Mr and mrs new divers ow cert passed in sharm

[Steve A]

Well after years of thinking about it we finally did our ssi ow course with magic divers in Sharm. We loved it and logged 7 dives that week (last week of september 2012). My wife was a bit nervous to start with but soon overcame it and loved it. I think we were a little spoilt diving in sharm going to teran and ras mohamed but plan on returning next year. I think we will continue to be holiday divers for now as cold water and poor visibility doesn't appeal to either of us at the moment (we live in the U.K.).
Since returning my wife has started doubting her abilities and having read the sad loss of two divers recently in sharm she has said she is worried about diving again. I am very safety concious and am the first to admit to her that the risks are there but every sport has its risks and have assured her that we will only dive shallow, sheltered dive sites until her confidence returns.
The only thing that is of concern to me at the moment is the fact that as her dive buddy i know that if we see a shark or there is a problem she may panic no matter how i keep assuring her. We are not the youngest of novices in our mid/late fourties and i can't wait to get back in the water and will be counting the days until we return to Sharm.
I think in the meantime i might have a look into a lesson locally maybe swimming pool dive to keep practising our skills. Anyone on here from west midlands England give me a shout as to where to go?

 

[freewillie]

Congratulations on certification and diving with your spouse. My wife signed us both up for an intro to scuba dive while vacationing on the Great Barrier Reef. I loved it, promptly came home and certified. She hated it, and will not dive again - ever.

I am also a crazy cold water diver. I don't mind putting on a 7mm wetsuit with hood, gloves, and booties. I will dive here in So California beaches during the winter. But, I really, really, enjoy diving warm water tropical places.

You have a few choices. If you are going to dive on vacation then arranging for refresher courses would be the safest option. You could do them locally in the UK at a pool with an instructor or call ahead to the dive shop at your destination to have one the first day you can dive. As new divers you may also consider hiring a dive master so you are diving with a more experienced person next to you. That also alleviates your anxiety about trying to manage your new skills while keeping an eye on your wife.

If there is no objection to local diving then seeking out a dive club near you and diving with them is your other option.

As for sharks, I've seen a fair number while diving. You might think it is scary, and to be honest your breathing and heart rate go up a little bit. But I've found the sightings exhilarating in a good way and very excited when I have the luck to see a shark. The most recent experience was a tiger shark while diving in Kona, HI. She paid absolutely no attention to us and slowly kept swimming away minding her own business. Instead of freaking out my desire was not to swim away but to get even closer to see the stripes on her side. I know I said I was crazy earlier.

I too certified a little late, I was 44 when I got my OW PADI cert. In 18 months I have 49 dives and have completed AOW certification as well. All I can say is keep diving and have fun.

 

[LowDrag]

Congrat's fellow SSI diver. My wife and I just cert'd in June with an SSI shop here locally. Don't let the cold water deter you from diving. Set yourself up to dive comfortable and I bet you will find some great diving in your area or maybe reasonably close. Good luck and keep diving.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

First, congratulations to you both. My wife/dive buddy Debbie and I share the joy of diving, as will you and Mrs. new diver, I'm sure. In dealing with her concerns when hearing of tragedies befalling other divers, you should gently and lovingly remind here that such events are rare, and often are related to medical conditions that pre-existed the diving incident or accident. Other circumstances arise when divers fail to follow safe diving practices. Assure her that you and she are well trained, will follow recreational limits, and then, before your next trip, take a refresher or just get a pool workout and she will likely get excited about diving again. There are plenty of us who have hundreds, if not thousands of safe dives in out log, and so can and will you and Mrs. New Diver. Just don't pressure her.
DivemasterDennis

 

[SlowlySinking]

My partner and myself are also 'holiday divers' (must be something about the UK waters) and also did our OW in Sharm (about three years ago).

In Sharm most, if not all, of the dive companies will require you to do a check dive or scuba review course if you haven't dived for a certain length of time. We actually chose to do the review this year to go over some of the skills we haven't really used since our OW course and I have to say it was well worth the time and money - two shore dives going over all the skills did us a lot of good. It was also a good confidence boost (as was diving with the instructor we had - he also acted as our guide for the rest of our diving).

