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Cippalippus posted:Maybe you trained too long ago, but nervous/anxious/uneasy partners are probably the most stressing part of a dive course for a student.
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Sep 1, 2013 00:58
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Crunkjuice posted:I don't think you know my level of dive training well enough to tell me that. No, but I just got certified so I just had first hand experience of that  I wasn't implying that you don't know it, just reporting my experience. A guy in my course was regarded as the worst because he tended to always look uneasy and on the verge of panic. Always. Water in the mask? Terrified stare. Losing a fin? Terrified stare. I only had him as a buddy once in the swimming pool and it scared the poo poo out of me, to the point that I asked the instructors to keep him away from me.
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Sep 1, 2013 14:22
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One thing I remember from my OW course was when we actually got into the shallow end of the swimming pool for the first time with gear on, this one woman just completely panicked and quit the course right then and there, despite the instructors pleas that she would get used to breathing underwater if she did it for more then 3 seconds. Maybe she could have turned it around but she never gave it a shot. I have a friend who dives occasionally with me and he used to always panic when he first put his head underwater with a reg, and would need a little time in a swimming pool before he was comfortable but once he got past that 20 minutes or so in a pool he was fine and we were unintentionally doing deco diving when we were 15 because we figured out that the nitrogen bar on our computers would go down from being topped off if we just hung out shallow for a while. Underwater comfort is a strange thing.
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Sep 1, 2013 21:10
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I never intended to dive. I'm 30 already and a decent swimmer, and my trusted snorkel always seemed sufficient. This winter a friend of mine convinced me to start the one star cmas course, and after much reluctance I followed. What happened is pretty much what Bishop described, as soon as he got in the water and tried to breath he panicked and quit. Another girl quit a few weeks later when we got to emptying the mask, she inflated her bcd in 4 feet of water, got out of the water and was never to be seen again. On the other hand I'm really excited whenever I know I am going to dive. This winter I'll be doing the 2 star cmas, which will allow me to go down to 30 meters, but my instructors told me that you use the tanks much less than in the first course since it's more about self confidence and control than simply going down.
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Sep 1, 2013 22:13
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Cippalippus posted:my instructors told me that you use the tanks much less than in the first course since it's more about self confidence and control than simply going down.
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Sep 1, 2013 23:07
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Hello diving thread, I recently moved to the Washington DC / Northern Virginia area and am wondering if you have any local dive shops / locations to recommend. I am transplanting from the Caribbean and recently learned to dive dry in an attempt to expand my opportunities for diving in this area.
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Sep 1, 2013 23:17
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helpy posted:Hello diving thread, I recently moved to the Washington DC / Northern Virginia area and am wondering if you have any local dive shops / locations to recommend. I am transplanting from the Caribbean and recently learned to dive dry in an attempt to expand my opportunities for diving in this area. Dutch springs in PA would be your best bet. "Try" to go mid week as its where most of the NYC and Phili area go for certs. There's a 30 something dollar entrance but there's a bunch of cool poo poo sunk there. What's the best way to figure out weights? I know what I need for a 5mm in salt but have no idea of 7mm in fresh water. Likewise I know a 3mm in fresh water and salt. Should I just get a bunch of weight and go hang in my friends pool? The weight calculators online and the PADI calculations are very forgiving and very loose. I'm guessing experience is best and gently caress trying to figure it all out. I may also do this at Dutch Springs but was hoping to be sorted out before I arrived.
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Sep 4, 2013 03:32
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Had a good Sunday diving this weekend. I got to use some steel tanks so I went from 18 lbs of lead using an AL80 to no lead using a Steel 100. I still am poo poo at my air usage and only managed to get 50 mins on a the tank that was cranked up to 3500 psi and the scrawny girls I was with still had 1500 or more when we surfaced. I was hoping I would get my air use under control by the end of the month when I go diving on my cruise, but I only have 2 more dives planned so I don't think I will be able to. I would hate for the dive operator to bring everyone up because Im out of air at the 30 min mark. I plan on telling them before hand so they can pair me with another fat rear end or let me go back to the boat with a DM so I don't screw up the other divers bottom time. Gindack fucked around with this message at 07:29 on Sep 4, 2013 |
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Sep 4, 2013 07:21
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Hooray we have a scuba thread! I just got Nitrox certified and my latest dive over Labor day to an offshore wreck was canceled  Ah the joys of living on the NC coast
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Sep 4, 2013 20:59
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Blitz7x posted:Hooray we have a scuba thread! I just got Nitrox certified and my latest dive over Labor day to an offshore wreck was canceled  NCcoast4lyfeWhere on the coast are you? I'm down in Wilmington, hopefully heading to the liberty ship just offshore next weekend. Just did my advanced open water class, now it's time to get wet and go deep 
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Sep 5, 2013 03:12
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Icon Of Sin posted:
Yessir, I'm in Wilmington as well . My cancelled trip was to the Hyde. My first dive ever was on the Lib ship
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Sep 5, 2013 17:39
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Icon Of Sin posted:
You don't need advanced to dive most of the stuff out of Wilmington (but I'm sure it's useful). The Hyde, Markim, and even Frying pan tower are within just OW. Though a 2.5 hour boat ride to Frying pan is  . The mast of the Hyde I think even starts at like 30 ft. Say Hi to the toothy sand tigers.There's a huge amount of wrecks from the German U-Boats in WWII. It wasn't reported on as not to alarm the public of the real dangers of what was going on. If you have netfilx look up "Torpedo Alley". It was mostly north of Wilmington but still interesting.
