Just Certified: What an experience!

[H2odiving]

I just completed my last 3 dives for my OW certification this weekend. They were fresh water dives in a cold murky lake. I have been told that the visibility in this lake is sometimes 20 feet, but this weekend it was only 5 feet and even less at times. The very last dive was one I had been dreading because I hate having to take my mask off underwater and put it back on. Anyway, we entered from the shore and dived down to a platform at 25'. I noticed right away that the visibility was worse than the last 3 dives. Our instructor had to go with us as we did the navigation skill because we would have probably all gotten lost. At the end he motioned us to follow him out to go to another platform. It was so murky though he had to hold my hand and also the hand of my son who is getting certified as well. So, here we go through the murk holding hands. I can't see a thing except the instructor right beside me. We keep swimming and swimming and I start thinking this is taking a long time. I notice my ears are starting to hurt from pressure and my mask is squeezing my face. I think Oh my gosh we are getting deeper!. The next thing I know the instructor stops, he pulls our hands together because he cannot risk letting go for even a minute. He then looks at what I think was his compass. Then we start swimming again. Again I realize we are getting deeper. Finally we stop he looks again at his compass and then hallelujah he motions to start going up. We start swimming up and I notice I can't see anything below me, anything around me or anything above me. All of a sudden I get this very disorienting feeling that we are not really moving but just swimming in place at the bottom. I was already very nervous, but now I was getting close to panicking. I had to keep telling myself, he knows what he is doing, he knows what he is doing, everything will be fine. What seemed to take forever, I finally saw sunlight and knew we were surfacing. The feeling I had when we actually broke the surface was one of euphoria. I felt like laughing and crying all at once. My instructor just looked at us and said, we got a little deep. I looked at where the platform was which was where we were suppose to be and it was about 15 yards to our left. It hit me that he had been lost so just surfaced when he didn't think we could find the platform. Next he said "OK, lets get back down and go to the platform and swim out. I looked at him and said "no way". He said "fine, we will go back to shore on the surface". I just put my snorkel in my mouth and swam back to shore as fast as my little fins would carry me.

I am now certified but now I am about half afraid to dive anymore. I am going to the Bahamas in a couple of weeks and am going to do a dive with my son along with a master diver that will specifically be hanging out with us. I am hoping that the beautiful clear water will help me to enjoy diving and build up my confidence a bit. Time will tell.

 

[TSandM]

H2odiving, if you have some time to kill, read at least part of the journal I kept of my OW class -- the link is in my signature line. I did my OW dives in ice cold water in about five feet of viz, and I was disoriented and extremely apprehensive throughout. The only reason I maintained was because my instructor gave me his light to hold, and it was attached to him by a lanyard. Losing sight of the bottom was incredibly unpleasant, because I had no idea where I was in the water or in space. So I think I kind of know what you're talking about.

And I have two things to say about it: One is that tropical diving will be a totally different experience. The water's warm and clear and full of things to look at, and it's much more the "dive magazine" experience, and amazingly easy once you've survived the kind of diving you did.

The other is that viz isn't always that bad, and the water's not always that cold, and the more you dive, the better you get at it, and the better you are at it, the more fun it is. "Getting back on the horse" pays off in spades, because diving's kind of like skiing . . . Anybody can do it, but it takes some work and practice to get to where it's graceful and effortless and amazing. But it's worth the work.

 

[grumpymedic]

You will absolutely love diving in the Bahama's. Warm crystal clear water..what's not to like. Just take it easy and build your confidence level up. Congratulations of getting certified..it's a blast!

 

[spectrum]

H2odiving,

Congratulations to you and your son.

I have to ask... What happened to the dreaded mask skill?

Next time you feel lost in a murky water column remember to look at your depth gauge.

I assume you did equalize your ears and mask as soon as you felt the depth mounting.

A friend that became a diver told me that dive training is nothing like diving and he was right. Kudos for taking those first dives in your more challenging home waters. As a parent child (assumed) buddy team being with a DM and staying conservative are the way to go. Have a great time!

I do hope that you will both follow through and be active local divers. That is where you will build skill and become better and safer divers. Conditions are probably better at other times or places. Also with a little seasoning limited visibility can make for enjoyable dives too.

Please take a moment to add some meat to your profile when you can. It really helps other provide helpful advice.

Congratulations again and dive safe.

Pete

 

[rawls]

H2odiving

Congratulations on your certification. We took students to the place we do openwater training this weekend. Unfortunately the visibility isn't always optimal. This weekend it was very similar to yours...3 ft... In those conditions I always have a DM with me. My students did very well and it seems that you did too. Don't get discouraged with diving. You will probably have a much different outlook after your Bahama's trip. And yes...Your confidence will build. Just think what you accomplished on those dives and give yourself a great big pat on the back...Well done!

 

[H2odiving]

Thanks for the replies and encouragement.

