New, Spoiled, and Loving it....

[Grendel]

Holy Cow!
I came in to work this morning hoping for at least one or two replies to my post and KABOOM! Yet anonther reason to like this board; instant feedback!
As for the giant stride entry off of a CVN........ I think I'll pass since I prefer to not wear my butt like a hat (lol). On the flip side, being in the Navy has its advantages since I travel frequently and can catch international MAC flights with my wife to lots of great dive spots! We bought DIN first stages with yoke converters in case we had the opportunity to dive in Europe. Probably overkill but it only cost about $60 more apiece.
BTW, what are you opinions on our deep dives in Saba as newly certified OW divers? Our first dive there was to 85 feet followed by another to approx. 70. Since we felt comfortable (after our initial reservations - our cert dives maxed out at a whopping 35 feet) and our dive master felt comfortable with our skills, the second day took us to 130' on our first dive. It was a bit harrowing at first, being only our eighth dive, but we relaxed quickly and had a ball. I know that PADI says no more than 60' for OW cert. divers, but that assumes that it is only you and your buddy (no DM) correct? I have a healthy respect for deep diving and wouldn't think of doing so on our own at this point (still have lots to learn) but it was a blast. I can't believe we were as hesitant as we were initially. My wife got mildly narced on one of the deep dives and loved it. I have informed her that she better not love it too much since it can kick you butt if you aren't careful.

Anyway, I'm babbling and will now get back to work.

Remember: Flying is the art of throwing yourself at the ground and missing!

Grendel

 

[large_diver]

Grendel,

First -- welcome to the board. We all have this scuba addiction and are glad you've caught the "bug"!

130 feet on your 8th dive -- wow. I went down to 100feet at about the same time in my diving "career" and I immediately knew this was a mistake. It was part of an AOW class I had rushed into after only 4 post BOW dives. I was with an instructor, but I realized that this was risky. I was nervous due to the conditions (my first boat dive, 6-8 foot seas, 10-15 foot visibility) -- and realize now that if something had gone wrong, I could easily have panicked.

As navy pilot, it sounds like you've gone through lots of crisis management training and will no doubt stay calm in the event of an emergency. Hindsight tells me I should have waited 10-20 more dives before doing this.

The main thing I worry about with a dive to that depth is your ability to get to the surface if something goes wrong. If you are diving with your wife, likely both on single tanks, and one of you has to start sharing air with the other from bottom to surface, will you have enough gas to make it back to the surface, including a safety stop?

There is a 110-120 foot dive here in New England on the last German U-boat sunk in WWII -- the U-853. Last year when I was first certified, I was all gung ho to go out and try this dive by the end of the summer. As I gained experience and began to talk to other divers, I soon realized that this was foolish, due to challenging conditions (far offshore, strong currents, poor vis, etc.) and gas management issues. Trying a dive like this, IMHO, requires careful gas management and some sort of redundancy (probably a pony at a minimum). I also tend to take a conservative approach to a dive like this, trying to "work my way up" to it by making sure I get at least a few 80-100 foot dives in right before attempting the deeper dive -- a chance to be "fine tuned" with gear and skills. If I am adding any equipment to my rig, I want to do this first on shallower dives. A deep, challenging dive like this is NOT the time to try out new gear.

Please take my comments with a grain of salt. I have only 33 dives under my belt and am a very conservative diver. Just thought I'd offer my opinion of MY diving style. Also, diving in murky New England waters on wrecks covered with monofilament and fishing nets is much different than the gin clear waters of Saba.

Dive safe, and again, welcome!

 

[Mario S Caner]

Grendal, A good rule of thumb in planning the depth of a dive is no more than twice the depth you can free dive to. This will help in certain out of air and low on air emergencies that may come up. Communicate with your buddy before the dive and throughout the dive. Stay close to one another and pay attention to your buddy. If at all possible, try to take along a redundant air supply as well. It may sound like overkill, but better safe than sorry heh.


Sea you in the Deep Blue!

 

[joewr]

Hi, Grendel!

Did you forget to mention the wonderful, friendly divers that keep you company during the cab ride and out to the dive sites? But I thought we agreed to keep Saba a secret for a very select few--but, then again, this Board is very select!

Joewr

 

[Grendel]

Hey Joewr!
Good to hear from you! I know that I blew our blood oath but I think I fried a few too many synapses trying to take in all of the beauty in Saba! I presume that your ear is feeling better? It was great to meet you an Barbara and I'm sorry that we didn't get more opportunities to dive together! Glad to see that you made it home safe and sound.

Take care,
Grendel (Scott)

 

[L. Smallman]

Hi Scott,

Welcome to the wonderful world of scuba! I have heard some other wonderful trip reports about Saba. I'm so jealous! I agree your take on the PADI training. I also agree that the fault can be with the individual instructor. When I was exiting the water at the end of my open water training some other divers who had also just finised their open water training were getting ready to redescend. I called out to them to ask why they were diving again. Their response was they were getting started on their advanced training.

I know this is an individual preference, but I would much rather practice what I had just learned and feel that I had mastered it to some extent before I literally jump in to advanced training. From what I could gather on subsequent contact with that group of divers, they were all getting ready for an international dive trip and wanted the advanced training to be able to do the more advanced dives with family members who were already much further advanced. The dive instructor appeared to be under more than a little pressure by the students to go forward with their training in time for their upcoming dive trip. I believe there may be a misunderstanding by some folks as to what it means to be categorized as a novice, intermediate or advanced diver. The number and frequency of the type of diving accomplished is what should determine your dive experience in conjunction with the level of training achieved. I want to be able to experience the best diving has to offer, but not before I am capable of handling it.

Just my opinion,

Laura

 

[TexasMike]

Laura,

What you just said was well said, and I agree. Too often a family group is going on "THE BIG TRIP" and members rush to get the "confined" training necessary to be allowed on the boat. But unfortunately, don't have the experience to be both comfortable and safe.

Doing a deep dive (100-110 feet) early in your dive experience (less than 15 dives) is okay as long as you take it slow and easy and you and your buddy watch each other closely for any problems, and you have someone with you that's rescue certified.

My open water training dives were in 18 meters salt water (at the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, Australia) which is kinda deep. I think this helped me become acclimatized to deeper depths early on. But I still took the PADI AOW class deep dive with an instructor to help increase my confidence before I went that deep again. Now I feel comfortable to attempt deep dives whenever I get the chance.