Well that is because you haven't dove Point Lobos or Monastery Beach in the frigid cold waters of Central California
Words of wisdom for new scuba divers
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Well that is because you haven't dove Point Lobos or Monastery Beach in the frigid cold waters of Central California
Alisa_MK_Reef
Alisa_Kellers_Reef
- Location
- Boise, ID
I betAlisa there is a problem diving in Tahiti. After you dive there, you don't want to dive any other place and that is a problem because as you know, we don't live around the corner from Tahiti and can't go there every week.
Nothing like it.
After you get certified I have a great trip for you to take. But it will spoil you. 😁
great pictures Paul thanks and looking forward to it!All good advice above. A healthy fear of the ocean is always a good thing IMO no matter how experienced you are.
Here's the thing, the first time I ever went skiing I was terrified and horrible. Same with snowboarding, same with riding a bike, and yes even diving. Over time I was able to develop my skills in each of those things and become proficient and with that I became much more comfortable where they all became second nature.
Diving is not an innate skill. It is a learned skill that needs to be honed and developed over the course of your entire diving career. The only way to do this is to get more time underwater, and yes, maybe even wearing your mask and reg around the house. Become a sponge and learn everything you can about diving. Find a good mentor/instructor and pay them to take you diving. Try to get to a point where you feel confident underwater under various conditions. I like to remember my instructor's advice: he said as long as you are breathing, then you are ok. In other words, as long as you are breathing, ie the regulator is working and you aren't out of gas, you have time to take a moment and assess the situation and make an informed decision as to what steps to take next. This is exactly what was said above about taking a moment after your mask comes off to take a breath or two before putting your mask back on and then clearing it. Great advice.
Panicking underwater is no good. Most of the videos I've seen of diving mishaps were the result of a minor routine incident occurring and the diver making it worse by making a panicked decision instead of staying calm.
Summary: PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE LEARN LEARN LEARN - the more experience and knowledge you have, the less likely you are to panic or otherwise feel out of your element underwater. It is ok to not be an expert after a 2 day dive course. Anyone who claimed to be a proficient diver after their certification course will quickly be humbled the first time something goes awry on a dive. If after doing all of this you still don't feel confident, then you will have to make a decision about whether to stay snorkeling or continue to try to get comfortable with diving. And you will need to be honest with yourself because as was said above, an unfit diver poses a risk to others as well as themselves. Good luck and stay safe!
Here's the thing, the first time I ever went skiing I was terrified and horrible. Same with snowboarding, same with riding a bike, and yes even diving. Over time I was able to develop my skills in each of those things and become proficient and with that I became much more comfortable where they all became second nature.
Diving is not an innate skill. It is a learned skill that needs to be honed and developed over the course of your entire diving career. The only way to do this is to get more time underwater, and yes, maybe even wearing your mask and reg around the house. Become a sponge and learn everything you can about diving. Find a good mentor/instructor and pay them to take you diving. Try to get to a point where you feel confident underwater under various conditions. I like to remember my instructor's advice: he said as long as you are breathing, then you are ok. In other words, as long as you are breathing, ie the regulator is working and you aren't out of gas, you have time to take a moment and assess the situation and make an informed decision as to what steps to take next. This is exactly what was said above about taking a moment after your mask comes off to take a breath or two before putting your mask back on and then clearing it. Great advice.
Panicking underwater is no good. Most of the videos I've seen of diving mishaps were the result of a minor routine incident occurring and the diver making it worse by making a panicked decision instead of staying calm.
Summary: PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE LEARN LEARN LEARN - the more experience and knowledge you have, the less likely you are to panic or otherwise feel out of your element underwater. It is ok to not be an expert after a 2 day dive course. Anyone who claimed to be a proficient diver after their certification course will quickly be humbled the first time something goes awry on a dive. If after doing all of this you still don't feel confident, then you will have to make a decision about whether to stay snorkeling or continue to try to get comfortable with diving. And you will need to be honest with yourself because as was said above, an unfit diver poses a risk to others as well as themselves. Good luck and stay safe!
True - and even to this day my first giant stride off the boat I still have anxiety
Night time - through the roof. After that initial few seconds things get back to normal Practice, repetition. Very true.
I bet
Diving in the tropics is what we see in popular media. Many of us go to the tropics when we go on family vacations. For this particular audience, we keep flora and fauna from the tropics in our aquariums. So, tropics, tropics, tropics. And true enough, diving in the tropics is comparatively little hassle.