We also found that things have really clicked into place now, but it has taken a few years because we don't dive all the time. I don't know how much was down to time and how much was down to our instructor/guide.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but most accidents whilst diving are down to people pushing the limits of their abilities and/or ignoring their training?

Diving in Sharm (also in Greece and Mexico in my experience) you are diving with experienced guides/instructors (mostly, but that's another story) as part of the package you pay for - they will keep you out of trouble while you gain some experience.

As an additional point - when you do go back and book your diving, don't be embarassed about telling the dive company your concerns or highlight areas you think your skills are weak - they won't think any less of you and will look after you accordingly. I think they would prefer this to over-confidence or finding out you have difficulties once you are in the water!

 

[Steve A]

Thanks for the replies. I have been reading some of the stories on here and scarring/worrying myself. When we were going on holiday we hadnt planned on doing our ow but on the first day the guys were in the pool and i just said lets do it. The holiday then revolved around diving and studying without much time to worry. I must say it was the best holiday i have ever had.
Since getting back i read about the missing divers in sharm and other incidents and began to realise that there are a hell of a lot of things that are out of your control. We did a couple of drive dives one being on Jackson reef which i felt like i was on a conveyor belt the current was that strong. I have just read about down currents and problems others encountered here and i don't think i would have gone if i had read them first.
What i think we need to do now to gain confidence is some easy shallow diving with little current, warm water, good visibility, colourful marine life and nice scenery. Anyone got any suggestions for destinations for next year or do we book up to go back to Sharm? We would happily go back but as we only get one major holiday a year would be open for suggestions from other divers as to an alternative. Thanks Steve

 

[SlowlySinking]

Thanks for the replies. I have been reading some of the stories on here and scarring/worrying myself. When we were going on holiday we hadnt planned on doing our ow but on the first day the guys were in the pool and i just said lets do it. The holiday then revolved around diving and studying without much time to worry. I must say it was the best holiday i have ever had.

We did much the same - didn't intend to do more than a DSD and ended up spending a lot of holiday on diving.

Since getting back i read about the missing divers in sharm and other incidents and began to realise that there are a hell of a lot of things that are out of your control. We did a couple of drive dives one being on Jackson reef which i felt like i was on a conveyor belt the current was that strong. I have just read about down currents and problems others encountered here and i don't think i would have gone if i had read them first.
What i think we need to do now to gain confidence is some easy shallow diving with little current, warm water, good visibility, colourful marine life and nice scenery. Anyone got any suggestions for destinations for next year or do we book up to go back to Sharm? We would happily go back but as we only get one major holiday a year would be open for suggestions from other divers as to an alternative. Thanks Steve

Fortunately (I think) I did a fair number of DSD dives before the OW course, so was kind of used to it already. Also, I didn't read too much about incidents/accidents otherwise I might have scared myself out of it!

Maybe you could contact one of the dive schools in Sharm and ask if they can do you some days of shore diving? I am sure many of them can oblige as they are set up for shore dives for some of the courses they run.

It is a shame if the people you were diving with have put you off by expecting you to dive beyond your comfort level (particularly straight after your OW). There are a few places, like Sharks Bay (no sharks are there by the way; it's just where the shark fisherman used to unload) that is actually used for OW training (you could very well have done some of your OW there) and has some nice reefs and lots of fish. In fact there seems to be a whole coastline full of reefs and fish.

One of the problems in Sharm is in choosing the right dive school - there are so many. I have to say that this year we have found one that we will keep going back to. Some of the operations seem only interested in taking your money...

 

[rivers]

My partner and myself are also 'holiday divers' (must be something about the UK waters) and also did our OW in Sharm (about three years ago).

