New to this Forum and SCUBA

[Chris Walrod]

Hello all!

My name is Chris Walrod from Yorba Linda, SoCal. I am in the process of getting PADI open water certified. Last Sunday a friend and I completed the pool dives. Tonight we have Module 5 review and the final test following that.

Our beach dives are scheduled for the 24th at Shaw’s Cove, and Catalina the 25th. Should be fun.

I frequent many many car enthusiast forums daily, and thought to search for a Diving forum. I found a few and this one seems to be the best one.

Other interests (besides my Wife, cat and home) are high performance driving events at local racetracks. I belong to the Porsche Club of America and the Porsche Owners Club, which both are very active clubs with a lot of track events available. Much fun and very thrilling!

Anyhow, I am a little nervous about my first open water dives. Does anyone have any advice or pointers? All would be appreciated greatly. My pool dives went well, no problems so far.

I don’t know why I waited so long to get into diving since I am thrilled to see the ocean from a different perspectiveJ

May 1st, my friend that I am getting certified with and our wives are going to Cancun. We plan to dive on Cozumel as well. We hear the diving is great. I sure hope the weather lets us get our certification finished by the time we leave for Cancun.

Chris

 

[gfisher4792]

Welcome to the board! As far as advice on OW, there are lots of threads and a New To Scuba forum, but I can tell you right off that when you're in the water (and beforehand, actually), just stay relaxed and concentrate on your breathing.

 

[H2Andy]

welcome aboard, Chris!

hey, sounds like we have a lot in common (we both like diving, cars, our wives, homes, and, in my case, FIVE cats).

enjoy!

 

[pasley]

Welcome. Be sure to scroll down to the Kelp Divers Southern California section and join in the local conversation.

Sandeaters is a great place as well. Not a dive club, there are no dues or membership, just a website with a schedule of dives for every Sunday at 08:00. You can also join the e-mail list and when someone wants to dive on a different day or site, they will give the list a shout and often find someone to dive with. http://www.sandeaters.org.

As for advice, just relax and remember, breath, think, act in that order.

I am just around the corner in Lakewood, and you can also give me a shout. I try to get wet every week.

 

[gj62]

If you drive a car at high speed, you have nothing to fear from diving... :11: Welcome aboard!

 

[DandyDon]

Anyhow, I am a little nervous about my first open water dives. Does anyone have any advice or pointers? All would be appreciated greatly. My pool dives went well, no problems so far.

Howdy Chris! :sunny

Welcome to SB!! :happywave Put us in your favorites and check in often. This is a great place to learn, compare, argue

Advice? Follow your training, don't be shy about asking for help, and have fun...!

don

 

[Chris Walrod]

Thanks for all the replies!! Much appreciated!

As an update, I passed my final written exam tonight, got a 94%. Two of the three questions I missed were questions that I read into and over analyzed, which I do often. The other one was solving for total bottom time on a third repetitive dive. For some reason, I drew a blank and figured it wrong. We went over it in class afterwards as another student missed it as well.

We all like our instructor, he is a cool guy...

thanks again!

 

[Otter]

If you are in Yl, you are just around the corner from me...well where I work...in Brea.

Shaw's is a nice easy place to get certified...the hardest part will be finding parking. It has a reef structure on the West (right as you enter the water) and sandy bottom straight out. I have taken many students there and it is often the only place to dive in Laguna Beach when the swells are coming in from the West....nicely secluded.

Just relax and enjoy.

Out of curiosity, who is your Instructor?

 

[mobymark]

Good luck on your course!

 

[gehadoski]

welcome to the board