New Montana Diver (Soon!)

[Seaweed Doc]

We might seem like old curmudgeons but we’re really not.

Speak for yourself. I am definitely a curmudgeon and no one would mistake me for young.

And welcome, Nathan! Even if we are old curmudgeons, we will support you.

 

[johndiver999]

At least for my pool dive my instructors would give us instructions on the surface, then we would submerge and they would demonstrate the skill, and then give the students the signal to demonstrate the skill. I was nervous at first too, but my instructors quickly made it easy to learn each skill. Not sure if it'll be the same at the crater. Good luck on your dive!

You should learn NOTHING in the open water dive. In other words, you should be asked to perform only skills that you have already demonstrated mastery of, in the pool. Your instructor probably should emphasize this point.. "we are only going to do things that you have already done, there are no surprises or tricks planned".

If your instructor has made you feel comfortable in confined water, then there is no reason to expect that s/he shouldn't be able to do the same in open water. I always thought it unfair that students (in some settings) have one instructor in the pool and then a completely different one in open water; that always seemed to be an unfair stressor to me.

 

[pauldw]

60' is all the way to the bottom, pretty much holding onto a bar there while head down and feet up (so you don't kick up silt), and from there you can put your hand in a bubbling thermal feature for fun. Because of the thermal aspect of the place, if they told you that you won't need any kind of wetsuit at all, believe it. There's sort of a little open hot tub like area on one side of the deck, only it's more like a cool tub since there's a hose flowing into it to give you a reprieve if you need it.

 

[Pryme_Minister]

60' is all the way to the bottom, pretty much holding onto a bar there while head down and feet up (so you don't kick up silt), and from there you can put your hand in a bubbling thermal feature for fun. Because of the thermal aspect of the place, if they told you that you won't need any kind of wetsuit at all, believe it. There's sort of a little open hot tub like area on one side of the deck, only it's more like a cool tub since there's a hose flowing into it to give you a reprieve if you need it.

Yes, they told us that no wetsuit is needed. Which is great for me because I overheated in our 80 degree pool class.

 

[MaxE]

Welcome!

Go Griz!

 

[Pryme_Minister]

Welcome!

Go Griz!

Ehh it was a pretty sorry run this year.

 

[Scott]

Yes, they told us that no wetsuit is needed. Which is great for me because I overheated in our 80 degree pool class.

Then you'll be cooking in the 90 degree water. Good luck and enjoy the journey.

 

[PeterRabbit]

Just got back from Homestead Crater. It was a blast! Peregrine TX reported water temp at 92 degrees. The air temperature inside the dome was nice and warm too. Outside was freezing cold with snow. Word of advice (which I was taught supposed to do anyways), when you ascend, look up! There is a large T shaped dock which extends over part of the water, and there are some steel horizontal beams under the water. I came very close to whacking my head on one because as I was ascending, I wasn't where I thought I was, and I stopped myself right as I was about to hit it.

Hydrate well before the dive. I drank lots of water and some liquid IV in the hours leading up to the dive. I thought the warm water would be too hot, but it didn't bother me that much.

There was another group there just floating in the water at the surface, and a kid dropped his GoPro in the water. He looked really sad, and asked our dive master if he could possibly get it. He agreed. We all dove down and watched him get it, then he went around filming our dive group with it, and returned to the surface and handed it to the kid. He will be in for a surprise when he reviews the footage!

 

[happy-diver]

that always seemed to be an unfair stressor to me.

Just as your post filling my head with irrelevant complications is an unfair stressor to me man