Is this a normal feeling?

[mi000ke]

In talking to some of the folks I dive with, I think my situation is not unusual, and maybe not dissimilar to yours. Like some of the posters, I got into diving by doing a few resort dives. I was totally ignorant about all aspects of diving, and that ignorance was bliss. I dove with no worries whatsoever, not knowing anything about the potential risks.

I then decided to get certified and the absolute opposite happened. I was introduced to all (well, most of) the risks through my course, as you will be. And then I discovered Scubaboard, as you did, and that greatly expanded my awareness of every and any risk that could ever possibly happen. Armed with all that information and very little actual dive experience, I had the fear of god instilled in me and would lose sleep before every dive day, and experience a healthy dose of anxiety right until I entered the water. Then once I realized I had my equipment set up ok, the air was flowing, and I was not going to drown immediately, all the anxiety disappeared. Until the next dive.

Fast forward to this year’s diving season (which for me started a few weeks ago) and after 75 dives I am finally (almost) totally comfortable with diving. Essentially no anxiety at all. The difference is that with more experience I am better able to calibrate my exposure to those risks. I know more about how to dive conservatively and safely. I have good control over my buoyancy and trim, so do not have to focus on that as much. I have learned how to check out my equipment so have no anxiety about equipment failure, and with less anxiety about diving in general comes less anxiety about how I would react to a problem. And I am now in a better position to evaluate the great information that is provided here at SB and not to return to panic mode every time I read about some dive-related failure.

You will get there eventually. Just go as slow as you need to. One of my certified dive friends spends hours in a pool each year just to practice basic skills so he is comfortable. You can do that. I always start the dive season with one or two easy shallow dives. You can do that until you are comfortable with deeper or more challenging dives. Find a DM that you like diving with and who will go gently with you – which I did when starting.

Anxiety regarding something new, especially absent much experience with that new thing, is normal. Take it slow and you’ll be more and more comfortable over time.

 

[The Chairman]

Feeling nervous is common and could be considered normal. Do yourself a favor: don't cheap out for the least expensive course. Not all instructors teach the same and it's important to pick a suitable one. Find one that won't let you kneel in class if you want to feel absolutely comfortable from your first dive on. Trim and neutral buoyancy are probably the most important things to learn early on, and it's my opinion that this should be priority one in any OW class.

 

[TMHeimer]

It is normal IMO for everyone to be nervous--at least to some degree. I was concerned that I would have ear problems since my ears always hurt when snorkeling down to maybe 8 feet or deeper. Was using (non "scuba" approved) ear plugs with no pin hole in them to allow equalising. Duh..... So all was fine during our first descent in the pool.
As far as the first ocean "checkout" dive, I was maybe a little "cautiously" nervous. It was only to about 20 feet deep and gradually from shore, and I knew I had been almost to that depth snorkeling for maybe 35 years, so what's the big deal? But just the idea that I was going down there to "stay" was different.
My first boat dive (to 60-70') I was again a little uneasy. But just pulled myself down the anchor line not worrying about how deep I was about to go. No problems. I do feel that the deeper you go, the worse situation you can be in should something go wrong. Deeper dives= more planning, etc. 20-30 foot dives you can always do a CESA and get to the surface exhaling and going at a safe speed. Deeper dives are not something you should avoid, once qualified and more experienced--just plan wisely.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Hi All, first post to the forum of hopefully many. After scouring the forums daily for a while I felt this the best place to ask the question that has been on my mind of late.

I have been concidering taking up diving for a fair few months now, and have read up on a lot of stuff.

I am a healthy male in my late 20s and have become somewhat obsessed with Scuba. I have been thinking about booking my OW course however whilst looking around about diving I have read many stories, problems that can arise and have found myself feeling extremely nervous about the whole thing.

I appreciate that when looking at things, there is still only an extremely small percentage of accidents that occur, I just want to know if it is normal to feel this way?

Thanks in advance

In today's world, if I was just starting out I think I'd find an instructor who would teach me OW and AOW in one course. That would raise my confidence level plus probably save me a few hundred bucks. I have seen and heard about too many people who drop out of the sport rather quickly and I suspect some of it may be due to a lack of self-confidence.

I've been diving since 1969 and in my experience there are people who immediately love it and do it for their entire lives, and others that just aren't suited for it. If you read the Incidents and Accidents reports it seems like there are a lot of them but the general consensus is that scuba diving is much safer than it used to be. I do not consider scuba diving in itself to be a dangerous activity (as some do) but you can do something dangerous while scuba diving. One subject that often comes up here on ScubaBoard is the role of the Dive Master on a dive boat. I believe that if you rely on yourself to plan your dive and watch out for yourself you are less likely to encounter problems that if you depend upon someone else to monitor your thinking and safety.

My recommendation is to ask around, find a great instructor, and enjoy! Your basic instruction is just the starting point and you will continue to learn as you dive. I think that scuba diving is one of the most amazing things you can do on this planet and in this life. My girlfriend just got certified at age 66 and she is loving it too!

 

[outofofficebrb]

Others have shared really great posts already. I think your head is in a normal place and I think the fact that you understand that things can go wrong and accidents happen is a good thing. You can think to yourself what things you need to do or not do to prevent those accidents from happening. Awareness is a good thing. On the other hand, thinking "it won't happen to you" and not being cognizant is worse. It sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders.

I think it is worthwhile sharing your concerns with your instructor and talking through those concerns. Many of the concerns you have will probably be addressed in the educational/classroom portion of the class but please don't hesitate to reach out to your instructor as well as here!

 

[Matt_K]

Thank you all for your replies and advice.

I most definitely won't be cheaping out on a course as for me safety is the most important thing.

