Well folks, after 2 days of Open Water Checkout Dives in 50 degree water, I am certified. Even though the divemasters keep telling me I failed, LOL, I know they are just kidding, they like to joke around a little.
The experiance was awesome, there was a mild current, we were in calm water at about 20 to 25 feet. Viz was approx 15 to 20 feet, which is very good for that area, usually 6 to 10.
Most of us did well the first day. We had one fella that paniced a little and surfaced after only being down for 1 or 2 minutes, but we got him back down and he seemed good after that. I was having issues with my weight belt, it kept falling down, I am a short but have a big tummy and no butt:11doh: I had a brand new Recon bp/w on shore that I was going to save for after the checkouts, but I decided I better use the weight integrated for my underwater skills and switched to the belt for the belt doff and don. I'll be wearing the bp/w for cold water here, but for any warm water I will rent jacket and belt so I wated to get the skill put to bed.
Navigation wasn't too bad, I lost my buddy though. I was navigating the out and my buddy was navigating the way back. He was watching his compas and didn't realize he was ascending. I looked at the divemaster that was with us, he sent me back, since I was only 15feet or so from the group at that time I could see them and he went up to bring him back down. We regrouped and went back to the skills.
The scaryest part of all was that the giant stride we had to do was 8 or 9 foot drop----thats a long way down, but after it was done once, it was easy.
I did have a hard time descending. I had 32 lbs of weight on me 2lbs in each trim pocket, 11 lbs in each ditchable pocket and 3 lbs on each ankle (we added the ankle weight the second day)I had to basically pull myself down for the first 10 feet or so and then I was fine. I did the fin pivot at 21 feet perfectly without having to add any ait to the bc. So I was fine at depth, bot had a hard time getting there, I weigh about 217lbs by the way and was in a 7mm f/j and a 7mm Jacket, 7mm hood and 7mm gloves.
We were at the Sydney Smith in Sarnia Ontario for the dives.
The whole experiance was Great, I will be cold water diving often and hitting the warm water in the winters here, till I get into the dry suit diving
. My daughter is getting certified in 2 weeks. We took the class together, but the divemasters split us up for the checkouts, they said that we have enough to worry about underwater to do the skill, we don't need the added stress or worrying about my daughter or vice versa, which I thing was great advice. And now I can go in the water and dive while she is taking here o/w checkout
The experiance was awesome, there was a mild current, we were in calm water at about 20 to 25 feet. Viz was approx 15 to 20 feet, which is very good for that area, usually 6 to 10.
Most of us did well the first day. We had one fella that paniced a little and surfaced after only being down for 1 or 2 minutes, but we got him back down and he seemed good after that. I was having issues with my weight belt, it kept falling down, I am a short but have a big tummy and no butt:11doh: I had a brand new Recon bp/w on shore that I was going to save for after the checkouts, but I decided I better use the weight integrated for my underwater skills and switched to the belt for the belt doff and don. I'll be wearing the bp/w for cold water here, but for any warm water I will rent jacket and belt so I wated to get the skill put to bed.
Navigation wasn't too bad, I lost my buddy though. I was navigating the out and my buddy was navigating the way back. He was watching his compas and didn't realize he was ascending. I looked at the divemaster that was with us, he sent me back, since I was only 15feet or so from the group at that time I could see them and he went up to bring him back down. We regrouped and went back to the skills.
The scaryest part of all was that the giant stride we had to do was 8 or 9 foot drop----thats a long way down, but after it was done once, it was easy.
I did have a hard time descending. I had 32 lbs of weight on me 2lbs in each trim pocket, 11 lbs in each ditchable pocket and 3 lbs on each ankle (we added the ankle weight the second day)I had to basically pull myself down for the first 10 feet or so and then I was fine. I did the fin pivot at 21 feet perfectly without having to add any ait to the bc. So I was fine at depth, bot had a hard time getting there, I weigh about 217lbs by the way and was in a 7mm f/j and a 7mm Jacket, 7mm hood and 7mm gloves.
We were at the Sydney Smith in Sarnia Ontario for the dives.
The whole experiance was Great, I will be cold water diving often and hitting the warm water in the winters here, till I get into the dry suit diving
. My daughter is getting certified in 2 weeks. We took the class together, but the divemasters split us up for the checkouts, they said that we have enough to worry about underwater to do the skill, we don't need the added stress or worrying about my daughter or vice versa, which I thing was great advice. And now I can go in the water and dive while she is taking here o/w checkout
