Greetings from
My friend Lewis retired to Caye Caulker, Belize. He decided on sidemount for his new gear to use here and I came down and took the course with him. He bought a Nomad LX with the ring bungee system. It is a pretty cool rig.
If you need it for trim, they make a weight pouch for the back. We didn't find it necessary with steel tanks.
He also bought a pair of travel bands.
We changed out the bolt snaps to a bigger size. It makes it much easier to attach the cylenders on the boat. In the water its a breeze but it can be challenging aboard a dive boat. But we were trained to get in to the water fully dressed in open ocean off a boat and so that is how we rolled. I got out fully dressed of the big boat but Lewis would unclip his tanks and pass them up. Steel LP85s are not overly light, especially on a swaying platform.
He also got a pair of Dive Right DIN regs, spgs, and a Perdix AI with transmitters for both first stages.
I used an earlier generation Nomad for my training. Belize Diving Services provided my harness, bands, regs. I brought my diveskin, mask/fins/boots/computer, and I used my 7' long hose and S600 second stage.
My tanks ready to go
I have been using nitrox for 12 years but Lewis hadn't received the cert yet so he took the TDI Nitrox course. He also took the Advanced Nitrox course but we didn't do those checkout dives this time.
We had played with his gear in a pool in Texas when he bought it, and he got a chance to dive off the pier before I arrived on the island.
Ilya was our instructor. He did a great job and I highly recommend him. He is the first native Belizian to get full cave certified. Very easy to talk to and quite a patient, upbeat individual.
The first day we went over paperwork, he demonstrated the gear and I fitted myself to the rental Nomad. We then took the small boat to the edge of the reef and did some skills. It was quite difficult in the intense swell.
Honestly, Lewis and I really performed poorly that first afternoon. I knew I needed coaching with my frog kick technique, but I was truly humbled by my deficiencies in keeping neutral. My trim was very leg heavy and Lewis swallowed a little salt water during a gas switch exercise. Ilya told us we had a lot to improve on before he would sign off on this cert, and we told him that we were going to keep practicing and do as many dives as we needed to get this right. We both intend to become safe, competent tech divers and we didn't want so skimp on the fundamentals, as they can get you killed.
We went home the first night and studied videos and brainstormed on what and how we could improve.
What a difference a day makes! We reconfigured some of our straps the morning of the checkout dives and headed off to Turneffe Atoll.
Here is Lewis making sure we are getting 33%
The ride out was a little rough with 5-7 foot seas but we made it just fine to the protected waters of the atoll and did our first dive to 85 feet for 50 mins. We went over the skills we did the day before and we did so much better. I found that lowering my bottom cam band and bolt snap and attaching to my waist belt d rings moved the tanks forward enough that I was in near perfect trim. Buoyancy control for both of us was not a problem either.
After we surfaced we joined the rest of the crew and divers to a Curry Chicken, rice, macoroni salad, and plantain lunch, paired with an ice cold Fresca.
We planned out our second dive of 55 mins and worked on more skills and just enjoyed the last half of the dive. Saw several sharks and a pair of Spotted Rays that were magnificant.
Upon surfacing Ilya shook our hands and we completed the class, save for the debrief back at the shop.
I really enjoyed this class and the experience of doing it with such a good friend. We had a ball and it was really neat to be challenged and humbled during this course.
I enjoyed the gas switches and valve drills the most.
To me sidemount is just another tool in the toolbox. My favorite diving is wreck and I plan on doing Advanced Nitrox and Deco in addition to Advanced Wreck next and I feel that given my size I will be better suited with doubles. I expressed to Ilya that I wanted to really focus on Intro to Tech concepts in this class and he did a great job incorporating that.
Now I have to go back to Fort Worth and keep practicing my finning moves until I have it down 100%
I'll add video and more pics when I get them.
Goodnight friends, I have to go down to the beach one more time before I return to the rat race!