In Sharm most, if not all, of the dive companies will require you to do a check dive or scuba review course if you haven't dived for a certain length of time. We actually chose to do the review this year to go over some of the skills we haven't really used since our OW course and I have to say it was well worth the time and money - two shore dives going over all the skills did us a lot of good. It was also a good confidence boost (as was diving with the instructor we had - he also acted as our guide for the rest of our diving).

We also found that things have really clicked into place now, but it has taken a few years because we don't dive all the time. I don't know how much was down to time and how much was down to our instructor/guide.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but most accidents whilst diving are down to people pushing the limits of their abilities and/or ignoring their training?

Diving in Sharm (also in Greece and Mexico in my experience) you are diving with experienced guides/instructors (mostly, but that's another story) as part of the package you pay for - they will keep you out of trouble while you gain some experience.

As an additional point - when you do go back and book your diving, don't be embarassed about telling the dive company your concerns or highlight areas you think your skills are weak - they won't think any less of you and will look after you accordingly. I think they would prefer this to over-confidence or finding out you have difficulties once you are in the water!

It is NOT the job of the dive guide/ divemaster to keep you out of trouble. It is YOUR responsibility as a certified diver, to dive within your limits to minimise the risks associated with diving (ie, watch your air, control your buoyancy, call the dive if you or your buddy just isn't feeling it for any reason).

 

[Steve A]

Hi Rivers, i totally agree its dangerous to think there is someone there to save you hence looking for some suggestions for easy dive site destinations until we are more experienced. I liked shallow diving as i can appreciate the colours of the fish and corals etc. 18m is quite deep enough for me and the mrs. as we are still novices.
We arent really interested in wrecks, caves etc.(yet) although it was strangely interesting seeing a load of toilets on the sea bed in ras mohamed. Drift diving although exciting at the time is probably a little more dangerous than we want to experience again until we are more confident.
My wife has started saying she is really nervous about going again and not sure if she will want to dive. The instructer we had in Sharm (magic divers) was brilliant and was part of the reason my wife carried on with the course he was a very calming influence.
I really want us to carry on diving as a couple but need her to become more confident as she will be my buddy.
I am looking at booking our holiday for next year somewhere exotic to tempt her back in the water with good facilities nice reefs and all inclusive facilities. I know it will be hard to top Club magic life in sharm so i think we will probably go back.

 

[rivers]

Hi Rivers, i totally agree its dangerous to think there is someone there to save you hence looking for some suggestions for easy dive site destinations until we are more experienced. I liked shallow diving as i can appreciate the colours of the fish and corals etc. 18m is quite deep enough for me and the mrs. as we are still novices.
We arent really interested in wrecks, caves etc.(yet) although it was strangely interesting seeing a load of toilets on the sea bed in ras mohamed. Drift diving although exciting at the time is probably a little more dangerous than we want to experience again until we are more confident.
My wife has started saying she is really nervous about going again and not sure if she will want to dive. The instructer we had in Sharm (magic divers) was brilliant and was part of the reason my wife carried on with the course he was a very calming influence.
I really want us to carry on diving as a couple but need her to become more confident as she will be my buddy.
I am looking at booking our holiday for next year somewhere exotic to tempt her back in the water with good facilities nice reefs and all inclusive facilities. I know it will be hard to top Club magic life in sharm so i think we will probably go back.

If your wife doesn't want to dive, don't force her. It's nice to have your other half dive, but if she's uncomfortable in the water, she'll be more prone to panic if sh*t hits the fan. My partner and I were certified together about 3.5 years ago while working on cruise ships in the caribbean (we live just outside of London now). I happily go diving on average about once a week. I absolutely fell in love with it. She hasn't been diving in about 2 years and probably will never go diving again, because she just isn't that comfortable under water.
Also, don't write off diving in the UK. It's more interesting than you think, and sometimes the vis isn't that poor (i know a few divers who had 40m vis in plymouth earlier this year). Sometimes the vis is shocking, but not always. Diving in the Farnes with the seals is supposed to amazing, and there are a few places off cornwall that are supposed to be stunning. Unfortunately, the water is a bit chilly, but bearable with the correct exposure protection (ie a drysuit).