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Sep 6, 2013 02:22
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I noticed a U-boat on a wreck map of the area near here, about 40 miles off-shore. U-352 ran afoul of the Coast Guard after trying to torpedo what the U-boat commander thought was a merchant vessel, and turned out to be a US Coast Guard ship (the Icarus) loaded with depth charges that it wasn't shy about using. The Icarus forced U-352 to surface, where the crew scuttled her and got taken as prisoners of war. http://www.nc-wreckdiving.com/WRECKS/U352/U352.HTML Judging by the maps I've seen, it's sitting around 30-40 miles offshore. The Hyde and Marhkam bottom out at close to 85-90 feet, but I've dove both of them on an open water cert so I know it can be done in a reasonably safe manner, even if you only have an open water certification
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Sep 6, 2013 02:43
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The U-352 is a great dive! Tons of great diving out of Morehead City, NC. Lots of sand tiger sharks and warm water from the gulf stream. Most of the dives out of there require AOW and Nitrox (highly recommended). The depths are between 100-125ft depending on the wreck. A lot of the shops in the area bank Nitrox 30% since it is appropriate for a lot of the wrecks in that area. Here's a video I took this May on the U352. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVu2-VxpfXw
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Sep 6, 2013 15:05
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helpy posted:Hello diving thread, I recently moved to the Washington DC / Northern Virginia area and am wondering if you have any local dive shops / locations to recommend. I am transplanting from the Caribbean and recently learned to dive dry in an attempt to expand my opportunities for diving in this area. for Dive Shops, if you're in Northern Virginia, I'd go with "The" Dive Shop (the quotes are theirs), it's in Fairfax off Nutley. There's a diving shop called Blue Planet in DC, near Adams Morgan, and they all seem nice enough, but I did my Dry Suit certification last weekend at Dutch Springs through them, and the instructor they had was SUPER disorganized - he had two other classes and was way in over his head (no pun intended) and it ended up taking us seven hours from when we first got in the water to when we finished our SECOND dive. And he forgot to get our knowledge reviews, so we had to send them in afterwards. So, go with The Dive Shop.
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Sep 6, 2013 15:39
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SgtScruffy posted:So, go with The Dive Shop. Cool, thanks for the recommendation. I will stop by there and chat with them. Also soliciting any ideas for what other goon divers may use as an electronic log book, here is a short story about what I have been using. I have talked to a handful of instructors who have confided that while whatever system they teach preaches to log your dives in general instructors are generally terrible at logging dives. For me, remembering to write stuff down in a logbook is kind of a pain and I like to track as much stuff as possible on computer so I looked into electronic log book software. Since I am primarily on a linux box I was precluded from using my dive computer's homemade software (Thanks Suunto!). I found Subsurface(Windows/Mac/Linux) earlier this year and was pretty pleased with it. I had neglected to buy the data transfer cable for my dive computer and finally picked one up last month and was going to start syncing my dives with my already recorded data. Prior to owning the data cable I would plop down next to my laptop and manually enter dive info about once a week; until last week when I had a startling revelation. I wanted to start tracking dives and synchronizing them between laptop and my shiny new tablet and started searching for apps to do that. After discovering the Subsurface mobile app isn't nearly as handy as the laptop program I expanded my search. I found Divemate USB and realized that with the help of an OTG cable I was able to plug the dive computer into my tablet and transfer my dives directly onto my tablet. The app itself is free but you have to pay them 4 dollars to unlock the ability to transfer data off the dive computer and onto your device. I think I am happy with this solution, but I won't know for sure until my next dive adventure when I can do a data download much sooner after finishing a dive while the memory about the dive is still fresh in my brain. Also during my searching I found http://www.diveboard.com/ but the site seemed a bit off; the help link doesn't lead anywhere and their forums make no sense to me. Haven't looked into any iOS solutions, but I am sure they exist. What does everyone else use (or not use...)?