But for me, I am with @saf1. I think the diving in temperate water locations such as California is better. Especially if you have proper lights with you. One of the hang ups I have with diving in the tropics is that during the day time, if you get deep enough, everything looks monochromatic. That bluish green color. I much prefer night diving in the tropics. The sunlight/water filtering reds doesn't wash out all the colors. Instead, you bring your own lights and everything in the reef pops with color.
In California, we tend to need lights whether or not it is daytime. For this reason, whenever you get a good look at anything with your light, its native colors show. Of course, California diving is much harder in many ways. And conditions are consistent more challenging that what you see in the tropics. You need thicker exposure protection which means you will need to carry more lead. You will need to wear a hood and gloves. And unlike the tropics, the diving in California is all self service - no one to put together your gear for you, no one to clean your gear for you, no one to baby sit you on your dives. Temperate water diving is harder. But it is better. You just have to want it is all.
Here is some info on one of the places Saf1 was referring to: Pt. Lobos - Middle Reef
Same here. I still have to remind myself to relax after I first hit the water and its all chaos. Especially in 6-8 foot swells...rue - and even to this day my first giant stride off the boat I still have anxiety
I don't know. I do like a nice relaxing tropical dive wearing just a rashguard and swim shorts. But I'll do some California diving someday so I can see what you're talking about.
Shred5
Well-known member
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- Waukesha, WI
I was trying to create a post separately but it didn't let me. So I'm highjacking this beautiful video thread sorry @saf1. Those colors are just stunning btw
Two weeks ago I did a thing 2 days of classes to get scuba certified ( locally here in the pool, open dive next weekend and I'm terrified). I hit a mental block pretty hard on my second day of exercise when you take your mask off and putting back on. I threw a regulator a few times and immediately go up. My instructor keep shoveling the regulator back in my mouth
any advice or words of wisdom from all you scuba divers here 💕
2 days of classes man I had more than that for just classroom plus we did allot of time in a pool. We also did allot of open water for my Padi certification.
Best advice is just relax.
When I did my first dive off a boat and was also my first time in saltwater I was nervous.
Also was a drift dive so you are moving in some pretty heavy current.
Not only that is was down to a 100 feet and my certification was only 60 feet.
To make it worse there was a hurricane not to far off and the divemaster had a hard time even getting back on the boat. Freggin platform was 5 foot below the water than 8 feet above. Yea I was nervous. My safety stop it was like being in a washing machine. Even with all of that once you are down it get so relaxing. I miss drift diving.
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Alisa_MK_Reef
Alisa_Kellers_Reef
- Location
- Boise, ID
I have a great PADI instructor she is amazing
wow first dive and first time in the ocean I bet that was something. Online classes took me about a week to complete before 2 days of pool training like 6 hours each day in 86F water. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Alisa_MK_Reef
Alisa_Kellers_Reef
- Location
- Boise, ID
It is more gear and weight for sure. I usually am wearing 7mm wetsuit, 3mm chest heater, 5mm gloves, boots, and 3 or 5mm hood. Can always dive dry, and a lot do, but that is another cert and time to get comfortable with. I personally prefer wetsuit regardless of temps so I don't have to worry about more gear and floods.
I should have shared the URL you provided - sorry about that. Thanks!
Paul B
Well Known Geezer Member
- Location
- Long Island NY
That is certainly true. But I have been diving in pretty cold New York Water for more than fifty years and we normally have almost zero visibility.Well that is because you haven't dove Point Lobos or Monastery Beach in the frigid cold waters of Central California
I never dove California but my diving days unfortunately are over.
I got certified before there were any other forms of certification than Basic SCUBA diver so I am certified for everything.
I rarely needed my certification anyway because I have my own boat so we dove wrecks and lobsters most times and night dives were the best for lobsters. I don't like to eat lobsters but my wife and Daughter loves them.
My course was 6 weeks with every one in a pool and a classroom and two open water dives in zero visibility freezing water.
I wasn't happy but like Alisa I muddled through.
Alisa, you will love it.
That is certainly true. But I have been diving in pretty cold New York Water for more than fifty years and we normally have almost zero visibility.
I never dove California but my diving days unfortunately are over.
I got certified before there were any other forms of certification than Basic SCUBA diver so I am certified for everything.
I rarely needed my certification anyway because I have my own boat so we dove wrecks and lobsters most times and night dives were the best for lobsters. I don't like to eat lobsters but my wife and Daughter loves them.
