Trying Scuba Again After a Not-So-Great Experience

[redcat255]

So, I'm obviously new to this board, but I'm hoping to find a little reassurance. Pardon the long wind-up.

I'm fortunate enough to be heading to Australia late next month with my fiancee, who has some limited scuba experience and got her certification a few years back. I'm signed up for a private certification class myself at the beginning of next month, but I've had a not-so-great experience with scuba in the past. Looking for a little reassurance here, and any tips/suggestions would be appreciated!

Back about five years ago, I did (or should I say tried?) a resort dive in St. Thomas off a cruise ship. I went through the pre-dive briefings... everything seemed cool... put in the gear... still cool... went in the water. Went under water and tried to breathe... Reflexes kicked in, and it didn't work so well. I remember that I kept trying to breathe in through my nose and panicking when it wouldn't work out. I couldn't get it together in time to keep up with the group, so I ended up just snorkling for the day instead of doing the dive.

Fast forward to a few months ago... The dive shop in my town offered a "Groupon" for a "Discover Scuba" program -- basically a three-hour course of about 90 minutes in the classroom and 90 minutes in the pool. As before, classroom went well. After first jumping in the pool, I had a similar freak-out moment after first going under water. Luckily, however, I was the only one doing the class that day, so the instructor took some time, and we sat together in literally 3 feet of water while I got accustomed to the whole idea of breathing underwater. What seemed to do the trick was when the instructor suggested that instead of just sitting there, I should try and swim underwater to give my mind something to do instead of thinking only about... Oh my goodness! You're underwater and that's a bad thing because you can't breathe underwater! After working with the instructor for about 30 minutes, I was having fun in the deep end of the pool looking at coins and hairpins that somehow ended up at the bottom. We even did the regulator recovery exercise, which I thought would freak me out, but ended up being just fine.

Fast forward to today. I just got my scuba gear that I ordered online. (I got a purge mask, which the instructor from the "Discover Scuba" course recommended because it'll let me breathe out through my nose if necessary -- which might prevent the freaking out that happened my very first time around.) This might sound a little ridiculous, but I tried playing around by filling the mask with some water (From the sink) and then putting it on my face and trying to breathe. No snorkels, no regulators, just standing in the bathroom. I was able to clear the mask easily with the purge valve, but I did feel like I was gasping and a little panicky -- and that was just standing in my apartment! Just wanted to rip the mask off and breathe, although after a few times I was able to feel a little better about it.

Long story short -- having gone through all of this, I'm quite a bit anxious going into this private course next week. I'll be in for almost $500 for the whole kit and kaboodle, and I'm looking for a bit of reassurance from someone who's had some anxiety going into all of this. I think I can do it -- and I definitely want to do it so I can see the amazing wonders of the Great Barrier Reef. But, I look at the list of skills for the Open Water certification, and it seems a little daunting. I'm especially worried about the mask clearing and the breathing without a mask (basically anything where water is going to rush in and hit my face/nose).

Any words of wisdom/reassurance here? It's so strange. I want to dive, and my conscious mind knows that diving is safe and that obviously I can breathe underwater just fine. But, I'm worried that my subconscious will get the best of me when I have to do the mask clearing exercise 40 feet underwater or wherever one does that drill...

Many thanks in advance from this diving newbie!

(As an aside, I've talked to my fiancee about this, and it's been a while since she did her course, so she doesn't remember the details -- don't worry, she'll be taking a refresher course before we go. But she seemed to have no problems with any of these exercises, so I'm hoping to hear from someone who use to be all nervous and jerky but then calmed down!)

 

[SPARKMEL]

Being newly certified myself i can fully appreciate your apprehensions. You must be confident and positive in what skills you have to do and exactly how to perform them. I watched you tube for hours before doing my open water there are some great clips to watch and practise with. I am lucky i took to it like a duck to water as breathing through your mouth is not easy. What you are doing is great keep at it. Be patient . The problem starts when you begin to decend, your instructor is correct practise in water where if you panic you can simply stand or swim to surface. do everything slowly and accuratly. GOOD LUCK..

 

[dfx]

I know I always had some slight problems with clearing my mask when I did my OWD (technique problem, as I know now), and I was terrified when we went to 30 ft to do that exercise. What if it doesn't work? What am I gonna do? Similar deal with reg recovery...

But that's the whole point of the exercises. You do it a few times in the shallow end so you can see for yourself that it's not a problem and that you can do it. Then when you go to do it in the deep, sure you'll be freaked out, but at the same time you'll know that you can do it, because you've done it before, and ... voila, it works!

An exercise you can do at home is this: put your snorkel in your mouth, and then your face (no mask!) in the water, like in the sink. And then breathe. Through your mouth, not through your nose. I still hate doing that myself (I hate the feeling of getting water up my nose) and I much prefer holding my nose in any such situation, but it helps to get used to the fact that it's not a problem when that happens.

