When did you feel comfortable diving?
- Thread starter freewillie
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Took me maybe about 10-15 dives. Things began to become habit in a good way. Breathing is still improving due to the lack of smoking, I quit cold turkey when I started classes. 
- Messages
- 93,372
- Reaction score
- 91,593
- Location
- On the Fun Side of Trump's Wall
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
How do you know your buddies weren't lying
Well, when my buddies said "you kick up too much silt", I thought to look behind me on the next dive, and they were right ... and when they said they could see the sides of my tank cavitating as I breathed, I noticed they all had a half-tank more than me at the end of the dive. Still ... they were patient enough to put up with me ... and I've been paying it forward ever since ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
I recall feeling perfectly comfortable as early as the pool sessions. It was (and is) a lot easier for me than some people. We all have things that we are better at than others, be it through natural ability or practice. For me scuba is that thing, unlike racing motorcycles. Don't ask how many times I landed on my head when I ran out of talent.
I have always been comfortable diving for what I was trained for. My first dive after OW certification was solo and almost all have been besides in classes and on dive boats. I guess I just am comfortable knowing where to draw the line and don't go past my training. I have to say that many of my early dives were doing things like practicing buoyancy religiously along with other skills so I wasn't doing anything too new. I don't suggest that for other divers but it felt natural for me.
tplyons
Contributor
I've been diving with the same buddy since our first pool session. We know each others limits and don't push them.
Because of this, I was comfortable on dive one, since I already had a good understanding and a buddy who was also hyper-aware of his limitations as well as mine.
I was more comfortable on my first free reign dive with him than I am with insta-buddies now that I am AOW certified going on rescue.
Because of this, I was comfortable on dive one, since I already had a good understanding and a buddy who was also hyper-aware of his limitations as well as mine.
I was more comfortable on my first free reign dive with him than I am with insta-buddies now that I am AOW certified going on rescue.
As you can tell it is highly dependent. Being out of sight of land with a long swim back and with strangers on dive one is much more stressful then stepping off a boat into 30 ft of crystal clear water on a reef. Part of the comfort is your skill level and part of it is establishing a level of communication with your dive buddy. You should talk about things like speed of swim, what to do if separated, how close you are going to stay to each other, frequency of buddy checks, etc., etc., before stepping into the water.
My first non-instructed dive was my tenth. I met up with a lady from our dive shop, who had been kind enough to answer my call for dive buddies. I was very nervous, and she was exquisitely patient with me, and did not give me any grief about my nonexistent buoyancy control in shallow water (I corked from about ten feet on both dives). The best part of the day was sitting in the sun afterwards and just talking for a couple of hours -- my first real introduction into the fact that a good part of the fun of diving is the socializing that goes with it.
I remember very clearly that, for the first year or so (or maybe longer), when I would drive to the dive site, I would feel somewhat tense and apprehensive. Although that has gone away, it can come back if the conditions are challenging or different. I think that's not only normal, but desirable. Getting too comfortable with diving would open the door to complacency very quickly.
I remember very clearly that, for the first year or so (or maybe longer), when I would drive to the dive site, I would feel somewhat tense and apprehensive. Although that has gone away, it can come back if the conditions are challenging or different. I think that's not only normal, but desirable. Getting too comfortable with diving would open the door to complacency very quickly.
- Messages
- 472
- Reaction score
- 108
- # of dives
- 200 - 499
I think there are all different types of "comfort". While I have a fair amount of dives, there is still occasional apprehension - especially when faced with a new situation. What comes in to play is experience and knowing that I've been trained well and, providing I keep my wits about me, will do just fine. There is also the ability to say "no" if something doesn't feel right. That's been something that's only come along with diving more and more. It just takes time and diving to get to that point.
I went from completing my cert dives in the cold dark lakes of the north east in May to my first dives in the Bahamas the following month. Good God it was "easy" in that warm clear water.......
Still to this day, droping in the local waters always has a small pit in my stomach.....
Still to this day, droping in the local waters always has a small pit in my stomach.....
Similar threads