My course was 6 weeks with every one in a pool and a classroom and two open water dives in zero visibility freezing water.
I wasn't happy but like Alisa I muddled through.
Alisa, you will love it.
6 weeks course meeting once a week or meeting multiple times a week?
Well times change and classes evolve. It sounds like some of the classroom work is now being done on-line. Maybe not a bad thing and they found efficiencies during Covid. Not sure. Water drills and similar work can't be done on-line so maybe those are longer. Not sure - not an instructor. Having said that I personally didn't care much for the classroom but enjoyed the skills sessions.
Changes do happen though be it course or what shops offer. I know I went through PADI but the shop I travel with switched over to SSI which is all different, digital, etc. Personally I don't care for it but I'm not taking any further courses so not applicable to me.
I appreciate that things change - efficiencies and what not.
I was curious to see if Paul B's experience was 6 weeks, once a week or if it was 6 weeks, multiple times a week. Those are very different things. Longer/more doesn't necessarily mean better. Just curious how much more it was.
I am generally for more training than less training for scuba. But only if the training is good training. Lots of mediocre training is a waste of money and perhaps gives a false sense of confidence. Good training, on the other hand, in scuba, photography, woodworking, etc. is worth its weight in gold. I probably spent as much in training as I did in gear the first few years. Maybe more. And I spent an arm and a kidney on gear. (Regs, drysuit, tanks, computer, BC, etc.)
As it relates to agencies, for me, there isn't an appreciable difference between SSI and PADI. More important is the instructor. As an example, by standard, in open water class, I was taught "be back at the boat with 500 psi". I asked how that was done. My OW instructor basically would not go into it. My next instructor (drysuit class I think) answered it for me. He gave me the math to figure it out. It seemed like a simple idea - if you don't know how to do the math, it seems like a great way to get back at boat with way more than 500psi (not too bad) or way less (could be bad).
Paul B
Well Known Geezer Member
- Location
- Long Island NY
I think it was twice a week 2 hours but I may be wrong. It certainly wasn't every day because I was working at the time. But the course had everything and we had no computers then so much of the course was learning decompression charts which you had to bring down underwater with you.
(I am not good in math and with almost zero visibility, it wasn't easy)
Besides de compression we learned beach diving, wreck diving, night diving, diving with hazardous animals, rescue diving, medical aspects of diving, zero visibility diving and of course all our dives are with a quarter inch wet suit and bulky gloves.
There was only one kind of certification unlike now. My wife and Daughter was certified 13 years after me and their course was completed with just a few hours of training.
They tell you right away that If you did all your dives in the tropics, that doesn't count as any diving experience in our courses here because in the tropics, you can see and diving with just a bathing suit and visibility is pretty easy.
Everything we carried on all dives were tethered to us. We always brought a hand spear, that we made from CB antennas, a light, knife (to cut all the fishing line you get tangled in) de compression charts, back up light and back up knife. We also normally had a 10' "buddy line" tied between us or else we dove alone because we would never find each other even 4' apart.
I dove alone many times because we don't always have someone that wants to dive here.
(I had a sea urchin collection business and I used to sell them to hobbiests for algae infestations. 😁 )
We made the line with a float in the center so it didn't get caught on the many things sunk here.
(there are 2,000 wrecks around Long Island)
We always carried a light diving here even in the daytime because deeper than about 30' it is pitch black. The light doesn't help much because it is black because of particles (detritus) in the water and not a lack of light. When you turn on your light you see a hazy tunnel about 3' ahead of you as it causes all the particles to glow like milk.
Night diving it is clearer because you don't get the haze from the sun and lobsters are out hunting at night.
There is no real swimming here, we just pull ourselves over the rocks looking for lobsters or artifacts. Once you get arms length off the bottom, you can't see it and our lobsters have huge claws which can take your arm off so you have to practice catching them.
Of course diving the tropics is much more fun and safe and I do have maybe a hundred tropical dives but I would have to find my dive log for that. 😁
This is next to a famous lighthouse here in the Long Island Sound that was commissioned by George Washington but I don't think he dove much here.
We climbed up on the rocks here one day and noticed that the front door was open. It had been boarded up for many years so we took our lights and went in. The first floor was filled with WW2 radio and radar equipment in pristine condition. We didn't want to take anything because we had to swim back to my boat so we went back the next weekend only to find the door repaired and a fence around the entire Island as it is a national landmark. We didn't get anything.
