New and "Terrified"

[AggieManda]

Hello everyone...

So excited to find this board full of knowledgeable people! Hoping to meet people who have been in my shoes and can lend some helpful words of encouragement or advice.

I am new to the Scuba Board and to diving. I found this board while doing some internet research on "overcoming fear", haha.

We are taking a trip to Costa Rica at the end of August where I would like to do some light diving (one or two dive excursions of 50 feet or so...) I am currently in the process of becoming Open Water certified. I have always been what I thought was comfortable with the water. I am a sailor, like to swim and grew up fishing with my dad on the river. While I was eager to take the course, it has been much more challenging than I could have ever anticipated. First, I must say that I am taking one of those two weekender courses through a dive shop since it is so close to my trip. While the instructors are wonderful, there have been some issues that I have encountered that are proving difficult to overcome.

The classroom learning portion was great for me. I read the entire book before starting class and did very well on the quizzes and final written exam. When we went into the pool for the first time, I was fine. The equipment felt comfortable, everything seemed to be ok. The first set of skills we practiced were in the shallower end of the pool while kneeling on the bottom. We were down there for a good little while, about 20 min or so and I was completely fine. We worked on skills like partial mask flood, regulator loss and recovery, buddy breathing with an alternate air source, and the air tank depletion exercise.

However, when the time came to take our masks off underwater and replace them, and to breathe for one minute without a mask, I got a nose full of water and felt like I was drowning. Water in the nose has always been a phobia of mine, as I was pushed into the deep end of the pool as a small child and almost drowned. Naturally, I freaked out. I couldn't master the skill and the class had to move on. After that nothing felt right and everything freaked me out. Even being in the water produced anxiety. The regulator no longer felt good, the equipment became cumbersome and even a little water in my mask freaked me out. I haven't been able to recover ever since.

This happened in the middle of the first day of our confined dives (we got 2 days). My class was fairly large (14 split to two groups of 7), so the instructor of course didn't have time to accommodate my freak out, so the dive master worked with me one on one for the rest of that day. The next day, I almost didn't return (I laid in bed the night before petrified of getting back in the water), but wanted to stick it out. I freaked out again as soon as I hit the water, which resulted in another day of working one on one with the DM since the instructor didn't have time to work with me. By the end of the second day, I was feeling a little better and was able to perform all of the confined skills asked, even taking the mask of and replacing it underwater. The problem is, as soon as the mask was cleared I wanted to shoot to the surface to take it off and blow out my nose.

My problem now is that our open water dives are this weekend (Saturday and Sunday in a man made lake), and I go back and forth on if I feel comfortable enough to complete them. I have been practicing in the pool this week with the mask skills and getting comfortable in the water again, but I realize this is very different than being in open water in full Scuba gear. I know I can't return to the surface after every skill to take a breather and take my mask off. Some times when I think about it I think "No big deal, I can do it, I am confident" other times when I think about it, I am terrified. I just don't want the second part of me to win when I am under 20-30 feet of water this weekend and can not surface.

The shop has another certification class before we go, and I was thinking of asking if I could join that class when they do their pool skills to get more experience (problem is, I can only go one of those days), then do my open water dives with them after I have had more pool time in full scuba gear. Looking back now, I wish I had had the foresight to realize this was going to be a difficult process and taken a much longer (6 weeks or longer) course.

Obviously, I would love to finish my certification. I want to be able to finish what I started and overcome my fears, and would also love to be able to see all of the wonderful things that Scuba will allow me to see.

Does anyone have any feedback or advice? Suggestions on how to overcome this and if I should try to dive this weekend? Sorry for the LOOOONG introductory post!!

By the way, for the real intro...I live off the cost of Texas, am a relatively new newlywed, love horses and am a new mommy of the most wonderful little boy

 

[ruready7]

First off..great that you tried it again. If you are not comfortable with your skills dont rush the checkout dives. Get more pool time and try them at another time. During my checkout dives I had problem with mask clearing. Partial was fine but full flood took me sometime to do. I was underwater with my mask flooded for about min and half. I kept wanting to blow out mouth instead of nose. Later found out cause of the water temp...the pool we practiced was 85 degrees and the checkout dives in a quarry at 56 degrees. I stuck with it and got it. Just keep practicing and again dont rush it if you think you are not ready....it will only make it worse and you will miss out on a very fun activity....GOOD LUCK..YOU WILL GET IT!!!!

 

[ronbeau]

Hello everyone...

So excited to find this board full of knowledgeable people! Hoping to meet people who have been in my shoes and can lend some helpful words of encouragement or advice.

I am new to the Scuba Board and to diving. I found this board while doing some Internet research on "overcoming fear", haha.

