Open Water class #1

[mikkilj]

Hi everyone! Just thought I'd give you all an update on our progress...

David and I had our first class yesterday and it went well. It was a long day though! Our instructor was out of town, so we had a substitute on the first day. She was a great sub though, in fact, she is our downstairs neighbor who initially referred us to the shop. So, it was great to get to spend our first day in class with her .

The classroom stuff was repetitive of what was in the book. I guess repetition is a good thing though!

After classroom and lunch break, we all headed for the pool. Swimming and treading went fine. Snorkeling intro went great as well, although I need to figure out a better way to attach my snorkel to the mask; it was tugging on it at a funny angle and causing leaks. After snorkeling, we got to put our gear together . When I had everything hooked up and turned my tank on, it was making a hissing sound... Turns out the O-ring needed to be replaced. What a way to start out! After everything was set up, David and I put our wetsuits on. Out of the 6 people in our class, we are the only ones wearing wetsuits in it. I'm glad we are putting them on for the class though - the weight requirement and bouyancy are so much different! I can't imagine what it would be like to learn bouyancy control with just a swimsuit on and then try to figure it out at the OW checkout dive! Ugh . Mask clearing went better than I thought it would. The chlorine did sting my eyes - it wasn't comfortable; but it was doable.

Anyway, I know this probably belongs in the New Divers forum or something, but I wanted to share with you guys since you have been so supportive!

Can't wait until next week... the deep end of the pool should be fun .

-=* Mikki *=-

 

[jkennedy]

Keep it up. Your getting there. Welcome again to the board......

 

[Texass]

it was tugging on it at a funny angle and causing leaks.

That's why nobody can find their snorkels after they get certified.

I agree with you on practicing in your wetsuits. Weighting can take awhile to dial in properly, especially when everything is brand new territory. Get the instructor or DM to spend some quality 1 on 1 time helping you work it out. Bring up proper trim while you're at it. After how not to drown, buoyancy control is the #1 skill you want to learn. IMHO

If you think you're stoked now, just wait until you feel completely comfortable diving together on your own.

 

[sealskin98]

Welcome to diving! You're gonna love it.

Looks like the southern clan is going to have a couple of new members.

Snorkle? I think I saw mine somewhere, sometime last year I think.

 

[mikkilj]

Thanks for the encouraging words . I do think I need some more input on proper weighting. Not just in terms of how much weight, but rather which weights should go in which pockets of the belt and such. I know there must be some rhyme and reason to it, but no time was spent discussing it. I wish that stuff was covered more in the books and in class, but I guess it's something that is gained from experience...

-=* mikki *=-

p.s. I did end up with the Xcel 4/3 suit (which has me requiring 12# of weight thus far). I was in the heated, indoor pool with it for about 1.5 hours and did not get too warm. We were not moving around that much though; just learning to clear our regs/masks/etc. in the shallow end.

 

[Foo]

I'm beginning to believe that you just have to find what works for you and to heck with any formulas, etc. If you're happy and doing good down there, who cares what anyone else says? Play around with it, I'm starting to figure out that after maybe about 50-60 dives, I might have an idea of where I want to start on a dive. It's all a guessing, learning, and feeling game. Cause there's a feel that starts to come when all is right.

Foo



Foo

 

[Dee]

Congrats! be careful of that chlorine! If you're eyes are burning from it, tell someone in charge of maintaining the pool. Chlorine is nasty stuff and can damage your body...especially your eyes and lungs.

 

[mikkilj]

What about my gear? Maybe there is a reason *not* to wear my wetsuit during class... But with just three more pool sessions to go, I don't think that will kill the suit that much. I gave my gear a nice fresh water bath after I got home with a little baby shampoo mixed in and then rinsed it very well. Hopefully that will help some...

I am tempted to put some spring straps on my fins though... Adjusting them while doing a "figure 4" is a pain! Don't know if I can put the spring straps on my Tusa Platina Plus fins though - it may require some hacking, which I'm not willing to do at this point. I looked up some info about my fins, and noticed that they are "specially designed for women." I find this quite funny, since my husband ended up with the same fins as I did during our gear purchasing extravaganza . His legs are kind of wimpy though, so maybe that's why LDS didn't say anything <grin>.

 

[mikkilj]

Oh - and the LDS pool was also a nice green with about 10 feet visibility. They said they were having filter issues. I teased them and said at least they now know what to do to prepare for navigation/low vis pool classes .

 

[Chr is Hipp]

I just did my first dive alone since being certified, two years ago. We drove down to Travis and dove at windy point. We had a lot of problems with getting our weighting right and spent more time at the surface than underwater. It wastes a lot of time getting out to get more weight or put some away.

Overall, I had a fun time. I was pretty nervous at first and kept hyperventalating but after a few minutes I was making a decent. However, everytime we tried to go down and level off we would just starting floating back up. The trip was kind of wasted becaue our bouyancy skills sucked so bad. So definitely make sure you have it down before you plan any big dive trips, even if you have to do it in a swimming pool.

The deepest we went was about 35 feet. The guys at the dive shop told us that it would be warm enough to 60 feet without a wetsuit, but it got pretty cold at the thermocline. I had a wetsuit but my buddy did not, so we never even saw the bottom. I had fun swimming around the big rocks by the shore, only saw about 4 fish the whole time though.

Also, the guy at the Dive Texas, I think that was the name, dive shop was a real jerk. I will never go back there.