Matt's Trip Report -- Sunset House

[TSandM]

One of the things NW Grateful Diver taught me, when I was new, was not to exhale when I push the exhaust button on the BC. If you do that, you'll need to INHALE just about the time your head gets underwater. Instead, he had me take INHALE when I pushed the button, and as my head just got underwater, EXHALE hard and hold it for a count of three or so. That will get you about three feet underwater, and it's pretty easy from there.

The other thing he had me do was cross my ankles, so I couldn't kick my way back up to the surface. That's another big new diver problem, especially if you're a little out of balance. You start kicking to try to keep from falling over on your back, and kicking drives you straight back up to the surface.

Sorry the Frenzel didn't work for you right away -- IIRC, you had some airway control issues with your first class, too, so you may be one of those people who has some difficulty isolating the necessary motions in your hypopharynx. Keep working at it the way the second article describes; it does make life much easier.

 

[FPDocMatt]

Day 3

Awoke feeling washed out. Had had a good night's sleep, but yesterday had been tiring.

Decided to actually eat breakfast today. Not something I usually do, but thought it might give me some needed energy.

On both boat dives had trouble equalizing. Took about 10 minutes to get down to 20 feet, then no problems equalizing after that.

The first dive was more fun, because it was through canyons. Even went through one tunnel. Diving through canyons and tunnels for me is a lot more fun than just looking at fish. 85 feet.

Used the line to descend, and felt a prickly itching sensation on the back of my left hand on reaching the bottom. This continued on the boat, so one of the DM's gave me a paper towel soaked in vinegar. After 10 minutes of that, he gave me some hydrocortisone cream to apply. By the arrival at the second site, the symptoms were gone.

Then during the second dive, I had a sudden stinging sensation on the back of the right hand. Afterward on the boat, I asked for more vinegar for that hand. One of the other divers told me what the technical term was for the creature that had stung me: "a nasty" (said with a British accent--a nahstee).

The second dive was frustrating because it took me even longer to equalize. Was stuck around 12 feet for the longest time, then finally got down.

I was very pleased after the second dive to actually feel good. I didn't feel tired, and no longer felt washed out.

Between the dives I pulled my wetsuit down to the waist, dried off and put on a shirt. Took off the boots too. I had noticed the DM's always got out of their wetsuits between dives. This works, because then you feel warmer and more refreshed.

Rescue Diver day 2 was interesting, and not as strenuous as I had feared. Probably because Jaxx is a really good teacher. But it was more strenuous than day 1. You have to tow the victim, give rescue breaths, and remove his gear all at the same time. Then you have to get him up into the boat.

After the class, Kyle and I went on a short dive from the boat into the shore. Once again, I was stuck around 9 feet for the longest time (trying to equalize), eventually got down to about 25 feet and then we swam to shore.

The weird thing is that I don't feel tired today. I daresay I'm getting in shape.

A very nice Indian food dinner, reading my next Clive Cussler NUMA Files book, then turned in.

Oh, and I did see some beautiful fish today.

 

[Dr Dog]

Too bad about your issues, I do find that after about 3 days of consecutive dives, I get wore down too, I like to use those days as sit around and watch the water days. Nothing like baking in the sun for a few hours to recharge your body "solar cells".

I have a lightweight hoodie i put on between dives, Keep the cold wind of the trip from divesite to divesite off me and is also nice to have something dry on in between. I also pull down my wetsuit halfway, it also allow you to "relieve yourself" with a quick jump in the ocean, without stinkin up your wetsuit

 

[TSandM]

One of the things Aldora Divers did for us on their boats, which I absolutely loved, was to give each of us a long, windproof, fleece-lined coat to wrap up in after each dive. I found the coats -- they are made by TruWest, and they are absolutely wonderful. Peter and I each have one bought large enough to wear it over a dry suit, and it helps there, too!

 

[FPDocMatt]

One of the things Aldora Divers did for us on their boats, which I absolutely loved, was to give each of us a long, windproof, fleece-lined coat to wrap up in after each dive. I found the coats -- they are made by TruWest, and they are absolutely wonderful. Peter and I each have one bought large enough to wear it over a dry suit, and it helps there, too!

