Diving

Bambamski · Posted: Jan 14, 2009 10:22 am Post subject: Diving

Instead of posting a newbie question on a dive board I thought I'd try the very knowledgeable folks here on wakeboarder.

The wife and I are going on a dive trip in April which will be our first ever experience with diving. We are doing our classroom and pool certification of the PADI in the next month or so and will do our open water at the resort.

A couple of questions still

What do I need to purchase before we start? I bought my wife a dive skin and we have all the wetsuits you could ever want. I was told to get some goggles, snorkel and fins. Is that everything I'd need before going down there and just rent the rest?

We were going to go to Bora Bora but that fell through as some of the other members of the group couldn't afford to go there. We booked up a week in Roatan at Anthony Key's resort if anyone has ever heard of that place. It looks pretty nice, then a we'll have a couple of days on the mainland of Honduras touring around Copan.

Anyways. Anything else I would need or what you guys think I should pick up that would be helpful for a couple of newbie divers?

Tbonez · Posted: Jan 14, 2009 10:41 am Post subject:

I have done a lot of diving...You are taking a good route. Almost every diver I have seen hurt has been a resort trained diver. You simply cant learn enough in a week to effectively manage yourself and feel comfortable underwater. It took me 6 months to be certified open water and a full year to get my advanced. The only advice I can give you is buy as little as possible up front...Snorkel, fins, mask, bag, dive slate and anti-fog...Within the first year I had scrapped everything I had purchased but the mask...You will find different gear works better and it is all about your comfort and confidence...Dont get sucked into buying everything you can.. The only other item I could offer advice in is see if the instructor will stay after class to let you practice. I spent HOURS at the bottom of a pool doing recovery and assisted ascents before I ever hit the ocean. Your confidence in your skill and gear gives you the ability to relax and enjoy diving...

update -

Four things I have learned

Log EVERY dive in a notebook and not a dive book...Have the divemaster sign the notebook...I have twenty or so dive books scattered around the house. I can never find them all and I wish I had one consolidated log so I could look back and see my weight under certain conditions, air consumption, dive notes etc...

I always wear a shorty and the wife wears a skin..There are lots of things that can sting you in the ocean and you can ruin a dive trip by running into them..

Learn natural buoyancy...Put on ALL the gear you plan to use...and go to the bottom of the pool. Deflate your BC. If you float that means you need weight. Add a SMALL amount of weight just until the point you can stay down...The deeper you go the less buoyant you will be. DO NOT overweight yourself. If you are properly weighted when you breathe out you will rise slightly and when you exhale you will sink slightly. The first dive of the day I go to about 15 foot and sit budha style if I can sit in place for a little while just by just controlling my breath I know I am good to go. This will save you a LOT of energy which will save you a lot of exercise, which will save a lot of air, which lets you stay down longer if you are within the dive tables.

Learn smooth breathing techniques...if you huff and puff you will BLOW through your tank..

Bambamski · Posted: Jan 14, 2009 11:15 am Post subject:

Thanks Tbonez,

The group we are going with is my wifes sister and Husband and two of their friends. I would say on average they each have 600-700 dives so it will be nice be surrounded by really experienced divers when we get through our open water.

Bumping into things is why I bought the wife the full body skin. I want her to feel as comfortable as she can as she's not overly comfortable in the water.

I've been asking my brother in law a bunch of questions but I don't want to start anoying him with newbie questions.

BC? seriously I don't know crap about any of this. What is all the gear you need on a dive? They have dive computers as well. Is that something you can rent? I've seen the tables, and I would think to get the PADI you have to understand how to use them. What do you do with the tables when your diving though?

Like I said I know nothing!! It's kind of exciting to try something this new to me.

Tbonez · Posted: Jan 14, 2009 12:23 pm Post subject:

tball · Wakeboarder.com Freak Joined: 24 Feb 2004 Posts: 3953

I posted the below info in this thread: http://forums.wakeboarder.com/viewtopic.php?t=67015

Tbonez · Posted: Jan 14, 2009 12:42 pm Post subject:

Dive tables tell a lot of items

How long you can stay down at a certain depth
How long you have to decompress if you stay down too long
(decompress - sit there at 15 foot and outgas- Boring!)
When you can dive again based off of your last dives depth and length

Back to the drills...Make sure you can dump all of your gear at the bottom of the pool and I mean EVERYTHING...You should be able to swim to the bottom of the pool, put everything on, sit there for 5 minutes, take everything off and swim to the surface. This drill builds confidence. My instructor would get us in a 15 foot pool and just swim up behind us and pull our mask off or shut our air off or disconnect our BC. You need to know how you will react in a bad situation. After you drill until you can do it with your eyes shut do it off of the beach in 20 foot of water with the waves and the current hitting you...drill and then drill again...Do beach dives, boat dives, spring dives and when you think you have it all mastered start at the beggining and do it again...

My favorite dives are night drift dives...A drift dive is when the current pushes you and the boat follows...You cruise effortlessly over the coral with just your light piercing the darkness..Some people dont like it because they cant see anything but what the light illuminates...For some reason I am completely at peace...

Tbonez · Posted: Jan 14, 2009 12:45 pm Post subject:

Commodore · Ladies Man Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 11636

<---Agrees with Tbonez.

Have fun!! Diving is very serious, but nothing can compare to it.

My favorite dive, I found a big hole (8ft diameter) in the top of a coral reef. It went about 15ft down before hitting bottom. I descended into that hole and just sat there the whole time. Watching eels, fish, and the coral. Truly amazing.

warwagon · Outlaw Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Posts: 128

I got all of my PADI certs and did my open water checkouts in 06' (in a murky fresh water old gravel pit with ginormous catfish)

I am hoping to do my first real dives when I get married this fall. Probably take a refresher course though.

Tbonez · Posted: Jan 15, 2009 4:55 am Post subject:

intotheflats · Posted: Jan 15, 2009 7:46 am Post subject:

Bambamski, If you have the funds, I would suggest buying all your own gear now so that you don't have to use rental stuff. It will make you more confident because you will be familiar with your own gear as will your wife. When you use rental, it's always a little different. If you look online you can get everything you need for under $1k. If you buy from a dive shop you'll spend a little more but it may be worth it because your gear will be warrantied where as if you buy it online it is not.

Also, you don't need one but a dive cpu is a great thing to have. It will eliminate you having to screw with tables (although you will still need to learn them) and it will track your dives as far as what depth your at and for how long, temp's and a lot of other cool features. You can get a wrist cpu online for roughly $250. It's well worth it because all your dives will be logged on your cpu when you upload them.

intotheflats · Posted: Jan 15, 2009 7:48 am Post subject:

Also if you plan oon diving much after your vacation, rental gear adds up fast cuz its gonna be roughly $50-$75 everytime you rent. If you own your own gear, you can dive whenever you want and you only have to rent a tank or 2 for $10