Tomorrow is the day!

[NubaScoob]

So I started my OW class back in November, all pool sessions and bookwork completed, and then the following weekend we did our first OW dive in Lake Denton in Arcadia,FL. Then, due to holidays, and bad weather that seems to have only wanted to show up on the weekends, my second OW dive needed for my OW cert has been dangling in front of me that being said tomorrow is the day! We are going over to West Palm Beach to do a bridge dive which if I remember correctly is the Blue Heron Bridge Dive. I will have my GoPro Hero2 on hand so I plan to get some good HD video of it all. After the dive is done, my instructor should be issueing me my OW cert! yay!

Ant

 

[Insta-Gator]

Good for you.

As an uncertified diver, I think I'd leave the Go Pro at home until you get 15 or 20 dive under my belt. There's some learning experience you need to focus on for now.

 

[NubaScoob]

Really? I have the wrist mount so I figured that I would set it and... Well .. forget it..

 

[scallop]

Congrats to you. I too recently finished certification and took my GoPro on all dives except the first one and really regret not taking it on that one. As long as you have your fundamentals down and concentrate on what you are supposed to be doing and do not get wrapped up in taking pix you should be fine.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

So today is the day. Congratulations! As for video or pictures, do what you are comfortable doing- you will have an instructor along after all!
DivemasterDennis

 

[scubajim 1]

Enjoy your class, BHB is an awesome site, tides and work permitting, I dive the bridge about 3 times a week and never get bored there. It has, IMHO, the best boi-diversity on the east coast.

As to your GoPro, ask your instructor. If he/she feels it won't task load you go ahead but remember you need to be concentrating on skills, you'll have many dives in the future to record. Master your skills and you'll enjoy both diving and the GoPro a lot more that way.

 

[NubaScoob]

ok so I got home a few hours ago... rinsed all my gear... and now on to how it went. So we got there around 10AM and got all suited up. We got into the water, waited for everyone to get comfortable and then started swimming for the bridge.. however due to us getting there late the current was strong under the bridge and we couldn't go under it. We did get to see a small sunken boat with a motor on it which was cool but didn't get to see any of the really cool stuff that I heard about. Plus my dive buddy was around 60+ years old and kept getting lost so I had to keep helping him back to the group lol. So we ended up just swimming around the small sunken boat (by the smaller bridge) and along the beach headed back towards the lifeguard post and looked at the marine life that we could see. Fish we saw were:
a ton of small white fish
a school of Barracuda's
couple Sea Cucumbers
a tiny Pike eel or snake (can't remember which the instructor said)
dozens of starfish
dozens of urchins
a black with yellow stripes angel fish
various others.

We did two dives, the first was around an hour and twenty minutes, second was only around 20 minutes as we tried the other side of the "swimming area" and the water got really cold there once we started getting closer to the boat channel and the vis was becoming poor so we called that dive early. Instructor mainly had us work on nuetral buoyancy today as he said we were a very good class and that we had everything down really well (not to mention I choose to do a third day in the pool to try different types of gear and got extra practice at other things). I did bring my GoPro camera but payed more attention to what I was doing out there rather than being a photographer so out of almost 2 hours of video there is probably about 15 good minutes worth and not much to see lol. That being said The instructor advised us after the first dive today that we are all now consider certified, and that he will order the cards for us. I think he ordered mine already as he said something about it like a week or two ago when I got survey request from NAUI via email. After we got back I told him I would pick it up this week sometime as I still need him to sign off on my dive log since he was my buddy for most of my dives. Today was also my first day trying all my new gear out as well (brand new BC with integ. weights, new regs, wireless AI computer, fin spring straps). Gripes I developed so far are that I do not like that the dive computer only activates after being 5 feet down. Since we were only in 10 feet of water the dive computer keep thinking I was not diving but only in a "wet" state when getting closer to the surface than 5 ft. I suppose that will go away when doing deeper dives. Just makes it a PITA to log your dives correctly. I also found out that my Aeris Velocity XP fins are actually too small for my feet. I installed spring straps a couple of days ago and now the fins are cramming my two big toes too hard in the front of the fin. Guess I will need to just get the next size up. either way though it was fun and I can't wait to get my card and take a trip down to the keys within the next few weeks!



Ant

 

[Scuba_Noob]

Sounds like you had fun. Great that you concentrated mainly on skills and diving versus the GoPro. I think 15min of good footage is pretty good for two dives. One hour and twenty minute dive? Your air consumption must be amazing. I usually feel like using the washroom after 40min, haha. Or I'm chilly. Guess you don't have to worry about that in Florida.

PS I just noticed our usernames are very similar.

 

[TracysaCADiver]

Sounds like you had fun. Great that you concentrated mainly on skills and diving versus the GoPro. I think 15min of good footage is pretty good for two dives. One hour and twenty minute dive? Your air consumption must be amazing. I usually feel like using the washroom after 40min, haha. Or I'm chilly. Guess you don't have to worry about that in Florida.

PS I just noticed our usernames are very similar.

I've heard that the Phil Foster Park (Blue Heron Bridge) is a pretty shallow dive area - a lot of the area only gets to about 15 ft deep.

 

[NubaScoob]

it was a bit chilly after the first 30-40 minutes. Water temp was 66 and I was in a 3/2 but I am a little guy with no meat on me lol. Since we were only around 10-12 feet deep my air lasted forever. After the hour and 20 minute dive I still had around 1120 PSI left! lolz. Had we gone down to 30-40 feet my air would have depleted much faster.

Regarding the usernames do you get the play on mine? NubaScoob - swap the bold letters and you get ScubaNoob!