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SSH IT ZOMBIE posted:So many words Dive for fun. If you like easy warm water diving just do that. Don't dive for other people, only dive for yourself. I got certified in 55F california water and while I don't have any problem with it, I find it hard to motivate myself to go and dive ok California diving after doing a live-a-board in Maldives (btw, go to Maldives, it's loving awesome). If you don't like going deep then don't do it. If you don't like running up against NDL limits then don't (or get your Nitrox cert and a computer). Diving should be fun. It should be something you want to do.
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Aug 17, 2014 07:09
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SSH IT ZOMBIE posted:Oy, scuba is hard. Woah woah dude. Ok first up, don't worry about doing any deep dives until your confidence and comfort in the water improves. This will come with experience and have multiple benefits - your air consumption and bouyancy will both get much better, but the place to get that experience is at 7 metres, not 30! There's nothing down there that can't wait till you feel more comfortable, and you'll enjoy the experience much more! A common problem is people often don't equalise enough - waiting till they feel the pressure till they try to equalise. Unfortunately that's a bit late - always equalise at the start of every dive while you're still on the surface and then keep equalising as you go down - you can't really do it too much! If you feel anything if your ears at all, stop immediately, ascend and equalise. Do not worry about holding up the group and never ever feel pressured to 'just deal with it' - that will only lead to serious problems. If your dive buddy has a problem with that then he has completely the wrong attitude and isn't worth diving with! You have 9 dives - that isn't very many at all and it's perfectly normal (healthy even) with that level of experience to be nervous or have some problems. Even a rescue diver with 50 dives is still really inexperienced and is not remotely qualified or experienced enough to be taking novices down to 30 metres! Well done for not going with them! You might want to consider doing your advanced open water - the name is a bit of a misnomer - it's not really 'advanced' but you can use it to spend time working with an instructor on the things that you're struggling with and you'll likely benefit hugely from it. Find a good, patient instructor from whatever agency and they'll be happy to work with you and have you happily diving away in no time! Your O/W Dm's sound like jackasses for making you feel uncomfortable during the water tread - their job is to make you feel confident and safe!
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Aug 17, 2014 07:27
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First SSH IT Zombie, please understand that there are some instructors, a lot of new divers, and a lot of more experienced divers, all reading this thread, and everyone one of them can learn from the longer thing you posted (and then mostly erased). What divers feel, even if it is a negative thing, freaking matters. Diving should be for fun, and what one person finds fun is what is fun for them in their comfort zone. I am very sorry you got peer-pressured into things, and I like that you kept your awareness of it not being a good thing overall. Frankly, your buddies sucked for you. I do all kinds of "excessive" diving (solo diving, solo tech diving, diving without anything but a tank and a reg, wreck penetration) but I do all that diving by myself, or basically by myself. For a reason. I also lead intro and student divers and then I'll often spend the entire dive at somewhere around 15-20 feet, because equalization abilities and comfort levels are what they are, not what I think they should be. No one gets to force anyone into anything. I have led intro dives where none of the divers managed to descend from the surface, and I just fed fish while they watched from the surface. And that is just what their comfort zone allowed, so it was the right amount of fun for them. Both the "excessive" dives, and the training, guiding dives are fun, and both are worthwhile, even for me. It does not matter that I have all the experience in the world doing more than 15-20 foot dives, what matters to me is that the people I am with are having fun. You can find buddies who will pay more attention to that sooner or later. Frankly, your friend who "took a rescue class" apparently missed the point of the class, because rescue class should be, first and foremost, not about doing heroic things in the water but about keeping those you are diving with safe and in their comfort zone so no problems happen and if they do everyone is ready to deal with them. There are several huge parts of your story that are inexcusable for that person you dove with self-identifying as a "rescue-certified" diver.
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Aug 17, 2014 09:30
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It really sounds like SSH IT Zombie's dives could've gone really horribly wrong. I cringe to think what the "rescue diver" would've done if there was a big emergency.
