Any tips or advise for OW training
- Thread starter poidog81
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coral diver
Old & Wise
Always remember what they teach you in class, breath calmly, don't kick to much and stay close to the instructor.
also I remember a lot of the mistake that a new Diver do is they tend to inflate their BCD on their assent that's a no. no.
also I remember a lot of the mistake that a new Diver do is they tend to inflate their BCD on their assent that's a no. no.
coral diver
Old & Wise
What do you have?
Where will you be doing your Dive?
Do you have a budget?
Where will you be doing your Dive?
Do you have a budget?
SeaJayInSC
New member
Advice to a new diver:
1. Be wary of someone employed in the scuba industry, working for a specific manufacturer, who asks you how much money you have to spend.
2. "Don't kick too much" is pretty bizarre advice. I have never heard that one before.
3. Embrace the "kind" of gear that will serve you well in ALL dive locations. Buying dive gear that's specifically used for only one "kind" of diving restricts your diving to only that "kind" of diving.
4. Coral Diver, are you actually certified, or are you only a salesman?
5. Poidog81, if I could give just one bit of advice, I would tell the new diver that diving isn't about gear, it's about a skill set. It always seems that new divers are completely, totally focused on gear. This is completely understandable... After all, scuba gear is just doggone cool stuff, and it's designed that way, with a lot more "surface appeal" than underwater function in most cases. In other words, many times, scuba gear sold in the local dive shop ("LDS") is really stuff that's designed to appeal to new divers in the shop - not stuff designed to work well underwater and add to comfort, ability, function, or safety. Unfortunately, that's a fact in the industry.
...Which is to say that a lot of gear that you'll come across is stuff better left at home or in your dive bag when you go diving. That which you do take needs to be carried, worn, dragged through the water while you're diving, then rinsed, cleaned, dried, and put away after you drag it home after a dive. Gear is actually the WORST part of diving, which is hard to believe for the noob diver... After all, to the beginner, GEAR always seems to be the coolest part, and is often at the forefront of the diver's mind - and the first question they ask in online scuba-centric forums.
When it comes to gear, I recommend buying the basics - mask, fins and wetsuit/booties (with gloves and hood depending on climate). Borrow or rent everything else as long as you can. Spend your money diving and mastering new skill sets that your instructor gives you rather than spending your money on $600 BCs and $1000 computers. Master your skills and let the dive shops deal with salty, dirty gear that needs to be maintained and serviced annually.
Eventually you will fall in love with a piece of gear and not be able to resist it's purchase... But until that happens, RENT and master your skills and try all different kinds of gear to see what's good and what's showroom fluff - 'cause there's a lot of it out there.
1. Be wary of someone employed in the scuba industry, working for a specific manufacturer, who asks you how much money you have to spend.
2. "Don't kick too much" is pretty bizarre advice. I have never heard that one before.
3. Embrace the "kind" of gear that will serve you well in ALL dive locations. Buying dive gear that's specifically used for only one "kind" of diving restricts your diving to only that "kind" of diving.
4. Coral Diver, are you actually certified, or are you only a salesman?
5. Poidog81, if I could give just one bit of advice, I would tell the new diver that diving isn't about gear, it's about a skill set. It always seems that new divers are completely, totally focused on gear. This is completely understandable... After all, scuba gear is just doggone cool stuff, and it's designed that way, with a lot more "surface appeal" than underwater function in most cases. In other words, many times, scuba gear sold in the local dive shop ("LDS") is really stuff that's designed to appeal to new divers in the shop - not stuff designed to work well underwater and add to comfort, ability, function, or safety. Unfortunately, that's a fact in the industry.
...Which is to say that a lot of gear that you'll come across is stuff better left at home or in your dive bag when you go diving. That which you do take needs to be carried, worn, dragged through the water while you're diving, then rinsed, cleaned, dried, and put away after you drag it home after a dive. Gear is actually the WORST part of diving, which is hard to believe for the noob diver... After all, to the beginner, GEAR always seems to be the coolest part, and is often at the forefront of the diver's mind - and the first question they ask in online scuba-centric forums.
When it comes to gear, I recommend buying the basics - mask, fins and wetsuit/booties (with gloves and hood depending on climate). Borrow or rent everything else as long as you can. Spend your money diving and mastering new skill sets that your instructor gives you rather than spending your money on $600 BCs and $1000 computers. Master your skills and let the dive shops deal with salty, dirty gear that needs to be maintained and serviced annually.
