desert diver 71
Guest
This story is a little long but i feel it's necessary to include all the info. for clarity. Several yrs. ago my wife & I took a 1 hr. resort class at Sandals. She had a problem clearing her ears and didn't dive while I did several. After returning home, we went to Sport Chalet & talked to an instructor about her problem. We wanted to become certified but didn't want to waste time & money if she couldn't clear her ears. He signed us up for a discover scuba class and it went very well. Unfortunately, our schedule didn't allow us to take an OW class with him. My co-worker had just received his OW from another dive shop & recommended them. We signed up with this new shop and started the class. The instructors were teaching through SDI. Our class time totaled approx. 10 hrs & our pool time was 2 hrs. In the single pool session, we did the surface swim, mask clear & removal, reg. removal, BC removal & weight removal.
From that point we went to Catalina Island & did 4 OW dives, 3 from a boat & 1 from shore. We did the tired diver tow, mask clear & removal & reg. removal. The remainder of the dives were basically follow the leader. Once the class was done, we did several easy & shallow beach dives in the following weeks. We then took a charter boat to Catalina with some friends. The first dive went well, it was shallow & we just spent the time getting comfortable. When we moved to the second site, the divemaster informed us we were in 50 ft. of water. We descended and when we hit bottom, we were at 80 ft. We looked at each other & signaled to go up. With no air in our BC's and 7 mil wetsuits on, we had to kick like crazy to ascend. Of course once we were near the surface, we popped to the surface like a bobber. We got back to the boat OK, but were a little shaken. When our friends returned they knew something was wrong. I told them the problem & told my wife we're not going back in the water untill we figure this problem out.
During the ride home, we talked to our friends about our training. They asked us about weight checks, fin pivots, buddy breathing, etc. We didn't even know what some of those skills were. They were shocked at our OW training. I was able to track down the instructor from Sport Chalet & told him what happened. He immediately signed us up for a Peak Performance Buoyancy class. He didn't have the minimum # of students but did the class anyway since we needed it. During the class we went from 32 lbs. of weight down to 24 for us both, an 8 lb. difference. What a difference it made! Our diving has gone very well since that class 3 yrs. ago, I have done 5 more classes with him & another instructor from the same store. Does anyone know if our original instructor did the course correctly per SDI standards?
I have learned many things since this incident but 2 that stand out are: 1. Proper weighting is critical to safe diving.
2. A good, caring instructor is invaluable.
We are by no means great divers, but we practice our basic skills, discuss the accident forum here on SB & dive safely & within our skill level. I wish I had known about SB back then, things would have been different but hindsight is 20/20. I would like to hear anyone's thoughts on this situation. Thanks.
From that point we went to Catalina Island & did 4 OW dives, 3 from a boat & 1 from shore. We did the tired diver tow, mask clear & removal & reg. removal. The remainder of the dives were basically follow the leader. Once the class was done, we did several easy & shallow beach dives in the following weeks. We then took a charter boat to Catalina with some friends. The first dive went well, it was shallow & we just spent the time getting comfortable. When we moved to the second site, the divemaster informed us we were in 50 ft. of water. We descended and when we hit bottom, we were at 80 ft. We looked at each other & signaled to go up. With no air in our BC's and 7 mil wetsuits on, we had to kick like crazy to ascend. Of course once we were near the surface, we popped to the surface like a bobber. We got back to the boat OK, but were a little shaken. When our friends returned they knew something was wrong. I told them the problem & told my wife we're not going back in the water untill we figure this problem out.
During the ride home, we talked to our friends about our training. They asked us about weight checks, fin pivots, buddy breathing, etc. We didn't even know what some of those skills were. They were shocked at our OW training. I was able to track down the instructor from Sport Chalet & told him what happened. He immediately signed us up for a Peak Performance Buoyancy class. He didn't have the minimum # of students but did the class anyway since we needed it. During the class we went from 32 lbs. of weight down to 24 for us both, an 8 lb. difference. What a difference it made! Our diving has gone very well since that class 3 yrs. ago, I have done 5 more classes with him & another instructor from the same store. Does anyone know if our original instructor did the course correctly per SDI standards?
I have learned many things since this incident but 2 that stand out are: 1. Proper weighting is critical to safe diving.
2. A good, caring instructor is invaluable.
We are by no means great divers, but we practice our basic skills, discuss the accident forum here on SB & dive safely & within our skill level. I wish I had known about SB back then, things would have been different but hindsight is 20/20. I would like to hear anyone's thoughts on this situation. Thanks.