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Aug 17, 2014 11:45
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Tomberforce posted:
This. I have about 70 dives now, 4 years into my diving career. I would have close to 100 if I hadn't been dealing with panic, irrational sense of fear / dread, etc. - sometimes even on simple dives in 10-15m of water, and often ruining dives for my wife and / or others. Diving is fun, and beautiful, and amazing - except when it isn't and it is either boring or scary as hell. You'll get better on air, on buoyancy, equalizing and general comfort in the water, but you won't get there by pushing into uncomfortable situations. Have a bunch of safe, great dives under your belt and you'll be amazed at how much more comfortable you get. Reef diving, by the way, was one of the best things I did for gaining comfort and confidence in the water. Shallow, warm water with lots of things to look at so you're not constantly thinking about HOLY poo poo I'M UNDERWATER WHAT'S MY AIR PRESSURE AM I TRIMMED RIGHT &c; you're just looking at the beautiful things and using your rapidly improving buoyancy control to stay off the sharp, delicate things. So go do some if you can. 
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Aug 17, 2014 16:49
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Let's just say that your friend that took you to 30m below without you feeling confident and without you having practice or proper training is an rear end in a top hat. The depth limit isn't given by the best certified diver but by the least experienced.
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Aug 17, 2014 17:08
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pupdive posted:First SSH IT Zombie, please understand that there are some instructors, a lot of new divers, and a lot of more experienced divers, all reading this thread, and everyone one of them can learn from the longer thing you posted (and then mostly erased). Thanks - yeah it's OK if people keep my quoted post. I just felt dumb doing an E/N type vent in a scuba thread. I actually really like the dive shop I trained with. They were laughing because I was laughing too, and I gave them a heads up that I was probably going to be like that. My only complaint is that they are a bit expensive, there's two other dive shops in the area that are significantly cheaper. At the same time, my other friend I took the open water class with, she had a lot of issues with anxiety, clearing the mask, etc. They worked with her a lot and got her comfortable. For the St Lawrence, we went with this guy http://www.divestlawrence.com He was actually a really cool guy, and at 80$/person I didn't think it was bad at all. I really want to dive more with the dive shop I trained with...they do group dives, but I've never seen anything for less than $400 for a day excursion. It's too much for me. There's dive groups around here, might have to look into them to see if they do any easier dives. There are a ton of shallower wrecks, <60 ft, around here. One thing I do want is a computer..I think. Kinda leaning towards the Vyper. Something with a backlight, easy to read and use. Probably don't need integrated air sensors and stuff for now. Any other recommendations? SSH IT ZOMBIE fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Aug 17, 2014 |
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Aug 17, 2014 18:56
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SSH IT ZOMBIE posted:One thing I do want is a computer..I think. Kinda leaning towards the Vyper. Something with a backlight, easy to read and use. Probably don't need integrated air sensors and stuff for now. Any other recommendations? I would've bought a computer before most of the other equipment you already have. The Vyper is a good one. I use the Zoop, which is very similar but without the backlight and gauge mode as I recall. The navigation (in the computer, I mean) is very easy and intuitive. The big downside is the looks but I honestly like my dumb dive nerd look. The better computers tend to look more like nice digital watches.
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Aug 17, 2014 20:19
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http://www.amazon.com/Mares-Puck-Wrist-Dive-Computer/dp/B00106GVLA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408308157&sr=8-1&keywords=mares+puck What about something like this? It gets decent reviews, has a light, and is 100 dollars cheaper. Looking at the manual, it doesn't give example total bottom times like the Suunto, but I guess you can just use it's planning function.
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Aug 17, 2014 21:51
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SSH IT ZOMBIE posted:http://www.amazon.com/Mares-Puck-Wrist-Dive-Computer/dp/B00106GVLA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408308157&sr=8-1&keywords=mares+puck We have two Suunto computers (D6 / Zoop) and an Oceanic (VT3 integrated). Although I dive the Oceanic, I really prefer the Suuntos. YMMV.
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Aug 17, 2014 21:55
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I have a burning hatred for single button computers. I find the navigation to be horridly difficult. Two button supremacy!!!