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Sep 6, 2013 16:54
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If you're diving from Wilmington, for god sakes avoid Scuba Now. Scuba Now is cheaper than Aquatic Safari, but it's just not worth it. Every time i've gone out with Scuba Now i've encountered some terrible mistake of theirs. I got to the boat before a 2-tank Hyde/Markham charter and it turned out both of my air tanks were at 500psi. They didn't even bother to have any spares aboard too so they had to run back to the shop. The shop/boat never bothered to check our certs/cards and just took our word for everything. They forgot to call role after the second dive. In a low-vis day on the lib wreck, the DM tied off the boat to the wreck bow (he had told us we were on the stern) and sent everyone off in the wrong direction over nothing but sand. Yeah, gently caress Scuba Now
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Sep 6, 2013 17:54
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I'm guessing they're the ones I heard about that PADI was pissed at and either was thinking about revoking (or actually revoked) some certifications over dumb poo poo like that
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Sep 6, 2013 17:58
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I am terrible at logging dives. At most I'll write the place, date, and total number of dives for the entire trip.
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Sep 6, 2013 23:16
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Trivia posted:I am terrible at logging dives. At most I'll write the place, date, and total number of dives for the entire trip. After my 150th dive or so, I started to only keep the stats that my computer kept. Mostly I forgot the dive site as well.
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Sep 7, 2013 16:40
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If anyone is interested, im selling my US divers mask, snorkel, fins and bag set in blue for $50 shipped. Amazon Link for more info and my Tilos Fantasia Mask in Yellow for $25 shipped Amazon Link for more info.
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Sep 8, 2013 17:08
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Does anybody here use an Oceanic GT3 regulator? Any reason why I should spend more money if I'm just doing occasional rec diving / cleaning the hull of my boat? How about the Halcyon Traveler BC? I'm replacing some second-hand '70s gear. It's older than me.
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Sep 11, 2013 22:30
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Take your regs to a gear tech and if they say it is good to go, it's good to go, especially for shallower stuff. If you are doing occasional rec diving I would not worry about buying the Halcyon stuff. There have been some other good backflate BCDs discussed just recently. I think Crunkjuice and Rockcity both dive them so they'd be good to ask or look back through the thread for.
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Sep 13, 2013 08:11
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Off on a dive trip to Nusa Lembongan in Bali tomorrow. Can't wait. Anyone dived there or elsewhere in Indonesia?
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Sep 13, 2013 11:54
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Bishop posted:Take your regs to a gear tech and if they say it is good to go, it's good to go, especially for shallower stuff. If you are doing occasional rec diving I would not worry about buying the Halcyon stuff. There have been some other good backflate BCDs discussed just recently. I think Crunkjuice and Rockcity both dive them so they'd be good to ask or look back through the thread for. That I do. I dive a Zeagle Silhouette and I love it. It's one of the most stripped down BCDs which keeps the bulk down and makes it easier to maneuver and it's a back inflate so it helps keep you trim and flat underwater. I'm not a guy who needs tons of pockets so the two small ones it has work just fine for me. I keep my gloves in one pocket and rarely use the other. The rest of my stuff I just clip onto D-rings (it has plenty of them). I really can't recommend Zeagle enough, their stuff is top notch, though it comes at a price. I was fortunate enough to find a guy who had little foresight and bought all his gear before his open water course and ended up having ear issues and the doctor told him he shouldn't dive. I bought it from him for about half what it sells for in stores and it was brand new, just a bit dusty from sitting in his garage for a year.
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Sep 13, 2013 14:45
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I dive a Zeagle Ranger, which is Zeagle's super duty top of the line BCD. The silhouette is the super stripped down version of it (great travel bcd). Like rockcity, i'll pimp zeagle all day every day, but it is pricey. Zeagles tough as nails. I'm a big fan of back inflate bcd's versus jackets. They are much more comfortable in the water, as you don't have a bubble wrapped tightly around your body. The thing about BCD's is that they all vary fairly wildly between brands and price ranges. I'd hammer out a price range first, figure out if you want jacket style or back inflate, and then you'll have narrowed down your options significantly.
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Sep 13, 2013 17:46
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I just signed up for my AOW and bought a compass. Hopefully I'll be able to get out to Catalina a day early and do some extra dives too. Four months since I've dived, seems like a year.
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Sep 14, 2013 20:27
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I'm shamefully bad at open water compass navigation. Hell I don't even know where my compass is at this point.Trivia posted:I am terrible at logging dives. At most I'll write the place, date, and total number of dives for the entire trip. Bishop fucked around with this message at 05:47 on Sep 15, 2013 |
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Sep 15, 2013 05:03
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Bishop posted:I'm shamefully bad at open water compass navigation. Hell I don't even know where my compass is at this point. I actually effectively did half the AOW dives including navigation when I get my OW in January. Also following a dive master navigation examine dive which was fun. In California with low visibility conditions being common I think it's useful, if for nothing more than not having too far of a surface swim back to the boat.
