Advice, I thought scubadiving was for me :(

[Courtneychau]

Hi all,

after many years of wanting to do scubadiving, and dreaming about the magical world the I would be exploring, I did my first two days
last weekend. The instructor was great, and she really did take the time and effort with me. However, I'm left feeling flat, useless and anxious for a few reasons.

1. My buoyancy is absolutely terrible, I feel like I have no control.
2. I've never worn fins before and certainly don't look like I have the effortless glide that others in my group do.
3. My legs float up and feel like my feet and ankles are struggling to stay down
4. I had a few anxious moments.
i. Initially when we went down first in the pool. It was a completely different experience to be immersed and breathing underwater like that.
ii. Flooding the mask made me feel like I was going to drown and I had to surface a couple of times before i had (minor) control over this fear. No one else did
iii. Not being able to descend as naturally as others (buoyancy is hard) and feeling like I couldn't control my movements in the water
iv. I kept getting salt water in my mouth and having to purge
5. My back was SORE the day after
6. I can't say I enjoyed one part of the first shore dive because of all the above reasons.

I should mention I haven't been snorkelling in over ten years, and don't spend a lot of time swimming in the ocean. But I was hoping scubadiving would change that. As I have said this is a dream and I would be crushed if it turns out this isn't for me. I also feel like I am a confident swimmer.

however, I am quite aware of the risks associated with diving and don't want to put myself in danger because of techniques that can't be fixed and a new found anxiety. It's honestly the toughest thing I have ever done, definitely mor fearful than skydiving or bungy jumping.


I suppose what I am asking is if anyone has has the same experience as me and overcome it or found that it just wasn't for them? What techniques helped you? I am considering going to my local pool and practicing my breathing and fin techniques. Experienced divers, do you think this sport can be for me or do you recognise behaviours in me that would indicate that I am not a good candidate for this sport?

thank you all for reading. Any advice or feedback would be much appreciated.

 

[Akimbo]

Equipment problems are one of the more aggravating aspects in Scuba Diving… it gets a lot better but doesn’t change. Getting all your equipment dialed in takes time and makes a lot of people reluctant to change things.

It sounds like a case of too much too soon. Spend some time snorkeling/freediving until you get comfortable in the water and with the equipment. Then add Scuba gear. Take baby steps.

Can you tell us more about the conditions you were diving in?

 

[Courtneychau]

Thanks Akimbo. Should I continue with the course? I don't want to spoil anyone's time next weekend.

In the ocean, the conditions were not ideal. It was quite windy and the visibility wasn't great because of all the sediment circulating through the water. It was difficult to keep track of everyone in the group. So I suppose not great conditions for my first dive.

 

[Allen Herron]

Everyone needs to learn buoyancy control, it takes practice. I wish my legs floated. You can practice mask flooding in the pool, most people don't like it. Your back may have hurt because you were tense or over weighted. I almost gave up diving until I discovered weight integrated BCs. The weight belt pulls down on you even when perfectly weighted but if the weights are in the BC pockets the forces are balanced. Keep trying, you are NORMAL!!!!

 

[Jim Lapenta]

A few questions;
Exactly how much pool training did you do? I just completed an Intro pool session a couple hours ago. The student signed up for an Open Water Class. It will be a total of roughly 16 hours in the pool over 7-8 weeks before he sees open water.
How did your instructor determine you were properly weighted and show you how to determine you were weighted correctly? We spent the first twenty minutes conducting a weight check with out scuba gear then with it.
How were you taught to control your buoyancy? We worked on using breath control since he was weighted correctly and within 15 minutes was swimming neutral and horizontal. He had never used scuba fins before either.
How much time was spent on the academics of diving?
Buoyancy control?
Trim?
Using lung volume to control your position in the water?
Was proper posture discussed?
How much time was spent clearing the mask while snorkeling?
How was it demonstrated on Scuba? In a slow motion way that made it look terribly hard or with a good explanation and demo'd smoothly and quickly? I have seen many people have issued when demonstrated in the latter.
Why were you in saltwater after what sounds like one pool session? That may be ok for some but to me that's nuts. If a student shows any difficulty in the pool there is no way they are going to opne water.
What it sounds like you need to do is find a course and instructor that is not going to rush through the process. Your feet were floating up? What did they do about it or tell you to do about it?

