Very nervous about "deep" dives

[bowlofpetunias]

If you are comfortable snorkeling and were fine on the Try dive.. no reason why you should not enjoy scuba. Anybody that isn't a little nervous in the beginning has no appreciation for what they are getting in to. I would rather dive with someone smart enough to be cautious. Find an instructor that will be through and take it at your speed. Find the diving you enjoy and don't worry about what anyone else does... what you enjoy may change.. but we dive for the joy of it.. and love to share that with others..

Caution.. DIVING IS ADDICTIVE!

 

[Rhone Man]

I think for the first 3 years of my diving life I didn't go deeper than 30 feet. When I did finally start going deeper I discovered that there was nothing to it, but the important thing was I was diving at a level I was (and my Dad was) comfortable with.

 

[spectrum]

Do you think scuba is for me?

You did it, you enjoyed it and you are both comfortable in the water. You seem entirely suited to be divers.

As others have said nothing says you need to go especially deep to be certified or to get a lifetime of joy from the sport. There is a minimum depth for the OW check-out dives that will vary a little with the agencies but it's in the realm of the 30' you already enjoyed. Many divers enter the sport with similar concerns and like anything else experience builds comfort. There is no need to exceed your comfort zone regardless of what it ultimately is.

In getting certified you will want to make your desire to avoid deep dives clearly understood. In some cases instructors may take you to a deeper site for various reasons (like they enjoy a site) but it's not a requirement.

I don't see where you are in your profile but I'll suggest that you do as much of the training at home with local resources and ultimately become active local divers in the process. This may mean doing your book and confined water (pool) work locally and taking a referral to do the OW dives someplace warm over the winter. You can always follow-up with an orientation to local diving. That is where you will become safe, proficient and comfortable. In any case doing the up front work locally will let you deal with any challenges at your leisure without burning vacation time.

Since you are both accustomed to sustained oral breathing with your masked face in the water and controlling yourself with your fins you are way ahead of the pack.

Pete

 

[Davidstealey3]

for the biggest part everyone is right. if you enjoyed your "resort dives" you did in aruba, you should love scuba.

there is a lot in this world to see, and a lot of it is 30 feet and above. but it is hard to say this early in the game that you will not dive below 60feet. you might go on vacation one day, and do some wall dives down to 80 feet. it is just to early to say.

as for doing your skills at 60 feet, that is more then likely not going to happen. most skills are done on a platform or in the sand at a depth no mor then 30 feet. and it is my understanding that it is done this way for the reasons you are describing. if you were to panic you are closer to the surface. bad things can still happen at that depth, but it gives some students a sense of security.

last, as stated in another post, you are only certified to go to 60 feet with open water. while it is recomended that you omly go this deep, after you get some dives under your belt and get comfortable in the water you can start to go deeper. there are deep diver certifactions, and you do a deep dive for the AOW class, but you can go deeper then 60 feet if you have done some diving. nobody will pull your cert card if you go below 60. if you do your checkout dives in the carabian you might end up at 61 feet with the instructor or DM and not realize it till you look at you depth guage after completeing you skills on a free swim.

reguardless of what you decide, i hope you will enjoy diving as much as the rest of us do.

 

[Noboundaries]

Visually, depth is relative. Assuming neutral buoyancy, when you're horizontal looking at a sandy bottom at 60 feet it doesn't look or feel any different than being horizontal at 20 feet.

There are a bunch of depth considerations to learn though and you'll be taught to respect them. Individually, claustrophobia and anxiety can increase with depth for both psychological and physical reasons. Scuba is a sport that requires one to exercise mental and physical self-control on many levels. It requires each person to recogize their limitations and dive within those boundaries. This thread is a great indicator that you are aware of at least one of yours and are willing to acknowledge and respect it. Thankfully one's introduction to the sport by a well-qualified instructor takes those factors into consideration and you learn what you need to know to enjoy scuba. You won't certify at 60 feet; 20-30 feet is the norm. If you and your wife are level headed, attentive students, you'll learn all you need to know to start diving and have a ball.

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

First off, take a look at this article: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...ng/287780-how-find-excellent-scuba-class.html

Secondly, a new open water diver will be certified to dive to a depth up to 60'. Most of your training will occur much shallower. Initial training is done in a pool. Once you've shown proficiency in there, you will move on to what is called "confined open water" for your final checkout dives.

Read the article and talk to the instructor about your concerns. Finding a good teacher and having them evaluate you will be much more informative than a bunch of us guessing here on the board.

This is the best info you will get.

 

[dseiden]

I can tell you that my first checkout dive (SSI not PADI though) was at 22 feet. As soon as I got down, i did look up and think "Wow, there is 22 feet between me and the surface" but that was the last I thought about it. My second checkout dive was on a platform 20 feet down. Yes, we could have gone deeper, but there was really no point at the time.

talk to your instructor about it before you sign up, and find one that you like and are comfortable with; i doubt many will actually take you that deep to do your checkouts. But like others have said, this is probably the most important thing

On another note, when I went to Devils Den the bottom was about 50 feet, and it really didn't feel too different (even when we looked up at the surface) from the 22 foot bottom at rainbow river; but then again crystal clear water might have had something to do with that.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

As Cave Diver said, your initial skills will be conducted very shallow ... most likely in a pool. The skills part of your checkout dives will also be conducted shallow ... typically in 20-30 feet.

The Open Water certification qualifies you to do dives in depths up to 60 feet ... but I have never met an instructor who would consider doing skills at that depth. In part because of the increased risks should something go wrong, and also because of the likelihood that a student would run low on air before completing the required skills.

My recommendation (in addition to the excellent advice you have already received) would be to sign up for the class and be upfront with your instructor about any apprehensions you experience during the class. Most instructors are very familiar with these apprehensions and know how to help you deal with them.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[drdaddy]

First of all, you can always (when available) hire an instructor or divemaster to take you down shallow, and even do all the controls, if that is what you want.

Second, since you enjoyed your intro to scuba (where the instructor/dm did your controls), you should take your beginning open water class. You can still take an instructor/dm with you when you dive, but you will feel more freedom and confidence.

Thirdly, for the rest of your life, you can dive shallow and enjoy it.

Fourthly, you will probably enjoy the beginning scuba course and go on and take the advanced open water class. This will simply enhance your skills and confidence.

Lastly, you likely will just go diving shallow and with an instructor/divemaster when going on those special vacations, and that's just fine. But you never know, you may really discover that scuba will become the center of these vacations. Enjoy!!!

 

[drbill]

There is no reason to have to go deep unless you want to (or it is required in your training such as the AOW cert). For the first few years I dove (back in the 60s) I was rarely deeper than 30-40ft. Keep in mind however that the greatest % pressure change is in this region so maintaining reasonably steady depth is important.

You can have a LOT of fun and see a lot of interesting marine life in the shallows. As you develop greater confidence in your diving skills, you may want to proceed to depths deeper than the 60 ft suggested limit for OW. I rarely dove beyond 100 ft until about my 35th year of diving. I still like staying shallow because it gives me much longer bottom time to film.