Stuff Learnt from my trip to Sharm

[sleaford_diver]

Nearly a month after gettting back from my first diving trip to Sharm i have reviewed what lessons I had learnt from it.

First Lesson

Dont dive with a dive centre that you feel uncomfortable wiht even if they are located in your hotel complex.

Had 3 dives with a dive centre at my hotel called venta diving. Was geared directly for the Italies who were in the majorty . The check dive on temple reef was just a swim about no checking of bouyancy or any check on skills. The the 2 dives it self on Jackson and Thomas reef wernt mach better kept getting kicked by same person. All the breifing was done in Italian . Then as an after thought when I looked blankly at them did the guide redo it in English. No dive brief fro second dive just kit up and jump in. Also whilst in the water we were at 28m i knew i was going to be caning my air at that depth some came up a little to 20 m still in site of the guide (something I had done with another dive centre and they were ok with it), However the guide came upto me and I had to go down again to 28m. I pointed to my gauge tried to explain with hand signals and he just gave me the 'ok' back and just carried in. hence 10 mins later had to tell him that i was getting low on air. and the dive was over.

The next thing I learnt was dont concentrate to much on your spg.

At the start of the diving I was concerned with my air consumption so constantly looked at my guages the more I looked the more gas I used. However after about 4 dives the guide convinced me to take my camera down. I did this really enjoyed taking pictures. I relaxed more looked at my guages less result better gas comsuption with the effect of making me more relaxed enjoyed the dives more relaxed more and gas consumption went down again. So one happy bunny

I was still checking my gauge but not as often so I think that has been a very good lesson that I have learnt just enjoy the diving.

Andy

[lucybuykx]

Originally Posted by sleaford_diver

Dont dive with a dive centre that you feel uncomfortable wiht even if they are located in your hotel complex.

.... All the breifing was done in Italian . Then as an after thought when I looked blankly at them did the guide redo it in English....

Thanks for these lessons Andy.

It is really important to listen to and understand the dive briefing so if you are diving with a group who all speak another language you need to speak up and request bilingual briefs.

Its only happened once to me, on a dive boat with a large group of Germans. Most dives the english dive master did the briefing and one of the german group translated for his group. The final dive, the german leader did the briefing and finished off with an 'any questions?' I put my hand up and every one laughed. The b*ers had got their own back on the ubiquitousness of English.

Originally Posted by sleaford_diver

The next thing I learnt was dont concentrate to much on your spg.

Watching an SPG is the opposite of watching a kettle boil isnt it! Relaxation is the key, makes the dive more fun and longer.

Thank you again for the lessons. I hope you will take them along to your next diving holiday and enjoy it all the more.

[Eoin]

Originally Posted by sleaford_diver

All the breifing was done in Italian . Then as an after thought when I looked blankly at them did the guide redo it in English.
Andy

I did a few dives in Lanzarote about a year and a half ago. On one of the dives I was the only english speaking person, the rest spoke German. the brief was in German and its been a long time since I did it in school! At the end of the brief I mantioned to the Instructor that I was diving on EAN 32, which threw them a bit! Don't think they were used to divers with Nitrox for some reason. I got buddied with the Instructor, which was fine. They told me to let them know when I got to 100 bar, and then to 50 bar. There was about 7 of us in the party and we dropped down, saw one wreck, moved on to another and then a third, spent no time examining them, which amazed me!! By the time we got to the second and third wrecks some of the other divers were getting to 100 and then 50 bar. After 30 mins we started up. I wanted to have a poke around at least one of the wrecks, but stayed with the group and my buddy.
Two mins into the 6m stop I signalled to my buddy that I was down to 100 bar. He didn't believe me, thought I meant I was OOA. I showed him my gauge and he stared at it for a couple of seconds trying to take it in. After the dive he spoke to the guys running the LDC and I got a free dive with Nitrox due to having to come up early with the group. The freebie was an excellent dive, but we didn't get back to the wrecks.