I could go on and on but I would respectfully advise you to get a copy of my book from Amazon. Here's a look at the table of contents below. I don't mince words nor pull punches. I wrote it because of new divers having experiences like yours. With no frame of reference or comparisons to make with other programs people get frustrated, discouraged, angry, take advantage of, and even injured or worse by quickie courses.

You say your instructor was "great". How great? She took you to open water with the difficulties you were having. Doesn't sound great to me. I would have kept you in the pool, and worked with you one on one, and made sure you had no issues before taking you out of it. You also state you kept getting saltwater in your mouth. Why? That sounds like defective equipment. Again, not "great". bIf your back was sore something is not right. The gear, weighting, posture, etc. All of those can be fixed by a great instructor. A mediocre one will tell you "it's normal at first. You just have to work through it, get used to it," or say "I'm not sure."

From my book:
Chapter 1 Safe Diving Practices
Chapter 2 Basic Skills
Chapter 3 Buddy Skills
Chapter 4 Dive Planning
Chapter 5 Gas Management
Chapter 6 “Trust Me” Dives
Chapter 7 When to Get More Training and Why
Chapter 8 Choosing an Instructor
Chapter 9 What Type of Training is Best for You?
Chapter 10 Choosing a Dive Shop
Chapter 11 Gear Selection and Your Dive Shop
Chapter 12 Equipment Options and Information
Chapter 13 Why Dive Locally?
Chapter 14 BASIC Gear Maintenance
Appendix A: SCUBA Terms
Appendix B: Recommended Reading

From the chapter on basic skills, buoyancy and trim section..

........
................ It begins with properly weighting students instead of giving them amounts of weight that plant them on the bottom.

Doing a proper weight check is not difficult, but it does take a little time. There are numerous formulas used by different agencies and instructors for initial weighting. My usual method is to take 5% of the student’s body weight in just a swim suit and start there. I also prefer to use weight belts even with a weight-integrated BC, using the integrated pockets or the pockets of the BC itself to add weight. We then start in the usual manner by having students move into deeper water so that they cannot stand, asking them to take a full breath from the regulator, hold it, and dump all the air from their BCs. Everyone should float at approximately eye-level. At this point, they are asked to exhale and should begin to slowly descend. If not, we will add weight in two-pound increments for anyone who needs it until they do. If anyone sinks like a rock I will not stop there, because divers should be able to descend in a controlled manner, and sinking like a stone is not controlled. I will stop the descent of any over-weighted student and remove two pounds, repeating the process until the proper weight is determined.

Once proper weighting has been roughly established, we will move back into shallow water and work on equalizing and descending in a horizontal position. In this way, we introduce the idea of trim while working on buoyancy. Trim is used to describe the orientation of a diver; the ideal orientation is horizontal because this presents the least amount of drag on the diver. Reduced drag results in less resistance so propulsion is more effective; because less work is required to move through the water, air consumption is reduced. We will discuss more factors affecting trim later in this chapter, but let’s focus on buoyancy right now. ...................


---------- Post added January 3rd, 2015 at 04:50 PM ----------

Thanks Akimbo. Should I continue with the course? I don't want to spoil anyone's time next weekend.

In the ocean, the conditions were not ideal. It was quite windy and the visibility wasn't great because of all the sediment circulating through the water. It was difficult to keep track of everyone in the group. So I suppose not great conditions for my first dive.

This is very disturbing. An instructor took you after one day in the pool into conditions like this? That's bull crap.

 

[SeaCobra]

Courtney, first off, please do not compare yourself to other students. Everyone learns at their own pace and you need to focus in on your skills, comfort, etc. By what little I can glean from your post you sound pretty normal.

My suggestion would be to ask your instructor the same questions you have posted here. Most likely some additional pool time and practice before heading to open water again would be of value.

Can you tell us more about your course so far? How much time have you spent in the pool? How many people are in the group? What region are you - PNW, California, Florida?

 

[CptTightPants21]

A few thoughts.

Most (99.9%?) instructors and shops provide additional pool time at no extra charge to work out kinks and make sure the student is comfortable before doing the open water.

