First, today I got to take my new Aquamundo rig (available in the Philippines - if you haven't looked at one, you need to, it literally comes ready to dive after making adjustments), with my HOG regulator setups (DIN3 colds - and a shout out to people who can make a 1st stage that breaths well inverted), and a new pair of jet fins and go thru a couple hours of sidemount training.
SIDE MOUNT IS THE MOST FUN I HAVE HAD UNDERWATER SINCE I STARTED DIVING!!! And I was in a freaking pool!!
Whew, that is out of the way.. anyway, my instructor did my AOW cert a year ago, he is leading a trip to Coron next month that I decided to go on... as I thought about it last month, I decided that the bonus I got last month and didn't expect to see was going to go for a new rig and a specialty card (sidemount) to support my trip diving the wrecks in Coron... so we ordered the stuff and it was all finally in the same place last week so that I could go thru setting up the harness, putting together my reg & hoses, and fitting it a little here and there, and just tinkering until I could get to the pool.
Today, the pool was available and so was my instructor, so I took the new kit over and met him... after getting the tanks set up, I geared up in the water (it was too damn humid in the pool area), and we set up the tanks and connected reg assemblies to them, we actually pretty well nailed the set up for my size, the harness was still a little tight (due to my excess girth, the original webbing wasn't quite long enough to leave just a tidge of slack in the shoulders for movement), but it was workable until I can buy a new length of webbing and re-lace it.
Then he had me drop down and it was like I'd always known how to dive like this... I had to play with the air pocket in the bladder at first (just like I did learning a drysuit) for a couple minutes, how to inflate, and then release (which was much easier for me using my dump valve than a near complete barrel roll to get the inflator elevated), but within a couple minutes, I was hovering inches above the pool floor, and my instructor is down there clapping emphatically.... then we swam the length of the pool, and I maintained pretty level buoyancy all the way down and back... again, he's clapping and we surface to chat... he's like "mate, did you watch EVERY sidemount video on Youtube?"...
He has me keep making laps, adding a new skill here and there like swapping out regs (which of course means I have to clip/unclip the long hose), then unclipping one tank, moving it forward, then back, and the other side, then both tanks, swimming the length back and forth with them unclipped and in front, single left, single right, doubles in front... all the while, each time I stop to get a new task, he's telling me he's never had a student take to it so fast, in fact the other instructor has been swimming back and forth watching me with a snorkel and asking him how long I've been practicing sidemount... when he tells her it's my first day, she's shocked, because I'm just doing my thing and coasting along straight and level...
Finally, he says, swim all you want, we've got the pool another hour, and I spend the next 45 minutes fiddling around with buoyancy games, trying to learn how to reverse kick, trying to improve my helicopter turns, and my favorite, doing a four point underwater barrel roll that includes trying to swim inverted (doing to have to keep working on that)...
But like I say, I had a blast today, found using the sidemount set up so much more comfortable than a jacket BCD, buoyancy was almost effortless it seemed in comparison.
To be honest, my desire to try sidemount is more about increasing bottom time my having more air to drag along... but I think I'm really going to enjoy it for wreck and the kind of spaces I like to squeeze thru (which in my case is not very small, restriction isn't in my vocabulary, I'm not sure any level of confidence can make the feeling of terror of even seeing someone in a tight space go away, certainly, putting me in the space won't help).
But I digress, I guess my thought was to shout out how great I found this way of diving, and two to think that really, more people probably would like it...
I guess the other thought I have is that sitting at 92 dives, I've decided I am more than a 'vacation' diver and I really make an effort to find time, and places to go diving whenever I can... and maybe it's that level of commitment to the sport that needs to be there before someone decides to invest in sidemount equipment... in my opinion, it needs to be there before someone invests in ANY equipment other than a mask, snorkel, and fins (maybe booties).... I'm no expert, I'm still learning, but I put a lot of effort into buoyancy control in the last 75 dives since AOW, i'm still trying to work on my weight, and I'm finding I don't appreciate people who can't keep their fins clear of coral, fans, and even the bottom.
