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So yesterday I had my first SCUBA dive - Or, to be accurate, my first attempt at one. I'm in Tenerife with my family and I've always wanted to try SCUBA since I love snorkeling and Zorak's Endless Ocean LP series here on SA kind of gave me the bug. So I visited a dive center with good reviews and they were really friendly - I asked if they had a dive suit my size because I'm on the tall & bulky side, and they said they would have one. A few days later it's time to dive, and the dive instructor picks me up bright and early on Saturday morning. We started by picking up the two other discovery dive guys, young guys from Ireland who immediately got on with everyone like they'd been best mates for life. I went to the dive center and we signed everything and we meet the three dive masters who would assist the lead instructor with the dive - I thought it was a fairly good sign that there would be three dive masters and an instructor for only three discovery divers. But here's where the not-so-great stuff starts - Unfortunately some climate phenomenon led to absolutely massive waves all around the island, with zero visibility. We went through the rookie learning program anyway with the lead instructor taking us through a brief guide to what everything in your kit does, the most common hand signals etc. The first dive site is scrubbed basically right away, and so we drive for about 30 minutes to another one - And it's awful there too. So we drive to a tourist beach and it looks calm enough to dive there. We start kitting up and I realize my wetsuit is, well, really snug - Getting it on is an absolute nightmare, and I somehow managed to scrape the knuckles on all my fingers to absolute hell on the kneeguards. The instructor helps me get the thing on with a ton of tourists watching me get in the suit, and at last it's on! At this point we waddle to the water with tanks and everything on - And it's at this point that we realize there is basically zero visibility - Looking down into the water I can't even see my feet. Nevertheless, we do the basic skills such as clearing your regulator, intentionally dropping it and getting it back, clearing your mask and so on, all ending with a firm underwater handshake from the instructor. Unfortunately, due to the visibility, the dive gets cancelled and we waddle up to the dive center with all the gear, and I peel off my wetsuit - Thankfully, taking the thing off is a fair bit easier than getting it on! The instructor was super apologetic about the whole thing - Apparently these conditions are fairly rare here in Tenerife. He offered a refund which the Irish guys accepted, but I asked if we could reschedule since the weather is apparently clearing up - So I'll be going again tomorrow and apparently the waves should be nice and calm. I realize this might not be that interesting to any of you, but I thought I'd write down my experience and ask if my experience is common or if there's some red flags I'm missing? Honestly, if the dive tomorrow goes well I'd love to do my open water cert in my home country of Iceland - It's a fair bit more expensive but it usually includes dry suit certification and apparently learning to dive in cold water is good for you? Plus, Iceland is home to a few really interesting dive sites like Silfra and Strýtan.
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Aug 13, 2023 12:24
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 07:20 |
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So I had my second attempt at a discovery dive and it was really everything the first one wasn't - The diving instructor picked me up in the morning and I got a bit worried because the van was chock-full of people, and when we got to the dive center there were even more people. But as it turns out, these were mostly just divers going to the same dive site with different guides, and that I would be going alone with an instructor and dive master. The dives themselves were really fantastic - I saw some flounders, lizardfish and just too many fish to name. The highlight was definitely a Trumpetfish that was hovering over a reef looking for things to eat. I had a lot of difficulty getting comfortable breathing at first, but after about a minute it suddenly just clicked that I should just calm down, and take slower breaths. I also didn't really get a decent understanding of the BCD and that led to the first dive being scrapped a bit early because I had a slight panic when I felt like I was going to crash into a reef, overinflated the BCD and started flying up slowly - The divemaster caught on and helped me get up. We swam to shore where some locals started hurling insults at us - Apparently divers aren't super popular down there. I went over what happened with my instructor and divemaster and they told me I'd done fine with everything and that I just needed a finer touch on the BCD. We went back to the water and this time I feel that everything went way, way better - I felt in control and I finally started understanding how swimming underwater works - Previously I had accidentally been swimming upwards. That's not to say I didn't look incredibly awkward underwater, of course! But yeah, I'm pretty confident I'll be doing my open water certification in Iceland once I get home - I had a wonderful time and all the divers I met were super friendly and everyone seemed genuinely excited to talk about diving.
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Aug 16, 2023 11:04
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Trivia posted:OWC in Iceland? Braver than I that's for sure. To be fair, the diving companies basically all have access to pools here - There's multiple swimming pools in each municipality and I believe most of them are only too happy to let dive companies use them since they're generally not run for-profit. My main concern with diving back home is that, while amazing and accessible, places like Silfra aren't super exciting for me. I'm really keen on diving sites like Strýtan but they're insanely cold and visibility can be dreadful - So I think I'll have to find some bravery for those! I think there's an insane amount of life in Icelandic waters that just doesn't get talked about much at all, and I'd love to see it. It may seem too much too soon, but it's the main reason I'm keen on underwater photography - So many of the animals around here don't have proper photos of them, only sketches or pictures of bycatch. That's something I think would be valuable to rectify.
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Aug 17, 2023 12:08
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