Scuba lessons today

[Hunter]

Try dive went well today!

Had a great instructor, who said sod doing a try dive, we will do a lesson! I get worried, kit up, hop in, but in the end it was great. We did mask removal, regulator removal and refit etc, also a bit of AAS work. Then a bit of fun through the loops, combined with half hours work on bouancy control. We also did wing removal and replacement under water. not bad.. 2hours lesson for £20!

 

He likes my kit and wants to get me into Tech diving after I have had some experiance, and changed my reg to DIN.

 

Enough talk. Heres some pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking

Edited March 9, 2008 by Hunter

[triscrx]

Very worrying that after a 'try dive' he has recommended 'tech diving'!! As a PADI Divemaster I find this quite worrying tbh mate. Ideal that he has given you a big lesson for £20 thats very good value for money, but I'd suggest getting your Open Water and Advanced open water courses out of the way 1st before even thinking about anything to do with any technical diving.

 

Good to see you enjoyed yourself though buddy, Its an amazing sport/hobbie. I have just got back from the pool myself from helping with Discover Scuba here. The Open water diving you will do as part of your PADI Open Water course will be alot more realistic and then you will see what you think of it. All a bit surreal in a pool with crystal clear water

 

Good luck with the diving though buddy. Dive safe

 

Tris.

[Hunter]

Ahh no I didnt mean to write it like I will be tech diving tomoro!

Obviously once I have some experiance and training. I meant to write it that he thinks it will suit me

 

He says most of his students have around 100 logged dives before going tech. but any future kit I buy, will be having tech in mind so I dont have to buy and sell kit all the time in order to gain more experiance

 

Glad to know theres a good handful of divers on this site

[triscrx]

Yeah diving is my other passion. You will find that you will buy/sell a bit of kit til you find something that will feel right and you will get on with. I have 'tweaked' my kit over the years and now I have a lovely set-up that I get on really well with. Taken years to get the bits I wanted but it was worth it. If you want any kit advice let me know buddy.

 

If you ever want to come down to the South West to dive HMS Scylla or do some wreck diving once your up to that level let me know ill look after you if your down this way.

[Hunter]

Thanks! definetly up for that, but its going to be a while Long way to go.

 

Heres a qeustion.. I was finding that my Oceanic Alpha 8 reg would float if released, and felt very bouyant in my mouth? felt like it was trying to pull itself out. Do you have any experiance of this, is that a problem? I was thinking it may just be some trapped air or similar

Edited March 9, 2008 by Hunter

[Lloyd90]

hmm any of you guys do any quarry diving ?

Theres a absolutely stunning quarry or 2 near me where the local kids nip into and swim in the summer.

Ive read in my PADI open water manual that people quarry dive and was wondering if anyone does it ?

 

Appreciate any tips

[Hunter]

My OW course (also going through the manual) will most likely end up being at Stoney Cove or similar. Definetly the AOW course. Quarry diving is great when they have put a load of wrecks into it

[wy111]

I was a BSAC 1st class diver and club instructor years ago. Keep with it. It will be one of the most enjoyable times of your life.

[Dean k]

hmm any of you guys do any quarry diving ?

Theres a absolutely stunning quarry or 2 near me where the local kids nip into and swim in the summer.

Ive read in my PADI open water manual that people quarry dive and was wondering if anyone does it ?

 

Appreciate any tips

 

Yeah Stoney Cove is good for that!! Not sure of your experience but if it does not have too much around then avoid it, when the **** happens in diving it happens very quick and would be nice to have bank cover etc. As I say you might have 200 dives and tell me to mind my own.

 

I wan't to dive my fishing lake, which was an old cement works but just cant get enough cover sorted and the go ahead even though I am fully insured up. There had been a lot of deaths in the sport of late and making people less likely to help out??

 

HUNTER - Glad you had fun, its the best feeling when you get all the exams etc and you can just discover. I am advanced OW but don't have a crazy amont of dives under my belt yet, won't to get some sea dive this year.

 

Dean

[triscrx]

Quarry diving is very good and the vis can be very good as well which makes it more appealing than open water diving. But be careful as not as much weight is required due to it being fresh water :blink: I dive quite regulary at Vobster Quarry and Id recommend that. Best to be Advanced open water or equivalent before getting into the quarry's though.

[broken man]

haven't been diving in a while now....do they still have the stuff (Helicopter & plane ) in stoney cove?

Edited March 12, 2008 by broken man

[kdubya]

hmm any of you guys do any quarry diving ?

Theres a absolutely stunning quarry or 2 near me where the local kids nip into and swim in the summer.

Ive read in my PADI open water manual that people quarry dive and was wondering if anyone does it ?

