swallow (I should have paid attention pre-cert to see if this is normal, I don't really notice it unless paying attention). Since there was no pain and I was able to equalize I continued the dive. On the second dive, I equalized more easily and had a pleasant experience. I think I made the right call, but wonder what the Scuba Board opinion is (just looking for food for thought, I'm not expecting a virtual ENT consult or anything).
3. My friend and I are thinking about doing AOW this winter. We have different specialty interests, so we likely will go through it separately. Is going straight into AOW wise? I read mixed thoughts on pursuing AOW right after OW. Some people advocate hard for it, others say to just enjoy OW for a while. I'm not looking to drastically increase the depth at which I can dive (see question 1, I've only been to 30ft). I'm really interested in Underwater Navigator, Underwater Naturalist, and Nitrox. Drift Diving and DSMB are also of interest. Does anyone have thoughts on these selections or experience to share? Should I consider SSI?
4. I dove with a new mask on day 2, the Evo Isla, and it was great out of the box with a thorough cleaning. No fogging and a great seal. The nose was a little big, though, and the skirt dug into my upper lip with the regulator in place. I cut the skirt some based on the staff's suggestion, and now I have massive leaks (found out when snorkeling with manatees a few days later). My husband is going to help me clean up the cut, as it's a little uneven, but does anyone have tips here for what I should or shouldn't do when trimming a mask skirt? If the mask doesn't work after cleaning up the cut, I'll probably just buy a new one and not "customize" as it wasn't terrible, just a bit annoying and abrasive. I don't have easy access to a scuba shop.
5. Where should I go for my next trip? I was so comfortable at 30ft in the Keys. I wouldn't mind going back to Key Largo or perhaps Big Pine Key. My husband isn't a diver, so topside life needs to be engaging (good food, excursions). He likes to wildlife watch, sit on the beach with beer, hike, jeep, explore, etc (almost anything not water based). I was thinking about Grand Cayman as drift diving seems intimidating for someone with only 4 dives under my belt (ruling out Cozumel). I would be worried about being disoriented or not having buoyancy under control in a drift dive. I also like to go slow and inspect the small stuff. Grand Cayman seems to have a good topside (though expensive) and good diving. How does Isla Mujeres compare to Grand Cayman for beginners? Should I be intimidated by Cozumel? Should I stick with the Keys? I'd like to ease into deeper depths while still enjoying reefs. I'm not super interested in wrecks. I realize there is a lot of individualism to these questions, and I'm Googling options heavily, but wanted to hear from the good people of Scuba Board.

Thank you, I'm excited to join the diving community!

Wonderful first post! Good points and questions.
1) depends on location. 90 feet in Bonaire feels like 20 feet in m,y local quarry, except the viz is better in Bonaire.
2) Forceful Vaulala is a terrible idea. Always better to equalize other ways. See 6 Methods to Equalize Your Ears
3) If you have a good instructor, do AOW soon. This can mitigate developing any bad habits, provide more comfort with buoyancy/trim/propulsion, etc. Underwater Nav is excellent and required by PADI. Don't waste an AOW dive on Nitroxl; there are no in-water skills other than not going too deep. If the instructor knows something about the environment, then U/W Natualaist (and Fish ID) can be excellent; otherwise they can be a waste of time and money. Just remember that not ALL training has to be about your diving skills; a class to learn soemthing about the ocean is OK too!
4) If a mask does not fit, get a different mask. Trimming them rarely works out well. When you try on a mask, try and have a mouthpiece in your mouth so as to avoid exactly the problem you had.
5) I'm a huge fan of Bonaire for new divers; easy diving, all depths available, navigation is easy, lots to see, healthy.

 

[Litefoot]

I’m interested to know where the “lagoon” was that you used. Was it the one at Kawama?

Edit: I certified at Islamorada (Key Dives) and I had some serious anxiety about descending to 60’. But then as I’m following along behind the instructor on the second checkout dive, hugging tight to my buddy, it surprised me to see 58’ depth on my DC. In those conditions it felt no different than 30’.

 

[SeaBunny88]

I’m interested to know where the “lagoon” was that you used. Was it the one at Kawama?

Edit: I certified at Islamorada (Key Dives) and I had some serious anxiety about descending to 60’. But then as I’m following along behind the instructor on the second checkout dive, hugging tight to my buddy, it surprised me to see 58’ depth on my DC. In those conditions it felt no different than 30’.

That's good to hear! We were in the lagoon at the Jules Undersea Hotel. We actually went up into the hotel for a minute!

That's good to hear. I don't think I'll be uncomfortable at 60', but I also don't want to get down there on a dive and feel anxiety with a group. My next dive trip is unlikely to be with my friend, I'll probably be paired up by the dive shop. I plan on hiring a dive guide wherever I end up on my next trip. The lagoon was super low vis, and the reef was 20-30' vis. I think that will have a lot to do with comfort.

 

[SeaBunny88]

LOL, I never heard of cutting a mask skirt - unless of course it is to smooth out a rip, or a bunch of damage from cockroaches. You will be shopping for new mask soon. Hopefully the remainder of the dive related advice you've received is better than break out the scissors.