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Aug 17, 2014 21:59
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SSH IT ZOMBIE posted:Thanks - yeah it's OK if people keep my quoted post. I just felt dumb doing an E/N type vent in a scuba thread. It's all good man - that's what the thread is for! Pupdive is totally right - other people reading that can all learn from your post. As a newly minted instructor, posts like yours and the responses of experienced instructors are partially why I read the thread. Anxieties like you've experienced are by no means uncommon and it's our job to help people overcome them so they can just enjoy safe diving! So thanks On the topic of computers: yeah I have a puck air. I don't mind it - it's simple and effective. The single button is annoying (especially because the logbook memory is quite big and you skip past the dive you're looking for!!) but it's not too bad. I use it as a backup computer now with an oceanic atom 3 as my primary and I have to say that since getting the other computer the single button on the puck annoys me alot more. My partner dives a Suunto (10 year old Vyper) and it's still going strong. She really likes it. You don't need fancy air integration or anything. The puck will give you your total bottom time - you'll be able to download your entire dive profile, thought that involves buying the most expensive USB cable you'll ever buy!
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Aug 18, 2014 00:49
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Yeah, I have nothing to add as a recent rescue diver cert, there's basically zero chance I take a 9 dive person to 100'. That's just asinine. Relax,,do shallow dives, have fun instead of stressing about buoyancy, consumption, etc. that all will click at some point, it's just a matter of when. E: I mean, read my posts in this and the other thread to see progression. It was probably 20-30 dives before I started getting better buoyancy and consumption, and I was offered a small NAIA swimming scholarship while in college after the swim coach saw me swim intramurals... Don't be so hard on yourself, don't do those deep dives, and focus on enjoying the experience. let it mellow fucked around with this message at 03:05 on Aug 18, 2014 |
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Aug 18, 2014 03:01
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... woops doubled post.
pupdive fucked around with this message at 04:12 on Aug 18, 2014 |
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Aug 18, 2014 03:45
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(gently caress this got way too long. I love diving. I love teaching diving. And I want you to keep at it, and help you understand some stuff, maybe. Or maybe just confuse, though that is not my interention.SSH IT ZOMBIE posted:I actually really like the dive shop I trained with. They were laughing because I was laughing too, and I gave them a heads up that I was probably going to be like that. My only complaint is that they are a bit expensive, there's two other dive shops in the area that are significantly cheaper. At the same time, my other friend I took the open water class with, she had a lot of issues with anxiety, clearing the mask, etc. They worked with her a lot and got her comfortable. If you reason that out, you will find that is how diving has to be done when it is done for a living. Slower, individually paced, means higher prices, but there are some more subtle points along the way. I teach tourists, on their tight schedule. People who teach tourists go one of three ways: 1. They learn pretty quickly how to teach most effectively. 2. They get frustrated and quit. 3. They stop giving a poo poo, and start handing out certifications to anyone who pays them. Local dive shops often have instructors teaching classes that take a long time, their own time and their students time. Most who are inefficient with their time think of it as not rushing the students, and sharing their love of diving. But the best way to share diving is to take people diving. Loving diving is great; talking endlessly to students who have no choice but to listen is rude. (This got to be such a problem that PADI ran a several years long campaign to try and break the habit (Go Diving Today!). It did not take as well as they hoped.) I learned long ago that most people are capable of a great number of the dive skills when they are not presented as difficult, or even more surprisingly, when they are not even presented as skills. I also learned that most people taking diving classes are there to actually dive, not to listen to me talk. That last sentence is self-evident, or so I would think, but watching most local instructors teach makes me think that they took self-importance classes on how to be the center of attention, not classes on how to convey ideas and enable effective dive behavior. I am overstating that, but the activity often gets lost in the instructor's focus on what he is saying/doing. As an example: Most people who have problems with no mask breathing (mask clearing etc. etc.), for instance, have those problems because they were told by someone else how hard it was before the class began, or worse yet by the instructor himself. There are nose breathers who have problem wearing a mask, but as long a they keep the mask on continuously, they adapt fairly quickly. This is a trick that I have never seen a local market instructor get a handle on. It's not about what we say, it's about what the student is doing. In fact most