This reminds me that there are some dive ops where they pamper you--where you don't have to carry anything, for example.

At first this appealed to me, but now that I've been working out and getting some strength, I'm getting used to carrying all the gear. Keeping my fins in my hand while climbing onto the boat. Getting more self-sufficient. Feels good!

---------- Post added at 05:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:14 PM ----------

Day 4

On waking today, had decreased hearing in left ear. This is the ear I've had trouble equalizing during the whole trip. Scared me at first. The fear is that some sort of permanent damage has been done. But then I noticed that if I leaned my head to one side the hearing came back. So I figure I had some water deep down in there that won't come out, or possibly a case of swimmer's ear. Tried my favorite technique for removing water from ear canals--leaning head to side and hopping up and down on one foot. Didn't work. So bought some of the alcohol/glycerin drops from the shop, we'll see if that works. When I return home will have one of my colleagues examine my ears.

Anyway, as a result of the ear scare, I decided not to go on the boat dives today.

After a relaxing morning, finished day 3 of the Rescue Diver course. This was 2 scenarios, which were made as realistic as possible:

1. Diver surfaces, reports can't find her buddy. Kyle and I swam over to her, did an expanding square search, found the buddy. The buddy was "Bob"--a BCD and tank. (No arms no legs, get it?) Then Kyle took Bob's place on the bottom, unconscious diver under water. Brought him to the surface in the prescribed way. He was breathing, so towed him to the boat etc.

2. Panicked diver on the surface, swam to him, free dove underneath and behind him to do the tank straddle, inflate BCD, drop weights (simulated). At this point he had a cramp, helped with that. Then he was tired, so started towing. Then he lost consciousness, look listen and feel for 10 seconds, not breathing. Yelled to Jaxx to call 911. 2 rescue breaths. One rescue breath every 5 secs, in between removing his BCD. (I wasn't wearing one.) Towing back to boat. Hauling him into the boat. Then CPR.

Then Jaxx told me I'm a rescue diver. Very nice feeling, sense of accomplishment.

By the way, Jaxx is a fabulous rescue diver instructor. If you're thinking of getting this certification, I highly recommend her.

At the dive shop, wrote down all the names of all the staff who were on the boats and in the rescue course, to calculate tips. Complicated algorithm as follows:

Guided dive instructor: $20 x 1 guided dive
DM on the boat: $10 (2 ea day x 2 days)
My dive buddy on the boat: $15 (x 2 days)
Rescue Diver instructor: $20 (x 3 days)
Rescue Diver victim: $15 (x 3 days)

I feel like this isn't enough, they deserve more, but I'm limited by my budget.

All in all, this dive trip has been a big success. I highly recommend Sunset House as the place to go for a dive vacation. Everything is in one place, the food is fabulous, the people couldn't be nicer.

 

[RTee]

The thing is, if you're on the surface and appropriately weighted, if you want to descend, you exhale. But it isn't enough to just exhale once, because if you inhale as much as you just exhaled, you'll bob right back up.

Matt, you are right if using a nearly empty tank which is not the case at the beginning of the dive. Properly weighted at the beginning of the dive means that you should be about 5 lbs overweighted with a full AL 80cft tank and therefore, should not have any problem going down from the get go.

 

[Lemna]

At the dive shop, wrote down all the names of all the staff who were on the boats and in the rescue course, to calculate tips. Complicated algorithm as follows:

Guided dive instructor: $20 x 1 guided dive
DM on the boat: $10 (2 ea day x 2 days)
My dive buddy on the boat: $15 (x 2 days)
Rescue Diver instructor: $20 (x 3 days)
Rescue Diver victim: $15 (x 3 days)

I feel like this isn't enough, they deserve more, but I'm limited by my budget.

You tipped your dive buddy?!? I know Americans are way more generous than us stingy Europeans, but this is the first time I heard about tipping dive buddies. I know how my buddies would react if I asked them for a tip