|
Greetings all
Today I felt like a novice diver .
It had been 7 weeks since I was last in the water and because of work and
other commitments it had not been possible to dive.
Deciding on a quick morning dive on our favorite wreck just off the coast
of Townsville as all of us had other commitments for the rest of the day.
Rather than prep the rebreather for a 2 hour dive I decided that it would
be fun to do an open circuit dive instead.
I hadnt used open circuit for over 2 years and didnt realise that I would
be in for a shock.
Getting organised for a start was a little confusing and I had to recheck
to make sure I had everthing, sounds stupid but it felt that I didnt have
enough gear.
Plus the time taken to get it all ready, 15 minutes and it was all packed.
No sencor calibrating, or leak testing etc.
Arriving at the dive site and kitting up was all fine plus rolling off the
side no problems.
Ascending the first thing I thought was that I hadnt turned on the tank
valve all the way, hard to breath, it shouldnt be as its a Cyclone 500 and
should deliver heaps of air. I settled on the bottom to compose myself
and get straightened out. Not used to this I thought its been a couple of
years and I,m not used to all this racket, everytime I exhale it feels like
the bubbles are jaring my face mask, bloody bubbles everywhere!
Ok lets get some bouyancy under control, I cant.....I keep rising and
falling everytime I breathe.
I,m begining to feel quite ill fin piviting and breathing up and down, up
and down errrrr!
Better start swimming might help keep me level and I,ll try and get used to
this breathing resistance,
but I,ll never get used to the noise.
Just then out of the corner of my eye I spy a large Coral Trout , I whipped
out my digital camera to get
a shot and blow me down I can keep still,....up and down, ok I,ll have to
hold my breathe if I want to get this shot. Too late that much noise he
didnt hang around for too long, cant say I blame him...! I cant understand
this I used to enjoy this so much?
I'm starting to get used to having to suck to get a breathe , and as I do I
approach a piece of wreckage and casually roll on one side to watch the
fish as I swim past, clunk...! I hit the the bottom and am stuck on my back
arms waving into space as I try and right myself.
I'm starting to feel like an idiot, I rarelly should have used my
rebreather ....!
I struggled on through the dive enjoying the sea scape, pity about the
racket going on next to my ear every time I exhale.
80 minutes later I surface, gee I'm thirsty !.........I can see this scuba
diving is going to take a little getting used
to, better stay with the rebreather I think;-))
This is a clasic example of switching from one dive medium to another and
assuming that it will be easy.
Just as well I wasnt attempting a deep dive as it might have been more of a
problem instead of the surprise
I got on a shallow wreck.
I enjoyed the dive but I can see my scuba skills certainly need a little
work.
best Kerry McKenzie
- end
|
