Rental equipment quality

[KSUDiver]

iScream I think you were considering DWM, right? There is a shallow area by their shop in front of Señor Frogs where they will let you get in the water to check out equipment. I think they charge $5 or $10 a tank, or they might waive it if you book a package with them. I've done that before when I've wanted to test new stuff, but it might depend on whether there is a cruise ship nearby at the time. I can't quite remember the details. If you email their contact person Paddi I'm sure she'd be able to confirm whether this is still a possibility.

From what I've read here other shops often offer something similar. HTH!

 

[ggunn]

I learned a good bit from the discussion. I have another question though.

Please don't laugh, but I would kinda like to work on some basic skills while we're there. I can do everything that was required to get certified but completely removing my mask still bothers me. Mostly when I'm sitting upright facing forward and the bubbles make it feel like I'm getting water up my nose. In the 73 degree quarry water it really bothered me. I had to work myself up to it for a couple seconds.

Is there anywhere we can rent equipment for a couple hours and just hang out in shallow water for that, rather than doing it on an actual dive?

Thanks,
Chris

Sure; lots of places. Blue Angel, for example, is right on the water with easy access to it. They rent tanks and weights to walk ins and there is a big clear sheltered space right there where you can practice your skills in about 15FSW. The stingray pen next door collects a lot of sea life, too.

 

[iScream]

Thanks everybody. The pool where we did the first part of our certification is more than an hour away.

This is embarrassing to admit but I bolted to the surface the first time I was supposed to do it, on our first day in the pool. We were all swimming around in the pool, which we shared with a class getting swimming lessons. I managed to get way over under the swimmers without realizing it. When I did realize where I was I went full speed across the pool and back to our group. When I got there and surfaced, the swim coach had come over and started yelling at me that I had run into one of his swimmers and that I was going to die as a scuba diver. Seriously. I know damn well I didn't touch any swimmer but I was definitely over on their side where I shouldn't have been. I managed to bite my tongue and not say anything back, which is not normal for me.

So, I'm already breathing hard and then have an adrenaline rush on top of it. Thirty seconds later I descend and try to do the mask removal sitting on the bottom. I pretty much immediately sucked water in through my nose and start to cough. I tried for half a second to just cough through my regulator but that didn't feel right so I went straight up. The next day I did practice taking my mask off while sitting on the bottom of the deep end. It helped a lot with getting comfortable but I think I have some kind of psychological issue with it now.

So I just want to spend some more time doing it and get more comfortable in case my mask does get knocked off at some point. I also want to work on the manual BCD inflation while underwater some more. I can do it but don't feel like I'm very good at it.

Anyway, I know I'm not really talking about Cozumel here so I'll stop.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

I think if you look in New divers here or Basic here. You will find you are not the only one with that problems and there are some threads that will help you Just click the links I have provided to go to the forums

 

[Ron Lee]

You are talking about how you will do in Cozumel. You need to spend some time somewhere getting over that incident. Scuba diving involves new equipment and doing something that is not natural...breathing underwater using scuba equipment.

Don't let initial concerns about X or Y bother you. Do what you need to do to overcome those concerns. That may mean work on your own or with an instructor.

Whichever you choose, try to do it before your trip or perhaps the first day there if you have time.

With time and experience it does get easier.

 

[iScream]

I think if you look in New divers here or Basic here. You will find you are not the only one with that problems and there are some threads that will help you Just click the links I have provided to go to the forums

Thanks. I've been in there some, reading through sticky threads and such.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

I remembered a thread recently talking about Mask issues... here it is http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...18508-encouragement-beginner.html#post7564498

 

[iScream]

You are talking about how you will do in Cozumel. You need to spend some time somewhere getting over that incident. Scuba diving involves new equipment and doing something that is not natural...breathing underwater using scuba equipment.

Don't let initial concerns about X or Y bother you. Do what you need to do to overcome those concerns. That may mean work on your own or with an instructor.

Whichever you choose, try to do it before your trip or perhaps the first day there if you have time.

With time and experience it does get easier.

Thank you. I don't want to create the impression that I'm real freaked out about what I did though. I don't think I would panic if my mask were to be knocked off while diving but I do think I would be more uncomfortable than I want to be. It's more about just being conditioned to the sensations and especially to the bubbled hitting my nose. And just getting more used to breathing only with my mouth when my nose is covered with water. I do have some level of psychological thing going on but I think I'll be good after just spending some more time getting used to it.

We're planning to pay for a private DM on our first morning diving in Cozumel too.

-Chris

 

[halocline]

It's more about just being conditioned to the sensations and especially to the bubbled hitting my nose. And just getting more used to breathing only with my mouth when my nose is covered with water. I do have some level of psychological thing going on but I think I'll be good after just spending some more time getting used to it.

-Chris

There's a deeply imbedded human instinct to guard against taking water in the airpath, so the anxiety you're talking about is absolutely normal. You are correct in that it's primarily about getting desensitized to it. Without getting too detailed, you just need to come up with a series of exercises that gradually increase your comfort level with breathing while your nose is exposed to water. You can start with just a snorkel, no mask, standing in shallow water and dipping your face partially in. You can try holding your nose; there are lots of little tricks. Eventually you might try tossing your mask into the pool, starting the dive without it, retrieving it from the bottom, and putting it on. You can do all these things in a protected lagoon in Coz as well as a pool, as long as the surf is calm.

 

[djanni]

I'll certainly agree that some posts veered off the topic of rental dive gear in Cozumel. Heaven forfend that a thread in the Cozumel forum get off-topic. I'm personally amazed it didn't turn into a restaurant thread.

I think things remained pretty civil, though. Someone said he was not knowledgeable about something, someone else agreed with that and suggested there were other things he was also uninformed about. Disagreement is not the same thing as impoliteness.

You can't let it go I see.

Maybe my post was deleted before you saw it... Replying to the challange you extended in your post, I wrote; Go to page 11 of the ProPlus2 manual, read it for yourself and then come back here and apologize to me.

If you can't use Google let me know and I'll attach a link.