If your ear feels fine now, there is probably nothing to do, but you need to be gentle with your ears all the time or your diving career will be over before it starts.

I believe, it is important to dive several times, ASAP after the OW course. You need to find easy, simple dives and people to go with. You will forget what you learned quickly if you don't dive a bunch after the course. Taking the AOW course is also a very valid way to rapidly gain the experience that you need, and hopefully will be well supervised by a good instructor.

60 feet feels different than 30 and 90 feels different than 60. Once you do several dozen dives at those depths, the difference may be almost inconsequential, but depth is a significant aspect of a dive which sets the "mood", if nothing else.

You know, I thought as I was mid-cut, that I maybe should have asked for some other opinions. And maybe I shouldn't have messed with a good thing, since the seal was great and the lens seemed great and the irritation was minor... but I may have made a ~$65ish mistake. I would happily repurchase and not cut into the mask. I was a little giddy with excitement.

After much more reading, I will be using alternative equalization methods for sure. I'll also practice equalizing frequently at home to keep everything moving.

I think I'll just go for AOW.

Thanks for the quick response!

 

[SeaBunny88]

Wonderful first post! Good points and questions.
1) depends on location. 90 feet in Bonaire feels like 20 feet in m,y local quarry, except the viz is better in Bonaire.
2) Forceful Vaulala is a terrible idea. Always better to equalize other ways. See 6 Methods to Equalize Your Ears
3) If you have a good instructor, do AOW soon. This can mitigate developing any bad habits, provide more comfort with buoyancy/trim/propulsion, etc. Underwater Nav is excellent and required by PADI. Don't waste an AOW dive on Nitroxl; there are no in-water skills other than not going too deep. If the instructor knows something about the environment, then U/W Natualaist (and Fish ID) can be excellent; otherwise they can be a waste of time and money. Just remember that not ALL training has to be about your diving skills; a class to learn soemthing about the ocean is OK too!
4) If a mask does not fit, get a different mask. Trimming them rarely works out well. When you try on a mask, try and have a mouthpiece in your mouth so as to avoid exactly the problem you had.
5) I'm a huge fan of Bonaire for new divers; easy diving, all depths available, navigation is easy, lots to see, healthy.

Thank you for the response! The lagoon we were in for the 20-25ft OW dives was super low vis, and I was so comfortable going deeper in higher vis. I'm hoping the same applies from 30-60ft. I just didn't want to have unreal expectations or hold up a group if I ended up having anxiety. My next diving trip will probably be without my friend, so my buddy will be either a private dive guide or a pairing from the dive shop wherever I go.

I am definitely going to use other methods to equalize.

I'm a terrestrial biologist who wanted to be a marine biologist as a kid (I got somewhat close) so taking any naturalist/ID courses is extremely appealing to me.

I didn't know to try the mask on with a mouthpiece in--and it wasn't suggested at Divers Direct, probably because I was looking at a cheaper mask. I'll take your advice next time!

I heard Bonaire can be boring for non-diving partners, but I will look into it more!

 

[FishWatcher747]

I heard Bonaire can be boring for non-diving partners, but I will look into it more!

I did a lot of diving in Key Largo as a new diver. Advantages are easier to get to, lots of 30 foot reef dives. Disadvantages are boat diving only and it gets blown out more by weather than Cozumel, Bonaire or Curacao.

Bonaire is great for a diver but not much for nondiving spouse.

Cozumel is easy to get to but is steep on the learning curve as regards depth and currents.

Curacao checks all your boxes. Very easy diving, easy sandy entries, lots to do for spouse. Doesn't get blown out by weather much. For a first timer staying at Lions Dive would be a good choice. There was a recent thread by an inexperienced female diver about this very topic and that is what she has booked.

Beginner Diving in Curacao??

Hi all, My husband and I just had a refresher course in Cozumel after 30 years of not diving and when we did dive, we only went a few times back then. We did two long dives the second day of our refresher course, 40 feet deep. We would love to dive Curacao but I'm concerned because we are not...

scubaboard.com

 

[SeaBunny88]

Curaçao seems amazing, I think it went to the top of my list. The dive packages are really affordable and the island looks beautiful. I bet my next trip is either there or back to the keys!

I did a lot of diving in Key Largo as a new diver. Advantages are easier to get to, lots of 30 foot reef dives. Disadvantages are boat diving only and it gets blown out more by weather than Cozumel, Bonaire or Curacao.

Bonaire is great for a diver but not much for nondiving spouse.

Cozumel is easy to get to but is steep on the learning curve as regards depth and currents.

Curacao checks all your boxes. Very easy diving, easy sandy entries, lots to do for spouse. Doesn't get blown out by weather much. For a first timer staying at Lions Dive would be a good choice. There was a recent thread by an inexperienced female diver about this very topic and that is what she has booked.

Beginner Diving in Curacao??

Hi all, My husband and I just had a refresher course in Cozumel after 30 years of not diving and when we did dive, we only went a few times back then. We did two long dives the second day of our refresher course, 40 feet deep. We would love to dive Curacao but I'm concerned because we are not...

scubaboard.com