of what most instructors say is counterproductive, especially when taking into account that the long time we spend talking could be better spent having students do things underwater. We cannot talk anyone into doing anything. We can present opportunities and methods, but they student has to cross the bridge themselves. I am tempted to draw something out of your friend's experience here. She had issues with "clearing the mask". Simply put, that way of saying it means that she adopted the dive instructor's words to define her problem, which means that to some degree this was a problem the dive instructor generated and/or negatively reinforced. Outside of dive instructor language, people would say "I had problems when I got water in my mask". But "water in the mask" is not, in and of itself,actually problem. Conversely, "Water in the mask" can in fact be a solution to a fogging mask. She had problems identified for her by the dive instructor, and that is just not useful for either party. We instructors should know and identify problems internally, but externally we should only be suggesting a range of solutions to any student. We call it a problem, and that really gets her nowhere except to create a point onto which she can hang her nervousness. I routinely tell people who "have problems clearing their mask completely" that it is useful for keeping their mask defogged because it is. Rather than being a point of failure it is a useful behavior. Local instructors and their students often spend most of the class with the mask off, standing in the pool/shallow water talking. Which is of absolutely no use to anyone. Every skill in the certification class can be taught as a skill to be evaluated, or a means to do something cool that is just part of diving. Guess which approach causes evaluation stress, and which approach gets students excited to try new things? If I tell you I am going to have you put on you mask, and then put water in it, and then clear it, then you have steps to remember, and an evaluation point to hang up on. If I tell you to keep the mask on, and "if you ever happen to get water in your mask, do this if you want to clear it, but leaving it in is OK and useful", you just put the tool in your pocket for later use. I am secretly making sure everyone clears their mask, but no is told "You have to let water in, and then clear it, and I will be evaluating you ability to do so". Instead I try and make them laugh with the mask on, and when a little water leaks in, then they clear it themselves. And/Or they get used to a little water in the mask which is also a skill to learn. Same goal, but a completely different journey, and a completely different destination. One approach makes someone think that they are done with that skill (thank god I'm done with THAT!); the other approach treats every thing as another tool in the pocket for later use (Hey! Hey!). Backward looking, forward looking. Skill externally driven, versus fully internalized. In fact, the second way usually has people simply thinking about diving, and completely unaware that they were taught "the skill", or evaluated on performance of "the skill". Time pressure is a good thing, because making every diving minute a minute doing things underwater is best for everyone in every sense, because there is a certain amount of diving which is just simply about time spent underwater. The inefficient/inexperienced instructors tend to talk students to death in the interests of not rushing them. Once someone is forced to be time aware in diving, they usually realize the problem is one of keeping the students from the water with non diving things, and that even in the shortest vacation class, one can spend a enormous amount of time actually diving, and long as the instructor does not keep the students from the water. Most non-tourist destination instructor hear how fast tourist classes go, and think there is no learning. And if tourist instructors taught the way some local dive shop instructors teach that would be true. (Here's where I tie your story together with what I just posted...) Finding someone who is both efficient (get' em diving!), and patient (but let 'em do whatever as long as their face is in the water and they are breathing from the regulator) is hard. Mostly because the idea itself is hard because the usual split is between people who are 'really divers' and people who 'just talk about diving', and the people who want to go diving get sick of standing around waiting, tend to over do it to the other extreme. Because binary thinking, I guess. Usually you find that the "get 'em diving" people (instructors and dive buddies) tend to take students/buddies out of their comfort zone. There is a way to "get 'em diving" quickly and comfortably if you let the student/ new diver define the task, and let them draw the limits. If your friend had painted a different picture of the dive, and then let you decide the route, things might have just been completely different. (Other than being in a Steel 72 for a deep dive. That's just a head scratcher.) You buddy says "we are going to get in and see what's there. We might see the wreck, we might not, but I have heard is a wreck to be found, if everything all lines up. If we cannot see it, then that too is info about what the visibility may be like" Then instead of being task-loaded to accomplish his goal, you would be free to make seeing the wreck your goal, if everything worked out. Or it could just be a recon dive. When I dive a wreck seriously, I actually want to do that anyway. Get a sense of the size, and the surface conditions, and what other divers are doing, by doing a dead easy recon dive. In the sense that your buddy had the idea that to "get 'em diving", that was a good thing, most people need a little push to go diving. But no one should ever feel forced to do anything more than get on the boat. Get to the site and realize it is not your day? NO problem. Dive boats are actually cool to hang out on. Maybe you can jump in and snorkel a bit, maybe you can practice entries and exits in full gear, and never descend. You can practice setting up and breaking down your gear on a rolling boat. Figure out where the emergency O2 is. Stare and what kind of gear everyone is using. pupdive fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Aug 18, 2014 |
