OPEN WATER DIVES
(will add after doing them this weekend)
DAY 1 DIVE 1
My wife and I arrived on Saturday morning to do our first two check-out dives. We were both excited and a bit afraid. I was mostly afraid of being too cold, seeing I was cold in the pool with 3mm. My wife was more worried about not seeing the bottom.
Our class was supposed to have 9 divers, but we quickly learned 4 canceled. It was me, my wife, two junior divers, and one other adult. We put our kit together. My wife was using all rental gear except for personal items (mask, snorkel, booties, and fins). I brought my halcyon infinity, dive rite xt open water package (assembled and inspected by my LDS before the class), my new aqualung I300c, new 5mm gloves, and a barely used Henderson hooded semi-dry via eBay.
After a briefing of what we were going to do for the first dive, we were surface swimming to the float. My wife had a look of panic while swimming out to the float. I grabbed her hand in support. The first skill we were going to work on was a partial mask flood and clear. The platform was around 35 feet underwater with a temperature of 49 degrees Fahrenheit. My wife and I were the first ones down with the instructor. There was a second instructor at the surface. We waited almost 10 minutes before two of the younger divers made it down. The 5th never came down. Our instructor had us do our partial mask clear which did not give my wife and I any problem. One of the junior divers was unable to do the skill and went to the surface. Our instructor had us all return to the service where we sat for 15 minutes. We learned the 5th diver couldn’t clear her ears and was back on shore.
We descended back down to do a few other skills including regulator recovery. I was the first person to do the regulator recovery skill. I took a breath removed my regulator. When I put it towards the side, it began to free flow. I first thought it was just releasing air and could be remedied by orienting the mouthpiece down and putting my finger against it, but it did not stop. My instructor grabbed it and tried the same with no luck. I then went for my secondary which instantly began to free flow as well. At this point, I was beginning to panic. My secondary was on a necklace and all of the air bubbles were causing it hard to see anything. By this point, I had been blowing bubbles (as we are taught) for some time and realized I didn’t have any more air to blow out. I tried to put my free-flowing primary regulator into my mouth partially to “sip” the air as I learned in the confined water dives, but had no luck. (Much easier in the pool when it is planned). The only thing I thought I could do in that given moment was going to the surface. Let’s just call it a CESA. By the time I got to the surface, there was no air in my steel 80, so I manually inflated my BCD.
The other instructor asked if I was alright. I told her my regulator free flowed. I am not sure if this computed right away. When the rest of the students and instructor came to the surface, he told the other instructors that both my primary and secondary free flowed. I swam to the shore. I was asked if I wanted to go back out. At this moment, I knew I needed to suck it up and get back out. If I didn’t, I am not sure I would have finished the checkout dives. A third instructor onshore grabbed a new cylinder. I grabbed the rental regulator I also brought along and got back into the water.
DAY 1 DIVE 2
The second instructor took me and my wife for what would be Dive 2. She planned to get me caught up with the skills I missed in dive 1. The regulator recovery was no problem this time around. One of the skills for dive two was a full mask flood. I was concerned about the full mask flood, but as with the partial mask flood, both my wife and I were able to complete the skill with no troubles.
I had a bit of trouble with buoyancy in the confined water dives. It really wasn’t until the end of day two of the confined water dives that I began to see some progress. We had to complete a fin pivot via low-pressure inflation. For whatever reason, I had no problem completing this skill. I was the first one to do the skill so I had time to practice moving via my breath. It still amazes me how much the air we hold in our lungs affects buoyancy.
When it came to practicing an out of air situation, I began to feel some panic set in. I had to take a few calming breaths before removing my regulator and taking my wife’s secondary air source. The ascent seemed slow. By the time we got to the surface, there was a strong wind. This made orally inflating the BCD a bit harder. Once done, we went back down with our instructor and now it was my wife’s turn to be out of air. I must admit, I was bummed at this point about not having my regulator set since I would be donating my primary and switching to the alternate hanging from my neck. I give my wife my secondary and we ascended to the service. Our instructor thought I moved a little too fast even though my computer alarm nor the instructor’s computer alarm beeped. I think the aqualungs are set at 33 feet /minute well within PADI’s standards.
By the time we were about to do the last couple of skills and underwater exploring, both of the younger drivers were shivering. One went back to the shore while the other wanted to continue. For whatever reason, this time I had troubles with my buoyancy during the swim when we got shallower. I tried to release air but apparently, my inflator hose was not high enough. One thing I noticed regarding my halcyon inflator hose compared to the rentals is that the inflator hose is very short. The instructor told me that all I need to do is turn my left shoulder up a bit.
