New to Scuba

[animian2002]

bingo , scubaaz

I do have problem with staying upright .

experiment with my weight ..well guess I can only do in the sea..cos like wat I have said I'm leaving for malaysia today

btw. I notice u guys mentioned fin-pivot. wat's that??..is it the one crossing ur leg and holding on to the fin to practice buoyancy. ?? how do they help ???.,.and wat the difference

I notice that by doing so tend to give me cramps on the leg ??...why

ciao

 

[Spectre]

Originally posted by animian2002
btw. I notice u guys mentioned fin-pivot. wat's that??..is it the one crossing ur leg and holding on to the fin to practice buoyancy. ?? how do they help ???.,.and wat the difference

Ok... the Fin Pivot. Lay on the bottom, face down. Lock your knees so they don't bend. breathe in and hold your breath. Do you rise? If not, breathe out, put a little blast of air in your BC and breathe in again. Rise? Keep doing it until you start to rise when you breathe in. Now when you breathe out you should start to sink. Do all of this while keeping the tips of your fins on the bottom. This will have you doing push-ups, but with your lungs and not your arms!

Personally I don't really like the drill, but it's good to begin with. I aways had trouble keeping my toes down, I wanted to stay horizontal. I keep getting in trouble because I would just levitate like a flying carpet instead of keeping my toes on the bottom. Personally I think what I was doing in my OW class was better than the fin pivot anyway. While the fin pivot teaches you bouyancy control with your lungs, it does so in a matter that teaches you bad trim practices.

However for those with problems reaching neutral bouyancy, it's a good drill to teach it. I was surprised in my advanced class when they told me to go down and do a fin pivot. I didn't bother, as I achived neutral bouyancy on my own as I completed the decent. Why silt up the joint when you don't have to!

 

[devilfish]

Originally posted by animian2002
I'm going for the open water today and we are to go thru all those we have learnt during the pool session...hope fully I can do if not I'm in deep trouble

Ciao

Going to open water? I suggest you get yourself a new Instructor. With all the problems you are having, to take you to open water is irresponsible. Seem as they didn't teach you much. It is not your fault or sign of inability, just lack of instruction.

 

[animian2002]

Hi everyone

I'm back from my OW and guess wat ...I got certified . we did 4 dives with the last one being a leisure dive over the weekend at Pulau Aur, Malaysia ...

Going to open water? I suggest you get yourself a new Instructor. With all the problems you are having, to take you to open water is irresponsible. Seem as they didn't teach you much. It is not your fault or sign of inability, just lack of instruction

The Instructor went thru all that was taught in the pool in a "control" environment (12m) when we were there. All our "problems" such as buoyancy, weight issue..breathing technique etc..were solved over the first 3 dives. with discussion in between surface interval. We brought up our query during the discussion and he explained it to us what to do and wat not to do... and in no time...we managed to do it.. of course the thing abt bouyancy still required lots of practice..but as a whole..still managable.

I have a great time during my last dive...where we went deeper to 18m. the underwater world was amazing ..and I sure look forward to more dives. and I aso realized that the more relax we are , the better we do...and the more we enjoyed.

btw..a few of my "buddies" were moving on to AOW...but I felt ..it is abit rush...so how many dives do u pple think one need before they proceed to AOW ???.. I wan to do AOW too...but I felt that I shld better master my dive before moving on to high level..deeper depth..so wat do u pple think ???

ciao

 

[Spectre]

Originally posted by animian2002
btw..a few of my "buddies" were moving on to AOW...but I felt ..it is abit rush...so how many dives do u pple think one need before they proceed to AOW

I know many jump right into their AOW course, and all the students I took my AOW course with definately had done that. I personally waited a while before taking AOW, the drawback however is that some of the parts of the course I didn't feel I got much out of [like Deep/wreck/night]. However I think I got a lot out of Navigation and Search and Recovery because I wasn't worrying about basic skills [like bouyancy and "ohh... I'm in water!"].