 

Appreciate any tips :blink:

 

 

been diving for best part of 30 years in that time dived two quarries? stoney cove and hodge close? came away from both thinking what was the point?( the trek to the water at hodge close was more exciting) now the north sea a previously undived wreck and a lump hammer and crowbar in your bag - heaven?

 

seriously though keep at it, it is as the blurb says a different world? the red sea, west of scotland,any where in the med! all magic, however and this is no slight on padi please bear in mind its a money making organisation, so dont take on board **** about tech diving, truth is 99% of divers would not have a clue as to the true meaning of tech diving, finish your course find a good club, make new mates and get about, although my diving is coming to an end, the things that I have seen and the friends I have made both here and abroad will be with me till the old toes curl up.

cheers KW

[Hunter]

Cheers KW

 

The way us PADI divers see the BSAC divers is that they have a bit of a history for usin lift bags and tools on wrecks :blink: Meaning newbies like me will never get the chance to see them in all their glory. I saw a great signature on a dive forum m on, its 'Take nothing but time, Leave nothing but bubbles'

 

Will certainly join a club, there are some very experianced divers in the club who also do the training up to instructor level. Will work my way up to a comfortable level whislt getting some experaince through the club

[auto culto]

Cheers KW

 

The way us PADI divers see the BSAC divers is that they have a bit of a history for usin lift bags and tools on wrecks :blink: Meaning newbies like me will never get the chance to see them in all their glory. I saw a great signature on a dive forum m on, its 'Take nothing but time, Leave nothing but bubbles'

 

Will certainly join a club, there are some very experianced divers in the club who also do the training up to instructor level. Will work my way up to a comfortable level whislt getting some experaince through the club

 

 

now that's just stereo typing old school BSAC divers which is utter bo**ocks. I dont know who's been telling you this but to put the record straight most divers not just BSAC was seriously into trophy hunting as there was money in it. At the time it was a very expensive sport and still is to a certain extent so if they could help fund it slightly by selling a few port holes etc then that was what would happen. People made big bucks by lift phosphor bronze props and brass cannons but this was done purely by the big salvage teams and was run like a business. I presume the instructor that took you on your try dive was originally BASC as ditch and retrieve training went out the window years ago ( but tank was never taken off the shoulder like a coat, it was allways done overhead). I am one of the few that have used a lifting bag on a regular basis as i used to enjoy just moving items around. Once we set a club task of moving a ford cortina 150yards (due to it being in a shallow dangerous spot where a kid got paralyzed when he broke his neck diving in at this inland site), It took a full morning to move and a far few dives to attach the many steel oil drums to which i welded eyes on to strap them to the vehicle. All this was done in zero viz but none the less it was done safely and also was good skills building for some of the other dive leaders which had never done anything like this before.

Edited March 12, 2008 by auto culto

[vole]

Its a great sport as you are finding out Hunter. I have only done my Open Water when I lived in Saudi Arabia (about 50 yards from the Red Sea) but have 105 dives under my weight belt.I am a bit of a ponce and only dive the warmer waters .Last dive was the blue Hole Dahab.Awesome. Am well due another trip. Enjoy!!

[Hunter]

Lucky sod Vole :good: I have to learn my diving in a 5mm WETSUIT in roughly 8-10C :blink: Brrrrr

 

Auto culto, this is the general veiw I have been picking up from varius PADI people. Dont get me wrong, I would love to do underwater activites with lift bags, sounds great fun moving a whole car Im just not keen on people pinching wreck bits as you end up with a steel frame wreck that looks far older then it really is, and reduces its qaulity for future divers and photographers. But thats how it goes..

 

 

Padi run a course for using lift bags for underwater recovery of outboard engines from boats etc. I will most likely choose that as a specialty course (5 required) for the advanced open water B) could be a useful skill to have!

[kdubya]

Cheers KW

 

The way us PADI divers see the BSAC divers is that they have a bit of a history for usin lift bags and tools on wrecks :blink: Meaning newbies like me will never get the chance to see them in all their glory. I saw a great signature on a dive forum m on, its 'Take nothing but time, Leave nothing but bubbles'

 

Will certainly join a club, there are some very experianced divers in the club who also do the training up to instructor level. Will work my way up to a comfortable level whislt getting some experience through the club

 

if you are expecting a wreck to look like a ship? you are going to be sadly disappointed most are like underwater scrap yards

there are the odd one or two about that are "Walt Disney wrecks" hispania, tapti, and of course the ever famous thistlegorm

in the red sea ( dived that about 10 times) yes I was a trophy hunter most of the wrecks I dived were rarely dived or virgin?

but unless diving somewhere like the red sea or other tourist sites, I NEVER went without a 4lb club hammer and bar, my mate always carried the bags usually 4,most of my "trophies" are now on the club walls or stood like my telegraph at the bar so members and visitors a like can appreciate them, I never sold anything although was offered £2000 for the telegraph and a LOT more for a five foot brass wheel and pedestal off an open wheelhouse collier ( another story) er all declared to the reciever off wrecks some years ago when there was a nice woman in charge and an amnesty was in place?