TSandM I loved reading your diving journal! I have gone through almost everything you described in the OW class including the fear of the giant step (I am afraid of hitting my back against the pool which will make my air tank explode turning me into a human canon ball). I also am having lots of issues with buoyancy. On my first open water dive swimming back to shore I popped to the surface like a cork. I tried everything to stop it with no avail. As soon as I surfaced, I dived back down again and was so proud when I found myself right back in line with the other divers. I kept thinking that perhaps no one noticed my untimely disappearance. Unfortunately when I came back down I got tangled up in some ropes that they use for navigation and started kicking around. The next thing I know I am at the top again. This time everyone else is up but I am about 20 feet away from where they are and I hear someone yell; "There she is". I guess the instructor noticed I had disappeared twice but since I came up in a different spot from the rest he had kind of lost me. I am still having problems as my instructor almost had to drag me around when I did the navigation skills. He says the problem is that I am overweighted, but when I don't have the weight I won't go down. On one dive my son who was very upset when I was still at the top of the ascent rope while everyone else had gone down, started to pull on my legs and then when that didn't work started to push my head down. When I got my head above water I started screaming at him to stop pushing my head down as that was pushing my regulator out of my mouth. He just stared at me like a little turtle peering above the water and said, "we got to get down mom". I finally was able to force myself down using the rope but felt like at any moment I would go soring back up while getting rope burns trying to stop the ascent. I don't know about you, but I just don't feel like that the instructors put enough time and energy in trying to help with this problem. Maybe they just don't know exactly what to do about it. Anyway, thanks for sharing. I feel better knowing that there are other people out there who are having similar problems but are still diving and getting better at it.

 

[stairman]

Class is always the hardest part of diving.Im affraid alot of instructors kinda skim over issues such as buancy control figuring youll get the hang of it sooner or later.Diving with another experienced diver for a while is a good idea.Too many people get certified and go out and do dives that may go well but if a problem happens there not experienced at it could be bad.Low vis can add stress when all else is well.Dont give up,read all you can.Theres alot of good info on here.Randy...

 

[TSandM]

Oh, H2odiving, I have to laugh, because you're evolving rapidly right through all my experiences

I did my 20th dive with NWGratefulDiver, and at that point in my career, I still couldn't descend easily. I was overweighted, and started every dive by falling onto my back on the bottom, and then rolling over and going diving. Bob taught me how to descend by showing me that I was doing two things very wrong. I was kicking furiously at the same time I was trying to go down (defeating the purpose) AND I had my breathing wrong. If you deflate your BC and exhale at the same time, by the time your head goes underwater, you have to inhale, which stops your descent. What works much better is to grab the inflator hose, start deflating, and INHALE -- As your face goes into the water, sharply EXHALE and your descent will continue.

He had me bend my knees a little and cross my ankles, which did two things. I couldn't kick myself back up that way, and the resistance of the fins behind me kept me from rotating onto my back.

BTW, I agree totally with you that instructors don't spend enough time on this stuff. When I got my OW card, I had NEVER successfully done a descent without holding onto my instructor's BC. I got a C card, anyway. Thank God for Bob.

 

[Sas]

H2odiving,

yea you sound like me when I did my OW certification, especially the confined water bit. I struggled a fair bit but kept on going even though the temptation was to quit. I'd done a resort dive before and it was absolutely amazing to see all the marine life so I kept reminding myself of that. Mask clears were my big issue and I panicked on one of my first OW dives when I had to do one of them... so was pretty scared to get back in the water after that.

I managed to get everything done though and get my OW and then went on a couple of DM lead dives, which really got my confidence up. Anyway, three months later I am now comfortable in the water and am doing my deep course dives in two weeks So if I can get to that point I am sure anybody can

Congrats on your OW cert, sounds like you had a tough time with diving conditions but you still made it through. I am sure the Bahamas will be a lot more fun and easy.

 

[fisheater]

Oh, H2odiving, I have to laugh, because you're evolving rapidly right through all my experiences

I did my 20th dive with NWGratefulDiver, and at that point in my career, I still couldn't descend easily. I was overweighted, and started every dive by falling onto my back on the bottom, and then rolling over and going diving. Bob taught me how to descend by showing me that I was doing two things very wrong. I was kicking furiously at the same time I was trying to go down (defeating the purpose) AND I had my breathing wrong. If you deflate your BC and exhale at the same time, by the time your head goes underwater, you have to inhale, which stops your descent. What works much better is to grab the inflator hose, start deflating, and INHALE -- As your face goes into the water, sharply EXHALE and your descent will continue.

He had me bend my knees a little and cross my ankles, which did two things. I couldn't kick myself back up that way, and the resistance of the fins behind me kept me from rotating onto my back.

BTW, I agree totally with you that instructors don't spend enough time on this stuff. When I got my OW card, I had NEVER successfully done a descent without holding onto my instructor's BC. I got a C card, anyway. Thank God for Bob.

TSandM's advice is wonderful.

I took it and have improved my descents immeasureably. No more turtle. No more struggling. A smooth desent has dramatically lowered my pre-dive and start-of-dive anxiety.

I was a struggling newly-certified at the end of January. However, by last night (at 11:30 p.m.!), I've now earned AOW, Boat, Deep, Peak Perf. Buoyancy, UW Nav. and Night certs.

Thanks again TSandM and, by attribution, NWGratefulDiver.