I am going to speak with a couple of the local dive centres and see what their general teaching style is. I've read too many stories about divers who are not really competent enough to dive on their own after certification and that ultimately is not what I want. I want an instructor who will enable me to go at my own pace so that once certified I am accountable for my own safety, not relying on a DM or guide.

Matt

 

[ps444mike]

That's what I was going to suggest.. go to the shops check them out. Maybe sit in on a class.. maybe talk to other students in the class.. an I all ways told other divers with me.. that if you don't feel comfortable doing something or depth or time etc.. let me know.. I have no prob stopping a dive cause a fellow diver isn't sure or is scared or ? no prob we all been there..
Once you get over the fear you will look back at this an go im not sure why I was worried..its a piece of cake..

 

[Diver0001]

Hi All, first post to the forum of hopefully many. After scouring the forums daily for a while I felt this the best place to ask the question that has been on my mind of late.

I have been concidering taking up diving for a fair few months now, and have read up on a lot of stuff.

I am a healthy male in my late 20s and have become somewhat obsessed with Scuba. I have been thinking about booking my OW course however whilst looking around about diving I have read many stories, problems that can arise and have found myself feeling extremely nervous about the whole thing.

I appreciate that when looking at things, there is still only an extremely small percentage of accidents that occur, I just want to know if it is normal to feel this way?

Thanks in advance

Of course it is. You don't want to get in to something that you can't handle and will hurt you.

That said, on the internet there is a LOT of story telling. Scuba diving can be learned safely and it can be done safely. You will learn how to do both in your OW course. That's what it's for.

Let me try to address some of the myths you might have heard.

1_ Myth: scuba diving is safer than bowling. No. These kinds of statistics are based on emergency room admissions but make no distinction between someone who has a broken finger and someone who has an arterial gas embolism and will probably be disabled for life if they survive at all. What IS true is that the number of accidents is relatively small... however, some of those injuries can be very serious.

Discussing this further. Pulled muscles, strained backs, broken toes (yes, it's a thing in diving), even dislocated shoulders and various other "minor" injuries due to the weight and cumbersomeness of gear are much more common than drowning or other nastiness that you have probably been told is the norm. The chances of having an accident of the type people on the internet make you think are happening every time you get with 100m of a puddle deeper than 30cm are uncommon... but not impossible. If you are young and fit then your risk profile in diving is very small.

2_ Myth: scuba diving is hard to learn. No. These kinds of things are repeated over and over ad. nauseam by some instructors who want you to think that they are heros because they can teach scuba diving to novices. In actual fact, the basics are very easy to learn *IF* you are relaxed (ie, if your instructor helps you relax). In fact, I would say that if an instructor is saying that they need 20 or 30 in-water hours to teach someone dive that they are probably piss-poor instructors. It takes the average person about 10 in-water hours to learn diving. If you are a little slower, you may need 15 hours. Anything beyond that and you're probably paying for the instructor to fix his/her own mistakes.

3_ Myth: your gear will let you down. One of the reasons that diving is so safe is because modern scuba diving gear -- if well maintained -- is VERY reliable. There are VAST numbers of stories on the internet about gear failures and while I'm sure they are based in fact, I am also sure that most of those stories are "embellished" to make it interesting for the reader. Yes, gear problems happen a lot but if you do your self-check while assembling your gear and you do a buddy check before getting in the water then almost all of your gear problems will be "annoyances" as opposed to the kinds of near-disasters requiring MacGyver level problem solving that people write about online.

4_ Myth: it takes years of solid commitment to become a safe diver. No. There are two big risk groups in diving. Rank beginners with no experience at all and relatively experienced divers who become complacent about things like gear maintenance and procedures (chief among those, the self and/or buddy check). It doesn't take long to become a competent diver. Most people are getting there within anywhere between 20 and 50 post-certification dives. This DOES mean that you should not be pushing boundaries early but this is something you can control.

I used to ride motorcycles and we had a saying that there were two types of motorcycle riders.... those who have fallen and those who have not. It's kind of like this in diving too. If you start feeling invincible (those who have not) then you will eventually screw something up (those who have fallen). I've personally been diving for over 30 years and I've been diving technically for more than 15 years and while I've had a few interesting moments I can say that they were all caused by doing (or not doing) something that was within my own control.

5_ Myth: there is such a thing as "high standards" and "low standards". No. A standard is LITERALLY just a check list. It's what the instructor does with that standard that is important. There are good instructors and bad instructors and that's where you need to focus. I know that it's hard to know how to evaluate an instructor if you aren't one yourself so I'm telling you something you may believe but can't get a grip on. The only thing I can say is that THIS is the most important thing about diving instruction and it's the most important thing that will influence your safety as a novice diver... so you need to spend time on it. Get references. Ask for references. follow up on them. Seriously. If an instructor will not give you references then run (do not walk) away.

6_ Myth: some agencies are "safer" than others. ********. All agencies basically follow the PADI model. skills and information are provided in appropriate doses as it is relevant to the course being taken. We call this modular. Every single agency on the planet follows this model. Every agency has a standard (a check list) and every agency has good and bad instructors. When it comes down to it, 95% of diving is swimming around neutrally buoyant and looking at stuff. All of the other training you get is about the 5%.

I could go on but I think you're getting the idea.

R..

 

[TMHeimer]

Some great advice from returner. I try to never be complacent, and treat each dive as if it were my first, even if I've dived the same place many times. As well, there can be changes to the site's bottom and conditions over time.

 

[KenGordon]

@UFOrb

Correct, the OW side of things would be at the NDAC

If you will be at NDAC anyway then you could worse than talk to this bloke Dive-Tech: TDI Nitrox, Helitrox, Trimix and technical diver training courses with instructor Mark Powell

Or join one of the local BSAC clubs and spend lots of time in a pool.

I think you will find more people die of complacency than being slightly apprehensive. Obviously, blind panic is something else.