Under the spiral staircase in the light tower is a cistern where they used to keep fresh water for the light house keeper. The first floor had a kitchen and at one time, electricity.
I was hired to see if I could get the electricity back on but I found the cable from shore a couple of miles away had been cut in many places probably from anchors. They wanted over one million dollars to put in a new cable. That was probably 25 or 30 years ago and the place still doesn't have electricity.
But it has cormorants. Those birds on the top. Once I was diving there at night and those are diving birds. One crashed into me and scared me to death as it was trying to get away by flapping it's 3 1/2' wings around my head dislodging my mask and regulator. I thought it was a whale
This is on top of that light house with my main squeeze.
Alisa diving will open up so many more places in the world that you want to visit. An example is Bora Bora in French Polynesia. There is almost nothing there on land, but the diving is IMO the best in the world.
This bar is about the only thing there on land
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@Paul B I don’t know how you did all that low vis diving. That’s not for me. Our first dive alone after getting certified was in the Gulf. We jumped off the boat and put our faces underwater and it was pea soup. Couldn’t see our hand in front of our face. I almost got back on the boat, but figured we’d give it a go. Followed the anchor line down to the bottom and we had about 18” of vis if you hugged the bottom. Still had fun, but not ideal.
Another time we tried a low vis dive was at my friend’s property. She lived on a freshwater spring. She wanted to know what was at the bottom about 60 feet down. We made it about 10 feet down and could not see a thing. I couldn’t handle it and called it quits. I don’t like not knowing which way is up. And no, we couldn’t even see our bubbles. I also thought we were going to get swallowed by the Loch Ness monster.
Like I said, I’ll stick to the tropics. After all, i dive because I like to look at all the pretty things.
Another time we tried a low vis dive was at my friend’s property. She lived on a freshwater spring. She wanted to know what was at the bottom about 60 feet down. We made it about 10 feet down and could not see a thing. I couldn’t handle it and called it quits. I don’t like not knowing which way is up. And no, we couldn’t even see our bubbles. I also thought we were going to get swallowed by the Loch Ness monster.
Like I said, I’ll stick to the tropics. After all, i dive because I like to look at all the pretty things.
Paul B
Well Known Geezer Member
- Location
- Long Island NY
Joel, as you go farther east like where I live now, the Vis gets much better. Probably 6' here. But 18" was pretty normal.
It is different diving and remember you won't find anything in the tropics because everything has been picked through thousands of times.
Here we find many things because not many people dive here so everything that was down there, is still there.
My dive partner found a handgun off the Jersey Shore with a silencer on it. We also found a tug boat with all the dishes and silver wear intact and many anchors.
(Of course you can't take any underwater pictures)
The lobsters are numerous but you have to catch about 10 of them before you get one legal size and you have to measure them underwater and are not allowed to bring up small ones or pieces of lobsters. They need to be in one piece and alive with no eggs.
My best friend and dive partner were diving here once and the vis was probably 18" or less. We came up on a rusty "wall" that stopped us.
We tried to go up over it, but couldn't and we couldn't go left or right. Our bottom here is very fine mud which limits our Visibility so as soon as you stop, the mud you kicked up behind you engulfs you so it is impossible to see anything and you may as well close your eyes.
We backed up about 12' and went around.
Later we researched the site and found that in 1903 a paddle wheel steamship ran aground there. It was carrying dates. We swam into the boiler.
This is a wreck near here but not the one I am talking about. Th General Slokum was the worst American ship disaster in History speaking of people lost.
Quote:
Mr. Grohman showed a slide of the General Slocum that sank in 1904. The sidewheel paddle steamer sailed out on June 14 with 1,200 women and children off on a picnic while the fathers worked a seven-day week.
He said a little boy noticed there was a fire belowdecks and went to tell the captain – who ignored the child. Still determined to report the fire, the boy found the First Mate in the bar drinking. After a second drink he went with the child to investigate and saw the extent of the fire. The captain declared an emergency and the passengers were told to put on life jackets to get off the boat.
The ship used its fire safety procedures and set out hoses to pull water out of the sound. The hoses were so old they cracked and water spewed out of them. Women tore their nails and bloodied their fingers trying to claw at the containers holding the life jackets that had been painted over during the years. When they got at the jackets, they put them on their children and threw them overboard to see them sink.
Many of the jackets were so old, they split open and the deck was littered with cork.