We are taking a trip to Costa Rica at the end of August where I would like to do some light diving (one or two dive excursions of 50 feet or so...) I am currently in the process of becoming Open Water certified. I have always been what I thought was comfortable with the water. I am a sailor, like to swim and grew up fishing with my dad on the river. While I was eager to take the course, it has been much more challenging than I could have ever anticipated. First, I must say that I am taking one of those two weekender courses through a dive shop since it is so close to my trip. While the instructors are wonderful, there have been some issues that I have encountered that are proving difficult to overcome.

The classroom learning portion was great for me. I read the entire book before starting class and did very well on the quizzes and final written exam. When we went into the pool for the first time, I was fine. The equipment felt comfortable, everything seemed to be OK. The first set of skills we practiced were in the shallower end of the pool while kneeling on the bottom. We were down there for a good little while, about 20 min or so and I was completely fine. We worked on skills like partial mask flood, regulator loss and recovery, buddy breathing with an alternate air source, and the air tank depletion exercise.

However, when the time came to take our masks off underwater and replace them, and to breathe for one minute without a mask, I got a nose full of water and felt like I was drowning. Water in the nose has always been a phobia of mine, as I was pushed into the deep end of the pool as a small child and almost drowned. Naturally, I freaked out. I couldn't master the skill and the class had to move on. After that nothing felt right and everything freaked me out. Even being in the water produced anxiety. The regulator no longer felt good, the equipment became cumbersome and even a little water in my mask freaked me out. I haven't been able to recover ever since.

This happened in the middle of the first day of our confined dives (we got 2 days). My class was fairly large (14 split to two groups of 7), so the instructor of course didn't have time to accommodate my freak out, so the dive master worked with me one on one for the rest of that day. The next day, I almost didn't return (I laid in bed the night before petrified of getting back in the water), but wanted to stick it out. I freaked out again as soon as I hit the water, which resulted in another day of working one on one with the DM since the instructor didn't have time to work with me. By the end of the second day, I was feeling a little better and was able to perform all of the confined skills asked, even taking the mask of and replacing it underwater. The problem is, as soon as the mask was cleared I wanted to shoot to the surface to take it off and blow out my nose.

My problem now is that our open water dives are this weekend (Saturday and Sunday in a man made lake), and I go back and forth on if I feel comfortable enough to complete them. I have been practicing in the pool this week with the mask skills and getting comfortable in the water again, but I realize this is very different than being in open water in full Scuba gear. I know I can't return to the surface after every skill to take a breather and take my mask off. Some times when I think about it I think "No big deal, I can do it, I am confident" other times when I think about it, I am terrified. I just don't want the second part of me to win when I am under 20-30 feet of water this weekend and can not surface.

The shop has another certification class before we go, and I was thinking of asking if I could join that class when they do their pool skills to get more experience (problem is, I can only go one of those days), then do my open water dives with them after I have had more pool time in full scuba gear. Looking back now, I wish I had had the foresight to realize this was going to be a difficult process and taken a much longer (6 weeks or longer) course.

Obviously, I would love to finish my certification. I want to be able to finish what I started and overcome my fears, and would also love to be able to see all of the wonderful things that Scuba will allow me to see.

Does anyone have any feedback or advice? Suggestions on how to overcome this and if I should try to dive this weekend? Sorry for the LOOOONG introductory post!!

By the way, for the real intro...I live off the cost of Texas, am a relatively new newlywed, love horses and am a new mommy of the most wonderful little boy

I would keep practicing in the pool and ask to attend the pool session for the next class. It sounds like you are making progress just not at the pace required for a weekend class. Discuss this with the instructor to see if you can arrange some one on one time with him/her. There might be an extra fee for this attention but it will be worth it if it makes you comfortable.

After your extra pool practice did you ask the instructor whether he/she thought you were ready for the checkout dives?

 

[CJM]

Welcome... Honestly I'm a new diver myself so I really can't preach to you but try to stick with it and don't rush it. I think if you need to do the pool work again then do it until you feel comfortable. Best of luck with your cert and don't give up.

Oh and congrats on being a new mommy and a new wifey!

 

[divinginn]

keep practicing until you are comfortable with being under water there is no need to rush it. try keeping some positive pressure in your nose when you have your mask off,that will help keep the water out. good luck

 

[Bob Vincent]

First off ...
Hi AngieManda ...

& Welcome to ...
:sblogo::colouredsmilies::colouredsmilies:

2nd off ...
It's understandable what your going through. I don't like weekend classes for the reason if there's a snag you miss so much, which makes matters worse. You seem like your kinda what's the word I'm looking for ... disgruntled? That the Instructor can't help you the whole time. But a DM is spending a lot of time helping you ... the DM is very capable in helping you. A DM is a Diving Pro. He's the Instructor's right hand ... if he couldn't help you and have the trust of the Instructor and the LDS he wouldn't be there.

