Intersting time

[Mtrewyn]

This weekend I went Diving at a local lake and had the most rewarding dive I've had, to date, I know I've not had that many but bear with me here.

(Sorry mom but I really need to tell this story)

It started when we got there the air temp was about 50 there was no sun, and there were so many divers that we had to park a long ways away around 1/4 mile away and walk to the beach.

Well my buddy got some of my gear from the LDS for me, BC, weights, Tank, as well as hers ( my buddy was my mother) so we divided up all of the things we needed to carry down and were on the way down and when I got to the beach I realized that my mom was no were to be found, so I set my things down and went to find her, she was not all that far back but had had some problems balancing the load she had one of the instructors that was teaching a class there helped her and we found a spot on the packed beach, it was like getting to that last seat in the full movie theater in the middle of the row after the movie has started.

Once we found our spot we started to get set up, through the whole process she kept asking me questions about how to assemble gear, or other basic stuff, you would think that it would get irritating but oddly it never did, once we were all set we got into the water did out buddy check and got ready to dive she could not get under, she realized that she had about half of the weight she needed (the nearest dive shop was around 45 minutes away), so I started to find rocks to add to her BC to try and get her under, again you would think I would get upset but oddly it never happened.

The dive we were on was a "wall" type of dive visibility was around 10-15 feet so on the out side of the wall it was a little spooky for some one that has few dives, can't see down or up only so so view of the wall.

While we were on the dive she kept having buoyancy issues (weight related), but I just helped he get settled and changed things around so she could stay in the dive, there was even a short time where she was a little panicked about the lack of vis, uncontrolled ascent, time under things like that, I just slowed her down helped her to get her breathing under control.

This whole time I was never upset or iterated or anything. It was almost relaxing to have to help her, it made the dive more enjoyable for me.

This whole dive it seemed that I felt my dive "skills" went through the roof. I had the lowest air consumption rate I've ever had, my buoyancy was near perfect, the navigation was dead on, I could even clear an almost full mask, witch has always been VERY hard for me I almost panic when it happens, I'd rather just dive with out.

By the third dive of the day, she had things very well under control and looked like the expert she'll be soon.

I do feel bad for one thing I did not help her much after we got out, it might make me a bad buddy, but I really wanted to see how she did on her own. It took her a long time but she got it all under control.

I just has a very good dive, and it got me thinking if there is something to the fact that helping some one improved my skills, and made things more enjoyable for me, than maybe I should look in to moving into the pro realm of diving.

[dallasdivergirl]

Sounds like both of you learned some skills that day.

Keep on diving & learning

[diverdad]

The most interesting thing that happened to me was during my OW lake dives. One of the other students lost his mouth piece from his regulator and he paniced. He took off to the surface as fast as he could, but the instructor grabbed him before he could get up no more than 5 feet. The instructor got him his octo and surfaced with him. This was a good learning experience for me.

[ScubaToys Larry]

Mtrewyn, you have summed up what it is like to become a scuba instructor. I would actually prefer to dive with people with way less experience than me as I enjoy my dives more when I see the proverbial light bulb going off in their heads on buoyancy, trim etc.

And if I see a sea cucumber, so what - but to a new diver, this big ole' thing that looks like a shark turd is the coolest thing in the world!

Thanks for sharing your story, and it sounds like divemaster and instructor is in your future!

[DivingsInMyBlood]

Makes you feel good when you can be a good buddy to your buddy and lend them a hand when needed.

[cummings66]

Originally Posted by Mtrewyn

I do feel bad for one thing I did not help her much after we got out, it might make me a bad buddy, but I really wanted to see how she did on her own.

Just curious, what do you mean by that? You made her carry all of the gear back when she had trouble getting it there in the first place? Or did you mean a post dive debrief?

To be honest, as far as the diving goes I think you did ok. I'll let a person work on a skill if it can be done safely but I won't let them fail at it if it's going to be dangerous. IE I'll dive with a person with poor buoyancy control in a safe environment but I wouldn't take them on a 100 foot dive. You know your Mom and it worked but you may not know the random buddy you get paired with so take it slow. That is if an insta buddy shows horrible buoyancy control don't do any demanding dives with them because not only are they in danger, they'll put you in danger.

If you have the drive and patience then being an instructor is a great thing, it takes a lot to be a good one. Good luck if that's your motivation for diving. Just be aware that many instructors don't get a lot of fun diving in because they're too busy instructing. I know several that get hundreds of dives in, but only a handful of fun dives in and the rest are working dives.

[Mtrewyn]

Originally Posted by cummings66

Just curious, what do you mean by that? You made her carry all of the gear back when she had trouble getting it there in the first place? Or did you mean a post dive debrief?

I don't know really, as I was watching her I felt bad for not helping get her stuff together, I know being able to deal with your own stuff is part of diving, but I still felt bad, maybe it's just that is was my mom.

[paintsnow]

i think you did ok,
theres somethings that people wont get without help, and then theirs other things they will never get if you keep helping them too much.
i feel assembling gear is one of those, tell them how to do it if they get completely stumped, otherwise let them think it through. and always check to see that they didnt do anything completely wrong or dangerous.

or at least thats the teaching style that works for me, other people all learn differently