Tips for novice divers

[inquis]

Many cold water trained divers carry too much lead when in the tropics.

If they carry too much lead in the tropics, I would bet they carry too much in cold water as well. A proper weight check doesn't care about water temperature.

 

[tursiops]

If they carry too much lead in the tropics, I would bet they carry too much in cold water as well. A proper weight check doesn't care about water temperature.

I suspect what he meant is that you use a thinner exposure suit n the tropics, but don't change your weighting. After all, "You can always add air to your BCD."

 

[TMHeimer]

Good OP. Of course this is one person's views on his own first steps into diving, but I agree with most of it. The Dive Club idea could be great, but it wasn't for me due to my location. We do have one here, but they are not as common as in Europe or UK, I believe.
Then there is the age old discussion about cold dark water vs. the tropics. It's just different, not always or necessarily more or less difficult.
I consider myself a safe and experienced diver, former active DM, and practice a CESA regularly. That's an old SB discussion. Unless you do it like 10-20 times in a row from 20' or stupidly hold your breath, it is simply one more tool you have in case of major equipment failure.

 

[lowwall]

I haven’t seen or heard being used here in Texas. May be that’s old English word?

I grew up in Indonesia and we use the same word (“klakson” in Indonesian as there is no native word with “x”. So “x” would be replaced with “ks”, for example, the word “taxi”, we would use “taksi”) because Indonesia was Dutch colony for 350 years.

The Klaxon horn was an American invention from the late 1900s. It became such a popular accessory on Model T Fords and other early cars that it became synonymous with "car horn".

They are known for their "ahooga" sound. If you've seen any WWII submarine movies, they were also used as the dive warning horn.

I just searched YouTube for a good illustration and there's one from my favorite overexplainer of obsolete technology:

 

[Dan]

The Klaxon horn was an American invention from the late 1900s. It became such a popular accessory on Model T Fords and other early cars that it became synonymous with "car horn".

They are known for their "ahooga" sound. If you've seen any WWII submarine movies, they were also used as the dive warning horn.

I just searched YouTube for a good illustration and there's one from my favorite overexplainer of obsolete technology:

Wow! I learn something today.

 

[waterone]

First is the buoyancy requirements are totally different. Many cold water trained divers carry too much lead when in the tropics.

Most of the cold water divers that I dive with do proper weight checks with new gear and know weight for a 3mm isn't the same as a drysuit with all the undergarments or something else..

Second visibility, whilst normally much better in the warmer climes, the light penetration is better. therefore a diver will sense they are getting deeper because of the darkness, doesn't work in warmer climes. I've know many go deeper then planned for this reason.

Thats why they have gauges, isnt it? Going diving in a warm area with good visibility isn't an excuse to stop paying attention.

Often in coldwater it can get dark within first couple feet and that a few inches of visibility isnt abnormal. Sometimes to check depth I have to put the gauge within a few inches of my eyes. In warm water most of the time I can just tilt my wrist ever so slightly.

Air/gas consumption, when a cold water diver is used to running low on air/gas within the NDL limits, they can sail past in warmer waters and end up with a mandatory deco obligation without the air/gas to complete it.

Anyone can go past their NDL if they dont pay attention. Maybe the divers that you have seen have dove before in cold water but do not dive often in cold water. Really it sounds like people that have just gotten a certification or are vacation divers.

I have a similar mindset of Cheizz that if you can dive cold murky water with all the equipment needed then warm water with other similar conditions is not going to be an issue and will seem easier. Of course, if it is something completely new there will be a learning curve.

 

[lamarpaulski]

If you can relax and perform underwater in cold, crappy conditions as a newbie I think you are a bit ahead of the newbie who learns in perfect tropical waters. Certainly anxiety-wise. If you were to switch environments you'd expect the tropical-trained diver to have many more issues and anxiety... not that there's no adjustments for the crap-trained guy.

 

[Cheizz]

Proper weighting should be a standard procedure whenever there's a significant change in gear (other suit, other tanks, other BC) or circumstances (fresh to salt water or the other way around). I know that for many new divers this is not evident. But for me it was.

Sitting on your knees doing skills in murky cold freshwater in a 7mm suit with gloves and hood I had about 10 kg of lead on my belt. Later on, in Elba, I carried only 4 kg in a 5mm wetsuit in salt water. Now I'm down to 2 kg (1 kg in a trim pocket on either side of my tank) and a steel backplate for diving in my 6mm wetsuit. That is for freshwater and maybe a kilo too much, I am trying to get that to go as well.

 

[ginti]

Of course, if it is something completely new there will be a learning curve.

That's the key thing. If it is something new, there will be a learning curve. If it isn't a new thing, the diver is not a "cold water diver", but a diver who mostly dive in cold water and with experience in different environments.

But what you say is completely different than saying "learn to do the skills in the cold murky waters of a quarry and then you can do them wherever you want". There is always a learning curve, and if you want to master any environment, you need to experience them all.

 

[ginti]

Sitting on your knees doing skills in murky cold freshwater in a 7mm suit with gloves and hood I had about 10 kg of lead on my belt.

Out of curiosity, did you practise the skills while kneeling? And, if not, were you allowed to kneel during the OW course?