When did you feel comfortable diving?

[freewillie]

I was comfortable in the water from the start, just had some of the newbie issues trying to dial in my buoyancy. I did AOW at about 15 dives and I really felt even more comfortable. Just a few dives after AOW I was with the same dive club. At the end of the dive someone made the "home" sign. I knew exactly where home was and had tracked navigation on the whole dive.

Ironically I ran into my dive instructor on my 50th dive. It was one of those great condition days and lots of divers were out. I was with my daughter and nephew. We got back to our cars about the same time. He commented, "isn't it nice to have progressed diving where you can now chaperone other divers?". I hadn't really thought about it like that. I looked at my dive buddies and they are both newbies still. Not doing trust me dives but both still look to me as the lead diver. At that point I did feel like a "real" diver.

 

[tphelps]

I wasn't too freaked out on my first dive without my instructor. I say I felt decent around 15 dives. But it wasnt until at least 50 when I got really comfortable. Every 50 or so just adds another level of comfort. I remember feeling really great at 100. Moral of the story, stay within the scope of your training and don't feel embarrassed about saying you're a new diver and would like to be paired up with someone more experienced on the boat!

 

[MrChen]

I haven't felt nervous yet. Like you, I grew up in a pool, swam competitively, and felt at home with my first breath under water.

1. My first dive was flawless. My first boat dive, I was so sea sick in the 4-6 ft seas, I didn't have time to feel nervous and was VERY happy to get off the boat and descend under the surf.

As I think about it now while outside the water, I try to imagine in my mind whether I would panic at 80 ft... I know that within a pool or at 25 ft that I can get to the surface in seconds, so there's no real threat of panic. But how would I react at 80 or even 60? I don't know yet and I guess it would depend on the emergency. I keep running an emergency scenario through my mind at depth and I keep telling myself in my mind that I would need to remain calm and act like I would at a shallower depth. I hope that if I keep doing these mental exercises that when the day comes, I'll be cool as a cat.

2. Have yet to feel uncomfortable. My dive buddy is as new as I am and he's not as comfortable as I am, so I think that worries me at times. I try to mentally prepare myself for what to do when he experiences an emergency and is sure to panic.

3. Whatever "real" diver means. I'm diving and loving it! I only have a dozen dives, but my count will build up over time.

I also take this sport very seriously by being very safety conscience to avoid any issues. My dive buddy doesn't seem to take it as seriously (my interpretation) and that's what worries me the most.

 

[TMHeimer]

MrChen, your buddy is a big reason why many say to do the rescue course as soon as it is at all practical.

 

[Frosty]

I was bought up in and around water so the progression from swimming to surface /duck dive snorkling to I guess nowadays whats called freediving to scuba was kinda a natural progression. I don't recall ever feeling Uncomfortable diving.

 

[SandPhantom]

I was comfortable right out of OW. Nervous my first ocean dive which was a mess due to being sea sick. Once I had 10 or so dives and figured out relaxing and taking normal breathes, it became easier. Lining out my buoyancy even added to my comfort. I always respect diving and although I have become comfortable and relaxed, I dont take for granted the rules and always watch complacency.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Regarding first dive after OW, it was off NJ in 40-something degree water with maybe 10’ of viz, and it felt great being able to just tool around underwater looking at stuff. And since I’d gotten my own single layer 7mm wetsuit by then, I didn’t even feel like I was wearing whale blubber (OW was at Dutch in 14mm of farmer john and a ton of lead stuffed into my Stiletto’s pockets).

Comfort wise, I've always felt relaxed and in control while diving, from OW pool sessions on forward to deep air solo technical wreck penetrations with long multi-gas decos. Partly, I think it's 30+ years of swimming, water polo, and other water sports with frequent and not completely controllable submersion, like whitewater kayaking. Partly, I think it's just personal mindset. I'm rabidly self sufficient, and historically have been able to maintain self-control and awareness despite task-loading during emergencies. 'Stop. Breathe. Think. Breathe. Act.' has come naturally to me...so far. I'm aware that I'm capable of panic and have experienced it (though not for years and never on a dive) but I also feel like I have a good idea of where that threshold is and when it's approaching, allowing some mental 'pushing off' of going over the edge.

I have definitely had a few moments where I recognized that I was in the and would likely get injured while getting out of the water. All involved shore exits in Hawaii, and the worst couple have been night shore exits with unexpectedly changed surf conditions. These were not fun, but it happens. If things had really looked life-threateningly bad, I like to think I would have said screw it and swum the extra mile or two along shore to a better exit. And coastlines are big enough places that there's always a better exit. Somewhere, usually far away.

I dunno about the real diver part. I felt pretty cool in my own gear kicking around Dutch during OW, keeping my hands folded at my waist and thinking I was staying pretty flat in the water without silting the place up. I may have spent more time reading SB than I spent reading the PADI OW manual Soon after I learned about hogarthian rigs and some DIR techniques, and then I felt even better learning to frog and back kick in jets and a minimalist BP&W. Planning and executing my first overhead dives made me feel like I was really diving rather than just going under with the option to return to the surface any time I chose. But every time, the more demanding the dive, the more it revealed areas in which I could improve trim, propulsion, breathing control, gear choice/rigging, etc. Maybe I’ll feel like a real diver once I’ve checked off all my bucket list wreck penetrations… but I know there will still be stuff I need to improve even then.

 

[Lorenzoid]

As I think I recall saying in a similar thread, I WAS comfortable with diving ... until I started reading SB and learning how everything can kill me. I think I'm less comfortable now than I had been! Ignorance is bliss.

 

[DCBC]

1. What was your first dive like?
2. How many dives did it take to get comfortable?
3. When did you feel like a "real" diver?

1. My OW was done in Sherkston Quarry (an Ontario rock quarry). Apparently they hit water and had to evacuate quickly. So I got to explore a car, an ore car and look at railway tracks; a moment of history frozen in time. It was 1965 and I was 12 years old. I had saved up my money and purchased a custom wet suit (neoprene both sides) for $65 (with hood boots and mitts). I needed powder for the suit, so I used baby powder (something that I didn't live down for a couple of years).

2. Comfort is something that's difficult to describe. I felt comfortable on my first dive. I gained some shallow water experience and then started to push the limits of my safety envelope. As I did, the envelope increased. I suppose that even when stretching this envelope, I felt comfortable because this was attempted slowly over time. Something that is sometimes lost to this generation...

3. Great question! I can't say how many times that I've 'felt like a real diver," only to realize that I actually wasn't, but am now... Some of these times occurred when I: dove the Arabia (a shipwreck in Georgian Bay, 120'); did my first ocean dive; assisted in mapping some of the Blue Holes of Andros; became a Navy Diver; dove the Andria Doria (on air); did my first saturation dive; or when we set the record for the deepest sat dive in the Gulf of Mexico. I continue to learn.

As I've gotten older, I feel that I'm a "real diver" every time a dive is completed without incident. Now I get more satisfaction from seeing the excitement grow in the eyes of my students. The spark sometimes turns into a flame, that sometimes grows larger as their diving envelope increases. It begins again...

 

[MrChen]

MrChen, your buddy is a big reason why many say to do the rescue course as soon as it is at all practical.

I plan on it. I have my AOW in 3 weeks (May 24-26). I'm in the middle of buying a house and no idea when it will close, but once that's all settled, I'll start shopping around for rescue courses.