Total of 12 dives and already a few lessons and one almost "near miss"

[Rollin Bonz]

Experience makes all the difference.

You can learn a great deal from classes, but you must have the opportunity to put what you have learned to use. In my opinion that is a big issue with most organizations. That applies to divers as well as dive professionals.

My experience is with PADI, but probably applies to most. There is little in the way of experience required to progress through your formal training. "Divemaster", "Advanced Open Water", "Master Scuba Diver". All sound very impressive, but require little in the way of actual in water experience.

In PADI, a diver needs only 40 logged dives to begin and 60 logged dives to complete the "Divemaster" training. I've dove with many a "Divemaster" I would be scared to share a bathtub with. Certs and titles don't mean a lot when there is no experience to back it up. Problem is, we depend on these certs to give us an idea of the quality of the people with which we are diving (or depending on "leading" us). We have nothing else to go on when we are diving with someone for the first time.

Keep that in mind when you enter the water with a "Divemaster" or a first time buddy who is a "Master Scuba Diver" and place any dependence on their "expertise".

I would add...
Dive often. Take baby steps. Get experience.

 

[Graeme Fraser]

Experience makes all the difference.

You can learn a great deal from classes, but you must have the opportunity to put what you have learned to use. In my opinion that is a big issue with most organizations. That applies to divers as well as dive professionals.

My experience is with PADI, but probably applies to most. There is little in the way of experience required to progress through your formal training. "Divemaster", "Advanced Open Water", "Master Scuba Diver". All sound very impressive, but require little in the way of actual in water experience.

In PADI, a diver needs only 40 logged dives to begin and 60 logged dives to complete the "Divemaster" training. I've dove with many a "Divemaster" I would be scared to share a bathtub with. Certs and titles don't mean a lot when there is no experience to back it up. Problem is, we depend on these certs to give us an idea of the quality of the people with which we are diving (or depending on "leading" us). We have nothing else to go on when we are diving with someone for the first time.

Keep that in mind when you enter the water with a "Divemaster" or a first time buddy who is a "Master Scuba Diver" and place any dependence on their "expertise".

I would add...
Dive often. Take baby steps. Get experience.

Yep I totally agree. A good DM is worth their weight in gold and is a position that should command more respect. I do worry that some see being certified as DM purely a '''tick box" on the way to instructor. I know of several divers who literally started their IDC the day after being certified as DM's.

In my humble opinion I'd like to see something similar to Instructor recognition where DM's are allocated certs for assisting on courses. Maybe then have a minimum cert prerequisite before doing an IDC, a bit like applying for MSDT.

Real world experience as a DM is essential. No simulation can truly prepare you for a student spitting a reg and bolting. Scares the c#&p out of you!

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

This may be the common practise, but it's one I intend to avoid. Just got to work on the logistics.

Open-heeled fins and keep your regulator in your mouth until you’re onboard.

Slip the fins over your wrist Just before you get to the ladder (pretty easy assuming there’s a trailing line behind the boat). Pull yourself the rest of the way from the line to the ladder.

If you either can’t reach the ladder or you fall off the ladder (I’ve seen both)...you can still breathe and you can put your fins back on if you need to.

The “stick the fins under your armpit” thing (for closed-heeled fins)...I can only imagine how many people have accidentally let go of their fins.

Example of open-heeled design below.

Edit: OP...on your earlier posts...I’m only a few dives ahead of you (just hit 20), but I too have seen some of your concerns. Ex. My first dive after completing OW...my “buddy” was a DM. We were diving in x < 6’ visibility.

I lost track of him within five minutes of starting the dive, spent one minute looking for him, and surfaced. He surfaced 15 minutes later and was like “I lost track of you.” It apparently took him 15 minutes to notice that.

I’ve been fortunate lately though to dive with several very good buddies. Ex. My buddy Saturday was from Australia. Great guy, very alert, and was a pleasure to dive with.

 

[yle]

All these things WERE covered in training, which is why we were confused that the DM and the highly experienced bloke DIDNT COMPLY.

Welcome to guided diving. Some DMs are very experienced and some are not. Some are very thorough with their dive briefings... some are not. And sometimes those with poor dive briefings are the very experienced ones that just fail to clue into the fact that the people they are guiding are not that experienced.

As you dive more you'll get to experience a range of the competency of guides.

 

[BlueTrin]

I definitely lack the required coordination to perform that intricate maneuver.

Nah, you are fine: this is the ladder, easy, you just move up by sliding your legs on the side when you move your feet up

 

[lowviz]

I definitely lack the required coordination to perform that intricate maneuver.

Don't fight it, it is natural.

Hang on tight and tuck your head (so you don't lose your secondary) on the downstroke. Get your fins up one step at the stall point at the bottom of the downstroke. Stretch out a bit on the upstroke while remaining tucked. Ride it up. Grab another step at the top if you wish, but I don't. I just get comfortable for the next downstroke. No rush.

 

[SapphireMind]

So you should look at proper material to learn this but I’ll try to summarise:

The % of oxygen multiplied by the pressure in bars is called partial pressure of oxygen.

For example air is 21% oxygen or 0.21
At 30m the pressure is 4 bars.
So the partial pressure of O2, for normal air at 30m deep, is 0.21 x 4 = 0.84

Now you should avoid having more than 1.4 partial pressure for O2. If you go over you risk convulsions due to O2 poisoning your central nervous system.

110 feet is 33.5m which is 4.35 bars.

So you can calculate the maximum O2 percentage that would give you 1.4 partial Pressure for O2 by doing the following

1.4 / 4.35 = 0.32

This means that you are safe to 110ft if you have 32% or less of O2 in your mix.

So Nitrox 32 (which means 32% oxygen) is safe up to 110ft.

Why use Nitrox then ? Because when you remove some nitrogen and replace it with oxygen, you are absorbing less nitrogen and this will reduce the risk of decompression sickness and reduce the interval times as you have less nitrogen in your body.

You can dive longer and more often but not as deep as if you had less O2

Maybe to clarify, because I am familiar with those calculations: I guess from my perspective, I like a wider margin of where I am safe. I tend to be very conservative, so while I might be safe for up to 110 feet, I wouldn't want to go on a dive that edges on that. Obviously, other people are far more comfortable with things than I am too, which isn't wrong at all, I was more curious because it was hitting on the edge.

 

[BlueTrin]

Maybe to clarify, because I am familiar with those calculations: I guess from my perspective, I like a wider margin of where I am safe. I tend to be very conservative, so while I might be safe for up to 110 feet, I wouldn't want to go on a dive that edges on that. Obviously, other people are far more comfortable with things than I am too, which isn't wrong at all, I was more curious because it was hitting on the edge.

1.4 has already a built in safety. I know that at least PADI mentions in case of emergency you could go to 1.6 temporarily ? Or maybe I don’t remember correctly

 

[SapphireMind]

And overall thank you for all the discussion. I have taken a basic nitrox class, but have not used it yet. I did learn how to analyze my gas in my class and have a great instructor, thanks. I missed some of the earlier responses when I responded to the last one.

 

[BlueTrin]

If you feel like you need extra safety you can use 1.2 or 1.3 instead of 1.4 ?

I think it is useful to compute as well the 1.6 limit so you know what limit you should use for emergencies