Panicked on first deep dive

[PhatD1ver]

I know you've moved on, but i thought I'd share my deep dive that was only a few days before yours, I was in Thailand, we did all the training prep and learning the day before... my dive was to 30 meters... we arrived at the site Hin Muang (a pinnacle rock in the Andaman sea) prepped and everyone else got off the boat... there was a lot of action going on with a couple boats in the same area that had dumped almost 60 Japanese tourist divers and snorkelers off... as it turns out, to see a whale shark... so as we began our descent, it was interrupted for me to take some pictures of the whale shark while we hovered for a minute or two at 10m... after that, we descended down to 30m but all the hovering had resulted in us actually drifting over he little saddle in the pinnacle... my instructor didn't notice and so once we got to depth, played the knot game, we headed out to look at a wall around the corner (or so we thought)... what we ended up doing was swimming directly out into the deep blue for 3 long minutes as we slowly climbed up to 20m.. as we swam, I kept looking back and could see tank reflections behind us, but couldn't catch him, as it turns out, he looked at his compass and we check gauges... then decided all we could do since I only had about 80bar left was to surface and find the dive boat... long story short, we surface, changed tanks, and then went back down and explored the reef... and I came face to face with that whale shark, LITERALLY.

I go to all this trouble to tell the story because all my life my biggest fear is OPEN WATER (meaning no sign of a land form above or below, including the bottom, I mean, I'd rather find the bottom at 1000m than not see it at all... ).. so following my instructor into the blue was largely a progression I'd made from having panic attacks at 6m when I first did a DSD dive in the Philippines... and then again six months ago in Thailand I redid DSD and we dove 4 times that day, on dive three, I'm hovering at about 7m and the instructor is showing me a small swim thru entry, and I then seriously panicked... and started having heart palpitations (I can control the with of all things, a valsalva) and I was making a break for the surface when he grabbed and pulled on my fin... it stopped me long enough that he could get eye contact and in his very calm way use his hands to show me to BREATHE and practice throwing away my air and recovering it.

Weird, but now when I get a little panicked and the ticker wants to start skipping, that's how I calm myself... I close my eyes just a minute, I picture that calm face demonstrating the regulator recovery, and suddenly, the panic is gone...

Sorry for droning on, I'm jealous of your trip, but so proud of your progress... all I can say is that I love 80-100 feet, and I'm looking forward to getting more time that deep and a little deeper so I can visit Truk Lagoon in the future.

 

[Corlett]

Dive more eyes open without a mask (eg in a pool, in waist deep water, ...) to become familiar with water in the eyes. It feels different and everything becomes blurry. It is very unpleasant and annoying if water enters ones nose - don't look up or you will have a nose wash And no, do not inhale through your nose...

Also, remove mask, put it on, and empty it repeatedly. Emptying a mask should be so familiar that it is boring. When emptying a mask or diving without one becomes routine, you become a lot less scared.

Diving in bad visibility can be frightening. If that happens, then remind yourself of the fact that the surface is above you and that the water is just water. Dive slowly and carefully watch where you are going.

Dive deeper only when that feels intersting and fun. Beeing scared means that you are more likely to panic would you encounter some challenges during the dive. If in fear - don't continue.

To abort the dive early was correct, and an admirable decision. Retain that skill.

I have the same problem, good simple advise... I will use this info..