 

[right_on]

redcat255: just relax and see where it takes you. i was very apprehensive of diving when i first started and probably the worse student in my class. i didn't think i was going to complete my class. after i got certified, i just kept diving and diving and more diving. until i became better and more comfortable in the water. then i took advance class then went dive more and more, then took rescue class and dive more. now i'm on my way to become a dive master. so just take it easy, relax and enjoy it. it takes awhile but if you love it, you will adapt to it. as always, be safe!

 

[neonstingray]

The mouth vs nose breathing is actually very common. I ran into a bit of a problem with it when I was first getting my certification as a teenager. If I had the mask on blocking my nose I'm fine, but if I tried to breathe through a regulator without the mask on the rush of bubbles up my nose on every exhale would make me choke. It really is just a matter of doing it until it finally clicks in your head. Here's what I found helped for me though:

While sitting underwater in just a couple feet, take a single deep breath from the regulator, then take it out of your mouth and keep it in your hand. Slowly exhale from your mouth, just as if you were doing a free ascent. Then when you need more air, take another breath from the regulator and remove it from your mouth again, and again then start to exhale. If you're very nervous you're likely to either hold your breath without exhaling, or exhale really quickly. This is ok when you're sitting in 3 feet of water in the shallow end of a pool, but you need to keep practicing until you can exhale slowly by second nature. Holding your breath underwater in any other situation could be deadly. So the point is to practice not doing it now.

When you can do this comfortably, they practice doing it without the mask. With your nose exposed to the open water it's harder. Again, just keep doing it until it becomes second nature.

 

[tracydr]

Here's what helped me more than anything. I had a lot of trouble with mask clearing and no mask exercises, which actually got worse after I started diving on my own, due to a purge mask that broke on a dive.
I don't recommend a purge mask for this very reason. But, it may help you through some initial nervousness, honestly, my husband won't teach a student with them because he wants you to learn how to clear your mask properly.
First, get a snorkel and swim goggles or a swimming "mask" which doesn't cover your nose. Learn to snorkel without your nose covered by a mask. This will teach you not to "snort" water up your nose while breathing in through your mouth if your nose is not protected by the mask. Do plenty of laps or several hours in the pool like this.
Next, spend plenty of time in the wading end of the pool practicing mask remov and replace. You can do this with a snorkel since you won't have acess to air tank and regulators yet.
Once you get into the class, make sure you let your instructor knows about your anxiety and that you feel you need extra practice on this area.
You will, at some time in your scuba career have your mask knocked off and have your mask flooded. Probably more than once. I had both happen on a lobster hunting dive last fall, when things were a little crazy and the current/ surge was bad.
These skills are absolutely vital and will be used in real life. You need to be comfortable in them. They are not something to pass once in class and never practice again. I practice them all the time, since I know that mask skills were once my nemesis. I play with mask skills in our pool, flooding, taking the mask off and even swimming without the mask.

 

[dfx]

While sitting underwater in just a couple feet, take a single deep breath from the regulator, then take it out of your mouth and keep it in your hand. Slowly exhale from your mouth, just as if you were doing a free ascent. Then when you need more air, take another breath from the regulator and remove it from your mouth again, and again then start to exhale.

Don't do this before you know how to purge a reg though

 

[redcat255]

Thank you all so much for the quick replies. Before I start the class, I'm going to head down the pool in my building and play around with my snorkel and mask. Sure, folks will think I'm crazy, but so what?

Always appreciate of more thoughts/comments if folks have them.

 

[freewillie]

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." Aristotle. Practice, practice, practice.

You need to get used to the feeling of the mask on your face and then to be comfortable with breathing through your mouth instead of your nose.

I would first recommend getting used to the mask. One trick is to try using a clear skirt mask. It allows more light through the sides and tends not to give you the same claustrophobic sensations with the black skirt masks. As tracydr pointed out practicing mask clearing skills in the shallow end of a pool is a great way to get comfortable and proficient with this very important skill.

After you feel comfortable with the mask, then try practicing breathing through the mouth using a snorkel. The more comfortable in the water you are the more relaxed your breathing. The more experience you have breathing through your mouth underwater and the less you have to think about doing this the less likely you are to breath through the nose. This is a very common issue with new divers but with enough practice you should be able to improve. I would not give up on diving just yet, and the more money you sink into the sport before you are even certified the greater the determination to continue.

 

[redcat255]

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." Aristotle. Practice, practice, practice.

I'm studying for the bar exam as we speak (it's next week). Five essays on the test. The prep course I'm taking has made me do almost fifty practice essays before the exam... The first ten I did were a disaster, but steady improvement since then. Perhaps I'll apply the same mentality here