When does it "click"?

[k_sheep]

I LOVE snorkeling beyond words - often spending 4+ hours in the water at a time and only coming in when hungry! I'm so comfortable snorkeling - just the slightest flick of my hand or foot (I don't snorkel with fins) I can move perfectly without effort to wherever I want with millimetre accuracy. I'm a very strong swimmer. It's just the best way to relax for me.

I'm a late start to diving, did my OW at 31yo, AOW a year later. It seemed the natural progression. But 60 odd dives down ... I can't even begin to find diving relaxing. My trim and buoyancy are pretty good at depth, presumably thanks to being more comfortable in water than on dry land! But I find when diving my mind is going a million miles an hour:

"What's my air level? What's my descent rate? Is anything hanging loose? Where's my buddy? Does my buddy have anything hanging loose? What time are we at? How's my buoyancy? When did I last check my buddy's air? Which way is the current?" and repeat, time and time again! It probably doesn't help that I'm always using rental gear (except mask and hood) so have to use unfamiliar equipment every time.

Am I overthinking? Does it become natural at any time? At 60 something dives, I thought I'd "get it" by now, so I'm worried I never will now

 

[Diving Dubai]

That's a difficult question to answer. My main buddy is my wife thus a lot of things are second nature. We don't bother with each other's air for instance, because we know each other's consumption and thus by looking at our own gauge gives us an approximation of the other's gas.

I still mentally check myself and ask questions of myself underwater (am I perfectly neutral for instance) but these are just quick thoughts. Because I have my own gear I do't ask myself if everything's okay, instead it becomes immediately if something is out of place.

For me I really started getting into the "zone" after 100 dives - or the first year of weekly diving. If I'm with a strange buddy then I start to have to be more aware continuously about where they are, their gas etc etc.

So I don't think there is a dive or time when things "click" it's more comfort and familiarity in your equipment and surroundings etc.

 

[Freewillow]

Pretty normal, I believe. Took me certainly 100+ dives to be confortable. I do not dive weekly, only at two occasions per year during diving vacation. Still, after 850+ dives, my first dive of the vacation, I am not totally confortable: new boat, new place, consequent interval................ For my spouse, it is even worse.

Do not worry. The guys that are always too confortable, are not the safest divers.

 

[billt4sf]

It varies depending on the person. For us, GUE training (which we took after nearly 200 dives) helped more than any other single thing.

- Bill

 

[k_sheep]

Thanks for the replies. For my last 30-ish dives my hubby has been my buddy, but because he's "behind" in experience compared to me, I feel somewhat responsible for him. One thing that has helped is that we actually just hold hands when there's current, that way "where's my buddy, are they okay" is taken out of the equation

I guess I just want to get some further training too - I'd love to go back and do my AOW again because my instructor there was great, but I know he's not at the same place anymore. Since then, I've seen nothing but "tick the box" instructors (including my hubby's AOW course).

 

[Patoux01]

Meh.

Yes you're overthinking it. If you have a decent buddy (which you seem to have?), here's how it should go (imo).
- It's not your job to check his air. It's his job to report to you when needed.
- Your buddy should never be very far, a quick look tells you anything you need to know.
- Your air, you should already get to know what air consumption you have roughly, and then you only need a few checks to make sure you're ok.
- Nobody cares about descent speed. Ascent speed more, but that is not something that should be perfectly precise. As long as it's in the 6-12m/min range you're fine (imo)
- Same goes for time, why would you care? There's one thing you should keep in mind, you only need to have enough air to end the dive. The time doesn't matter. And for this, you only really need to know how far from deco you are.

Also, it might help if you slow down during the dive, I mean physically slow down, find a nice spot on the reef and look around for a while.


Are you guys just diving by yourselves or with shops? I ran away from most of the shops I've come across in Oz...

 

[Dan]

Get your own diving equipment (BCD, dive computer & reg) & get familiar on how to use them & maintenance.

 

[Neilwood]

I would agree with @Patoux01 that I think you are over thinking it.

Slow right down, take a deep breath, RELAX, enjoy the scenery and forget the worries about trim, air consumption etc. Only thing you need to do (especially in clear water with good visibility as you most likely have) is an occasional glance at your buddy, check your air every 5 minutes or so and RELAX.

You have your best buddy as your dive buddy so you will both watch each others backs. RELAX and enjoy it

Did I say RELAX?

 

[Lorenzoid]

I believe I know exactly what you're describing. For me, I THOUGHT it clicked after taking PADI Rescue. But the more I dived, the more I realized I was focused on everything about conducting the dive but having fun. So I asked a question on SB--turns out to be a very common question--to the effect of "How can I become a better diver"? This was about four years ago. At the time, the SB chorus responded: "Take GUE Fundamentals." What I have read* and heard again and again about the benefits of GUE Fundamentals for recreational divers--and now fully believe myself--is that this kind of training helps the diver "have more fun" by giving the diver a somewhat rigid "system" that is so ingrained in memory that the diver can focus more on the dive itself and less on the details of how it's conducted. Courses similar to GUE Fundamentals are apparently offered by other agencies and by individual instructors, but I'm not familiar with anything but GUE.

* A search of SB threads with the keywords "GUE" and "more fun" reveals quite a few.

 

[Bob DBF]

I guess I just want to get some further training too - I'd love to go back and do my AOW again because my instructor there was great, but I know he's not at the same place anymore.

First, if you like you previous instructor, then track him down and plan a trip to train with him, or perhaps he could recommend someone in your area that you might like.

Unless you had issues with your AOW, either move on to do an entire specialty for more in depth training, or go on to Rescue. If a class is good, you are going to learn little more by repeating it unless you took it in the distant past and haven't been diving for a while.


Bob