Are there people who just CANNOT dive?

[Colombo]

I've just introduced myself by saying I may become a diver... Or not. Anyway, I apologise for the long posting below. I suppose few people will read to the end.

My third OWD course will start on 5th July. And I'm starting to wonder whether I'll ever make it or not. I'm not upset about it, not at all, since it's something I more or less expected. I'm the sort of person who's always been useless at any sort of physical activity. As you can imagine, I've never been too kind on it, but that doesn't mean I don't like certain sports. Most of the times I just assume I won't be able to do whatever it is, and do nothing about it. Some times I try. Of these, most of the times I fail miserably, and a few times I succeed after putting in much more effort than the rest (and when I say I "succeed", I mean at a very low level: it took ages for me to learn to ride a bike, and that means that now I'm able to wobble my way from here to there, but not much more).

It's over 25 years that the idea of diving crossed my mind. But I quickly put it in the "impossible" list, and there it remained until last summer. After a very stressful year at work, I decided to try something that might help me disconnect from what had become a very unhappy life. And it's diving I decided to have a go at.

My first OWD course took place in July 2020. It was a disaster, but I expected it to be so. I noticed some improvement in the second (August 2020), but not much. And now that I have time to attend the course again, I'm trying for the third time. It's been a long time since the last course, but my working schedule doesn't allow me to do the courses except in the summer (though if I ever get the certificate, I won't have trouble diving at the weekend most of the year).

As I said, I'm not upset, or depressed about being so useless. I am like that, and that's all there is to it. What I dislike is people who, with the best of intentions, try to encourage me (when I don't think I need any encouragement) saying things like "Come on, I'm sure you won't be as bad as you say you are" or "Everybody can do this". They have known me for half an hour, and they know more about me than myself? Do they believe I'm a liar when I say I'm very, very bad at any type of sport? Some people tell me that I put too much emphasis on my shortcomings, but that's not true. It's only that I don't hide them (of course, I don't walk around with a placard listing them round my neck, but when they are pertinent, I will mention them). I don't want to cheat anyone, least of all myself.

I'm wondering whether you'd be so kind as to give me your opinion on how likely it is that someone with my problems will ever succeed. Of course, it's probably my instructor I should be discussing this with, and I intend to do so at the end of the upcoming course (which, honestly, I don't think I'll pass), but I'd like to be a bit informed before. I'm sure he's not the type of guy who's interested only in money, but maybe he just doesn't want to be the one who makes me give up, and is waiting for me to realise I should.

The main problems I've encountered during my two courses are:

1) I don't seem to be conscious of my body's position. For example, when we jump into the water, we are told to keep straight with the tip of the fines pointing backwards, and move them just enough to keep our heads more or less on the surface level while the instructor tells us what we're going to do. But the instructor keeps on yelling at me "Don't curl up!" (which half of the times surprises me because I'm not aware I'm doing so). Or, for example, when we are diving underwater, he asks us to try to keep as horizontal as possible. And suddenly, when I think I'm doing so, he starts pulling my legs upwards, so much so that I feel I'm almost doing a headstand.

2) I'm the most uncoordinated person alive. I'll give you some examples. When we are asked to go downwads slowly with our legs bent backwards so we'll end up kneeling on the bottom of the swimming pool, I cannot keep that position, and I always end up sitting. When we're floating on the surface listening to the instructions for the next exercise, I'm unable to keep myself roughly in the same spot, so I wander randomly against other people, or against the walls of the swimming pool. When we've practised putting the BCD on inside the water, every single time the instructor has had to pull me towards the edge of the swimming pool so he could help me because I cannot jump and sit on it, or find the holes to put my arms in, or fasten anything.

3) I'm completely unable to breathe underwater without the mask on. I cannot figure out what I am doing wrong. Here's where I've noticed some improvement between the first and second courses. In the second, I went so far as to swim all the length of the pool without the mask, opening my eyes half of the time (great novelty!) and squeezing my nose with my fingers. But the moment I remove my hand, water gets in. Anyone would say I'm obviously breathing through my nose. But when I practise with the snorkel, if I submerge my face slowly until my nostrils are underwater, I can breathe through my mouth for as long as I want (so it seems I'm able to choose to breathe only through my mouth). If I go a little bit more downwards, at the point the water reaches just below my eyes, I feel and hear a bubble inside my nose, and at that point water comes in and everything up to a point behind my eyes starts to smart terribly.

