Cert1967
Contributor
We had the distinct pleasure of being students of the one and only NETDOC this week at his home base Key Largo, Florida. Pete is not only a superb instructor; he is an all-around good guy. I cant list enough superlatives to describe how enjoyable he is to be with. And there is more Elena Rodriguez as in MSELENAOUS, one ups Pete she is just as nice and is much better looking!
The Setup
My wife and I realized that our trim and buoyancy while perhaps decent for vacation divers wasnt as good as it could be or in fact should be for optimum safety and enjoyment. Liz was certified in 2005 by Dressel in Cozumel. It was a short and old school certification. As I recall she was anchored to the bottom for all skills and drills, carrying enough lead for a hard hat diver! Myself, I was certified a while back, life had led to a substantial time break in diving and my habits were bad. We had also switched to BPW and with all things new its a learning curve. Why not try and be better, safer and have a more enjoyable experience?
We started the instruction with Pete at an early morning breakfast meeting. He is friendly, engaging, witty, and quickly elicited from us our history, and expectations. I liked his style; we knew what would happen and what was expected of us. We are from Vail, Colorado and its exactly how a good private lesson on the mountain starts. Pete integrates proper safety procedures into his training starting with our first meeting. The class was trim/buoyancy, Pete delivered a lot more.
The Training
We spent the first day at the local pool, which we had to ourselves. The pool featured a true deep end and several deeper lanes. Breathing awareness, proper dive posture, and frog-kicks were the goals. We learned we could pick up a significant amount of weight mine was an additional 10 pounds off the bottom while maintaining trim/buoyancy by using proper breath control. Doff/Don in trim followed, as did shared reg buddy breathing in trim. It was easy with a number of fluffs we had a great instructor.
The next day was a trip to the heavily silted/mucked bottom at Cannon Beach. We each had a few fluffs, but not that many. Pete had said that muscle memory would improve with a nights passing and he was right. The SMB launches in trim needed a few repeats. Cannon has muck that must be feet deep, you could bury your arm and not reach bottom. The site has several ledges and was an ideal training site. Nothing like a cloud of dust to reinforce proper trim and buoyancy great feedback. Fortunately, we stirred up only a modest about of silt.
Our final day started with a short hop to the USGC Duane with Ocean Divers providing the transport. With a fair current our decent was on the mooring line to about 40 feet. From there our buoyancy and trim were IMO much improved from day one. A little adjustment to the wreck environment, the size of the Duane in particular, was required. Actually, we were able to enjoy the wreck without concentrating on trim/buoyancy we were just there doing the dive.
Next was a shallow reef dive and it really seemed to set in that is the trim/buoyancy thing. A return to site for a night dive capped off our training with Pete. These dives we hit it pretty well.
Each sessions debrief with Pete was an important part of the training we got to visit a number of Key Largos best eateries! More important Petes debrief style is very good. He starts with a self-reporting moment, tell you how he thought you did and ends with goals for the next session. Its classic education and delivered in a positive manner.
End Game
So whats the end game? First, make no mistake this is remediation of dive practices that should have been learned in initial training. This trim/buoyancy thing made diving quite a bit more enjoyable and undoubtedly far safer. Pete didn't teach us any calculus or physics just basic concepts and practices to achieve our goals.
We now have the tools to move towards better trim/buoyancy, be safe and have more fun. We will continue the process and I am sure that we will become better divers.
Back to NETDOC/ MSELENAOUS
NETDOC is a really great instructor and an excellent diver. He is witty and brings a lot of FUN to his sessions. Its hard to know when the learning stops and the socialization begins. His avatar well hes rock solid in the water perfect trim/buoyancy. OK, so rock solid isnt the right metaphor perhaps fish solid?
And MSELENAOUS? Did I tell you she is a pleasure to be with? Well she is and we will soon make plans to return to Florida to dive with her.