But let me say again, this was fun, it has it's challenges in monitoring the air balance, but I can't be more happy with taking this turn...
SIDE MOUNT IS THE MOST FUN I HAVE HAD UNDERWATER SINCE I STARTED DIVING!!! And I was in a freaking pool!!
Whew, that is out of the way.. anyway, my instructor did my AOW cert a year ago, he is leading a trip to Coron next month that I decided to go on... as I thought about it last month, I decided that the bonus I got last month and didn't expect to see was going to go for a new rig and a specialty card (sidemount) to support my trip diving the wrecks in Coron... so we ordered the stuff and it was all finally in the same place last week so that I could go thru setting up the harness, putting together my reg & hoses, and fitting it a little here and there, and just tinkering until I could get to the pool.
Today, the pool was available and so was my instructor, so I took the new kit over and met him... after getting the tanks set up, I geared up in the water (it was too damn humid in the pool area), and we set up the tanks and connected reg assemblies to them, we actually pretty well nailed the set up for my size, the harness was still a little tight (due to my excess girth, the original webbing wasn't quite long enough to leave just a tidge of slack in the shoulders for movement), but it was workable until I can buy a new length of webbing and re-lace it.
Then he had me drop down and it was like I'd always known how to dive like this... I had to play with the air pocket in the bladder at first (just like I did learning a drysuit) for a couple minutes, how to inflate, and then release (which was much easier for me using my dump valve than a near complete barrel roll to get the inflator elevated), but within a couple minutes, I was hovering inches above the pool floor, and my instructor is down there clapping emphatically.... then we swam the length of the pool, and I maintained pretty level buoyancy all the way down and back... again, he's clapping and we surface to chat... he's like "mate, did you watch EVERY sidemount video on Youtube?"...
He has me keep making laps, adding a new skill here and there like swapping out regs (which of course means I have to clip/unclip the long hose), then unclipping one tank, moving it forward, then back, and the other side, then both tanks, swimming the length back and forth with them unclipped and in front, single left, single right, doubles in front... all the while, each time I stop to get a new task, he's telling me he's never had a student take to it so fast, in fact the other instructor has been swimming back and forth watching me with a snorkel and asking him how long I've been practicing sidemount... when he tells her it's my first day, she's shocked, because I'm just doing my thing and coasting along straight and level...
Finally, he says, swim all you want, we've got the pool another hour, and I spend the next 45 minutes fiddling around with buoyancy games, trying to learn how to reverse kick, trying to improve my helicopter turns, and my favorite, doing a four point underwater barrel roll that includes trying to swim inverted (doing to have to keep working on that)...
But like I say, I had a blast today, found using the sidemount set up so much more comfortable than a jacket BCD, buoyancy was almost effortless it seemed in comparison.
To be honest, my desire to try sidemount is more about increasing bottom time my having more air to drag along... but I think I'm really going to enjoy it for wreck and the kind of spaces I like to squeeze thru (which in my case is not very small, restriction isn't in my vocabulary, I'm not sure any level of confidence can make the feeling of terror of even seeing someone in a tight space go away, certainly, putting me in the space won't help).
But I digress, I guess my thought was to shout out how great I found this way of diving, and two to think that really, more people probably would like it...
I guess the other thought I have is that sitting at 92 dives, I've decided I am more than a 'vacation' diver and I really make an effort to find time, and places to go diving whenever I can... and maybe it's that level of commitment to the sport that needs to be there before someone decides to invest in sidemount equipment... in my opinion, it needs to be there before someone invests in ANY equipment other than a mask, snorkel, and fins (maybe booties).... I'm no expert, I'm still learning, but I put a lot of effort into buoyancy control in the last 75 dives since AOW, i'm still trying to work on my weight, and I'm finding I don't appreciate people who can't keep their fins clear of coral, fans, and even the bottom.
But let me say again, this was fun, it has it's challenges in monitoring the air balance, but I can't be more happy with taking this turn...
