scottishscuba
Contributor
I undertook my PADI open water in summer 2000 in the pristine warm waters of Indonesia, lucky me! Decided I loved diving and on returning to Scotland also decided that the water was too cold to dive without the option to do so in a drysuit. So with my OW qual under my belt and 6 dives in my log book I went to the local PADI dive shop and arranged to do my drysuit speciality. 2 pool dives, no bother (I never found buoyancy difficult to master) then off to the wilds of the North Sea to do the proper dives.
We went to Sandend on the North East coast in May 2001 and entered the water with buddy (i'd never met before) and instructor. We went out into the sea to about 10m depth to do the various skills required. The visibility was terrible and there was also a lot of surge. it was like diving in a washing machine. Managed not to spew and did skills. Started swimming in the narrow channel back to the harbour and the tide had turned. The current was so strong that I couldn't swim against it. my buddy had vanished into the gloom. I ended up finning as hard as I could (puffing hard) with the incoming waves then digging my fins into the substrate and hanging onto the seaweed to stop myself being swept away. finally made it into the harbour and rejoined the instructor and buddy, explained how hard I'd found it etc. dive number 2 was equally grim though didn't get separated this time. Got drysuit speciality signed off. yippee so I thought.
Next diving opportunity didnt arise until October 2001 when I was on holiday in South Africa. Arranged to go on a boat dive from Cape Town. Shoehorned into 14mm of wetsuit that was too small for me (I'm buxom), not enough weight round my middle. I was also slightly anxious as I'd not dived for a few months. So jumped in, let air out of BCD and found myself still bobbing on the surface. DM (or whoever was guiding the dive) grabbed my fins to try and pull me down. PANIC.
I've never had a panic attack before or since but I couldn't breathe. I totally lost the plot. ended up being scooped up by the boat and sitting out the day on the surface and vowed never again to don SCUBA and plunge into the drink.
Looking back there was a catalogue of errors on my part (naive and knowing virtually nothing about diving) and also IMO failings on the dive operators parts too. It culminated in my refusing to enter the water in scuba gear until 2010
In 2010 I went to Dahab for a week in the hope that I'd get my mojo back. (poseidon divers were fab) I explained what had happened to the instructor who agreed to take me to their "confined" area for a review dive. (He said I seemed more like a diver who had not been in the water for a few years, not the timeframe that I'd actually been away)
The rest is history, I got going again with a great instructor who was sympathetic to my anxiety and rebuilt my confidence. I came home from there AOW
Since then I've been diving in Malta and the Philippines and am heading back to Dahab. I've got my Nitrox qual now and am much more confident (when I was doing the nitrox dives in the Philippines the instructor said that I handled myself very well under the water and that if he didnt know I'd only done 30something dives would have said I was much more experienced )
Like driving or indeed my own (and most) profession, you learn to dive/drive once you have the bit of paper saying you can do it. I'm constantly striving to improve my diving skills and develop my awareness.
We went to Sandend on the North East coast in May 2001 and entered the water with buddy (i'd never met before) and instructor. We went out into the sea to about 10m depth to do the various skills required. The visibility was terrible and there was also a lot of surge. it was like diving in a washing machine. Managed not to spew and did skills. Started swimming in the narrow channel back to the harbour and the tide had turned. The current was so strong that I couldn't swim against it. my buddy had vanished into the gloom. I ended up finning as hard as I could (puffing hard) with the incoming waves then digging my fins into the substrate and hanging onto the seaweed to stop myself being swept away. finally made it into the harbour and rejoined the instructor and buddy, explained how hard I'd found it etc. dive number 2 was equally grim though didn't get separated this time. Got drysuit speciality signed off. yippee so I thought.
Next diving opportunity didnt arise until October 2001 when I was on holiday in South Africa. Arranged to go on a boat dive from Cape Town. Shoehorned into 14mm of wetsuit that was too small for me (I'm buxom), not enough weight round my middle. I was also slightly anxious as I'd not dived for a few months. So jumped in, let air out of BCD and found myself still bobbing on the surface. DM (or whoever was guiding the dive) grabbed my fins to try and pull me down. PANIC.
I've never had a panic attack before or since but I couldn't breathe. I totally lost the plot. ended up being scooped up by the boat and sitting out the day on the surface and vowed never again to don SCUBA and plunge into the drink.
Looking back there was a catalogue of errors on my part (naive and knowing virtually nothing about diving) and also IMO failings on the dive operators parts too. It culminated in my refusing to enter the water in scuba gear until 2010
In 2010 I went to Dahab for a week in the hope that I'd get my mojo back. (poseidon divers were fab) I explained what had happened to the instructor who agreed to take me to their "confined" area for a review dive. (He said I seemed more like a diver who had not been in the water for a few years, not the timeframe that I'd actually been away)
The rest is history, I got going again with a great instructor who was sympathetic to my anxiety and rebuilt my confidence. I came home from there AOW
Since then I've been diving in Malta and the Philippines and am heading back to Dahab. I've got my Nitrox qual now and am much more confident (when I was doing the nitrox dives in the Philippines the instructor said that I handled myself very well under the water and that if he didnt know I'd only done 30something dives would have said I was much more experienced )Like driving or indeed my own (and most) profession, you learn to dive/drive once you have the bit of paper saying you can do it. I'm constantly striving to improve my diving skills and develop my awareness.