[I had 30 dives before I took my AOW].

 

[art.chick]

Animian! You deserve praise for being so specific in your questions. It is clear to me that you really want to perfect your technique. Good job on observing the differences between beginners & instructors.

I see OW students with buoyancy problems all the time. SCUBA takes time to learn because EVERYTHING feels unusual at first: the weights, the bulky wetsuits, breathing on a reg, moving thru surf...you see the grace of underwater videos on TV & want that "flying" sensation. You will get it, but until then, expect to feel awkward! Have a sense of humor about your flailing attempts to "balance."

The AOW classes that I assist with are designed to follow immediately on the OW lessons. They are not for "experts," just divers who want to transition from "beginner" with supervision. The tragedy of many OW graduates who do not enroll in AOW is that they don't have the confidence to dive without supervision, so they stop diving altogether. I prefer to see students seek further education until they are sure they can dive without a guide.

As for food, you must eat before a dive. If you vomit, it is because you needed to. I become weak if I subject my body to the strains of diving without a healthy meal. You cannot afford to get too tired or weak during a dive.

Keep learning!

 

[animian2002]

Being an amateur to this new sport, I just want to make sure that I have learnt it the correct way which is why I post msgs here and asking instructor qns.

To me scuba can be a very nice and addictive sport but it can aso be a dangerous one. Therefore in order to enjoy this sport, I have to correct my mistakes and not to follow other's mistakes . Thru here..I get to noe lots of things...which is benefical to me thanks guys..

As for the food ..well I too believe that one shld eat properly before dive..which wat I did during my OW :lunch: (if not no energy to carry the tank and the weights )

As for the AOW, I'm still considering ...well maybe I will clock several dives 1st before proceeding to AOW..

anyway thanks for the advices

 

[animian2002]

Hi there

After returning from my OW trip, I can't help but dream & recalling the marvelous time I had over the weekend (suffering from "insufficient dive symptom" )

As I recalled , more and more qns pop up in my mind and the first "stupid" qns is again weights. I understand that beside the breathing technique, the weight aso helps in the buoyancy. How do I noe when I can reduce the number of weights I carry??

I have this friend that uses 12 lbs and she has more the 30 dives in her log book. She too has no idea when to "drop" them

For my case, I'm on 8 lbs now...of course given a choice , I would love to get rid of this excess "fat".

If not I got to go train myself at the gym to lift weights...

(PS: the water around my region r warm and salty)

and is the a possibility the BC got punctured during the dive ?

can someone tell me ???

 

[animian2002]

Hi pple

It's me again

I have another Qn to ask. I remembered when I was doing a dive with my group buddies. One of them was so positive buoyant that she has difficulty diving deeper. when she "float" to the depth where divers usually made their safety stop before ascending. Her buddy, an experience diver discontinued her dive and they ascended together.

Why is it that they have to ascend why can't she just descend further by deflating the BC

 

[art.chick]

HI Buddy!
You must be more patient. You WILL know when you no longer need the weight; you will feel heavy during the dive & need to add air to the BC, and will have no problem remaining at your safety stop at the end of the dive (unlike your friend who soared to the surface when her tank got empty.) There may be other issues with her, like nervous breathing.

Losing weight/building muscle may help in a variety of ways. However, many plus-sized men & women but poundage off their weight belts without ever losing body fat. You seem to put very high standards on yourself. That is fine, but it cannot save you from the same process that we all must endure: practicing until we are so comfortable that our breath-control & buoyancy seems to resolve itself.

When you are diving with more experienced divers, ask them to observe you & tell you what they notice about your "trim" ; they can help you with the specifics. You do not have to be perfect to be safe. I only dove in big groups until I felt capeable. Trying to solve problems intellectually does not work in diving because (as our leadership books state), your MUSCLES must learn the lessons with repetition. I'm sure you will be a fine & safe diver with time & experience.