Eventually you will fall in love with a piece of gear and not be able to resist it's purchase... But until that happens, RENT and master your skills and try all different kinds of gear to see what's good and what's showroom fluff - 'cause there's a lot of it out there.
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poidog81
New member
Wow! That is some great advice, thanks SeaJay! Thanks. I plan on doing most of my biginning diving in the carebean. I'm going to be taking the OW course at my local dive shop that meets once a week, for 3 hours, for 9 weeks at the local university pool. I will be doing my 4 referal dives at the end of March in Cancun, MX (already had the trip booked before hand). Should I by my own regulator, or computer? I would just get nervous using something that monitors my life, and I have no idea what condition it's in or it's service.
SeaJayInSC
New member
Great questions, my friend... And kudos for thinking along the lines of "safety" and "life support." So many new divers get so entrenched in the "toy" factor of diving that they forget that their gear is actually life support and is there for their safety.
I've never dived Cancun, but with it being a mainstream dive resort, my bet is that there's enough dive shops there to create a competitive environment - meaning that likely, they'll have less-than-one-year-old regulators and dive computers for rent right there on the spot. I once went diving in the Bahamas and found that well-known and intuitive dive computers were available for a rental fee of $9. With that kind of availability, it would have made sense to rent rather than bring my own dive computer with me all the way down there!
My point is that I wouldn't recommend buying any gear - especially expensive regs and computers - for this trip. Buy gear for all of the diving you do, and let the local dive shop there rent to you the gear you'll need for their specific dives.
Besides, it'll give you the chance to dive something new and different and see for yourself whether you like what they've got or not... So consider it a "test drive" so that you can decide whether or not you want to buy what they rent to you.
If you have questions about condition and all, why not call the dive shops and ask them about their stuff?
I've never dived Cancun, but with it being a mainstream dive resort, my bet is that there's enough dive shops there to create a competitive environment - meaning that likely, they'll have less-than-one-year-old regulators and dive computers for rent right there on the spot. I once went diving in the Bahamas and found that well-known and intuitive dive computers were available for a rental fee of $9. With that kind of availability, it would have made sense to rent rather than bring my own dive computer with me all the way down there!
My point is that I wouldn't recommend buying any gear - especially expensive regs and computers - for this trip. Buy gear for all of the diving you do, and let the local dive shop there rent to you the gear you'll need for their specific dives.
Besides, it'll give you the chance to dive something new and different and see for yourself whether you like what they've got or not... So consider it a "test drive" so that you can decide whether or not you want to buy what they rent to you.
If you have questions about condition and all, why not call the dive shops and ask them about their stuff?
tgreene
Reefer
Poidog81: Everything that SeaJay says should be taken to heart, because he is a professional diver that logs probably a thousand or more hours (not minutes) underwater each year!
In regards to doing your 4 OW check dives in Cancun, are you really sure you want to do that..? I mean while it would be a fantastic place to be able to say that you were certified, I would personally rather be DIVING than have to be confined to doing skills tests with a group of other students that you probably don't even know... That said, I would suggest doing your check dives locally, so that you can then use your time in Cancun or Coz more to your favor.
Also, something to consider in regards to classroom stuff spread out over several weeks for 3 hours a week is that it's actually all very basic stuff when it gets right down to it. Oh sure, the 1st chapter of the OW book will scare the bejesus out of you making you THINK that you will DIE if you make even the slightest mistake. While everything that they say is actually true, as long as you're paying attention to your gauges and NDL's (time -vs- depth) you'll be just fine, and like me wanting more and more and more... I say that because I was just certified in March for OW, but this past weekend I completed 3 more advanced level classes (Nitrox, Advanced open Water and Night Diver). It was a really rough month of studying my butt off, but I set a goal for myself and I completed it. My instructor said that in all of his years of teaching that he had never before taught 3 classes in a single weekend. Our schedule was so stringent based upon PADI's limitation of 3 training dives per day, which meant that the 1st night dive had to be Friday, followed by 2 on Saturday with the 2nd being precisely at 12:01am to actually be recorded as a Sunday dive. Since I did those 2 dives on Nitrox, I was able to stack them to make it possible. It took some pre-planning on my part as well as the shop staff, but we pulled off a trifecta!
