What hardest thing to overcome as a new diver?

[Tralfamadore]

I would think it's the attitude of experienced divers.

I don't know HOW many times I've been diving in a group that included novice divers and someone apologized to me out of the clear blue for not having enough experience. And that was without me even copping an attitude. Imagine the pressure novice divers must feel when diving around people with an ego.

R..

This. This. This.

Whats the difference between God and a diver? God doesn't think he's a diver.

You would think when diving is literally a hobby just about anyone can partake in there would be a larger sense of community and belonging. Instead too many people have a largely inflated ego because they just so happened to have spent more money on diving.

As for actual skills I'll add another vote to buoyancy. I remember when this just clicked for me. Diving just became so much easier and my air consumption was seemingly cut in half. Everything else just seems to fall in place afterwards.

 

[waynel]

Learning "how to breathe." It all starts there. When fish move up or down in the water column they "inhale" to rise, "exhale" to drop. It was many years ago, but I don't remember my instructor spending a whole lot of time on that. It was an experienced dive who showed me how to, don't freak out..."hold my breath." Taught me how to hold air in my lungs without closing off the airway. Basically keeping your windpipe open and just breathing out as slow as possible. Watch and experienced diver's bubbles. They won't be huger bubbles screaming to the surface, but rather a long, slow, steady stream of tiny bubbles. To be fair to instructors, that's not something you can say to a new diver. That's why they say "never hold your breath." It's something you have to gradually learn. Breathing is key to everything. New divers scull with their hands, and/or work the hell out of the BC inflator/deflator buttons because they haven't mastered breathing yet. Diving was work until I learned how to master my breathing.

 

[DiverDownD3]

Resist the urge to take your GoPro or other underwater camera with you until you really have your buoyancy and situational awareness under control. I have seen a lot of new divers totally screw up their dive profile and put themselves in dangerous situations while trying to take what will likely be crappy pictures.

Agree. When I first got certified I wanted to take video with a GoPro. Video always came out looking like crap, I wasn't focusing on the basics of diving like I should have. The basics is enough task loading for a new diver. Haven't taken it down in a longtime.

 

[rongoodman]

Learning "how to breathe." It all starts there. When fish move up or down in the water column they "inhale" to rise, "exhale" to drop.

Interesting idea since, with a few exceptions, fish don't have lungs.

 

[Hou s4m]

I use those action cameras, picture-mode, as an assisting tool for me to practice controlling my buoyancy. i think it Really works for me.

 

[Altamira]

I use those action cameras, picture-mode, as an assisting tool for me to practice controlling my buoyancy. i think it Really works for me.

Unless someones else is taking a picture of you for buoyancy review, I think your eyes are a better assistant to determine whether you are going up or down with reference to the reef or wall. Once you have your buoyancy dialed in, then take the camera.

 

[kelemvor]

The hardest thing for me to overcome was the cost of scuba gear / training. Other than that, it was learning to relax more in the water.

Same here. Scuba requires cash cash and more cash. Cash for training, cash for gear, cash for boat trips, cash for tank fills, cash for travel and hotels, cash for gear maintenance, cash for upgraded training. All the other stuff like buoyancy etc is overcome by.. spending cash on training, better gear, dive boat rides, dive trips etc... so cash... or credit. Most dive operations accept credit cards

 

[archer1960]

Interesting idea since, with a few exceptions, fish don't have lungs.

Most of them have swim bladders, though, which amount to the same thing for buoyancy purposes.

 

[GlennL]

The hardest thing to overcome is getting off work to go dive! Really though my first thing that freaked me out for about 5 seconds was being in an overhead environment and then diving to depth. After a quick woosah I checked my self mentally. Since then my only issue to overcome is finding a dive buddy and a dependable dive buddy. For example I went just last week and did a drift dive on the Ana Cecilia in west palm. Since I had to rely on the instabuddy I was with who I was with. I was taking a photo of a lobster at about 80ft. My dive buddy was there when I started taking pictures, next thing I know I don't see a soul around me. I found the "group" when someone started banging their tank when they saw a loggerhead turtle. As a new diver having someone there with you is simply comforting. I have since developed a self sufficient mentality even with dive buddies. So the hardest thing as a new diver in my opinion is finding a dependable dive buddy. If your on a charter without your own buddy, then get "paired" with someone else, well everyone has their own priorities. As a new diver you need a sense of security (even if false) to get accustomed to being under water and instilling basic skills. Getting that sense of security to keep you interested in diving is a consideration. People have a sense of security when they are getting certified because they rely on their instructor to save them. But after you get certified and go it alone what then.

 

[arew+4]

As a father of three newly certified teens, I have found that the issues for new divers are as different as the day is long. For one of mine it was breathing, and just relaxing. The boy is in excellent physical condition, but was burning tanks in 35 minutes at an average depth of 40 feet. I took him aside and explained to him that it was not a race, that there was no destination to get to first. Told him to focus on his breathing, in, 1, 2, 3, out, 1, 2, 3, slow and steady. After just a few more dives he had gained another 10-15 minutes per tank. For my daughter, it was buoyancy and trim, she tended to remain upright, and was making large frequent adjustment to to her BC, got get making smaller inputs and giving it time between as well as getting her to turn head down to spread the air out in the BC. Steadily improving.
For my younger son, it was overly aggressive equalization of his ears, over pressurizing them just below the surface causing discomfort followed by concern. And a bunch of up and down on decent. His other issue is minding his depth, he seems almost too comfortable one he is down. A computer with audible alarms will help with this but I'm working on building habit strength to get him to check gauges more frequently.