SCUBA class saga

[lynsea]

The constriction only happens in the water because there is not enough air in my suit. I think my weighting was the problem but something i just discovered has turned me off from adding more weights. When i woke up this morning, I discovered these massive bruises on my hips and i had no idea what they were from. I was talking to a friend about scuba and suddenly it hit me... the bruises are from the weights i was wearing last night. now that was only 14 pounds (two 7lb weights). I might have broken hips if i wear more. Is there some kind of way that i can pad them so this doesnt happen again.

 

[devondave]

Hell , you didn't have a good time at all did you ?
7lb is a lot for one weight , try using smaller weights spread around the belt or a shot belt , more expensive but more comfortable .
Ankle weights really do help spread the weight and stop your legs from floating around .
If you get serious about dry suits you may need to get one custom made for the best fit , again a bit more expensive .
This comes up alot in diving , " this one is much better , but I'm afraid it is a little more expensive " .
Get used to it , it's something you'll hear a lot if you keep diving .
Regards ,
Dave .

 

[Erik]

Depending on what they're teaching you about where the air goes may have something to do with your comfort level too.
There is a school of thought that says you just put enough air in your suit to avoid a squeeze and you use your BCD for buoyancy.
The other school says use your suit for buoyancy and the BCD for trim. This method puts more air in your suit, meaning less restriction and sometimes more warmth as there is more insulation from the water.
Probably you will come up with a balance between the two.
This is one of the challenges of OW training with drysuits- task loading. It's a matter of training and practice until use of the gear becomes second-nature.
Many cold-water divers use steel tanks and backpacks that allow weight to be removed from the weight system.
Throw some of the weight in the BC pockets or get a weight-integrated BC system- great for people with hips!
If you persevere, you may have the opportunity to see the best diving in the world IMO- north Vancouver Island.

Although we do freedive it in wetsuits, scubadiving up here should really be in a drysuit as the water's 8 to 10 Celsius.

 

[lynsea]

that is a good idea. they have smaller weights so i will definitely try those. they do not, unfortunately, have ankle weights but i will look into those. im already running into the "expensive" of scuba. i have been finding fairly decent prices though. I have two 2mm wetsuits that i found for $50: a shorty and a free full length. they are pretty well made and pretty much all i need at the moment. it's when i start to buy things like dive computers, fins, and such that i will run into problems.

 

[lynsea]

Depending on what they're teaching you about where the air goes may have something to do with your comfort level too.
There is a school of thought that says you just put enough air in your suit to avoid a squeeze and you use your BCD for buoyancy.
The other school says use your suit for buoyancy and the BCD for trim. This method puts more air in your suit, meaning less restriction and sometimes more warmth as there is more insulation from the water.
Probably you will come up with a balance between the two.
This is one of the challenges of OW training with drysuits- task loading. It's a matter of training and practice until use of the gear becomes second-nature.
Many cold-water divers use steel tanks and backpacks that allow weight to be removed from the weight system.
Throw some of the weight in the BC pockets or get a weight-integrated BC system- great for people with hips!
If you persevere, you may have the opportunity to see the best diving in the world IMO- north Vancouver Island.

Although we do freedive it in wetsuits, scubadiving up here should really be in a drysuit as the water's 8 to 10 Celsius.

um wow! those are gorgeous. my dive master insists that we use just our dry suit for buoyancy and not our bc. i may or may not change that. i'll try both next time.

 

[scubabasics]

hiii..this is scubabasics

...............................................................!?

 

[lynsea]

alrighty... so after a few days (and a two day fever) i am back. Honestly i was getting a little worried because for some reason when i was sick my ears wouldn't clear and obviously that is a problem but im mostly good now. anyways... so i passed my test (yeah!) but honestly t wasnt that hard. The second dry suit day was defintely not as bad as the first. i think it was the suit i was wearing. all in all it was a much more comfortable experience. the only problem is that the neck seal on that particular suit is too big... i got wet. obviously not a horrible thing if i am in a pool but quite a bad one when it is in a lake in upstate ny in the middle of fall. i didnt have a chance to assess my weight situation because there were a shortage of weights that they brough (i.e. i only had 12 lbs total and i need a bit more than that). no bruises though so that is good.

my next post which will be after two days of dry suit diving in an acutal lake will be pretty interesting (probably a lot of complaining coming from me) so stick around to find out more

 

[lynsea]

Obviously my last post wasnt that interesting but I just had the first day of my open water dive test and well... it was an adventure. So we are diving a little west of syracuse, ny in a lake that, today, no joke, had three foot swells because of the amount of wind. It was like entering the ocean! Anyway, so we got suited up and went down to a grate our instructors have set up around 15 ft down. I was actually surprised how warm i was although the face was burning for a bit and i had a MASSIVE headache for a few minutes. the best way i can describe it is like an ice cream headache but you are forced to continue eating the ice cream.

once we got down there it wasnt too bad. we saw a few crawfish which were cool and a fair amount of fish, some big some small. I told my dad later that i was seeing all of the fish he trys to catch every time we come up this way. I did a few skills tests with my dive master and then i came up so he could take other people down. Just staying upright was hard in those waves and with all of my weight. The second dive, we went down to about 30ft which was cool. They have a bunch of bikes, cars, and boats submerged so we had something to look at. That dive was much harder because the current had really picked up. The only major problem i was having is that we wear weigh belts so my middle was sagging which made my back hurt like no other.

Still have one more day to go but i now have a profound respect for all of those guys who do this diving on a regular basis. I know it can get much colder (today it was probably a little under 50) but still... with wind... not fun. I think i'm going to stick to the equator. Even there, though, some of the places i was snorkeling aren't even worth scuba diving at. it really does take a lot out of you. today, i ended up below 500psi when i came out because of the current. I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow...

 

[lynsea]

just another random discovery of the week:

trying to do dive tables whilst sick does not work. not a very smart move on my part.

 

[devondave]

Headache , backache , cold , current , ill-fitting suit all contribute to air consumption .
Even so 500psi ( 34bar ) is a low number for a learner to be finishing a dive on , you take good care there Lynsea , no slip ups now , OK ?

Tables are a pain but necassary and are a good way to reinforce the diving theory you learn . You're supposed to practice with them once in a while , but most people , after owning a computer never see them again ( untill they do a nitrox course or further courses , then have to rapidly relearn them ) .

Good luck with the rest of the course , keep us posted .

Regards ,
Dave .

 

[lynsea]

i figure my rapid air lose to anxiety and over-exertion. I have actually been using tables every time. We only just started using dive computers this weekend.

im currently hating my life. i woke up this morning feeling quite sick which is obviously not the best way to go diving. had to call it off. no idea what i am going to do.