 

I once had a toe to toe with a set of scoobie doos whilst having adrink in the kyle hotel in kyle (of lochalsh) I with my mates used to dive the port napier twice a day for a week twice a year for 15 years, we literally dug out rooms one at a time,

now bare in mind these rooms were filled with perhaps 20ft of silt no body had ANY idea what was in them? nobody would have EVER seen what was in them, but they gave up lamps guns whiskey glasses plates teapots, money and of course if the rooms where onto a gangway once you got to the bottom ( ship is on her starboard side) them we removed the portholes,

toe to toe was with a group of university divers who saw our bags come up with portholes attached they said exactly what you have been quoted IE leave it for others to see! trouble is others would NEVER have seen it a point which was put over

quite "forcibly"

 

and just to show you how two faced divers can be I had just returned to the boat from adive on the thistlegorm the dive leader on the boat "padi" had told my mate and myself "to do your own thing" as he was preoccupied with occasional divers,

anyway he asked us about the dive and I replied very very good but it was a shame I had to leave the brass fire extinguisher I spotted in one of the trucks, to which he says ******** there is no way any of them are left? OK I said I am lying?

to which he said do you think you could get back to it? yes I replied, and he kitted up and went straight back in with me,

proudly sporting HIS words his leaving present at the end of the season?

 

Cheers KW

[Dean k]

Lucky sod Vole :lol: I have to learn my diving in a 5mm WETSUIT in roughly 8-10C Brrrrr

 

Auto culto, this is the general veiw I have been picking up from varius PADI people. Dont get me wrong, I would love to do underwater activites with lift bags, sounds great fun moving a whole car :o Im just not keen on people pinching wreck bits as you end up with a steel frame wreck that looks far older then it really is, and reduces its qaulity for future divers and photographers. But thats how it goes..

 

 

Padi run a course for using lift bags for underwater recovery of outboard engines from boats etc. I will most likely choose that as a speciaalty course (5 required) for the advanced open water could be a useful skill to have!

 

If you complete your OW at Stoney then you will learn in a dry suit, they just don't attach a hose to it and only use it for insulation. When you dive donw to 18m they might add a small amount of air to your suit or your balls will be very, very sqashed and hurting !! Make sure you get dry suit as one of your 5, make a lot of difference. Nitrox is good once you get the hang of the normal diving etc, it makes you feel better after 3 dives a day and also gives you longer at the bottom!!

 

Dean

[kdubya]

Lucky sod Vole :lol: I have to learn my diving in a 5mm WETSUIT in roughly 8-10C Brrrrr

 

Auto culto, this is the general veiw I have been picking up from varius PADI people. Dont get me wrong, I would love to do underwater activites with lift bags, sounds great fun moving a whole car :o Im just not keen on people pinching wreck bits as you end up with a steel frame wreck that looks far older then it really is, and reduces its qaulity for future divers and photographers. But thats how it goes..

 

 

Padi run a course for using lift bags for underwater recovery of outboard engines from boats etc. I will most likely choose that as a speciaalty course (5 required) for the advanced open water could be a useful skill to have!

 

If you complete your OW at Stoney then you will learn in a dry suit, they just don't attach a hose to it and only use it for insulation. When you dive donw to 18m they might add a small amount of air to your suit or your balls will be very, very sqashed and hurting !! Make sure you get dry suit as one of your 5, make a lot of difference. Nitrox is good once you get the hang of the normal diving etc, it makes you feel better after 3 dives a day and also gives you longer at the bottom!!

 

Dean

 

 

it only extends your dive time IF you accept the same principles as diving on air and limit your depth, ? 90% of those who dive on nitrox do so to reduce the chances / affects of DCS so you the SAME tables and times as air?,logic being that if you dived for 20 mins at 30 meters using nitrox the effect on you is of having a much much shallower dive? nitrox however STILL contains nitrogen extending the times negates the benefits, I used to do 3 dives a day to perhaps 50 meters ( on air) I now have no knee cartilage in both knees ( one knee I am at present waiting for a knee replacement) as a result of this, we did not know better then and in truth felt invulnerable, but having been involved in some scary moments ( ever lifted an unconscious lad from 46 meters?)and of course once dive computers came along we pushed the tables even harder?

we know beter now dont we?