Also as SeaJay stated, be cautious of your equipment purchases too early on, because you may well end up switching gears with your intended diving goal, and what you have now will not work for you. If you only ever want to dive warm tropical waters during daylight with 300' visibility, then you'll be fine with the latest "fashion trends" that your LDS is offering by companies such as the one that "Coral Diver" works for (don't get me wrong, they make great gear!). However, if you're more like me and you KNOW exactly what you want to do, then you'll want to begin acquiring gear which is far better suited to your needs. Unfortunately, you don't know what that gear is yet, so any purchases at this point beyond the "basics" would be a crap shoot at best.
My goal is to become a Cave Diver, which means that I'll need rugged, utility gear that is modular in concept so that I can quite literally build it out for the specif dives which I intend to be making. How do I know this..? because a few months back when I asked the very same questions that you have, SeaJay told me the very same things that he has just told you and several others here. Since I needed a BC right away to be able to do as much diving as possible since our LDS offers free boat dives on the lake nearly every weekend, I bought a very good used one on eBay for less than what I would have paid to rent one for 3 weekends... Guess what, it's already paid for itself about 3 times over!
I know my gear, and I know that it won't fail me as long as I DON'T FAIL it!!! This past weekend I had zero issues in regards to the night dives as opposed to those that used rented or even brand new gear, because theye didn't have their fitting adjustments dialed in, couldn't figure out where this or that was placed on what D-ring, and basically had an overall miserable night diving experience.
I dive with a 19cf Pony Tank side mounted and inverted, with mu Octo on it rather than on my primary cylinder, and being the only diver in our regional "group" to do so, I get asked a lot of questions about my rig. I have setup my gear for MY own purposes which are about 3-fold, but can add great potential benefit to any dive team in nearly any situation because I can reach around and pull a pin to release a tank to hand over to any diver in distress, or even hand over my primary AL-80 and regs while I use the Pony to surface and get additional assistance if necessary... Not only does it sound great in theory, but I've practiced it!
By all "basic" standards, I'm breaking pretty much every rule of diving by pushing the limits and getting ahead of myself, but I am also willing to burden the expenses to do so as well as evaluating each and every situation along the way. I'l also be the first to ABORT a dive if need be, and wrote about doing just that during this past weekends trifecta of classes in the "More Classes" thread that I started.
Basically the best possible advice that I can give is to do what I have done by utilizing the talents and skill sets of others such as SeaJay as a highly qualified mentor. SeaJay and I have not yet had an opportunity to meet, but we have spoken on the phone on a couple of occassions with our first call being a marathon session. I will very emphatically state that his advice has more than likely kept me alive at this point, because I was too gung ho right out of the box. I slowed my @ss down and began paying very close attention to what he had been trying to tell me from day one, and I would consider myself to be a much BETTER and SAFER diver for doing so!
One final piece of advice if I may, would be to "consider" rather than a regular 9-week class session, the possibility of spending a little more for a 1-on-1 session with your instructors(s). I went this route for $100 more, and what it entailed was reading & learning at home on my own, then scheduling to "hang out" at the shop for a couple of hours a couple of times in order to review the chapter lessons and take the tests. The 2 pool sessions were also 1-on-1 and done in 2 evenings at the local YMCA. Our LDS sent several classes of students to Vortex Spring in Florida this past March for a weekend, so that we could all do our check dives with our own instructors that we already knew.
Live long and prosper... DIVE SAFE!
-Tim
In regards to doing your 4 OW check dives in Cancun, are you really sure you want to do that..? I mean while it would be a fantastic place to be able to say that you were certified, I would personally rather be DIVING than have to be confined to doing skills tests with a group of other students that you probably don't even know... That said, I would suggest doing your check dives locally, so that you can then use your time in Cancun or Coz more to your favor.
Also, something to consider in regards to classroom stuff spread out over several weeks for 3 hours a week is that it's actually all very basic stuff when it gets right down to it. Oh sure, the 1st chapter of the OW book will scare the bejesus out of you making you THINK that you will DIE if you make even the slightest mistake. While everything that they say is actually true, as long as you're paying attention to your gauges and NDL's (time -vs- depth) you'll be just fine, and like me wanting more and more and more... I say that because I was just certified in March for OW, but this past weekend I completed 3 more advanced level classes (Nitrox, Advanced open Water and Night Diver). It was a really rough month of studying my butt off, but I set a goal for myself and I completed it. My instructor said that in all of his years of teaching that he had never before taught 3 classes in a single weekend. Our schedule was so stringent based upon PADI's limitation of 3 training dives per day, which meant that the 1st night dive had to be Friday, followed by 2 on Saturday with the 2nd being precisely at 12:01am to actually be recorded as a Sunday dive. Since I did those 2 dives on Nitrox, I was able to stack them to make it possible. It took some pre-planning on my part as well as the shop staff, but we pulled off a trifecta!
