What do I do now?

[nolatom]

While in that pool doing the hover exercise, flood your mask and clear it (hint: press the top of the mask skirt into your forehead while exhaling through your nose, the water exits "downward").

Extra credit: do the above with salt(ed) water, just to get the feel of the sting and ultimate cleansing of your eyes by those tears you shed.

Got your compass? practice using it, and the rotating "pointer", to do out-and-back in a yard or park, with visored hat blocking your view ahead. Then do a square.

Find some on-line videos about that first dive, and prepping for it.


Watch reruns of "Sea Hunt"? Nah, Mike Nelson is way too casual about dive evolutions, and no safety stop--plus, 3 times out of 5, his air hose gets cut by the bad guys ;-)

 

[TMHeimer]

All good advice here. I dive wet all winter (actually our water was 34F last week too). But I have it down to a science and do one 20 minute dive a day once every 2 weeks, which works before getting dangerously cold. I won't get into the logistics other than I drive about half a mile to & from the site with wetsuit (and belt) on. Keeps me active until things get realistic in May. Or, you could drop $1K on a drysuit.....

 

[Marie13]

OP is in Idaho. Everything is frozen.

 

[drrich2]

I was wondering if you guys had any tips for someone at this stage in scuba diving.

It's a good time to get Nitrox certified, if you find a course that doesn't require dives (been awhile since I got certified in Nitrox). It's mainly head knowledge. Nitrox requires some additional knowledge to make an informed decision about using it, but comes in handy for extending NDL limits at moderately deep dives (around 80-110 feet deep or so, for example), or multiple dives in a day. It does cap you at a shallower than usual maximum depth (usually EAN 32, which is 32% oxygen, with a maximum operating depth recommendation around 110 feet deep).

Otherwise, you've got some decisions to make (and probably resource assessing to do) in terms of how to proceed with the dive hobby.

1.) Dive locally - likely lakes or quarries. Fresh water, cold below the thermocline, limited viz. and not a whole lot to see, but can be fun.

2.) Road trips - depending on where you are in Idaho, looks like you might be somewhere around 450 - 500 miles from the Oregon coast or Washington's Puget Sound? Would it be worth it to you to make a road trip coming and going, take your own gear, and enjoy some cold water diving?

3.) Plane trips - what a lot of us do, at least part of the time Good 'starter' destinations include:

a.) Cozumel - often an overall budget trip, cheap food topside, warm, great viz., nice reef, good fish life. I suspect it may be the #1 Caribbean dive destination, judging from 'mindshare' on the forum.
b.) Roatan - similar benefits to Cozumel, not drift diving, where you stay on Roatan matters more than where you stay on Cozumel, known for lush reef but somewhat overfished.
c.) Bonaire - for shore diving.
d.) Key Largo in the upper Florida Keys, shallow reef diving with option for some deep wrecks (if you've got advanced OW cert.).

The Cayman Islands are reputable, but alleged to be a bit pricy (though airfare and auto rental have historically been pretty budget). Belize (such as Ambergris Caye) seems to be a popular choice. Curacao rocks.

If you're looking for dive travel, I'd suggest you start with Cozumel or Roatan, or join a group headed to Bonaire (since hanging with people who know their way around is handy there your first time).

 

[TMHeimer]

OP is in Idaho. Everything is frozen.

OP said either ice or 34 degrees. Maybe something is still open.

 

[Rob9876]

In addition to the good info about locations above, I believe that doing a Blackbeard's Liveaboard Cruise in the Bahamas is about the cheapest $$ per dive option out there for Caribbean diving. For a little over $1K you can get up to 19 dives in warm Caribbean water with good things to see. That includes your food for the week (which is surprisingly good), all of your air fills, soft drinks, beer and rum punch, and a "camping at sea" bunk to sleep on.

For another $150 (great price!) you can get your Advanced Open Water cert on the cruise, which in addition to the card gets you 5 more dives with a divemaster accompanying you. They are fine with new divers -- my teenage son and I only had 9 dives when we took our cruise, and the repeated diving definitely got us more comfortable in the water. It's not fancy at all, but it is fun and definitely an experience living on a boat for a week.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

Like others have said, get in the pool and practice skills. If possible, take a trip to somewhere warm. South Florida? Have fun and good luck.

 

[VikingDives]

Pool time is almost never wasted.

Go to the shallow end of the pool and take 1 or 2 pounds out of your bc/weight belt and hold it in your hand. Dump all your air and lay on the bottom. Put the weight in your hand on the bottom. If you can still stay down, repeat until you can't then add weight until you can, you'll be close to properly weighted.

Hover horizontally. Take off your mask occasionally while hovering. Try taking off and putting on your BC while hovering. Try to do things you'd probably never do in open water, do a headstand or try to hover face up. Toss your mask into the center of the deep end. Swim to it and put it on.

 

[edwants2dive]

Ah hell just get on a plane to south Florida and come dive with us!
But seriously lots of good advice here +1 on doing Nitrox now it is kind of a dry cert (no dives required) and when you do get somewhere that you dive multiple time a day for multiple days in a row it is worth it. Until then as others have said pool practice if you have access to one.

 

[Wibble]

Read "books", watch videos, wait for the warm weather.

Maybe find a nearby club and go along there for a weekly meeting (Is this a thing in the US?).

Mainly wait!

When the season starts, go for it. Get loads of diving in. It's great!