Shore dives with waves, currents, and sand can be a lot for new students, especially ones that are not as comfortable. I take it that you have started your open water dives because you did a "shore dive"?

Buoyancy issues--Where were you diving, what kind of exposure protection, how deep were you? Was it an issue of getting down and staying down or were you constantly seesawing up and down. Most of these issues primarily stem from lack of calmness in the water and your breathing pattern, but if you are doing drills at ~20ft I have seen some student struggle/pop to the surface because they aren't experienced with the large buoyancy swings that occur at that depth due to compression. Are you familiar with all of your BC dump valves to stop yourself when you start to rise?

Mask off drill-Some people just get it and others need extra practice, but it is probably the greatest obstacle to getting certified. There are a variety of methods, from just putting your face in the water on the surface to constant partial floods and clears and building up to a full flood. One suggestion, I usually give when a person is just starting out and they get nervous, is to breathe. As long as you can breathe there is nothing to worry about--doesn't matter how dark or cold anything is, as long as you have air you are fine.

Scuba is not for everyone, but a lot of issues can be fixed with repetition and practice. Bottom line is that you need more pool time before deciding if this is right for you.

I would give a more detailed description of your training and issues that you faced/overcame to give readers a chance to comment and make suggestions to get you more comfortable in the water.

 

[Akimbo]

Thanks Akimbo. Should I continue with the course? I don't want to spoil anyone's time next weekend...

Hard to give you a good answer over the Internet. Talk to your instructor. Maybe she will give you more pool time or let you delay your next dives so you can spend some time snorkeling and getting used to some of your gear.

You can’t learn nearly as much from the experience when you are so distracted by equipment and anxiety.

Question: Do you intuitively understand buoyancy? Very few dive classes teach it worth spit anymore or even mention Archimedes' principle — let alone give you the time in the water to “experience” it.

Do you have access to a swimming pool? Experiment with buoyancy without any equipment just like when Archimedes discovered the principal in a bathtub over 2200 years ago. Relax and float. Notice how you float more when you inhale than when you exhale. Notice the position you float in while motionless in the “dead man position”… probably with your legs and head dangling with your lungs being the most buoyant. Forget the formulas for now, get the “feel” of buoyancy.

You might also have to add a little lead on a belt if you are too buoyant to be neutral at the bottom of a 10' pool. Neutral is when you go motionless without changing your depth, not sinking or ascending. Take the time to notice that you will still float on the surface even when weighted for neutral at 8 or 10'. The air in your lungs will compress, thus you “displace” less water, thus you are less buoyant at the bottom of the pool.

Neutral is not the same as horizontal trim, but an important start. Try moving your weightbelt up and down on your waist and hips to get a sense of how it affects your center of gravity. Don’t worry about perfect trim at this point, just get a sense of how weight distribution works on you.

Then add a mask. It won’t change your buoyancy much but will get the Chlorine out of your eyes and let you start thinking about how well it is sealing to your face. I don’t care how long you have been diving, a bad mask equals a bad dive. Dive to the deep end of the pool and really start to notice the increased pressure that caused your mask to press against your face until you equalize it by exhaling a little through your nose. Also play with clearing water out of the mask until it becomes reflexive rather than a distraction.

Then add fins and a snorkel and repeat. Then add a suit and more weight on your belt to become neutral gain. The idea is to become “at one with the sea”. It isn’t just hyperbole. Maybe this video explains the feeling more than words.

[video=youtube;MDUgLJx7I_Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDUgLJx7I_Y[/video]

 

[CptTightPants21]

One more thing,

Why did salt water keep getting in your mouth? You can purge the reg with your own exhale, you don't need to keep hitting the purge button.

 

[kr2y5]

Your discomfort and anxiety will go away... I did not grow up around water, and when I did my first snorkeling about 4.5 years ago in Hawaii, I was drinking water with pale face and madness in my eyes, fighting with a leaking mask, and generally looking like a person who needed rescue. People constantly kept checking on me and asking if I was OK because I looked really uncomfortable. I also, literally, felt mild anxiety just looking into the deep end of the pool. While snorkeling, I had to avoid the parts with darker blue water, because looking down at it made me feel uneasy. I decided to stubbornly stick with scuba diving regardless, to do the OW and even try some local diving, and I do not even remember when all these problems disappeared.