[m2b]

A very strange day indeed.

I decided to see if adding a layer to my wetsuit would make a difference today. Yes, I've been suffering ever since I started diving, no matter which wetsuit I've been wearing(no lube required to put it on), with diver rash. I decided to see if I might be able to help the situation by adding a thermal top and bottom underneath the wetsuit and as a result keep the neoprene from even touching my skin. At the same time I wanted to see if I could find out where I was bouyant at. I knew with the summertime water temperatures here in northern New England, my chances of diving without the wetsuit are pretty much a joke.

I headed on out for one of the other locations that I dive. Schools out and everybody is on vacation and I knew the lake I normally dive at would be loaded down with boats so I chose option two, no motor boats allowed.

I got in the water and wasn't expecting any equipment problems, boy was I wrong. It was the first time I can remember having trouble with the goggles taking on water and me not able to correct the problem so it wouldn't happen again. Always a first time for everything.

I headed out to 25 foot deep water and breathed up. I headed down slowly on the full inhale. I got down around 12 feet and strangely was noticing I was already negatively bouyant????? Something seemed really crazy. I ended up bailing when I hit the colder water temperatures around 18-20 feet. If I can only overcome the resistance...IF!

I took a couple more full inhale dives and I'm still noticing the same thing. I'm hitting bouyancy that I normally wouldn't be hitting under full inhale. I'm still not sure what was going on.

The goggles had been acting up since dive one and I finally said the heck with it and headed in for shore to drop off the dive line and see if I could get the seal on the goggles to better set so I wouldn't be taking on the water anymore. I headed back out and this time I decided to stay shallow and go for my first true exhale dives. Visibility on the lake is around 14 foot vertical, at least when watching the threaded rod on the bottom of the dive line as it descends to the bottom of the lake. I could easily see the bottom of the lake and I knew I was in 8-10 foot deep water.

The strange thing I noticed was I had no thought at all about trying exhale diving. Out in the deeper water where I normally dive half to full inhale, I end thinking about it all the time before I dive. In the shallower water...where I could see the bottom of the lake, I didn't think a thing about it.

After taking the last breath and then exhaling I tucked and headed down. Talk about a quick trip to the bottom. I was definitely negative at the bottom, with the 5 pound weight on. I was pretty much negative within two to three feet of the surface is my guess.

After another dive or two I decided to make the 45 second trip back into shore and lose the weight belt altogether and then retry the exhale dive again and see what would happen to the bouyancy.

After trying once again to get the goggles to seat correctly, YEAH RIGHT!, I headed back out and after quick breath up and exhale I dove down and found myself pretty much neutral, weirdly on my knees, at the bottom of the lake, err 8-10 feet beneath the surface.

The two things that were different compared to normal diving, while exhale diving today, no dive line, and I could see the bottom. Those was the most comfortable dives I've had thus far since I started diving. Normally in deeper water, where I can't see the bottom and where I have normally had a dive line to follow, I have a hard time making myself take the last breath and dive. In the shallower water today I didn't even think about exhaling and going under.

I did notice in the shallower water all the extra sediment/aquatic life(plants, etc) mixed in the water and it would always cause me to react/panic and head for the surface. I'm thinking the reason I feel so comfortable doing exhale dives is the fact I can see the bottom, unlike when I'm inhale/half inhale diving in deeper water.

I'm going to hopefully test this idea out tomorrow and see what happens. I'm really curious to answer some more of the mental hinderance questions that have been effecting my diving. I know they are all mental and nothing physical. The only thing has been trying to figure out where the problems come from in the first place. I know cold water temps is one big mental block for me, the other one is still out for debate.

Can not being able to see the bottom have that much of an influence on your willingness to go under???

Ryan