You need more time in the pool. Even the extra day will help lot's. The best thing to do is sit in the shallow end without a mask and fins then just breathe ... No matter how long. When you start feeling good you might try crawling around on the bottom in the shallow end. After you feel good about what you did put the fins on start in the shallow slowly move to the bottom of the deep. Go slow. Make sure the exhaled bubbles don't hit your nose making you want to breathe or feel funny to you. Swim around. After this is do-able then comes the mask part ... leave it off in your BC pocket. Then after you feel very comfortable pull the mask out put it on your head and gently clear it. Even if it takes the few breaths to clear. If you can do this your ready.

The only thing I caution you about is when it's time to remove your mask when you pull your mask off the incoming rush of water you might cause you involuntary to breathe in without knowing it.

I suggest you flood your mask first slowly ... when flooded then remove it ... then replace it. Use one or two fingers to apply pressure (not a lot) to the top center of the mask start clearing the mask while slowly tilting your head up. Stop and take additional breaths all you need to. Plus you need only to tilt your head very little ... a lot of people tilt it so far back their looking at the sun at high noon. Which you don't need to clear a mask.

Also if it feels better to close your eyes during this and you feel it helps you think of the task then do it.


I hope this helps ...

 

[Bound]

I feel for you, my wife is going through the same thing. We have decided for her to take it slow, until she feels comfortable.

 

[Kyzzle]

Hi and welcome to the SB!! Don't worry, you will find some of the friendliest people and best advice on these boards!

Then after you feel very comfortable pull the mask out put it on your head and genitally clear it.

How exactly do you clear it that way?? I don't remember the instructor showing us that technique in class!!

Best of luck to you!

 

[Bob Vincent]

Hi and welcome to the SB!! Don't worry, you will find some of the friendliest people and best advice on these boards!




How exactly do you clear it that way?? I don't remember the instructor showing us that technique in class!!

Best of luck to you!

Well I should of explained myself better on that ... I'm very sorry about that ... I need to remember these are newbie post and of course certain divers such as yourself don't have a clue about anything that they were not told in class!

By gentle I mean you don't blow your brains out trying to clear your mask. Some people can blow hard enough were the mask is lifted off the face far enough then with out more pressure that while lifted that very small amount of time it can take in a small amount of water. Some people after exhaling really hard might tend to breathe in without realizing they are doing it.

When you get enough time in and become a DM and then an AI then an OWSI you'll have been helping with alot of classes and seen alot.

So anything in the limited amount of diving knowledge you've gained you can use the but actually this is better .

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Oh man I missed that one! In a way I'm kinda glad I did. For the OP- WHat you are experiencing is one of things that really gets my goat. For some people a 2 weekend class is ok. Let me rephrase that. For a very few people it is ok. You are entering a new environment in which you cannot survive without mechanical assistance of some kind. In this case a regulator and scuba tank. What you are experiencing is unfortunately all too common when so many things are thrown at you in such a short amount of time. This is one of the main reasons that I became an instrcutor for the agency I did. We do not do these quickie courses. For the majority of people I have encountered as a DM and now Instructor the gradual introduction of skills building on the ones previously learnt and information presented in a manner that allows you to actually absorb most of it is necessary to produce safe, competent divers that are comfortable in the water. I seriously doubt that if you were to take a class such as the one I and the other instructors at our shop teach that you'd be having these issues. How much time have you spent underwater without a mask just breathing? Did you do any no mask swims? Did you start the scuba portion of the class by just putting your face in the water and breathing thru the reg for 30 seconds or so without a mask before you even knelt on the bottom? I'm guessing the answer is no. If so your reactions are unfortunately normal for someone who though comfortable in the water for all intents and purposes is now in the water under completely different circumstances with inadequate time to learn to adjust to them. You are in an alien environment that is hostile to human life. And you, for whatever reason, are in some part of your mind realizing it and not allowing yourself to relax and adjust. If I were your instructor and you reacted this way I'd take one of several courses. Either set up proper certification class that would better suit your needs, ie longer class, much more pool time(because face it you say you're not leaving till the end of August- that is nearly 6 weeks away), and instruction from myself one on one or another instructor. Nothing against the DM I'm sure he/she is good. But this is an instructor issue. The second course is that if the first is not acceptable or able to be done, based on your reactions so far and the issues you're having, that you forget about diving in Costa until you can get properly trained and these issues resolved. Again while these types of quickie courses work for some it is not working for you and you need to discuss this with your instructor as soon as possible. Otherwise you should not be issued a certification which would put you at risk as well as others who may be called upon to assist you.