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Aug 18, 2014 04:11
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I want you for an instructor or dive buddy. Seriously. If you are in FL, let me know
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Aug 19, 2014 03:50
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Yeah pupdive come over to Western Australia and come diving Question for people: Ethics of catching octopus by hand on Scuba? I'm currently engaged in a facebook argument with a guy who posted a video of himself catching and killing an Occy at a popular local dive site. Now I'm very much of the minimal impact interaction with the marine environment school of thought and I don't eat fish (or meat but whatever). I know obviously most people feel differently, but irrespective of the legality - seeing a video of someone killing an octopus on a dive that I know lots of people dive specifically to see Octopus really pisses me off!
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Aug 19, 2014 14:39
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Tomberforce posted:Yeah pupdive come over to Western Australia and come diving Fishing at a known rec diving site, especially on scuba, is a bullshit thing to do. Pulling octos from a known rec diving site is the bullshittiest thing to do, because octos rule.  Note: a couple of dudes here in the Pacific Northwest filmed themselves at a well-known dive site pulling a great Pacific octopus out of its den and "playing" with it on their way to the surface a few years back (it died on the way up ). I can't remember if we figured out who they were, but they would be... unwelcome... if encountered at another dive site.
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Aug 19, 2014 15:06
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sofullofhate posted:Fishing at a known rec diving site, especially on scuba, is a bullshit thing to do. Pulling octos from a known rec diving site is the bullshittiest thing to do, because octos rule. Yeah unfortunately it's a jetty which is also a very popular fishing spot. There have been arguments between divers and fisherman before because they have a habit of catching sharks and rays, chopping them up and throwing them back. Sickening. I told him he was spoiling the dive for the other divers, his response what that it was 'not illegal'. People really suck sometimes, but Australia has a real problem with ignorant and destructive morons. This is the guy's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vPW2QdlRu4
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Aug 19, 2014 15:57
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I like how instead of addressing the point he retreats to the "not illegal" argument. Being an rear end in a top hat isn't illegal either, but don't complain when people dismiss you for it. Speaking of octopuses, my last night dive in Indonesia featured a very small one in a glass bottle. I noticed his eyes sticking out, so I called over the two people I was with and we sat there for about 15 minutes watching him. He was pretty shy at first but the light from our torches also attracted a cloud of weird red worm-type things. I moved the light close to the octopus and it started snatching the worms out of the seabed and the water. It was pretty neat watching it gorge itself. Best night dive ever.
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Aug 19, 2014 16:33
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sofullofhate posted:Fishing at a known rec diving site, especially on scuba, is a bullshit thing to do. Pulling octos from a known rec diving site is the bullshittiest thing to do, because octos rule. Is that the case that managed to get the Pacific Northwest dive community together to try and get a ban on taking them? DId they get that ban done? ScubaBoard had a bunch of people talking back and forth about it, but I ever heard what happened in the end. Is the Puget Sound everything you crazy Pacific Northwesterners say it is?
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Aug 19, 2014 19:44
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pupdive posted:Is the Puget Sound everything you crazy Pacific Northwesterners say it is? 10 OW Dives in and so far I'm saying yes! I've done 6 of my dives at Keystone Jetty, which is just this tiny little spot (protected) where you slowly head out from the shore along this jetty wall, and every single time I'm seeing new things. This sunday I even got a drive by by a harbor seal around 35fsw which was pretty drat awesome. Can't wait for the next few weeks, my first night dive is this weekend (and I'm all but promised a wolf eel sighting) and my first boat/drift dive will be the 30th, who knows what I get then.