Boats pulled up to offer rescue but the captain kept going ahead – which fanned the flames.
“It was the worst tragedy New York experienced before 9/11,” said Mr. Grohman.
He said it spurred changes in regulations to prevent similar accidents at sea.
It is different diving and remember you won't find anything in the tropics because everything has been picked through thousands of times.
Here we find many things because not many people dive here so everything that was down there, is still there.
My dive partner found a handgun off the Jersey Shore with a silencer on it. We also found a tug boat with all the dishes and silver wear intact and many anchors.
(Of course you can't take any underwater pictures)
The lobsters are numerous but you have to catch about 10 of them before you get one legal size and you have to measure them underwater and are not allowed to bring up small ones or pieces of lobsters. They need to be in one piece and alive with no eggs.
My best friend and dive partner were diving here once and the vis was probably 18" or less. We came up on a rusty "wall" that stopped us.
We tried to go up over it, but couldn't and we couldn't go left or right. Our bottom here is very fine mud which limits our Visibility so as soon as you stop, the mud you kicked up behind you engulfs you so it is impossible to see anything and you may as well close your eyes.
We backed up about 12' and went around.
Later we researched the site and found that in 1903 a paddle wheel steamship ran aground there. It was carrying dates. We swam into the boiler.
This is a wreck near here but not the one I am talking about. Th General Slokum was the worst American ship disaster in History speaking of people lost.
Quote:
Mr. Grohman showed a slide of the General Slocum that sank in 1904. The sidewheel paddle steamer sailed out on June 14 with 1,200 women and children off on a picnic while the fathers worked a seven-day week.
He said a little boy noticed there was a fire belowdecks and went to tell the captain – who ignored the child. Still determined to report the fire, the boy found the First Mate in the bar drinking. After a second drink he went with the child to investigate and saw the extent of the fire. The captain declared an emergency and the passengers were told to put on life jackets to get off the boat.
The ship used its fire safety procedures and set out hoses to pull water out of the sound. The hoses were so old they cracked and water spewed out of them. Women tore their nails and bloodied their fingers trying to claw at the containers holding the life jackets that had been painted over during the years. When they got at the jackets, they put them on their children and threw them overboard to see them sink.
Many of the jackets were so old, they split open and the deck was littered with cork.
Boats pulled up to offer rescue but the captain kept going ahead – which fanned the flames.
“It was the worst tragedy New York experienced before 9/11,” said Mr. Grohman.
He said it spurred changes in regulations to prevent similar accidents at sea.
All the dives I've done, including decompression dives with mixed gases including helium, I did without relying on computers. I had a computer but I used it only to measure my depth, measure time and then to record dive telemetry.
Personally, I feel a dive computer is a huge luxury. If someone has budget constraints, a dive computer would be the last item I would recommend to purchase.
Sounds excellent.
The PADI menu style of certifications isn't the approach I prefer though the one I followed had different certifications for different kind of diving. As an example, I took classes on decompression diving and cave diving. Until I got to the point that I was ready to do deeper dives and incurring deco obligations, it was pointless for me to take classes for them. Same with cave diving.
There are many approaches to diving. Solo diving is one of them though it is not my personal approach. I respect that other people come to the conclusion that solo is the best approach for themselves under certain circumstances. I personally would have very tight parameters where I would undertake a solo dive.
For the purposes of a new diver though, I highly disrecommend solo diving.
Amen. For diving in California, I have to bring a powerful dive light anyway. In the tropics, I much prefer night diving.
I don't know. I do like a nice relaxing tropical dive wearing just a rashguard and swim shorts. But I'll do some California diving someday so I can see what you're talking about.
I do that too. Like I said, diving in the tropics is an entirely different thing that diving in California. In the tropics, you get on the boat (hung over sometimes), they put the gear on you, you fall in the water and someone basically holds your hand the entire dive. You get back on the boat, someone takes the gear off you and eventually rinses it and puts it away for you. You get off the boat for another night of drinking and carrying on in beautiful weather. Rinse and repeat. Who wouldn't like that?
Diving in California or in Vancouver, BC or in NY, Mass., North Carolina and so on is entirely self service. You spend something like 10 hours on land prepping for the dive (tank fills, gear maintenance, etc), driving to the dive site, driving home, cleaning up gear, etc. for every 1.5 hours of bottom time.
I personally feel that being a regular diver in temperate or cold water becomes part of your personality or part of who you are. Its not just something you do for fun.