jastorino
Registered
I started diving April 2009. My boyfriend, Nick, is an avid diver. I thought...’man, he has so much fun, he sees really cool things, and boy does this sport seem challenging!!’ I met his good friend (and Open Water instructor), Maciej, and quickly set up the dates to start Rec 1. A year and a few months later, I never would have guessed I’d be signing up for Tech 1.
I had been interested in taking this class #1 to explore more local wrecks and reefs that are beyond my current diving limits, #2 to have the ability to dive beyond the recreational limits on my upcoming Philippines trip, and #3 (most important) to challenge myself and work at becoming a more confident and skilled diver. I was at work when Maciej emailed me and said he had stopped by the shop and Leonard Seagal and Tim Balcomb were interested in taking Tech 1. I have the buddies I need!!! Next was to plan some dates for our class. I had in my head that I needed a bit more practice and wanted to take the class in September, but Tim and Leonard were thinking more along the lines of taking the class ASAP. Dates were scheduled and the anxiousness and pressure began. I was a nervous wreck!
I had never been diving with Leonard or Tim before, so we all decided to meet up for a couple of night dives before our class started. Maciej was able to meet us out on our first practice dive. He said he wanted to see where we were all at. We practiced valve drills, s-drills, and ascents. After the first dive, Maciej had this look in his eye....he had already figured out each of our weaknesses. I knew he was already planning the failure scenarios. Second practice dive...another night dive...we do the same drills. Viz was poor, surge was up, and conditions in general sucked. We all do a pretty good job and head back in. All of us got creamed by the surf. If any of you are familiar with Redondo Beach and that stupid ledge, you will know what I’m talking about. I’m now TERRIFIED of Redondo Beach!!! I’m absolutely dreading the class being held here.
Dive Day 1: Beautiful day at Redondo! Ankle slappers! I’m so relieved. I can now get my mind off of “how the hell am I going to get out of the ocean.” Maciej reviews some dry runs with us. We practice running line around the trees. It is now time to gear up! No deco bottle this day....we should be okay. We head out and proceed with our dive. We drop down and have a “warm up.” Valve drills, s-drills and 6-minute ascent. We drop back down and now are instructed to lay the line. “Things will happen,” is what Maciej said. Oh...things happened!!!! It was definitely not pretty....but we survived our dives
Many out of gas, valve failures, and out of mask. I remember at one point...my mask is gone. I signal to Leonard...no one is coming to grab me. Funny. I feel around and find Leonard. I follow down to his hand, put his hand on my face...he then proceeds to put my hand on his face. Great! We are both mask less. We get the line...and head back in. It was so confusing. Where is Tim? Isn’t he supposed to be leading us home?? I’m being pushed along the line...so I continue home. Finally, on the up line, I realize we are all mask less. We were instructed to do a six minute ascent. We managed a whole team mask less ascent in 3 minutes. Too fast, but not too horrible. Another part of the day I remember well is the Triangle of Love. I knew it was coming!!!! Nick and Maciej had talked about this scenario before. I knew Maciej was going to attempt it...he did succeed. It was a BIG lesson to slow down. If it is an out of gas scenario, get the guy the gas...and then fix this triangle. The failures continued and we finally exit the ocean. No rolling Phew. We head back to Ocean Adventures to get fills and review the video (Kim Cardenas was so kind to volunteer her Saturday to film our class). I have a love hate relationship with the video camera. I hate to watch myself makes mistakes, but I love it at the same time. Such a great learning tool. We discuss the things we all needed to work on for the next day. I drive home going over every single scenario in my head. My recorder was playing all night long.
Dive Day 2: Another gorgeous day at Redondo Beach! Thank the Lord!!! Kim wasn’t able to do video on Sunday, but Dave Harris was still in California and volunteered to video our class. I’m glad he was there too, ‘cause we start gearing up to get in the water and I pull the deco bottle out of my car and realize I have no deco reg. Nick left it for me on the dive shelf at home...and I completely forgot to pack it. It is something I don’t normally pack with me. I use a hose from Maceij, 1st stage from Leonard, a SPG gauge and 2nd stage from Dave. Phew...I can do the dives and my team doesn’t have to wait for me to drive home and back! We head into the ocean. Maciej instructs us to do our warm up, but this time in mid-water and add in a deco switch. We were sloppy and we took too much time. We ascend. Debrief and again I hear Maciej say, “Things will happen.” I’m not as scared as I was the day before...but I should have been!!! I learned a very big lesson this day. You cannot stop thinking until the dive is over and you’re back on the boat. I go out of gas. Tim donates to me. Leonard has a left post failure. Then, Tim has out of mask! We get to the deco switch. Everything is moving along great. I put my deco reg in my mouth, and BAM....bubbles on the deco bottle. Great! Which reg was I breathing??? I fumble around...first unclipping my primary off...quickly realizing I’m not allowed to go there. Look at Tim’s regulator...should I take this? Look to Leonard....hmmm..... back to Tim, back to Leonard. Then to the surface. Damn. But, HUGE lesson learned. We end the day and head back to the dive shop for the video debrief. All of us are beaten up. But, we had a great two days and we learned a lot.
