traveler218
Contributor
I know I am probably opening myself up for a lot of criticism, but I am hoping some of it will be constructive.
My last four dives have been drift dives in Jupiter and West Palm Beach. On all four of them I really thought I had my buoyancy dialed in. I was able to execute an controlled descent, maintain neutral buoyancy and control my depth through my breathing. I maintained this through my ascent and safety stop. It was a real boost to my overall confidence as a diver.
But then...
I had an experience this weekend that really makes me stop and think. I attended a DUI dry-suit demo event in Pelham, Al this weekend. As is usually the case I showed up not knowing anyone at the event. From the beginning I made it clear that I was not very experienced and had absolutely no familiarity with a drysuit. I was assured I would be put with an instructor who would make sure I understood the operation of the suit and ensure that I was properly weighted.
I went through the fitting, suited up and went down to the water. When I reached the dock, I was told to go ahead and enter the water and wait on the dive platform. At this point I was told to make sure I had sufficient weight in my BC. I did some quick calculations based on what I had heard and decided I needed about 16 lbs.
When I was finally paired with an "instructor" the only instruction I got was "meet me on the lower platform". As I started my descent I quickly realized I did not have enough weight to overcome my buoyancy, so I returned to the upper platform and asked for more weight. The only size weights they had remaining were 3lb'ers. So in order to remain balanced they placed two in the rear tank pockets. I was then able to defend to the lower platform and demonstrate neutral buoyancy. We started out from the platform as a group, but I just could not seem to control my trim. Every time I would turn to look around me the I would role onto my back and have to fight to right myself. Then through the compression one fin became loose and came off. While retrieving my fin, I lost buoyancy control and ended up on the bottom (40 ft). By this time the instructor was panicked and took me back to the dock.
All in all I felt like that newbie diver that didn't learn a thing from his OW course. A thoroughly unpleasant dive experience.
I guess the big question is how to avoided this sort of incident in the future (short of Not diving anymore)?
My last four dives have been drift dives in Jupiter and West Palm Beach. On all four of them I really thought I had my buoyancy dialed in. I was able to execute an controlled descent, maintain neutral buoyancy and control my depth through my breathing. I maintained this through my ascent and safety stop. It was a real boost to my overall confidence as a diver.
But then...
I had an experience this weekend that really makes me stop and think. I attended a DUI dry-suit demo event in Pelham, Al this weekend. As is usually the case I showed up not knowing anyone at the event. From the beginning I made it clear that I was not very experienced and had absolutely no familiarity with a drysuit. I was assured I would be put with an instructor who would make sure I understood the operation of the suit and ensure that I was properly weighted.
I went through the fitting, suited up and went down to the water. When I reached the dock, I was told to go ahead and enter the water and wait on the dive platform. At this point I was told to make sure I had sufficient weight in my BC. I did some quick calculations based on what I had heard and decided I needed about 16 lbs.
When I was finally paired with an "instructor" the only instruction I got was "meet me on the lower platform". As I started my descent I quickly realized I did not have enough weight to overcome my buoyancy, so I returned to the upper platform and asked for more weight. The only size weights they had remaining were 3lb'ers. So in order to remain balanced they placed two in the rear tank pockets. I was then able to defend to the lower platform and demonstrate neutral buoyancy. We started out from the platform as a group, but I just could not seem to control my trim. Every time I would turn to look around me the I would role onto my back and have to fight to right myself. Then through the compression one fin became loose and came off. While retrieving my fin, I lost buoyancy control and ended up on the bottom (40 ft). By this time the instructor was panicked and took me back to the dock.
All in all I felt like that newbie diver that didn't learn a thing from his OW course. A thoroughly unpleasant dive experience.
I guess the big question is how to avoided this sort of incident in the future (short of Not diving anymore)?