Lela
New
Hi Folks,
I'm new to ScubaBoard and new to diving. Actually the reason I joined scubaboard is because I'm hoping to benefit from all of the experienced divers on here (shameless ego-stroking attempt to get you to reply
). I'm looking for advice on how not to psych yourself out over the open water certification dives. During my pool dives I've had the normal nerves and have been doing ok with them and with learning the technical skills, until my final pool dive (foreshadowing...). On that dive I was doing my first shared breathing ascent and my partner purged the regulator when she put it in my mouth, so I inhaled water and started to have a coughing, choking fit. Later I decided to try mask removal and replacement on my own and just couldn't get it. I kept feeling like I was inhaling water.
I went on-line to see some tutorials and recommendations for doing the mask removal and then went back for additional pool time this week and just practiced mask removal, replacement and clearing with a friend of mine and it went pretty well once I'd managed to get my buoyancy under control so I was vertical and not fighting to remain that way, but I was only in shallow water and could stand up if I needed to.
Until this, I was feeling like I was ready for my open water test dives (a little stressed, but nothing different than the pool dives) but now I'm pretty stressed about doing this in deeper, open water. I know the longer I put it off, the harder it will be. I'm going to try to get to a lake this weekend and just be in shallow water with my gear on so that the environment is somewhat familiar, and if I can I'll also continue to practice my skills. Then I plan to get my first dive set up for next weekend, but in the meantime, it would be great if anyone that has experience could let me know a little about what to expect. I think my instructor forgot to show us how to do mask removal and replacement, because in class we only did flooding/clearing, so I'm also a little worried about what else I might have missed that I am going to need to do.
Any recommendations/words of encouragement would be really welcome. I tend to overthink/pre-complicate things, so my big fear is that I'm going to hurt myself if I try to shoot to the surface from 20 feet because something goes wrong and I can't breathe or I suck water and I panic and forget to exhale on my way up. Basically the typical newbie fears probably.
Thanks,
Lela
I'm new to ScubaBoard and new to diving. Actually the reason I joined scubaboard is because I'm hoping to benefit from all of the experienced divers on here (shameless ego-stroking attempt to get you to reply
). I'm looking for advice on how not to psych yourself out over the open water certification dives. During my pool dives I've had the normal nerves and have been doing ok with them and with learning the technical skills, until my final pool dive (foreshadowing...). On that dive I was doing my first shared breathing ascent and my partner purged the regulator when she put it in my mouth, so I inhaled water and started to have a coughing, choking fit. Later I decided to try mask removal and replacement on my own and just couldn't get it. I kept feeling like I was inhaling water.I went on-line to see some tutorials and recommendations for doing the mask removal and then went back for additional pool time this week and just practiced mask removal, replacement and clearing with a friend of mine and it went pretty well once I'd managed to get my buoyancy under control so I was vertical and not fighting to remain that way, but I was only in shallow water and could stand up if I needed to.
Until this, I was feeling like I was ready for my open water test dives (a little stressed, but nothing different than the pool dives) but now I'm pretty stressed about doing this in deeper, open water. I know the longer I put it off, the harder it will be. I'm going to try to get to a lake this weekend and just be in shallow water with my gear on so that the environment is somewhat familiar, and if I can I'll also continue to practice my skills. Then I plan to get my first dive set up for next weekend, but in the meantime, it would be great if anyone that has experience could let me know a little about what to expect. I think my instructor forgot to show us how to do mask removal and replacement, because in class we only did flooding/clearing, so I'm also a little worried about what else I might have missed that I am going to need to do.
Any recommendations/words of encouragement would be really welcome. I tend to overthink/pre-complicate things, so my big fear is that I'm going to hurt myself if I try to shoot to the surface from 20 feet because something goes wrong and I can't breathe or I suck water and I panic and forget to exhale on my way up. Basically the typical newbie fears probably.
Thanks,
Lela
