JohnRVA
Registered
Hi,
My wife and I were in Roatan last week and did the DSD experience that I had booked through my resort's dive shop. Diving is something that I always thought looked like it would be fun and interesting, and I figured checking it out while I was in Roatan would be a great way to try out the sport. I'll admit that I didn't do much research ahead of time, other than choosing a reputable dive shop.
The package included 3-4 hours of training and then one dive in the ocean. We booked a second dive, but didn't end up using it. Our training was on Tuesday. We started with the 20-30 minute DVD from PADI, went over a few quick questions, and then headed to the pool. We practiced mask clearing and regulator recovery a few times, and then swam around the pool for a few laps which unfortunately wasn't ideal since it was only 5 feet deep and maybe 40 long. I didn't look at the clock but we probably spent 30-45 minutes in the water.
We weren't able to do our open water dive on Tuesday or Wednesday due to strong winds, so we scheduled it for Thursday morning. Wednesday night into Thursday I got a little sick with a stomach bug, so unfortunately we had to push it out to Friday, the day before we were headed home.
Friday morning we got to the dive site and into the water. We began the descent and my wife started to panic as her mask was filling with water. I was pretty sure my wife was going to call it off based on the look in her eyes, but the instructor was very calm and reassuring and we were able to go on. We went down about 20' to a flat sandy spot on the bottom. After taking a minute or two to make sure everyone was comfortable, we started swimming toward the reef. We didn't really practice buoyancy control in the pool, so the instructor was going to handle it. I'm not exactly sure why, but we had trouble with mine and a couple of times I started rising quickly when I wasn't supposed to.
I started getting a little nervous as we got close to the reef, and especially when we were over it in relatively shallow water. I guess things appear closer under water than they really are, and another guy in our resort got a nasty cut from coral when he was snorkeling, so I was hesitant to get too close to it. This lead to come miscommunication between me and the instructor. She was pushing me toward the coral by my tank nozzle as I was keep away from it using my arms. She kept signaling to me to stay horizontal and swim with my fins, but I just wanted to stay back.
The water in my mask had filled past my nose level, so I wanted to clear it like I learned in the pool. First time I tried it, I did something wrong and let water in from the bottom completely filling it. After that I couldn't get it cleared. I knew we were only in about 10' of water, so I did my best to stay calm even though I could barely see and signal that I wanted to go up. We went up, I fixed my mask, talked about how I should stay horizontal and not try to swim with my arms, and then went back down.
The rest of the dive was fine. We saw some neat coral and fish, and made it back on the boat without incident.
In retrospect,
1.) I wish I would have done more research ahead of time
2.) I wish I would have spent more time practicing the skills in the pool before heading into the ocean
3.) I should have spent time practicing swimming around the sandy bottom before trying to navigate the coral. Practicing in a 5' deep pool just isn't the same.
4.) I enjoyed it and want to dive again, but I don't know if I'd do the DSD plus one dive again. I didn't want to plan an entire vacation around diving since I didn't even know if I'd like it, but it takes at least a couple of dives to have any sort of comfort at all under water. With 20/20 hindsight I probably would have signed up for a open water cert class locally, and then did my OW dives in Roatan.
Also, diving seems like a really tough hobby to do just sometimes. I want to go again, and am thinking about signing up for a course locally, but I'm not sure if it's worth it since I don't want to plan every vacation around it...and maybe not even once a year. I have other hobbies (also expensive and time consuming, haha). There are some quarries around here, but I'm not sure if they'll cut it after getting started in the Caribbean.
Hope someone else can learn from my experience.
My wife and I were in Roatan last week and did the DSD experience that I had booked through my resort's dive shop. Diving is something that I always thought looked like it would be fun and interesting, and I figured checking it out while I was in Roatan would be a great way to try out the sport. I'll admit that I didn't do much research ahead of time, other than choosing a reputable dive shop.
The package included 3-4 hours of training and then one dive in the ocean. We booked a second dive, but didn't end up using it. Our training was on Tuesday. We started with the 20-30 minute DVD from PADI, went over a few quick questions, and then headed to the pool. We practiced mask clearing and regulator recovery a few times, and then swam around the pool for a few laps which unfortunately wasn't ideal since it was only 5 feet deep and maybe 40 long. I didn't look at the clock but we probably spent 30-45 minutes in the water.
We weren't able to do our open water dive on Tuesday or Wednesday due to strong winds, so we scheduled it for Thursday morning. Wednesday night into Thursday I got a little sick with a stomach bug, so unfortunately we had to push it out to Friday, the day before we were headed home.
Friday morning we got to the dive site and into the water. We began the descent and my wife started to panic as her mask was filling with water. I was pretty sure my wife was going to call it off based on the look in her eyes, but the instructor was very calm and reassuring and we were able to go on. We went down about 20' to a flat sandy spot on the bottom. After taking a minute or two to make sure everyone was comfortable, we started swimming toward the reef. We didn't really practice buoyancy control in the pool, so the instructor was going to handle it. I'm not exactly sure why, but we had trouble with mine and a couple of times I started rising quickly when I wasn't supposed to.
I started getting a little nervous as we got close to the reef, and especially when we were over it in relatively shallow water. I guess things appear closer under water than they really are, and another guy in our resort got a nasty cut from coral when he was snorkeling, so I was hesitant to get too close to it. This lead to come miscommunication between me and the instructor. She was pushing me toward the coral by my tank nozzle as I was keep away from it using my arms. She kept signaling to me to stay horizontal and swim with my fins, but I just wanted to stay back.
The water in my mask had filled past my nose level, so I wanted to clear it like I learned in the pool. First time I tried it, I did something wrong and let water in from the bottom completely filling it. After that I couldn't get it cleared. I knew we were only in about 10' of water, so I did my best to stay calm even though I could barely see and signal that I wanted to go up. We went up, I fixed my mask, talked about how I should stay horizontal and not try to swim with my arms, and then went back down.
The rest of the dive was fine. We saw some neat coral and fish, and made it back on the boat without incident.
In retrospect,
1.) I wish I would have done more research ahead of time
2.) I wish I would have spent more time practicing the skills in the pool before heading into the ocean
3.) I should have spent time practicing swimming around the sandy bottom before trying to navigate the coral. Practicing in a 5' deep pool just isn't the same.
4.) I enjoyed it and want to dive again, but I don't know if I'd do the DSD plus one dive again. I didn't want to plan an entire vacation around diving since I didn't even know if I'd like it, but it takes at least a couple of dives to have any sort of comfort at all under water. With 20/20 hindsight I probably would have signed up for a open water cert class locally, and then did my OW dives in Roatan.
Also, diving seems like a really tough hobby to do just sometimes. I want to go again, and am thinking about signing up for a course locally, but I'm not sure if it's worth it since I don't want to plan every vacation around it...and maybe not even once a year. I have other hobbies (also expensive and time consuming, haha). There are some quarries around here, but I'm not sure if they'll cut it after getting started in the Caribbean.
Hope someone else can learn from my experience.
...haha! Not much monetary investment in gaining your OW and renting gear the first few dives...give it a better go and I believe you'll put those damn golf clubs up in the attic