Liz and I were privileged to meet both Pete and Elena. We are both profoundly thankful.
Hopefully our wait-list spot on the Cozumel invasion will clear and we will be able to dive with her and the other accomplished divers on ScubaBoard.
The Setup
My wife and I realized that our trim and buoyancy while perhaps decent for vacation divers wasnt as good as it could be or in fact should be for optimum safety and enjoyment. Liz was certified in 2005 by Dressel in Cozumel. It was a short and old school certification. As I recall she was anchored to the bottom for all skills and drills, carrying enough lead for a hard hat diver! Myself, I was certified a while back, life had led to a substantial time break in diving and my habits were bad. We had also switched to BPW and with all things new its a learning curve. Why not try and be better, safer and have a more enjoyable experience?
We started the instruction with Pete at an early morning breakfast meeting. He is friendly, engaging, witty, and quickly elicited from us our history, and expectations. I liked his style; we knew what would happen and what was expected of us. We are from Vail, Colorado and its exactly how a good private lesson on the mountain starts. Pete integrates proper safety procedures into his training starting with our first meeting. The class was trim/buoyancy, Pete delivered a lot more.
The Training
We spent the first day at the local pool, which we had to ourselves. The pool featured a true deep end and several deeper lanes. Breathing awareness, proper dive posture, and frog-kicks were the goals. We learned we could pick up a significant amount of weight mine was an additional 10 pounds off the bottom while maintaining trim/buoyancy by using proper breath control. Doff/Don in trim followed, as did shared reg buddy breathing in trim. It was easy with a number of fluffs we had a great instructor.
The next day was a trip to the heavily silted/mucked bottom at Cannon Beach. We each had a few fluffs, but not that many. Pete had said that muscle memory would improve with a nights passing and he was right. The SMB launches in trim needed a few repeats. Cannon has muck that must be feet deep, you could bury your arm and not reach bottom. The site has several ledges and was an ideal training site. Nothing like a cloud of dust to reinforce proper trim and buoyancy great feedback. Fortunately, we stirred up only a modest about of silt.
Our final day started with a short hop to the USGC Duane with Ocean Divers providing the transport. With a fair current our decent was on the mooring line to about 40 feet. From there our buoyancy and trim were IMO much improved from day one. A little adjustment to the wreck environment, the size of the Duane in particular, was required. Actually, we were able to enjoy the wreck without concentrating on trim/buoyancy we were just there doing the dive.
Next was a shallow reef dive and it really seemed to set in that is the trim/buoyancy thing. A return to site for a night dive capped off our training with Pete. These dives we hit it pretty well.
Each sessions debrief with Pete was an important part of the training we got to visit a number of Key Largos best eateries! More important Petes debrief style is very good. He starts with a self-reporting moment, tell you how he thought you did and ends with goals for the next session. Its classic education and delivered in a positive manner.
End Game
So whats the end game? First, make no mistake this is remediation of dive practices that should have been learned in initial training. This trim/buoyancy thing made diving quite a bit more enjoyable and undoubtedly far safer. Pete didn't teach us any calculus or physics just basic concepts and practices to achieve our goals.
We now have the tools to move towards better trim/buoyancy, be safe and have more fun. We will continue the process and I am sure that we will become better divers.
Back to NETDOC/ MSELENAOUS
NETDOC is a really great instructor and an excellent diver. He is witty and brings a lot of FUN to his sessions. Its hard to know when the learning stops and the socialization begins. His avatar well hes rock solid in the water perfect trim/buoyancy. OK, so rock solid isnt the right metaphor perhaps fish solid?
And MSELENAOUS? Did I tell you she is a pleasure to be with? Well she is and we will soon make plans to return to Florida to dive with her.
Liz and I were privileged to meet both Pete and Elena. We are both profoundly thankful.
Hopefully our wait-list spot on the Cozumel invasion will clear and we will be able to dive with her and the other accomplished divers on ScubaBoard.