Dive Day 3: We had a two week break before our last critical skills class day. We arrive at Redondo...another gorgeous day! Nick volunteered to video today too!We head in the water....do our warm up. Again...”Things will happen.” We had a very difficult day! Nick caught it all on video. Even little things, like wet notes hanging from the pocket, and primary regs not clipped off. In fact, Maciej was quite upset with our performance and needed to see us perform another day before our experience dives. “What happened to the improvement??” is what he said. We left the dive shop that night sad, disappointed and defeated. We also left with a lot of motivation to get it together so we can pass this class. Because of my work schedule and the experience dives already being reserved for the following weekend, it was necessary to do our fourth skills class dive at night. Great...Redondo at night. I know how this goes.
Dive Day 4: We arrive at 7pm and the ocean looks choppy. The surf doesn’t look too bad, from what I can see. We enter and swim out. I am stressed out to the max. The waves seem pretty large and all I can think about is the surf and the exit. I need to get my head together because I need to perform well tonight. We head in and all pull together as a team. We land our ascents and our deco switch on the first dive. When we surface, Maciej asks how the dives went and I respond with “how are we going to get out!?!?!?” I was so stressed out about having to exit the ocean!!! We again succeed on dive #2. On the surface, he tells us we are ready for our experience dives! Finally...Palawan...here we come!
Experience Dives, Last Day: Nick has talked about this wreck before. He has video of it too. It looks awesome and I have wanted to dive this wreck for a while now. We set up our dive on The Giant Stride with Jim Simmerman. Jeff Seckendorf and Kim Cardenas join us. Nick is going to video our dives too! I don’t know what it is about classes that stress me out so much? Obviously, there is performance anxiety. I get the opportunity to dive this wreck...and boy was it amazing...huge, a lot of life....and tons of cut outs to swim through. It’s like a huge playground. But, I didn’t enjoy it like I have enjoyed other wrecks. All I had on my mind was “don’t F-up.” We bring the reel with us in case the anchor is not on the boat. First dive Leonard is Captain and I call deco. Leonard reels out, we hang the line over the edge and continue on the dive. It is an amazing structure to swim around. We even went through a couple of swim thrus (after seeing Maciej go through one, we now know it is okay to do). Still, all I had on my mind was the deco plan and mentally preparing to sit at 20 feet for 5 minutes breathing 100% O2 and to try to stay calm enough to not drop below 20 feet. The team did awesome! We successfully complete experience dive #1. We discuss the dive on the boat, wait through our surface interval and head back in for Dive #2. I should have paid more attention on Dive #1 because I am now captain on this dive. Same plan as before...we head out and I take an odd route...cross the deck of the boat and through a swim through. We’re now on the exterior of the boat along the side. I swim for a while, looking at all the life growing on the boat...and I of course pass underneath that line that was laid on the 1st dive. I didn’t realize how nervous I was and how fast I was going. We ascend to get back up to the deck of the boat, and I’m now confused as to where the line is and how far away did we pass it?? Yup...I got us lost...on a boat! Great!!! We have 11 minutes now to find the line. I hope I didn’t go too far (it’s a BIG boat!!). We turn to go home....and thankfully find the line. We do our ascent. We find that Kim and Jeff are making their ascent at the same time. They caught up to us at 40 feet. That was tough. 6 divers all trying to stay on the line together. But, we manage it....another successful ascent and dive #2 is done! We surface and load onto the boat and Maciej congratulates us!!!
This class was so challenging. The challenge was fun and exciting! I got to dive with two great divers, Tim and Leonard, and I can’t wait for more diving with them in the future.
Maciej is an amazing instructor too! He really knows how to teach! And he can teach different styles to meet the divers’ needs (I have seen this through three classes). He has patience and persistence. He makes you think. He pushes you to your limits. You cannot learn and memorize every possible scenario that can happen under water....and through this class, you learn so much by all the right and the wrong things that happen. Every mistake under water had a consequence...and that consequence will be hammered into your brain. Thank you so much, Maciej, for being such an amazing teacher, dive buddy, and friend!!
Special thanks to Kim Cardenas and Dave Harris for filming our class. A huge thank you to Nick for not only filming the 3rd day dive and experience dives, but also being there for shore support. Oh...and for staying up late with me discussing failure scenarios, deco planning and tech diving in general.
