Some things that i have learnt

[schooner]

Whilst waiting to exit the water and back onto the boat /rib its not uncommon to have a queue of you waiting all holding onto the line alongside the boat-my mistake was to remove my fins let go of the line and think that I could swim to the exit point with the current against me-oops drifting away bye bye boat had to come and get me!

Had an incident last year involving my camera off Lundy.A Fuji digital compact and case maybe £300 ish--a lot to me anyway.Me and buddy had finished dive chatting on the surface no problems all happy when I drop my camera(silly not clipped to me) . Anyway the bottom is about 20m full of kelp and crevices etc and I have 40 bar of air left in my 12litre-my intially reaction was sh-t go and get it and then the sensible side got to me--not enough air to go look for it and given the terrian at the bottom not much chance of finding it--was my life worth more than £300 quid...I thought so..ended up watching it drift away helpless.
Anyway my lesson was..think before you act-no amount of kit is worth your life...and if you ever found my camera enjoy it..spoils of war!

Finally for today is fear factor.You know you are on a boat full of kit and divers who you dont know and invariably they are all more qualified or experienced than you -or so you think and then panic sets in--pier pressure from strangers-whos the last to kit up who looks green/nervous who is just making it all look so hard whilst others make it look so easy--this used to worry me endlessly--now ..well lets just say patience is a virtue do your thing with your buddy in your time dont be rushed by others whoever they are cos thats how mistakes happen.

Just some of my snippets...I never stop learning

[Dyson Diver]

i love the ,,,,,,,
stop
breathe
think
act

little ditty thing , works for me .

[snattrass]

Some good points there.

As for kitting up - I often wait a bit to kit up as with fewer people on a boat it makes it a bit easier.

As for being nervous - a few pre-dive nerves are natural I find, but if I was bricking it or felt I was out of my depth (no pun intended) I wouldn't get in. Likewise I've got in the water on a couple of occasions and thumbed the dive simply because I've not been comfortable, or I could see the expression on my buddy's face and knew THEY weren't comfortable.

If you're not learning from your dives then you're probably doing something wrong IMHO.

[Morag]

Some good points there.

As for kitting up - I often wait a bit to kit up as with fewer people on a boat it makes it a bit easier.

As for being nervous - a few pre-dive nerves are natural I find, but if I was bricking it or felt I was out of my depth (no pun intended) I wouldn't get in. Likewise I've got in the water on a couple of occasions and thumbed the dive simply because I've not been comfortable, or I could see the expression on my buddy's face and knew THEY weren't comfortable.

If you're not learning from your dives then you're probably doing something wrong IMHO.

I'm not shy about calling a dive. I have seen boats where people are clearly feeling pressured into making the dive, but don't want to be the first to say 'no thanks'. I have been known to call it, becaue there was something about it I wasn't happy with, then find that 2 or 3 others have decided to call it as well, rather than go with the peer pressure..

[ray]

Or!.
Play it canny and let the first divers down, if the shot has missed or pulled out of the wreck it can be re- layed before you get in, and you haven't wasted your dive.

I learned early that the eager beaver can easy become a desert diver with no rust in site.

[russthedude]

I know exactly what you mean about the camera and feel your pain!

I lost a camera a couple of months ago, had done a cracking dive on the Thistlegorm, was half way through the second dive on it and noticed my camera had gone. I knew where I was when I took my last picture, so I frantically signalled to my buddy I had lost my camera and we headed back to look for it. Alas 'twas not there. I knew it was slightly positive and would have slowly floated up. For a few seconds I thought about going up to the surface, where I probably would have found it. But then I thought some more, thought about the fact I was on my second dive of the day, both had been to 30/28 metres, I had no deco obligations but heading straight up would have meant missing a safety stop, there was lots of boat traffic up the top, day boats, liveaboards and small ribs zapping around. operation: self destruct.

I signalled to my buddy that I was going to do my safety stop, on the line, and go back to the boat to sulk.

Doing a free ascent on the thistlegorm is like running accross the M25 in the dark with a blindfold on, I know I made the right decision, but it was the easiest difficult decision I've ever had to make. Fortunately my insurance paid out but only £300, and the replacement kit cost me around £400, but I don't see it as losing £100, I see it as paying £100 to upgarde my camera to a newer model

as for not being first in... the early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese

[Chris Smail]

We were diving out of Pornichet with Alain 3P, about 18 of us. A lot of us came up more or less together and grabbed the rope. New crew had forgotten to tie the rope on!

Cue lots of excited French shouting as Alain boyed off the anchor line and brought the boat round to pick us up.

PS beware the orange juice on the way back, it has a kick to it.

PPS Why the hell are you lot diving without the camera on a lanyard!