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Aug 19, 2014 20:55
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Tomberforce posted:Yeah unfortunately it's a jetty which is also a very popular fishing spot. There have been arguments between divers and fisherman before because they have a habit of catching sharks and rays, chopping them up and throwing them back. Sickening. What an huge rear end in a top hat. In Italy, where I dive, fishing with SCUBA apparatus has been banned since 1986, and is considered poaching with up to two years in jail.
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Aug 20, 2014 00:09
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Tomberforce posted:Yeah unfortunately it's a jetty which is also a very popular fishing spot. There have been arguments between divers and fisherman before because they have a habit of catching sharks and rays, chopping them up and throwing them back. Sickening. He's wrong and he sucks. What an rear end in a top hat.
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Aug 24, 2014 08:47
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Schmoli posted:10 OW Dives in and so far I'm saying yes! I've done 6 of my dives at Keystone Jetty, which is just this tiny little spot (protected) where you slowly head out from the shore along this jetty wall, and every single time I'm seeing new things. This sunday I even got a drive by by a harbor seal around 35fsw which was pretty drat awesome. Can't wait for the next few weeks, my first night dive is this weekend (and I'm all but promised a wolf eel sighting) and my first boat/drift dive will be the 30th, who knows what I get then. This is the kind of enthusiasm you crazy PNWers have about the place! Awesome! The really cool thing about night dives is that you focus only on where you light is shining so you really slow down and see what't there. Please post about the night dive when you get a chance. As an instructor, I am sad that PADI removed the required night dive from the Advanced Open Water course. It teaches so much about diving in the confined area of the light beam, and gets people to really slow down and take a look at what is there all the time.
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Aug 25, 2014 03:40
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Hey anyone in Japan where they can check out how much a Mares Matrix dive computer costs in a brick and mortar dive shop there? I have seen it on a lot of Japanese divers recently, and I am trying to get a feel for what we should be charging for it.
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Aug 25, 2014 03:47
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pupdive posted:This is the kind of enthusiasm you crazy PNWers have about the place! Awesome! Ok so we did the night dive last night and the limited vis/navigation dives today, I'm pretty much exhausted right now but holy hell was last night amazing. Not only did I get to get my deepest so far (68 feet, not on the night dive but on the just-before-sunset familiarization dive), we saw some really awesome things. Wolf eals, rat fish, a metric TON of dungeness crab, big spot prawn (I think that's what the instructor called them, giant see-thru shrimp), and some other stuff. At one point in the night dive we all turned off our lights and spent a few minutes just waving our hands (and purging my regulator) to get the bio-luminescence activated, which was just incredible. I literally feel like I went into outer space last night. Oh and I finally saw my first noodibranch (about 2-ish inches long, all white). Now all I can think about is my Nitrox class this week and my first boat/drift drive on Saturday. Oh, and speaking of slowing down, my surface consumption rate has been hovering around .75 cu ft/min and on the dives last night, which were also my longest dives at 48 and 53 minutes, I averaged .60 cu ft/min which seems like a pretty good improvement (I love my dive computer and Subsurface). The only bummer is we have no pics as the instructors camera crapped out, but who cares I've got some awesome memories.
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Aug 25, 2014 04:09
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pupdive posted:Hey anyone in Japan where they can check out how much a Mares Matrix dive computer costs in a brick and mortar dive shop there? I have seen it on a lot of Japanese divers recently, and I am trying to get a feel for what we should be charging for it. My wife will be diving in Japan next week. I'll ask her to keep an eye out at the dive shops she will definitely be visiting.
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Aug 25, 2014 15:08
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Hey goons. Have anyone here dealt with oversensitive gag reflex? I've always had it, cant for example brush my tongue withouth gag reflex. I can deal With snorkeling but the combination of salt water and the mouthpiece sometimes makes me gag. Its np in the surface but it could be a problem underwater. Im at koh tao right now and probably will ask if i can do a test dive in a pool or something. Basically im asking for tips to handle it, if anyone has had the same problem as me.
