I panicked numerous times

[TSandM]

Cathy, you might benefit from watching this (warning: long) video about the diver's ear. There's a lot of good information there.

Many people come out of OW class unsure of how best to clear their ears. Pre-pressurizing before descent can be useful, and it's also important to clear very frequently while descending, because past a certain point, it can be difficult to impossible to force air into the middle ear. New divers get so task loaded on descent, with managing their BC and monitoring their depth, and forget to equalize.

Feeling creepy in very low viz is a pretty normal occurrence. It gets better with time and experience, and having a good light can help a lot.

 

[promocop]

You really need a warm water clear viz dive somewhere in the Carib. I get freaked out in bad viz/cold water and I have thousand of dives. Stay with it.

 

[DandyDon]

Newbie here,

Just recently I went on a fun dive and had a very difficult time. This was the first dive without an instructor and my buddy is very new also. The dive site was a pond which was very murky and I could only see a foot or 2 in front of me. The depth was probably not even 40 feet, but each time I descended I panicked. I forced myself to stay down for a few minutes but was very uncomfortable (could not clear my ears, could not see, breathing very hard). I probably ascended too quickly a few times.

This really bothered me. Not only that I could not work through it but also that it happened at all.

I am trying to figure out how to equalize my ears better bc that is something that makes the descent uncomfortable, as for getting back in the water, there is another dive coming up the end of the month that I should attend. I think getting back in the water soon is important however, I was freaked out!

All suggestions are welcome.
Thanks in advance.

I have to wonder why you were in such a place. Even if I were to guess that your profile is out of date, that "Logged Dives: None - Not Certified" is no longer applicable and that you are now certified - and I do hope that's true at least, why dive a no-viz pond? If you and your bud can't even see each other, or your equipment, or your spg, or water hazards, etc. it's too dangerous for a newbie.

One thing to do is to not put yourself into situations where you are not comfortable.

Also, low visibility situations do not sound like much fun. Unless there is some over riding purpose to the dive, why do them?

I would think that such a low visibility situation is beyond the training of an inexperienced diver. You really should not put yourself into that situation.

Ok, glad I agree with someone here.

For many divers, that means stop diving. The key is to expand the comfort level.

Fine advice that you usually give and fine Inst that I am certain that you are, his post was more appropriate for a paper-card newbie.

Cathy, you might benefit from watching this (warning: long) video about the diver's ear. There's a lot of good information there.

Yeah it's 45 minutes long and every dive student should be informed of it. I never had an ear clearing problem but so many do and it's a great vid.

I am happy that this is no a real Accident thread, but dive your training, not some cow pond.

You really need a warm water clear viz dive somewhere in the Carib. I get freaked out in bad viz/cold water and I have thousand of dives. Stay with it.

Good idea. See www.sidestep.com but what is this? "Logged Dives: 200 - 499"

 

[cathyt]

In all fairness to the dive shop and my instructors, I did not experience any kind of panic during my training. The dive shop is very supportive and my instructors were/are fantastic.

I appreciate all the suggestions and will do another dive at Gilboa at the end of this month. That is were I was certified. I will take it slow and steady bc I very much want to succeed at this.

Thanks again.

 

[Walter]

In all fairness to the dive shop and my instructors, I did not experience any kind of panic during my training.

People rarely do while taking the class.

my instructors were/are fantastic.

Perhaps they are, but how do you know? What did they do that leads you to this conclusion?

 

[DandyDon]

That is were I was certified.

Ok, you are certified - gooooood. Maybe change that info on your profile.

And stay out of farm ponds. Ewwwww

 

[*dave*]

..........my instructors were/are fantastic.

I'll have to echo Walter's question: How do you know? I once assisted a local instructor on a regular basis who was the absolute worst I have seen in providing solid fundamental training. His students had no buoyancy control, no concept of proper weighting, horrible buddy skills and had no clue of how to improve. They all said the same thing: "He's a fantastic instructor".

In reality, he was the best instructor they'd ever seen, but he was also the only instructor they'd ever seen.

 

[waynne fowler]

Newbie here,

Just recently I went on a fun dive and had a very difficult time. .....first dive without an instructor and my buddy is very new also........ was very murky and I could only see a foot or 2 in front of me....... but each time I descended I panicked. I forced myself to stay down for a few minutes but was very uncomfortable (could not clear my ears, could not see, breathing very hard).

This really bothered me. Not only that I could not work through it but also that it happened at all.

I am trying to figure out how to equalize my ears better bc that is something that makes the descent uncomfortable, as for getting back in the water,........ I think getting back in the water soon is important however, I was freaked out!

All suggestions are welcome.
Thanks in advance.

awww that sucks Cathy. Don't worry about it too much that's what we call growing pains. You didn't panic at all Cath, you were just rightly uncomfortable. And believe it or not I'd bet a tank o trox that part of your feeling uncomfortable was brought on not by the surroundings but by anxiety about not being able to clear, being a bit ticked at yourself cuz you feel it should
not have 'happened at all'. And then top it off with the idea you probably felt like your newbie buddy could be of little assistance if something went wrong (that's a WAG)
Give yourself a bit of a break and allow Cathy to be human. She shouldn't be underwater in the first place that's why you're designed for terra firma girl!.

If you wanna learn something about equalizing check out this website Divingdoc.com or search out Dr. Edmond Kay he's got an online seminar thats greatly informative.
Take your decent more slowly and maybe buddy up with someone who's a bit more skilled for a while. If buddies are hard to come by go take another class, something maybe not to skill oriented but that will allow you to work on basics like buoyancy and such... a fish ID class can be a lot of fun and isn't too skill oriented but will put you with an instructor.

Good luck Cathy... sounds to me like you got a good head on your shoulders, just don't expect too much from yourself and the most important thing is that you take a detached pragmatic approach to evaluating your own performance. It's a great thing to want to get better an better however don't hold grudges against yourself as they grow into hurdles that become harder and harder to get over.
In diving the tortoise really does win the race, slow and easy will always win underwater.
Welcome to our family

 

[waynne fowler]

Low and no viz diving ROCKS Cath. I'd rather dive with 10 foot of viz than 100 any day... all day... get good at navigation girl! It'll be hugely comforting.

What a cool turn the tread took, from "hey can i get some advice" to "How could you even know your instructors aren't retarded".. too flippin funny.

 

[Steve50]

Cathy, in those conditions it will be very helpful if you can descend with some visual reference such as a line or a wall to give you clues to help control your descent rate, so you don't tend to get behind on your clearing. If you have the opportunity to start shallow and descend along a gently sloping bottom that you can keep in view, better yet.