I have so many dives I want to do, and can do, now that I have this certification! Next on the list is Farnsworth....and I’m definitely going to make it back to the Palawan...with the scooter! I can’t wait!!!!!
I had been interested in taking this class #1 to explore more local wrecks and reefs that are beyond my current diving limits, #2 to have the ability to dive beyond the recreational limits on my upcoming Philippines trip, and #3 (most important) to challenge myself and work at becoming a more confident and skilled diver. I was at work when Maciej emailed me and said he had stopped by the shop and Leonard Seagal and Tim Balcomb were interested in taking Tech 1. I have the buddies I need!!! Next was to plan some dates for our class. I had in my head that I needed a bit more practice and wanted to take the class in September, but Tim and Leonard were thinking more along the lines of taking the class ASAP. Dates were scheduled and the anxiousness and pressure began. I was a nervous wreck!
I had never been diving with Leonard or Tim before, so we all decided to meet up for a couple of night dives before our class started. Maciej was able to meet us out on our first practice dive. He said he wanted to see where we were all at. We practiced valve drills, s-drills, and ascents. After the first dive, Maciej had this look in his eye....he had already figured out each of our weaknesses. I knew he was already planning the failure scenarios. Second practice dive...another night dive...we do the same drills. Viz was poor, surge was up, and conditions in general sucked. We all do a pretty good job and head back in. All of us got creamed by the surf. If any of you are familiar with Redondo Beach and that stupid ledge, you will know what I’m talking about. I’m now TERRIFIED of Redondo Beach!!! I’m absolutely dreading the class being held here.
Dive Day 1: Beautiful day at Redondo! Ankle slappers! I’m so relieved. I can now get my mind off of “how the hell am I going to get out of the ocean.” Maciej reviews some dry runs with us. We practice running line around the trees. It is now time to gear up! No deco bottle this day....we should be okay. We head out and proceed with our dive. We drop down and have a “warm up.” Valve drills, s-drills and 6-minute ascent. We drop back down and now are instructed to lay the line. “Things will happen,” is what Maciej said. Oh...things happened!!!! It was definitely not pretty....but we survived our dives
Many out of gas, valve failures, and out of mask. I remember at one point...my mask is gone. I signal to Leonard...no one is coming to grab me. Funny. I feel around and find Leonard. I follow down to his hand, put his hand on my face...he then proceeds to put my hand on his face. Great! We are both mask less. We get the line...and head back in. It was so confusing. Where is Tim? Isn’t he supposed to be leading us home?? I’m being pushed along the line...so I continue home. Finally, on the up line, I realize we are all mask less. We were instructed to do a six minute ascent. We managed a whole team mask less ascent in 3 minutes. Too fast, but not too horrible. Another part of the day I remember well is the Triangle of Love. I knew it was coming!!!! Nick and Maciej had talked about this scenario before. I knew Maciej was going to attempt it...he did succeed. It was a BIG lesson to slow down. If it is an out of gas scenario, get the guy the gas...and then fix this triangle. The failures continued and we finally exit the ocean. No rolling Phew. We head back to Ocean Adventures to get fills and review the video (Kim Cardenas was so kind to volunteer her Saturday to film our class). I have a love hate relationship with the video camera. I hate to watch myself makes mistakes, but I love it at the same time. Such a great learning tool. We discuss the things we all needed to work on for the next day. I drive home going over every single scenario in my head. My recorder was playing all night long. Dive Day 2: Another gorgeous day at Redondo Beach! Thank the Lord!!! Kim wasn’t able to do video on Sunday, but Dave Harris was still in California and volunteered to video our class. I’m glad he was there too, ‘cause we start gearing up to get in the water and I pull the deco bottle out of my car and realize I have no deco reg. Nick left it for me on the dive shelf at home...and I completely forgot to pack it. It is something I don’t normally pack with me. I use a hose from Maceij, 1st stage from Leonard, a SPG gauge and 2nd stage from Dave. Phew...I can do the dives and my team doesn’t have to wait for me to drive home and back! We head into the ocean. Maciej instructs us to do our warm up, but this time in mid-water and add in a deco switch. We were sloppy and we took too much time. We ascend. Debrief and again I hear Maciej say, “Things will happen.” I’m not as scared as I was the day before...but I should have been!!! I learned a very big lesson this day. You cannot stop thinking until the dive is over and you’re back on the boat. I go out of gas. Tim donates to me. Leonard has a left post failure. Then, Tim has out of mask! We get to the deco switch. Everything is moving along great. I put my deco reg in my mouth, and BAM....bubbles on the deco bottle. Great! Which reg was I breathing??? I fumble around...first unclipping my primary off...quickly realizing I’m not allowed to go there. Look at Tim’s regulator...should I take this? Look to Leonard....hmmm..... back to Tim, back to Leonard. Then to the surface. Damn. But, HUGE lesson learned. We end the day and head back to the dive shop for the video debrief. All of us are beaten up. But, we had a great two days and we learned a lot.
