New to diving! ..have question about open water

[73diver]

I also learned to dive in Monterey. I agree that swimming on the surface makes you tired. Sometimes there is a bit of surge to battle as well. I have tried swimming on my back with my gear on or by taking the gear off and towing it. Or, by swimming face down with the snorkel. Some of my dive buddies and I use the “power snorkel” approach periodically. That involves getting neatly neutrally buoyant in the water and swimming just inches below the surface. The propulsion is more like diving. Of course, this technique works only if you have the extra air. I practice surface swimming (I’m 71 years old) with mask and snorkel with and without fins at a local pool in an attempt to keep the lungs and legs “experienced.”

 

[aquacat8]

Hahahaha! Girl, maybe you don’t know this, but if you get certified shore diving in Monterey cold water, it’s like surviving some kind of hazing ritual! It just gets easier from there, and one day you might be on a Truth Aquatics boat in the Channel Islands laughing as tropical diving visitors with tons of dives suddenly can’t control their buoyancy. Relax, you’re doing great!

 

[aquacat8]

You want Monterey Shore diving at its finest make a reservation at Point Lobos Park. From the parking lot is a few steps to the boat ramp you walk down into the water. Picnic lunch. Repeat!

 

[glennster]

i second 73divers suggestion. when on the surface, drop your tank and bcd, inflate the bcd and either tow it in, or, i prefer to push it in front of me. use the buoyancy of the vest as a "floatie". if you want to tow it, get a tag line about 10 or 12 feet of 1/4 nylon line and use it as a tow rope. that way your fins are not kicking the rig as you swim in.

 

[aquacat8]

Uh, she is not in a quarry guys... tow the rig in?? That beach involves a surf exit! Imagine the swimmer, the rig, and the tow line tumbling end over end. It is true that it’s easier to swim in slightly under water. At the end of the dive reserve extra air, surface, take a compass heading on the beach, descend to swim in just under the kelp, as you approach the beach in the shallows swim in along the bottom, and if it’s rough at all crawl out, if it’s calm stand up and walk out backwards so you don’t trip on your fins, scanning both behind you where you’re going and in front of you at the ocean. If a wave comes you have to choose whether to scoot out faster or sit into it and try again. If you get tumbled tuck your head like a surfer and hold your reg in and mask on. Keep the reg in until you are on dry land! And make sure before you try this you don’t have dangling gear like a free hanging octopus or console.

 

[glennster]

Uh, she is not in a quarry guys... tow the rig in?? That beach involves a surf exit! Imagine the swimmer, the rig, and the tow line tumbling end over end. It is true that it’s easier to swim in slightly under water. At the end of the dive reserve extra air, surface, take a compass heading on the beach, descend to swim in just under the kelp, as you approach the beach in the shallows swim in along the bottom, and if it’s rough at all crawl out, if it’s calm stand up and walk out backwards so you don’t trip on your fins, scanning both behind you where you’re going and in front of you at the ocean. If a wave comes you have to choose whether to scoot out faster or sit into it and try again. If you get tumbled tuck your head like a surfer and hold your reg in and mask on. Keep the reg in until you are on dry land! And make sure before you try this you don’t have dangling gear like a free hanging octopus or console.

the op stated she was fatigued on a long surface swim back to shore. if she is on scuba she will be out of air after a dive on a long surface swim in. if the conditions are that rough on the shore exit she could always don her tank near shore and scuba on in.

 

[aquacat8]

I guess there are lots of different ways of doing things!