I've just completed an entry level course with a local club. So far I've made 11 (count 'em!) open sea dives around the South Devon coast including 2 rib trips out of Plymouth today.

First dive was on the liberty ship James Egan Layne, torpedoed on arrival in the UK and almost made it to being beached. Lying in 65 feet (20 metres) it's one of the essential UK wreck dives. My main impression was of her sheer size. Ascending the crumbling bow was eerie. There's pictures on Wikipedia of her launch in (iirc) 1944 and several YouTube videos taken in recent years.

Second dive was over rocky gullies with plenty of wildlife, almost like an ornamental garden. At 20 metres with my novice air consumption 30 minutes is about all we got. Buoyancy control on the ascent is something I'm learning since with no reference point only my buddies and my gauges let me know where I am. Visibility is around 4 metres locally so a three minute six metre safety stop needs some control. I don't want decompression problems!

Anyway, I'm thoroughly enjoying diving. The expense of getting set up compares to a decent PC, especially with used gear. I feel a trip to the Red Sea beckoning.

I don't SCUBA, but I do free dive. I've thought about taking the time to get my SCUBA cert though, as I would certainly enjoy more bottom time by SCUBA diving. On the other hand even with a top of line pair of fins and mask I'm only out $200 and honestly I could have spent $50 with only a minor decrease in comfort and efficiency. I usually only dive to about 30 feet or so, as it gives me more bottom time, but I have made 20 meters once just to say I've done it. I'm not one of the folks trying to push for depth records, honestly about 10-15 feet is perfect for me. Easy to get under and shallow enough to stay down a good while.

One tip I can give you on air consumption is efficiency of movement. If I can get head down and just let my weight push me deeper with very minimal kicking, I'm saving air, versus actively kicking, this can easily add a minute or more to my bottom time. Look for the efficiency in everything you do under the water, and you'll start to see big increases in how long you can stay down.

-Jenrick

I've done a bunch of diving in my time.

Years ago it could get a little hairy. Lately, in the rare dives I get, it's a little less hairy.

Hope that helps...and don't forget to take a deep breath just in case.

Oh...wait.

This is about "underwater diving"?

Nevermind................

Nixer you bad man!

Jenrick- I'm really impressed by freediving. It's quite something to overcome the impulse to breathe. Apparently it's the co2 build-up that triggers the urge but when you see how little oxygen gets used each breath there should be room for a little slack.

You're right on air consumption - efficient movement and relaxation are the key. Just don't think about all that water above you! Needs more practice. It was a relief to get in the sea yesterday 'cos all the heavy gear and thick wetsuits sure get me sweating.

Vitesse,

Welcome to the underwater world! I am a diver too. I've been diving a little more than 12 years and have around 111 dives logged. I'm on open water diver, not advanced, but love it. I got my wife interested in it too and she has been OWD certified since 2015. Don't sweat the buoyancy and air consumption thing. These are all skills you will learn to master over time. I used to have a hard time staying neutral buoyant, or having a controlled descent, but now I go down and slowly come to a neutral hover a mere few feet above the ocean floor without even really thinking about how to do it. It becomes natural.

I too use to suck down air, but you learn that if you relax and don't unnecessarily overexert yourself you can make 3000 psi last quite a while, even when deep. Try to stay conscious of breathing in with one breath deeply and slowly until your lungs are full, then exhale it all out slowly. Don't inhale again until your lungs are completely empty, and don't cut the inhale or exhale short if you can help it. You'll see your bottom time go as long as 40 minutes after hitting deep depths of 90+ feet, or as long as over an hour for the shallow dives.

Do take a chance to go night diving sometime--it's amazing yet creepy. It's cool that you did a wreck dive. I only did one and it was awesome. I'd like to do more. Not sure about going inside though--besides, I'd need a cert for that.

I imagine that you are doing cold water diving? I'm not a fan of that, I get too cold too easily as it is, but that's great--are you doing it with a 7 mil, or do you have a drysuit? I dive primarily in Cozumel, where the water is warm and visibility is a crystal clear 100 ft or more. I've done a few quarry dives and dove Catalina Island and Key Largo once before though. I hear the Red Sea is great..a friend of mine dives there often.

Here are some pix from our last Cozumel dive:

Cozumel 1

Cozumel 2

Night Dive Cozumel

Cozumel 3

Cozumel 4

Cozumel Video Clips

Cozumel 5

Cozumel 6

Cozumel 7

Diving the McAllister, Ft Lauderdale

v6,
boNes

Lol, Nixer. Apparently underwater muff diving is actually a thing.

++++++++++

And speaking of being eaten...

I did some touristy cruise ship snorkeling once at Grand Cayman (I think it was a stingray excursion, doesn't count) but could never do any kind of diving for real. I love to eat fish but I'm always worried about the big ones out there, somewhere, that would love to eat me!

We have basking sharks and they could sort of scoop you up without noticing!

Bones, thanks for the pics. Cozumel is famous as a dive destination and I'm envious of the temperature and vis you get there. By contrast the water is colder here, around 52 f last month but near 60 now. Very comfortable in 7mm of neoprene but don't forget the hood and gloves. I'm using 31lb in lead with a steel tank. Your tips are spot on as well. If i keep relaxed and still it's easy but get a bit out of trim and the breathing rate jumps. I was really pleased to keep it together yesterday and got complimented on buoyancy control by my experienced buddy after we came up over the side of the liberty ship wreck and dropped down into it's hold. It's very open so not what you'd call a penetration but you're definitely inside with the remains of the cargo. We don't need a cert for wreck diving but its a good idea to do some training. It's actually part of my next grade lying somewhere between padi aow and rescue diver.

I'll be expecting a trip report after your next vacation!

Yep, your breathing reflex is triggered by high CO2, not low O2. That's what get's most people in shallow water blackouts, trying to hyperventilate and then swim underwater a ways. The oxygen level gives out before the breathing reflex kicks in as the CO2 level is still low. What you do is basically train your body to stop worry about the CO2 part, for a lot longer than you're used to. Besides the mental trauma of doing it, most people could be held underwater with one deep breathe for 3-5 minutes and physically be perfectly fine. Learning to be comfortable doing that is the trick, it's all mental. Embrace the contractions.

Going and playing with the fish and turtles by just dropping down to see them is great, sort of like being able to fly in reverse and visiting the birds. I love the freedom of free diving as there's no gear to lug around, etc, you just get in the water and go.

Yeah 52F-60F would be chilly. I'll do 65-70F without a suit if I'm actively swimming a lot (diving to take pictures, laps for exercise, etc), if I'm out for just a pleasant low stress dive/snorkel, 75F is much nicer!

-Jenrick

I'm envious of the no-gear part of freediving Jenrick, what we do needs some planning and time. Sunday's 2 boat dives were part of a 10 hour day out, albeit good company and lots of time on the water with about 1 hr under it.

I'm not keen on the shallow water blackout bit though! Advice is to swim in pairs isn't it?

Another BSAC diver here too, done many wreck dives and some scallop diving too, great fun

In summer the water temperature up on the north coast gets up as far as 11c or 51f even with a drysuit on that is a bit chilly

Yep, a BSAC diver! My local club has about 60 regular divers out of 100+ members so there's a training section running with plenty of instructors. They have a good stock of equipment to get you going, although I've picked up most of what I need now. Just need a shiny dive computer to play with. You can't actually have enough gear, I find.

Your 11c max is less than where I started earlier this year. I'd imagine insulated drysuits are a popular choice,