Renewed faith in beach diving

[JodiBB]

Hello all!

I got my OW c-card last summer, but had a bad experience with my beach check out dives (not to the point that I couldn't become certified), so I swore off beach diving althogether!!! I was knocked down by a phantom 6' wave and my regulator and octo got sand in it and I lost my air in about 3 minutes!!! My 2nd chance (after cleaning out all my gear and getting a new tank), the visibility was about 2' due to the red tide, so my anxiety level was higher than my previous dives.

Today, I did my first beach dive since last summer. I had a GREAT buddy who knew the beach well. The entry was smooth...I can't even say we had ankle-slappers! The descent and dive were awesome! The water was about 59 degrees, but I had a 1 mm and a 7 mm on, so I never even knew how cold the water was until about the last 10 minutes of the dive!!! Upon ascent, we stayed on the bottom (about 25' down) and swam right up to the beach! Stood up at 4' of water, took off our fins, and walked out of the surf!!!

I have a renewed faith in beach diving!!!

 

[TSandM]

Shore diving is great -- inexpensive and easily accessible. And swimming upslope is the easiest way to decompress that there is. And there are no ladders to catch hoses and light cords on the way back on board Most of my diving here in the PNW is shore diving, and apart from the hikes from the car to the water, it's a great way to dive.

 

[SharkRider]

Hello all!

I got my OW c-card last summer, but had a bad experience with my beach check out dives (not to the point that I couldn't become certified), so I swore off beach diving althogether!!! I was knocked down by a phantom 6' wave and my regulator and octo got sand in it and I lost my air in about 3 minutes!!! My 2nd chance (after cleaning out all my gear and getting a new tank), the visibility was about 2' due to the red tide, so my anxiety level was higher than my previous dives.

Today, I did my first beach dive since last summer. I had a GREAT buddy who knew the beach well. The entry was smooth...I can't even say we had ankle-slappers! The descent and dive were awesome! The water was about 59 degrees, but I had a 1 mm and a 7 mm on, so I never even knew how cold the water was until about the last 10 minutes of the dive!!! Upon ascent, we stayed on the bottom (about 25' down) and swam right up to the beach! Stood up at 4' of water, took off our fins, and walked out of the surf!!!

I have a renewed faith in beach diving!!!

As my Momma always says... If you can't handle the waves - stay out of the surf.

 

[Jake]

That's great news, espcially where you and I live JodiBB. SoCal is teeming with great shore diving, so to be able to take advantage of it will really make diving easier (and cheaper) for you. I'm not sure where you dive, but the south Orange County area--in particular Corona Del Mar and Laguna Beach--tend to have small surf quite often and should make this easier for you. Good luck!

 

[spectrum]

Glad to hear you made it back to the beach. I'm looking forward to my first boat dives on an upcoming trip. Until now it's all been shore diving except for a few quarry dives.

As TSandM said the ascent along the slope is a great and enjoyable way to end the dive. It's easy to make your way back to the shallows and find yourself with enough air to stay down investigating forever. In the summer the shallows can be very warm and enjoyable at the end of the dive too.

Nobody gets seasick on their way to a shore dive.

Oh and of course it's cheap and available on your timetable so that bodes well for finding buddies and making lots and lots of dives!

Pete

 

[m3830431]

Congrats

 

[JodiBB]

That's great news, espcially where you and I live JodiBB. SoCal is teeming with great shore diving, so to be able to take advantage of it will really make diving easier (and cheaper) for you. I'm not sure where you dive, but the south Orange County area--in particular Corona Del Mar and Laguna Beach--tend to have small surf quite often and should make this easier for you. Good luck!

Laguna Beach (specifically Picnic Beach) is where I was yesterday...it's also the same place where my first "not so good" beach dives occurred, so travelling back to the beach which originally got the best of me was kinda scary.....I almost back out, but decided I needed to go forth with it....I'm so glad I did!

 

[riguerin]

JodiBB,

That's great that you've given local beach diving another try. The conditions can make a huge difference in the diving experience. Sounds like they were pretty bad during your checkout dives. Lately, however, we've had some awesome diving conditions in Laguna Beach. We've had minimal surf, good vis (for Laguna) and been seeing plenty of octopi, lobster, sheep crab, bat rays, horn sharks. There are a few of us So Cal SB members that dive Laguna on a regular basis. If you're ever looking for some dive buddies for local shore dives, don't hesitate to post or send a PM. Congrats on getting back on that horse.

 

[Hawaii Scuba Divers]

I teach most of my classes a Beach only with boat diving after certification dives are over.This allows the divers to go beyond 60ft to the wrecks we have here at 80 ft...
Beach diving can be fantastic or REALLY BAD but so can boat diving...at least with beach diving you are in no hurry to get back on boat you can take your time...
Aloha from Hawaii Mark.

 

[terrasmak]

Havnt dove off a boat yet , right now shore is the only way for me.