 

nitrox was wroked to the 40 rule? ( yes I know things have gone on and we now have "different classes of nitrox) but I always worked to the 40 meters for 40 minutes at 40%,rule, anything deeper than 40 and we stuck to air?

 

As for dry suit diving I never ever used any other buoyancy control other than by admitting er expelling air from the suit?

the bit around your back or neck is for the surface as air in a suit AND a BCD means TWO needs to control!! on ascent

seen a few fail to do it and away they go?

 

take your time,don't rush to this and that, take it all in learn everything you can and enjoy what is a wonderful hobby, buy good gear buy it ONCE,but most of all JOIN a club and choose that carefully you want one that has its own clubhouse own boats, organized trips etc, best of luck with it.

 

 

cheers KW

[Hunter]

Cheers KW very informative

 

You are right about lowering the depth when diving on Enriched air, as you can get oxygen toxicity diving to deep on it. For deep diving you need Trimix (reduced ox and nitrogen, helium added as a buffer) but this is only safe to use at depth, so you then need more bottles

 

This club does pool night, training, organised UK dives, and abroad holidays etc. They do hard boat, rib, and shore diving got their own shop and class room, plus once a week pub meet

 

They also rent/service equipment, and do bottle refils at the shop which is handy but maybe a little £££.

[Vagabond]

Its a great sport as you are finding out Hunter. I have only done my Open Water when I lived in Saudi Arabia (about 50 yards from the Red Sea) but have 105 dives under my weight belt.I am a bit of a ponce and only dive the warmer waters .Last dive was the blue Hole Dahab.Awesome. Am well due another trip. Enjoy!!

I'm with vole21 on this one (Cold water Brrrrr!). I've done my OW1 in South Africa (much warmer water) Had the pleasure of wreck dives, caves, night and 0% vis dives (for navigation) and of course open water shark dives. An absolute must for anyone with the slightest bit of red blood in their veins. Unfortunately I haven't dived in a while but I still long for it. Good luck Mate & I hope you stick with it.

[me and my lad]

You are right about lowering the depth when diving on Enriched air, as you can get oxygen toxicity diving to deep on it. For deep diving you need Trimix (reduced ox and nitrogen, helium added as a buffer) but this is only safe to use at depth, so you then need more bottles :o

 

trimix and heliar are a bit more in depth than that, excuse the pun. i've had the unusual pleasure of reading through a couple of trimix exam papers and saying to people "well, you just died on that dive"

[Hunter]

I know I know... have a lot to learn, my only experiance is 98 pages of the OW training manual, and a 2 hour pool session :o

Exams would be a good idea with PADI OW. I know BSAC do exams for diving, which probably means you learna bit more.. but the downside is you dont get to go straight in the water from day one alsmost which is what people want to do nowadays as they have enough paperwork to do at their job.

[kdubya]

I know I know... have a lot to learn, my only experiance is 98 pages of the OW training manual, and a 2 hour pool session :o

Exams would be a good idea with PADI OW. I know BSAC do exams for diving, which probably means you learna bit more.. but the downside is you dont get to go straight in the water from day one alsmost which is what people want to do nowadays as they have enough paperwork to do at their job.

 

 

way we do it is to integrate the training into a "night out" thursdays we do theory , sunday we do pool training each session follwed by a few bevies at the club etc,

 

This starts october then by january (yes its cold) we use a training area in the local docks ( sorry "marina"and I have jumped through Ice!) every sunday morning and afternoon, (pool training continues) by march when the course ends those still at it? (we normally start 20ish keep 12 or so, out of them a handfull will become ARDENT competant divers,) all get taken into the real world, usually to the west coast of scotland, get them 4 or 5 dives in on decent relatively shallow 25 metres max and safe wrecks such as the breda at oban, my first open water dive was on the akka at largs followed by the wilacha 36 meters second dive!!!! still have the beer bottles?we do things different now, you will be pleased to know, we charge NOTHING for the training other than they join the club for 18months ie £90, by the first summer they should have the appropriate number of qualifying dives in, plus boat handling skills such that they are competant and ready to go further on should they wish to, lots stay as sports divers,others progress, gob ****es try to take over the club or become instructors, and the cycle continues, we have FREE air 24/7 365 days of the year 2 club boats both with 100hp 4 strokes on the back , that ANY club member with a boat handling ticket can take, not bad for £90 a year eh! and of course the advantage of a

qualification that is respected worldwide.

cheers KW

[me and my lad]

if you want to stick with padi i wouldnt bother going much further than advanced o/w and maybee do the rescue diver course.

after that padi are only in it for the money they can make from you.

 

 

if you want to go down the techie route go with tdi etc......advanced nitrox with deco is worth doing, even if you dont want to go too deep you can have a much longer bottom time, just take a book to read on your deco stop !!