Also as SeaJay stated, be cautious of your equipment purchases too early on, because you may well end up switching gears with your intended diving goal, and what you have now will not work for you. If you only ever want to dive warm tropical waters during daylight with 300' visibility, then you'll be fine with the latest "fashion trends" that your LDS is offering by companies such as the one that "Coral Diver" works for (don't get me wrong, they make great gear!). However, if you're more like me and you KNOW exactly what you want to do, then you'll want to begin acquiring gear which is far better suited to your needs. Unfortunately, you don't know what that gear is yet, so any purchases at this point beyond the "basics" would be a crap shoot at best.
My goal is to become a Cave Diver, which means that I'll need rugged, utility gear that is modular in concept so that I can quite literally build it out for the specif dives which I intend to be making. How do I know this..? because a few months back when I asked the very same questions that you have, SeaJay told me the very same things that he has just told you and several others here. Since I needed a BC right away to be able to do as much diving as possible since our LDS offers free boat dives on the lake nearly every weekend, I bought a very good used one on eBay for less than what I would have paid to rent one for 3 weekends... Guess what, it's already paid for itself about 3 times over!
I know my gear, and I know that it won't fail me as long as I DON'T FAIL it!!! This past weekend I had zero issues in regards to the night dives as opposed to those that used rented or even brand new gear, because theye didn't have their fitting adjustments dialed in, couldn't figure out where this or that was placed on what D-ring, and basically had an overall miserable night diving experience.
I dive with a 19cf Pony Tank side mounted and inverted, with mu Octo on it rather than on my primary cylinder, and being the only diver in our regional "group" to do so, I get asked a lot of questions about my rig. I have setup my gear for MY own purposes which are about 3-fold, but can add great potential benefit to any dive team in nearly any situation because I can reach around and pull a pin to release a tank to hand over to any diver in distress, or even hand over my primary AL-80 and regs while I use the Pony to surface and get additional assistance if necessary... Not only does it sound great in theory, but I've practiced it!
By all "basic" standards, I'm breaking pretty much every rule of diving by pushing the limits and getting ahead of myself, but I am also willing to burden the expenses to do so as well as evaluating each and every situation along the way. I'l also be the first to ABORT a dive if need be, and wrote about doing just that during this past weekends trifecta of classes in the "More Classes" thread that I started.
Basically the best possible advice that I can give is to do what I have done by utilizing the talents and skill sets of others such as SeaJay as a highly qualified mentor. SeaJay and I have not yet had an opportunity to meet, but we have spoken on the phone on a couple of occassions with our first call being a marathon session. I will very emphatically state that his advice has more than likely kept me alive at this point, because I was too gung ho right out of the box. I slowed my @ss down and began paying very close attention to what he had been trying to tell me from day one, and I would consider myself to be a much BETTER and SAFER diver for doing so!
One final piece of advice if I may, would be to "consider" rather than a regular 9-week class session, the possibility of spending a little more for a 1-on-1 session with your instructors(s). I went this route for $100 more, and what it entailed was reading & learning at home on my own, then scheduling to "hang out" at the shop for a couple of hours a couple of times in order to review the chapter lessons and take the tests. The 2 pool sessions were also 1-on-1 and done in 2 evenings at the local YMCA. Our LDS sent several classes of students to Vortex Spring in Florida this past March for a weekend, so that we could all do our check dives with our own instructors that we already knew.
Live long and prosper... DIVE SAFE!
-Tim
coral diver
Old & Wise
Good luck to your new found sport Poidog81 hope you enjoy like i did in the 30+ years of diving Enjoy.
coral diver
Old & Wise
Point of advice never dive alone always with a buddy, I have seen and did some search and recovery for missing diver before, they are experienced but arrogant diver who went solo and perished.
tgreene
Reefer
Personally, I was all about solo diving until this past weekend when I had the opportunity to get to dive with a guy that I met at the LDS a couple of weeks ago. We drove up and stayed together, then spent 3 days diving together and it was a genuine pleasure because not only did we hit it off really well, but we are very much in sync with each other so we dove as if we had been diving together all along.