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Sep 7, 2014 11:12
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Did three OW dives this weekend - really enjoying diving so far. I met an instructor who told me PADI is garbage and I should get my certs through NAUI? Is this true or just playground trash talking?
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Sep 8, 2014 00:40
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My PADI OW course was pretty awesome, from the perspective of the inexperienced. Maybe he meant your local PADI center?
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Sep 8, 2014 02:12
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Barfolemew posted:Hey goons. I'm probably not quite as sensitive as you are, but for what it's worth I always get a bit of a gag reflex when snorkelling but I've never had the problem when diving. Maybe it's the constant breathing through the mouth. I'd say, give it a go in the pool and see how you go. If you can stay down for a few minutes you'll be fine, I reckon. And if not, you're only in 2-3 metres of water under supervision.
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Sep 8, 2014 05:49
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Unimpressed posted:I'm probably not quite as sensitive as you are, but for what it's worth I always get a bit of a gag reflex when snorkelling but I've never had the problem when diving. Maybe it's the constant breathing through the mouth. I'd say, give it a go in the pool and see how you go. If you can stay down for a few minutes you'll be fine, I reckon. And if not, you're only in 2-3 metres of water under supervision. Same here. The snorkel sometimes makes me gag (especially when removing the mouthpiece) but I've never had that problem with a regulator. YMMV of course.
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Sep 8, 2014 05:56
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Mad Wack posted:Did three OW dives this weekend - really enjoying diving so far. I met an instructor who told me PADI is garbage and I should get my certs through NAUI? Is this true or just playground trash talking? Yeah, it depends on the local centre. There's a lot of anti-PADI stuff, of varying degrees of seriousness, from other agencies (I should know I'm with one ) Put it down to PADI being the biggest and so everyone having experience with PADI trained divers/instructors who are of varying quality. I've met very few really bad divers from other agencies but then outside BSAC divers I've dived with in the UK I've met very few divers who are with other agencies, so generally when people meet a bad diver they're PADI trained. Likewise if an instructor doesn't really give a poo poo about training people but just wants a job they'll probably be with PADI (since that's going to have the most job opportunities).If your local place or the place you want to train through is decent then the agency really isn't that important. As long as they're competent, don't have terrible reviews and you feel comfortable learning with them then they're probably ok.
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Sep 8, 2014 13:41
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I've just returned from a week long exploration dive in Oman on the "Saman Explorer" which is chartered by Extra Divers. This is the only live-aboard in Oman*; they have two normal areas of operation, Daymaniat Islands in the north for the "summer" and Hallaniyah Islands in the south for the rest of the time (chance of humpbacks there) and are now looking to add maybe a third area starting from Khasab on the Musandam Peninsula (thus exploration). * we only once saw other divers which were on a day trip from Khasab, also organized by Extra Divers. Saman Explorer has space for 22 divers but we were only 12 this time so we had plenty of space. The food was good and plentiful as usual on live-aboards; they have beer and softdrinks you have to pay but if you want stronger alcohol you have to take it with you which isn't really allowed since it's a muslim country. They have the usual dive stuff incl. 2 zodiacs and Nitrox plus the really helpful crew. The AC in many cabins was unfortunately loud and they were otherwise pretty hot (see temperature below) so some of us slept on the upper decks and enjoyed the stars. We had the normal dive guide (Karem) of the Saman Explorer aboard plus a special guide (Kurt) who normally does daily dives from Khasab and thus knew at least some of the area. But obviously with the safari boat you can do some dive sites which you normally don't do and at times you normally can't do when you're doing daily trips, so we also had some dives along "the fishermen tell me here it looks like this so we'll go explore". - This dive area is in an exclave of Oman, separated from the main part by the UAE. The peninsula protudes in to the Strait of Hormuz from the south. On clearer days you could see parts of Iran. - Because of this we didn't fly into Muscat but rather to Dubai and had a small bus take us to Khasab from there (about 3h). - The water was between 33.2°C and 27°C (which is poo poo cold compared to the higher range). Really thin dive suits are okay, but it can be advantageous to have something covering your knees since there's much