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Sep 15, 2013 05:32
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I can do basic compass navigation but anything that involves more than 3 or 4 turns I will probably gently caress up these days. A big reason is because I either dive wrecks, which unless you are hot dropping them don't really require a compass (and the magnetic field from the wreck will make it useless once you hit it), or shallow sites that I know real well. Guess I should diversify my diving a bit 
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Sep 15, 2013 08:03
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Tomberforce posted:Off on a dive trip to Nusa Lembongan in Bali tomorrow. Can't wait. Anyone dived there or elsewhere in Indonesia? Hey, nice. I'm on Gili T and did my first dive in Indonesia today at "Turtle Heaven." They weren't lying - 7 turtles in one dive. Report back with Nusa Lembongan details; I'm heading there in a week or thereabouts.
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Sep 15, 2013 08:35
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Heading out to a wreck barely off coast today! Only 60 feet down, too e: cancelled due to high-ish winds
Icon Of Sin fucked around with this message at 19:38 on Sep 15, 2013 |
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Sep 15, 2013 14:01
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Tomberforce posted:Off on a dive trip to Nusa Lembongan in Bali tomorrow. Can't wait. Anyone dived there or elsewhere in Indonesia? Yep, about 2 years ago. Was spectacular.. Crystal clear water, beautiful corals in perfect condition. Can't remember the name of the dive shop I went out with but it was right near where the boat from bali landed, and the trip was only me, one other guy and the guide. Would definitely go back. One of my mates did a liveaboard trip to komodo and said it's the best diving he's done. 5 dives / day for 4 days.
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Sep 15, 2013 14:38
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Bishop posted:I can do basic compass navigation but anything that involves more than 3 or 4 turns I will probably gently caress up these days. A big reason is because I either dive wrecks, which unless you are hot dropping them don't really require a compass (and the magnetic field from the wreck will make it useless once you hit it), or shallow sites that I know real well. Guess I should diversify my diving a bit I know my training lake so well by natural navigation that i legitimately paid attention to the compass instruction at the beginning of the summer to remember how to use one. Talking about needing to diversify your diving... At least you dive in blue water
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Sep 15, 2013 17:57
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Went to Lake Travis to participate in the Underwater Cleanup today and had a ton of fun. Amazing how much trash there was to be had, unfortunately didn't find anything worth keeping. Although a person on the boat found a camera that was still working, came up and turned it on and started checking out the pictures. This was the first time I had to dive in bad vis (6 inches in some areas, 3 feet at best in others) conditions and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. My buddy and I did get separated when we ran though a bunch of mud and dirt another diver kicked up. Even though we didn't really discuss it before hand after we got separated I waited around for about a min and surfaced, and he surfaced a few seconds after me maybe 10 yards away. So for next time I am gonna be drat sure I discuss a plan if we get separated, also bringing gloves because there were quite a few glass bottles. Also screw boats. One passed pretty drat close while we were in like 10 feet of water and scared the piss out of me.
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Sep 16, 2013 11:28
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Gindack posted:Also screw boats. One passed pretty drat close while we were in like 10 feet of water and scared the piss out of me. Did you not have a dive flag of some kind? I sure as hell wouldn't dive a low-vis lake without a surface marker.
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Sep 16, 2013 13:41
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rockcity posted:Did you not have a dive flag of some kind? I sure as hell wouldn't dive a low-vis lake without a surface marker. No I did not and in hindsight probably not the smartest thing in the world, since it was a big annual lake wide event I assumed that boaters would be aware of the 40 divers from out boat in the water. Glad this was a lesson I could learn without any pain involved.
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Sep 16, 2013 18:52
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Gindack posted:No I did not and in hindsight probably not the smartest thing in the world, since it was a big annual lake wide event I assumed that boaters would be aware of the 40 divers from out boat in the water. Glad this was a lesson I could learn without any pain involved. Not sure it's the same state to state but not having a dive flag can net you a pretty good fine here if caught.
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Sep 16, 2013 19:09
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Did the party barge have a dive flag on it? They usually do. Also, lcra sends out boats to the barges to collect trash so that may have been it as well. As long as you stick to the walls of lake Travis you generally are pretty safe from boat traffic. Except starnes island. Always deploy a smb when ascending on starnes.
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Sep 16, 2013 19:17
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As far as I know, anywhere in the US (maybe world?), you have to fly either the American or international version of the dive flag whenever you have people in the water. Like, you don't even have to be diving but if you have someone in the water you have to put the flag up. I can't remember exactly but I think this means you give any boat flying that flag 50 yards of clearance. One thing to remember though is that sound travels really well underwater so unless you actually saw it the boat very well could have been much further away than you think. Also with busy dive sites with a lot of mooring balls, boats are going to have to come close to other boats flying the flag but they'll be drat careful until they've cleared the area.
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Sep 17, 2013 06:59
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