He had earned his AOW cert a few weeks ago, but earned his Night Diver and Nitrox certs along side me. Sadly though, he has no interest whatsoever in Cavern or Cave Diving, which means that I will have to stay on the lookout for the right "buddy" when that time comes.
This past weekend I honestly learned what the ideal buddy is, and can best describe it as being a marriage of sorts. Chuck and I were in absolute sync, always knew where each other was and had no problems goofing around with each other... On the final night dive when we were all so tired and told to absolutely stay grouped up tight (which I detested), I caught a "piggyback" ride from Chuck by hovering directly above him and hanging onto his tank boot. I kept my huge LED light shined out in front of him and down so that it didn't bother him, but also just out of his way enough that he could never actually locate me. When he would turn his head right, I would roll left and vice~versa. When he would try to look up and back, I slid back further just out of his view so that he NEVER saw me. The instructor was just a few feet away and kept watching this as it played out for a few minutes, and he just kept shaking his head and giving me the "OK" sign. At one point the instructor signaled to my buddy for him to locate his partner (2 index fingers side-by-side), and Chuck threw his hands up gesturing that he couldn't find me, but knew I was there somewhere... At that point I reached forward and down and patted him on the head a couple of times, then released and kicked once to show myself. Once back on the boat, everyone had a good laugh at that one. Throughout the weekend we all worked and played really hard with each other, and a couple pranks were pulled here and there, but the most important aspect was that as a group we worked together as a team... A couple of the guys were much newer divers that experienced a few equipment issues, so those of us with any spare gear made it readily available to the other members of our TEAM.
I'll dive w/ Chuck as well as the instructors' son every day of the week, but aside from those 2 at this point, I would greatly prefer a nice serene solo dive away from anyone else. Would I solo to 100 feet or more..? I'm not sure that I would yet, but I will soon enough. I have solo'd to below 60' on a couple of occassions, and routinely to 40+. Would I advocate others soloing so fresh out of the box..? Not to be a hypocrite, but NO! I have a lot of past "unique" experience and skillsets that I am able to draw from though, which allows me to rationalize and do things quite a bit differently from most people.
If you ever want to take a drive down I-55 to Arkansas, look me up!
-Tim
tgreene
Reefer
I solo, and I'm not arrogant damimt!
The difference is that I carry my "buddy" on my back, in the form of a 19cf Pony with a duplicate set of regs. I always know where my reserve air is, which is on my left side, inverted, and only requires the turn of a knob to access it (the line is always charged, so it has 1-2 breaths in it). I can also pull a retention pin and have a free cylinder to carry, hang, or even pass off to another diver in need if need be.
I was a whitewater guide for several years, a backcountry guide, a xc-ski marathon racer, a downhill skier, have ridden a bicycle across country, have ridden my motorcycle across country with numerous several hundred mile days and one 1000+ mile day, and have led several search and recovery missions myself... Including my own extraction after a near-fatal 75' fall while climbing which left me with a shattered back and being told that I would never walkk again. All of the above I have done SOLO as well as with partners, and in many instances without the right partner you are actually in greater danger than you are by yourself!
Think about it, ever time an instructor or DM goes out with a student, they are in effect soloing with added risk... The same held true for every level of whitewater that I ever paddled, which was guiding Class-IV & V rivers. Iwas solely responsible for myself and every client in my raft... They were responsible only for themselves, though I always had their backs!The point is that my past training has led me to be able to know how to make the necessary decisions in order to best handle or resolve "emergency" situations before they ever happen. Planned preparedness keeps you from having to attempt to begin figuring out what to do in the event of an emergency situation. If you make contingencies ahead of time, if and/or wjhen something does happen you'll be in a far better position to handle it when the need arises. When I took a 75 footer and shattered my back, ironically I was the most calm person on the scene and was thus able to take control of the freaked out volunteer fire rescue guys that were called in for my extraction. The rigged the litter completely wrong and made numerous mistakes that could have easily cost me my life, and though I was in excruiating pain and fighting shock, I knew that SOMEONE had to be able to remain calm enough to take charge of the situation, and I did until I was loaded on the helicopter and the real professionals took over!
