Need some tips guys please

[shanook]

I had a black out once while diving, could be caused by a number of things, too difficult to diagnose and find the real reason. It never happened to me again although from that day on I never went alone. I was about 23 when it happened and I kept diving for quite some time after that.
That doesnt mean to discard it, a medical check up and follow up is a good practice.

[EmicMalta]

we dive nearly every day, and every day is different. Cannot set your limit. Even temperature, currents, diet, alcohol and lot of other things change your body status. Even suits can change your limit. I dive a lot with different divers and know their knowledge, not that i m a pro but can get an idea of whose my buddy at that time and his limits. Dont try to impersonate or forget that we are visitors cos a black out is not a nice thing.

[charlie]

be careful guys a blackout could happen in shallow waters it happened to me in 12 meters I was lucky that my buddy was watching   me

[fabrizioviper]

Maybe i didnt express my self very well Granitu, what i wanted to say is that a beginner can be easely impressed by hearing to what other divers say .

I agree that you have to work to increase your depth , but surely not in the case of mellieha , as a beginner he has a lot of things to learn rather than working on depths .
Hope i didnt offend you mellieha , but i m just passing over to you things people taught me some 30 years ago. 

[Granitu]

no you are right.... i tried to do it in the way to gain depth quickly but it is all in vain

spear-fishing is not free-diving, it is much difficult and energy consuming. learn the techniques well in shallow waters and then maybe start training for the deep.

applying the techniques well yields too good results in shallow waters. much of us i think got their best catches in shallow waters.

the positive aspect of going deep is that at times i noticed that the fish are less diffident in deeper waters. i noticed this during an encounter with an awrata some time go in 20m range. much simpler to get near than in shallow water where an awrata is highly diffident

could be that they don't expect us that deep

[SPNOTTA]

Spearfishing is about hunting...sometimes we forget that it is all about landing a fish...it is not limited to depth, apnea times, speargun range, mimetism, lung capacity, technology, special diets bla..bla..bla..etc.

Of course, each and every aforementioned factor ameliorates the chances of landing a fish. Like many others, in the past I have given too much weight on the technological/ physical/ mental etc. parts of spearfishing. I am no pro, in fact I am not ashamed to state I am as green as grass. What I am sure of... is from the day I concentrated on the "hunting" part and hunting skills acquired, landing fish was much easier. I believe hunting skills and knowledge are much more important.

I sustain Granitu's theory of shallow water fish being more hard to catch... in fact, in my eyes, landing an easily spooked shallow water fish is much more satisfying than placing a spear though a naive deep water fish relative.

[fabrizioviper]

AGREE 100%.

[mellieha]

No fabrizioviper do not worry I do not get offended easily.

I thank god that during my diving years I got the rescue diver course.  This helped me to get control of the situation and come up both safe and sound.

I took my buddy to the clinic and now is ok. 

Honestly he is a much better spearfisher than me but as you all well mentioned it is a combination of factors that influences a spearfisher.  What I know is that he had a heavy argument with his other half just before the dive.

Thanks for all your help guys.

I wanted to ask something else.  What do you use to measure depth, downtime, temperature etc.  I use my diving computer but it is a bit too big.

Thanks

Adrian

[baghira]

Hi adrian.

I am a very straight forwad person, and I hate to keep my mouth shut. I was just a short encounter that day between us, but i am really quick in judjing situations. Maybe I am a few percent wrong, but I would get the bigger percent right.

I got a nice picture of your personality, and hope that I was not wrong. Why am I saying this!!
Well it was since the few minutes we met, you was wearing the wrong kind of suit, wrong fins, wrong computer, and prescence of Civil protection on the slip, and then Hyperventilation. What did you mean by hyperventilating? It could have been a series of coincidences, since in the last post you have asked regarding the diving computer, but it could also be something that i do not like.

Hope you explain yourself better, and hope we are not giving out tips to practice as you wish.
I really wish that 'we' were wrong.

[mellieha]

As what regards suit and fins you are totally right as the others were still wet from the day before (similarly I dived before work) and kindly keep i mind that at 6.30 I was in the water and I cannot utilise wet cloths.  They make me my body temperature decrease exponentially and I store my equipment in a garage with minimal ventilation and heat sources.  On average a suit will take up to 4 days to be fully dry.

Kindly rest assured that I will never utilise aqualungs to go spearfishing.  As I said before there is no sport in that. 
I could go to much better spots, reduce all this hassle and visibility and make catches.  But no I am challenging myself in yet another discipline and most of all you can check with my too diaries.  My pc and my fishing diary(this was a christmas gift from Mr.  Fish upon which I write each and every time I go fishing, log on catches, place, time in water, min sea temperature and max depth.

As regards the civil protection I judged the situation that there was not need of their help.  As in fact was. I coined the term wrongly - even black out is a jargoned name.     

As what regards a diving computer I have asked already about an appropriate one but I will not buy one before I have a reasonable budget for that. It is better to use one that is not made for that job than to utilise none.
In a matter of two weeks I have overturned my budget to purchase the equipment.  And I have still more to go. 

When I will have better practise I invite you to come over with me and experience what I am telling you yourself.

[SPNOTTA]

A cheap, toy is the swatch funscuba, depth to 40 m, time in secs up to 2 mins. At Ebay they cost next to nothing...For my purpose it is perfect...if I ever had to really get serious about depths than I would rather go for a PROPER apnea watch.

[Buddhagrass]

A cheap, toy is the swatch funscuba, depth to 40 m, time in secs up to 2 mins. At Ebay they cost next to nothing...For my purpose it is perfect...if I ever had to really get serious about depths than I would rather go for a PROPER apnea watch.

In order to get serious about depths than you'll have to train hard, increase lung capacity, limit alcohol intake especially 1 to 2 nights before diving and all the bla bla bla you mentioned in one of your comments ..... then after all this you can get a PROPER apnea watch 

[baghira]

Okies mellieha
I just wished it was like that, cause I really had a nice conversation with you some time ago.
Be cautious and think a bit before every action you make underwater. The most important of all is relaxation. Forget everything, and calm, and concentrate on what you are doing. Take a photo of the bottom in your mind before you dive and then try to plan, but always stay alert of what might pass by.
one last thought. Buy the equipment if your want to improve. i can guarantee you that without the proper equipment you wont' make it. I never made use of a watch, although it is also useful. There are other things to buy before that.

[SPNOTTA]

A cheap, toy is the swatch funscuba, depth to 40 m, time in secs up to 2 mins. At Ebay they cost next to nothing...For my purpose it is perfect...if I ever had to really get serious about depths than I would rather go for a PROPER apnea watch.

In order to get serious about depths than you'll have to train hard, increase lung capacity, limit alcohol intake especially 1 to 2 nights before diving and all the bla bla bla you mentioned in one of your comments ..... then after all this you can get a PROPER apnea watch 

I prefer hunting fish rather than focusing on depth...I consume alcohol only about twice a year and I stay fit by walking it to work. A PROPER watch is not going to help me much with my current style of hunting.

[Granitu]

if you intend to monitor your apnea with a computer, specific ones are present. the most notable and maybe the best around is the nemo apneist but sure costs a lot lol