Dive Day 3: We had a two week break before our last critical skills class day. We arrive at Redondo...another gorgeous day! Nick volunteered to video today too!We head in the water....do our warm up. Again...”Things will happen.” We had a very difficult day! Nick caught it all on video. Even little things, like wet notes hanging from the pocket, and primary regs not clipped off. In fact, Maciej was quite upset with our performance and needed to see us perform another day before our experience dives. “What happened to the improvement??” is what he said. We left the dive shop that night sad, disappointed and defeated. We also left with a lot of motivation to get it together so we can pass this class. Because of my work schedule and the experience dives already being reserved for the following weekend, it was necessary to do our fourth skills class dive at night. Great...Redondo at night. I know how this goes.
Dive Day 4: We arrive at 7pm and the ocean looks choppy. The surf doesn’t look too bad, from what I can see. We enter and swim out. I am stressed out to the max. The waves seem pretty large and all I can think about is the surf and the exit. I need to get my head together because I need to perform well tonight. We head in and all pull together as a team. We land our ascents and our deco switch on the first dive. When we surface, Maciej asks how the dives went and I respond with “how are we going to get out!?!?!?” I was so stressed out about having to exit the ocean!!! We again succeed on dive #2. On the surface, he tells us we are ready for our experience dives! Finally...Palawan...here we come!
Experience Dives, Last Day: Nick has talked about this wreck before. He has video of it too. It looks awesome and I have wanted to dive this wreck for a while now. We set up our dive on The Giant Stride with Jim Simmerman. Jeff Seckendorf and Kim Cardenas join us. Nick is going to video our dives too! I don’t know what it is about classes that stress me out so much? Obviously, there is performance anxiety. I get the opportunity to dive this wreck...and boy was it amazing...huge, a lot of life....and tons of cut outs to swim through. It’s like a huge playground. But, I didn’t enjoy it like I have enjoyed other wrecks. All I had on my mind was “don’t F-up.” We bring the reel with us in case the anchor is not on the boat. First dive Leonard is Captain and I call deco. Leonard reels out, we hang the line over the edge and continue on the dive. It is an amazing structure to swim around. We even went through a couple of swim thrus (after seeing Maciej go through one, we now know it is okay to do). Still, all I had on my mind was the deco plan and mentally preparing to sit at 20 feet for 5 minutes breathing 100% O2 and to try to stay calm enough to not drop below 20 feet. The team did awesome! We successfully complete experience dive #1. We discuss the dive on the boat, wait through our surface interval and head back in for Dive #2. I should have paid more attention on Dive #1 because I am now captain on this dive. Same plan as before...we head out and I take an odd route...cross the deck of the boat and through a swim through. We’re now on the exterior of the boat along the side. I swim for a while, looking at all the life growing on the boat...and I of course pass underneath that line that was laid on the 1st dive. I didn’t realize how nervous I was and how fast I was going. We ascend to get back up to the deck of the boat, and I’m now confused as to where the line is and how far away did we pass it?? Yup...I got us lost...on a boat! Great!!! We have 11 minutes now to find the line. I hope I didn’t go too far (it’s a BIG boat!!). We turn to go home....and thankfully find the line. We do our ascent. We find that Kim and Jeff are making their ascent at the same time. They caught up to us at 40 feet. That was tough. 6 divers all trying to stay on the line together. But, we manage it....another successful ascent and dive #2 is done! We surface and load onto the boat and Maciej congratulates us!!!
This class was so challenging. The challenge was fun and exciting! I got to dive with two great divers, Tim and Leonard, and I can’t wait for more diving with them in the future.
Maciej is an amazing instructor too! He really knows how to teach! And he can teach different styles to meet the divers’ needs (I have seen this through three classes). He has patience and persistence. He makes you think. He pushes you to your limits. You cannot learn and memorize every possible scenario that can happen under water....and through this class, you learn so much by all the right and the wrong things that happen. Every mistake under water had a consequence...and that consequence will be hammered into your brain. Thank you so much, Maciej, for being such an amazing teacher, dive buddy, and friend!!
Special thanks to Kim Cardenas and Dave Harris for filming our class. A huge thank you to Nick for not only filming the 3rd day dive and experience dives, but also being there for shore support. Oh...and for staying up late with me discussing failure scenarios, deco planning and tech diving in general.
I have so many dives I want to do, and can do, now that I have this certification! Next on the list is Farnsworth....and I’m definitely going to make it back to the Palawan...with the scooter! I can’t wait!!!!!