-Tim
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yousmellsfishy
New member
Hi poidog81,
Just my 2 cents about certifying in MX: Like you, I took my training in the midwest and did my OW in the tropics (Roatan, Honduras). The OW dives were 1 on 1 with a great instructor. For each of the dives he had me demonstrate the skills then off we went to explore the reef. He pointed out many of the tiny creatures that my untrained eyes would have surely missed. Plus, it was all so beautiful that it totally sold me on scuba. I'm not so sure that would have happened (at least to the same degree) if my first dives would have been in the local (cold) quarry. After my certification dives, I dove for another 5 days from the resort boats to some great dive sites, but the check out dives were no less pleasurable, honestly. Of course, your mileage may vary, but doing my check out dives in the tropics was just great.
Just my 2 cents about certifying in MX: Like you, I took my training in the midwest and did my OW in the tropics (Roatan, Honduras). The OW dives were 1 on 1 with a great instructor. For each of the dives he had me demonstrate the skills then off we went to explore the reef. He pointed out many of the tiny creatures that my untrained eyes would have surely missed. Plus, it was all so beautiful that it totally sold me on scuba. I'm not so sure that would have happened (at least to the same degree) if my first dives would have been in the local (cold) quarry. After my certification dives, I dove for another 5 days from the resort boats to some great dive sites, but the check out dives were no less pleasurable, honestly. Of course, your mileage may vary, but doing my check out dives in the tropics was just great.
I'll wager he's referring to the common mistake a number of new divers often make of using short frequent kicks instead of nice slow long easy ones
As for diving with a group vs. a single friend or "buddy", I enjoy both. Often local dive clubs do group dives, which I find very enjoyable. You gain new friends, and have people to talk to before and after the dive. It's a great way to learn a few tricks from other experienced divers, and help out the newbies gain experience once you've become the experienced diver
When traveling solo as a diver, yes the dive boats will pair you up with another solo traveler or add you to another buddy pair as a threesome. In these scenarios it's good to have an agreement on the dive plan before splashing. Some folks like myself can spend lots of time in one spot looking at the little things, and some rocket around the reef at warp speed trying to cover as much ground as possible while burning through air very fast. The later type diver I like to avoid, as you can easily end up first in and first out...I prefer to be first in and last out
SeaJayInSC
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15704908#post15704908 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by billsreef
I'll wager he's referring to the common mistake a number of new divers often make of using short frequent kicks instead of nice slow long easy ones
Yeah, I figured as much...
Excess finning, however, isn't the problem. It's a symptom of the problem. The problem is that the diver's buoyancy and trim are off. In order to correct the symptom of excess finning, a new diver needs help nailing his buoyancy and trim.
Telling someone to "not kick so much" is roughly akin to telling someone who goes out in the rain not to get wet. If he'd said, "have your instructor help you with buoyancy and trim," that would have made much more sense, just like handing someone a raincoat or umbrella - or recommending them to stay inside until the storm passed - would make a lot more sense.
I don't think I'd be so hard on him if he hadn't been doing this for 30 years.
As far as solo diving goes... As a GUE-trained diver, there is no way I would ever recommend diving solo. Simply put, it's completely against the tenents of "Doing It Right."
That said, however, if I had to wait for a buddy every time I went diving, I'd never get any work done.
...And I'd have done a lot less diving in my life.
I agree - I'd rather dive solo than babysit... Although the truth is that neither of those is the best option.
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Yeah; get really used to breathing underwater. So you don't panic. Very important to equalize pressure in your ears. I find sideway tilting of head, while holding my nose closed and breathing out through my nose gently, works well. Both sides of course. Make sure you have enough weight on your belt to bring you down and keep you there. At least until the dive is over. Also practise putting the belt on so when you remove it you use your right hand to pass it to a helper. That means the buckle must unsnap by the left hand, holding the belt with the right. Always take the belt off before any other piece of equipment. Repeat last sentence ten more times. Next the vest, then fins, I like to leave on my mask and a snorkel until I'm safely on board. Most important is the three minute decompression time at 15 ft. If for some reason, like inflating your vest, you miss this part, never mind the bends, you can cause joint problems that will effect you for a very long time. Every dive is different and there'll be a new problem or mistake on every one of those dives. Never panic, you will get out alive. Or at least keep telling yourself that. good luck buddy.
I would STRONGLY recommend buddy diving. Find someone that you would trust your life with and dive with them. I was lucky to have a cousin and two friends that I feel comfortable with. A pony is nice but can't get you untangled, can't take you to the surface if you become unconcious and doesn't know CPR. I realize that diving safely can be frustrating sometimes but I would rather dive safe and frustrated than dive by myself. Alot of my dives were in a murky lake so having a buddy was a must as your visibility was 1-2 feet.
- Status
