Your personal experience

[narcT]

Get AL80's not steel tanks. Practice getting used to them because when you travel most live aboards and resorts only have AL80's. Diving doubles? Get double AL80's for the same reason

http://www.trukodyssey.com/tech.html

If you need a lot of weight to sink, strap it to your tank with a shortened weight belt. Example, with a 7mm suit I strap 8lbs on the tank and carry 8 lbs on my belt

 

[BarryNL]

My best tip: When you know a piece of kit isn't performing perfectly get it fixed immediately.

I learned this one watching my weight belt (on which I knew the clasp was getting a bit worn) disappear into the depths as I climbed back onto a boat.

 

[Charlie99]

I'll often use a snorkle on the surface swim.

Once or twice I forget to switch to the reg before going down. But never mind, the taste of salt water lets you know that you've forgotten.

I also found that waves breaking over your head can cause problems with a snorkel. On my first post-cert dive, I surfaced, swapped to the snorkel, then headed on over to a jetty we were using as an exit point. The combo of swell plus backwash from the jetty submerged me and I coughed and sputtered. I swapped to the reg and recovered. Swapped back to the snorkel and promptly got submerged by the next swell.

My buddy has already climbed up the jetty, turned around and shouted
"Just leave the reg in. You already paid for that air"

Since then I have always used the reg when making my exit, either onto shore or taking off fins and climbing up a boat ladder.

 

[Captain CaveMan]

I posted this a little while ago but it might help you.

Things to remember when diving with the spouse:

1. "No honey, the suit does not make you look fat."
2. Never tell her that seals are like dogs and will try to hump your leg.
3. In the excitement to get into the water, dont forget about her.
4. Never assume your comfort level is her comfort level.
5. Dont stare at the other female divers.
6. In the rush to get to the restroom after the dive, dont forget about her.
7. When telling scuba stories, remember that she was there too.
8. Never write something bad about your wife in your logbook. She WILL read it.
9. Dont even bother trying to understand their choice of colors for their gear.
10. "Thanks for being my dive buddy" is fun to say.

wow #9. my wife based all her dive gear off of her (cute) blue gloves. :07:
when she asked does this look good on me and shes wearing a 7mm famerjon suit. you better say you look marvelis. just marvelis baby. and the collours they match perfict.

all ways do #10. thats the best one off all. and telling her that you had a great time spending the day with her. :10:

 

[abitton]

Small problems lead to big problems. Sweat the small stuff and you'll avoid a bunch of issues.

Personal story: I use a BP/W configuration. During a dive, I accidentally pulled off the knob off the string for the rear air dump. Because this was a night dive, and I had another one planned early the next morning, I decided to leave the repairs to some other time.

Guess what I needed for my next dive? I shot up quite a ways before regaining control... No harm done, but...

Alex

See one of the previous posts also...

 

[El Orans]

I posted this a little while ago but it might help you.

Things to remember when diving with the spouse:
4. Never assume your comfort level is her comfort level.

Oh so true...
Especially on night dives with low vis. :11:

 

[TSandM]

Nobody has addressed this yet, so I will share my hard-earned insight from yesterday's aborted dive: Have your buddy check your drysuit zipper before you get in the water. In fact, it goes better if you your buddy is next to you and you are getting dressed and gearing up together, so two eyes look at each stage of the process.

Getting in the water with your drysuit unzipped is a recipe for a very short and unsatisfying dive and a great deal of embarassment.

 

[DandyDon]

Getting in the water with your drysuit unzipped is a recipe for a very short and unsatisfying dive and a great deal of embarassment.

:lol:​

Damn, I am so glad that not every one of these has happened to me - yet. Too many of them have, i.e.
**Wonder why I am having such difficulty getting all of the air out of my BC and my body down the line to the wreck, then arriving there and discovering I have no weights.
**Hit my inflator hose when I get to the wreck, this time with weights, and thinking this would be a good time to hook it to the BC.
**Thinking it'd be nice to go in without a doorag or beanie and getting a sea nettle on the forehead as soon as I hit water. That scab lasted 5 weeks.
**Going in without resetting my Nitrox on my computer and locking it up. I now have the Default turn off on both.
**And yes, I have boarded the wrong boat in the dark. I followed my buddy to it, lost him in the boarding crowd when he left, then wondered who all the strangers were on my boat? :dork:

 

[RumBum]

I posted this a little while ago but it might help you.

Things to remember when diving with the spouse:

1. "No honey, the suit does not make you look fat."
2. Never tell her that seals are like dogs and will try to hump your leg.
3. In the excitement to get into the water, dont forget about her.
4. Never assume your comfort level is her comfort level.
5. Dont stare at the other female divers.
6. In the rush to get to the restroom after the dive, dont forget about her.
7. When telling scuba stories, remember that she was there too.
8. Never write something bad about your wife in your logbook. She WILL read it.
9. Dont even bother trying to understand their choice of colors for their gear.
10. "Thanks for being my dive buddy" is fun to say.

My husband and I are much happier diver buddies since I finally had to tell him "NEVER ever EVER touch MY gear!" Now we each have a gear bag, never mix gear, and know we are each responsible for our own gear. Also, just because you are married does not mean that you will be have the same diving style. He loves his backplate/ wings, I love my BC and weight belt. It's each to each his/ her own.

 

[BarryNL]

- when packing equipment I have a strict order how I pack stuff. That way I never forget a piece of equipment as I always pack it the same way.

The foolproof way is to have a checklist, and tick off each item as you pack it. This works when you can't always pack the same way - eg. when you use different kit for real dives than pool sessions. At least a check list makes you think about each piece of equipment and decide whether to take it or not.

I've never forgotton a piece of kit since I started doing this.