More newbies in the water in SoCal

[widebody50]

Hi all,

Recently, my wife and I started our OW training. We completed the knowledge requirements for the first three chapters a week ago at home. And, last weekend we were in the pool for our first dive. Everything went pretty well. We did the dive requirements for the first, oh, two and a half dives, before the pool started to become a bit too crowded with swimmers and other annoying creatures. I was very proud of my wife. I thought she might have some trouble with swapping between regulators and snorkel, and mask clearing, but she did great! Unfortunately, she had a ton of trouble with the BC we rented. It was much too loose. We did get a refund when we returned it the next day. I'll have to give Sport Chalet this, they are stand-up folks, and you can pick up your gear on Friday, return it on Sunday and only pay for one day! Can't beat that with a stick.

Today we completed our pool dive requirements and also completed the remainder of our knowledge requirements. We took the four ten-question quizzes, and did very well. We'll take the final written exam tomorrow, and do the open water dives tomorrow and Monday. Hopefully the surf and swell at La Jolla shores will cooperate, and the beachgoers will still be sleeping when we hit the water.

Today's pool session was much more physically draining than I had expected. That dang 7 mil suit makes it tough to do anything but float...and BOY do I float! lol Even with 28 lbs. of weight I am still pretty bouyant. Can't wait to see how I bob like a cork in salt water. I'm sure the additional depth will help cancel out some of the wet suit's bouyancy, and all will be well.

I'll drop in again Monday night and give you an update on our progress. Happy 4th to all, and a big thanks to the men and women of our armed forces. Keep your heads down and in the game, and our prayers will carry you home.

Rich

 

[widebody50]

Well, we did it! Sunday and Monday we completed all of our required OW dives. It was a much different experience than I had anticipated. For one, It felt like a lot of weight to carry down to the water line. I guess it just shows how out of shape I am in.

Once in the water, we both did fine, for the most part. It was much easier to establish neutral nouyancy once we had a bit of water above us. We did struggle a little maintaining the neutral bouyancy when we had depth changes though. I had a couple of experiences on the second day that I didn't expect. At the end of each dive I experienced some nausea. In fact, just after surfacing following the first dive of the day, I ended up chumming for Garibaldys :06: And at the end of the last dive of the weekend I got it again, but before we surfaced! Gag. At least it wasn't productive, so to speak. Dry heaving is all...so I didn't get any chunks into my instructor's brand new regulator.

We both had some expectations about where our difficulties might be in the OW dives, but, for the most part, they never materialized. Maybe it was the instruction, or maybe it was the slow pace of the class, or maybe we were just lucky to feel comfortable enough in the water that there were no panic moments, or real out of control episodes. Before we even went into the pool for our first dive, I had a fear that I may not be able to equalize, and that this new dream of mine would be cut short. But, with the training, and practice, it never came up as a problem. I guess being able to relax, and trust the instructor and the equipment, helps to make the whole process go that much easier.

Other than that, we both had a great time. My wife did exceptionally well. We saw a fair amount of wildlife during the 4 OW dives. More sand dollars than you could shake a stick at, quite a few sand dabs, crabs galore, one large lobster (quite feisty, in fact), a few sea slugs, and a couple of rays. No big fish.

The vis was about 6' at the break, and maybe 15-20' at the edge of the canyon (La Jolla shores). Oh! That was another thing I didn't anticipate. There was a significant thermocline at the edge of the canyon. I elected to not wear my hood the second day, because it had been very comfortable during the first two dives, the ones on Sunday. The heat sure was getting sucked out of my body through my head for a good 10 minutes.

I'm glad we did our OW dives in less than tropical conditions. Now we have a realistic idea of what diving in California is like. Well, at least a glimmer of an idea. If we got our cert on a tropical vacation, and then came home to 7 mil wetsuits, and 6' vis, well, I think we would both have been very disillusioned. Now, we're ready to hit La Paz in September, and we still have some time to catch the ferry out to Catalina at least once before then. It's hard to believe it's done, and now we're on the doorstep of the diving world! Cool!

We're both looking forward to meeting more people in south Orange County, and San Diego County, CA.

Later.

Rich and Monse Whitehouse

 

[pasley]

Welcome to both of you. Be sure to check out the Southern California sub forum here.

http://www.sandeaters.org is a great place to go to meet up with local divers from Malibu to Laguna Beach. Not a dive club, no dues, or officers or membership. But they due run a calendar with dives scheduled for every Sunday and an e-mail list you may join and people looking to dive will ping the list for a dive buddy as I am about to do in a minute. They also have a good list of local beach dives right here on the mainland with a brief description of each site.

Orange County and San Diego also have some great groups too.
http://southcoastdivers.com/
http://www.divebums.com/main.html

Now, both you and your wife are encouraged to dive weekly and keep those skills sharp. Going with a group is a lot of fun and having someone to show you the local dive spots is a great idea both from a safety stand point and for pure fun. Beach diving is inexpensive and fun, boat diving, while more expensive is fantastic. Catalina is a good place to dive, but don't forget the fantastic diving right here in Laguan Beach, Palos Verde and Malibu, as well as San Diego.

Welcome aboard.

 

[scubajoe]

Welcome to the board!
Great!!! More new happy divers!

Joe

 

[nauifins73]

Welcome to your new addiction!! Sounds like you guys did great even with a couple of glitches. But got to expect some. Keep us posted on your adventures.

Becky

 

[widebody50]

Thanks to Mel, Joe and Backy. The encouragement helps a lot.

And especially, thanks for the local links Mel. I've been checking out quite a few local web sites, including some wreck diver sites. Wreck Alley really has my attention. But, I think we are going to have to wait until we get the AOW under our belts, and just go out and dive for a while too. Plugging in to the local community sounds like a great way to keep this fledgling hobby alive and well. (BTW, the wife and I lived quite near you, until a few months ago. We moved from Long Beach to San Clemente in January. The commute was a killer.)

I certainly will keep plugged in here. And, as in the submarine service, may you have as many ascents as descents.

Rich