current and you may want to hug the reef sometimes because there is less current there. I was using a shorty and had no problems but sometimes had the feeling that something covering everything would have been better. - The air was very hot, starting above 30C in the early morning and probably topping 40C easily each day. Most times we had a slight breeze which made the temperature on the upperdeck bearable. But when there was no breeze the sweat was just pouring out. - Visibility under water: pretty good, most times 20-30m but at least one dive site had much sand in the water which lowered it to 15m or so. - Sunrise was 5:30 or so and wake-up time around 6 so we could do the early morning dive before breakfast. - Up to 4 dives a day if you wanted (early morning, morning, afternoon, either sunset or night), total of 22 I think. - Many dives were drift dives and the current was there, believe-you-me. The predicted directions of the currents also sometimes didn't really match the reality, but then again, exploration. - Some dives also had small stretches against current, which could be really harsh. 1-2 times also if you didn't get around a corner the current would sweep you out in to the blue and you had to abandon the dive. - I recommend a reef hook and gloves cause sometimes you had to clutch onto the reef (e.g. gaping at the whale shark). - we saw a whale shark twice, but no normal sharks though there are some places where they can be, no dolphins, etc. Some Mobula Rays but no mantas, some eagle rays. Plenty of barracudas, hard corals, soft corals, smaller fishes, bat fish, snails, turtles, etc. - Last evening we stayed in a hotel in Khasab and went to a BBQ at the Extra Divers base which was also superb. (Be aware that there is only one hotel in Khasab which has alcohol). If you are ever in the area and have some time (e.g. working in Dubai for a bit), I fully recommend doing either the live-aboard if they start offering it or some daily dives from Khasab. If you have some questions I can try to answer them. I also have shot some photos but need to convert them from RAW and trash the bad ones before I can show them.
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Sep 9, 2014 10:16
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Sounds pretty cool. How did Oman compare to other places you've dived in terms of stuff to see? It's awesome you saw a whale shark - they're one of my favorite things to see. Any idea how diving is in Qatar? I'll be in Doha in a couple weeks and thought maybe I might do a little diving if it's any good.
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Sep 9, 2014 13:01
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eviljelly posted:Sounds pretty cool. How did Oman compare to other places you've dived in terms of stuff to see? It's awesome you saw a whale shark - they're one of my favorite things to see. No idea about Qatar, but probably similar to this. I remember having seen offers for a live-aboard from somewhere in the UAE some years back, so there's probably good spots there also. To compare it with other places: Most diving I've done is in Egypt/Red Sea. Compared to there it's a bit less to see but IMO this is more a problem with having so much to see in the Red Sea that nearly everything elsewhere there's "less". It was about the same to Bonaire / Maldives / Tobago Cays and plenty more than Gran Canaria. Mind, there's still plenty to see! If you set the Red Sea to 120% this is still 100% or maybe more! Also don't forget that the other 2 big diving areas in Oman (Daymaniat Islands, Hallaniyah Islands) are pretty different from this place. The water was also a lot warmer than anywhere I've been. There's a bigger chance here for bigger fish than in the Red Sea, but apart from the Whale Sharks this translated into zilch this time around.
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Sep 10, 2014 08:25
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I have a question about scuba diving. A long time ago I went scuba diving in Jamaca, it was the standard cheepo probably dangerous scuba affair. Anyway on the way down they told us to plug our nose and exhale hard into it to pop our ears. Well I've never been able to do that to pop my ears so I had to come back up and was told I couldn't scuba dive. My whole life I have popped my ears by wiggling my jaw in a particular way. Grabbing my nose and blowing does absolutely nothing for me and can somtimes just clog my ears more. Am I doomed to never scuba dive or is popping my ears the way I do it viable?
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Sep 15, 2014 11:04
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It doesn't matter how you do it.
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Sep 15, 2014 11:56
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Just finished my advanced open water dives! Now it's time to roll over straight into a rescue diver course  TLG James posted:It doesn't matter how you do it. This is true. I swallow or wiggle my jaw to equalize more often than plugging my nose. As long as you can equalize some way or another, it makes no functional difference how you do it.
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Sep 15, 2014 12:33
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