My son and I are new to diving

[ggthatcher]

Hi all,
My 18 year old son and I were certified this past summer. We did our dives at Mike's Beach and had a blast. He and I then did a trip to Maui where we did 6 dives. We are hooked.

For us, diving is a life impacting activity. My son is on the autism scale. He is VERY high functioning and while it did take some extra time/attention getting him certified, what it has done for his confidence and ability to focus had been a game changer. He deals with anxiety but is able to drop to depth and follow instructions to an amazing level. The details he can remember during a dive is pretty cool. Both of us are still learning breath control and noticed while in Hawaii that we were running out of air faster than the other divers. My son actually ran out on the way back on one of our dives and had to share with the DM for about 4 minutes. He made the switch exactly like he'd been trained to.

We are excited to be here.

[Linedog]

Sounds like you two are in for some fun times, welcome.

[Joshua Smith]

Welcome to the site! There is much to learn- as you probably already figured out, diving here is a lot different from diving in Hawaii. Your gas consumption will improve the more you dive, but be careful- running out of air here can be a life-threatening experience. Keep a close eye on that.

[Penopolypants]

Congrats to both of you on your certification! +1 what Josh said. The best thing to do to improve your skills and comfort levels is to dive as much as possible and always be alert. A good mentor helps too.

Welcome to the board!

[Goodt_godiving]

Welcome! That is so great to hear about your son and his diving helping him focus and with self esteem. What a cool thing you found for him! CONGRATS! To comment on the air consumption there are also local gas management seminars you can take which I HIGHLY recommend cause they are amazing. Also our AOW teacher Bob Bailey included that in his AOW class. My hubby and I use it and it really helps your comfort level with air and there is just no reason to ever run out when you know how to plan your dive and dive your plan and have good buddy skills! There are weekly dives in the area you are welcome to join. Go to the dive planning section and come check out some of the locals!

[olalladiver]

Very awesome and all the more so that it's already having such a positive impact on your lives. And I'm adding to the chorus about gas management... Very good that he dealt with it well from the sounds, but not a position you want to find yourself in, so glad to hear people weighing in to both train and monitor so that you make sure it's not an issue in the future.

Hope to see you in the water...