As I said, I don't think I'll pass the third course. I'll be happy if I manage to do everything as well (or as badly) as I did last year. But do you think it'd be wise to call it a day afterwards? I'm willing to go on as much as needed to get to the end but there's a possibility that I won't get farther than one point, no matter how much I try.

Thanks if you've read so far, sorry if you've found it too boring.

 

[Julius SCHMIDT]

Great post, I think it would be best to consult an attitude adjustment specialist, and after the completion of this thread you could offer it up as subject matter for someones psychology thesis, keep at it. Best wishes.

 

[chillyinCanada]

You need a different instructor.

Am I correct in understanding that you keep going back to the same one?

If so, please get a new one.

A lot of people here on Scubaboard believe that teaching divers to kneel on the bottom to do their skills is the old fashioned way and that diving should be taught without touching the bottom.

Regardless, you need a different instructor, no matter what.

Are you able to find a different instructor in your neighborhood?

 

[Colombo]

You need a different instructor.

Am I correct in understanding that you keep going back to the same one?

If so, please get a new one.

A lot of people here on Scubaboard believe that teaching divers to kneel on the bottom to do their skills is the old fashioned way and that diving should be taught without touching the bottom.

Regardless, you need a different instructor, no matter what.

Are you able to find a different instructor in your neighborhood?

Yes, it's always the same. There's no one else around but, besides, he has a very good reputation, and people come from other places to learn diving with him. He makes us kneel on the bottom for just a very short time, and for very specific exercises. For example, the first time we took our masks off, it was kneeling: while so, he explained how to emtpy the mask, then we did it once, and directly afterwards, we swam (I mean they, not me) two lengths of the swimming pool without the mask, and put it back again. Just afterwards, we knelt again so he could explain to us how to share the air source, we did it a couple of times, and then we did the two lengths doing the same. He certainly doesn't have us kneeling much time, just enough to do something for the first time and get used to it.

By they way, I forgot to mention another of my problems: I need more weigh than others (6 kg instead of 2 kg, in the swimming pool and with no neoprene). My instructor says it's because I fill my lungs too much, but I really believe I breathe normally (but then, I play the trombone, which might explain it, since I've got used to breathing deeply even when not playing).

Anyway, I'll try to locate a different instructor somewhere else, just in case.

Great post, I think it would be best to consult an attitude adjustment specialist, and after the completion of this thread you could offer it up as subject matter for someones psychology thesis, keep at it. Best wishes.

I cannot really figure out whether you're making fun of me or seriously giving this piece of advice. Though I think most of my problems are physical, of course I might need to have my head checked. I don't see it as a problem, but it might be. In fact, I'm sort of optimistic about it all, because if I haven't given it up yet, it's because I haven't decided it's completely impossible, and that's something for someone like me. Anyway, sometimes you're the last to know.

 

[ginti]

Great post! Giving you the right suggestion is problematic from the other side of the screen, but I'll tell you what I think. FYI, I was in a similar position to you until the end of high school, then I got tired of always being the worst in everything, and I decided to change my attitude. I started doing A LOT of sport, and now I am still far from being the best in my sport-groups, but my groups are well above the average... not bad I cannot say from my comfortable chair whether your problems are the same that I had, so take my suggestions with caution.

First of all, I would discuss with a life/personal coach; the way you are writing the post seems that you may struggle to find the right motivation to do things, maybe because you face more difficulties than the others.

Secondly, find an instructor who teaches in neutral buoyancy (e.g. no kneels on the bottom); if, as you are saying, the time you spend on your kneels is very little, this shouldn't be a significant concern, but how can you estimate how much is "very little"? In this regard, where are you located? (you speak about kg, so I guess not US or UK)

Third, about the weights, do not worry too much; be sure that you are doing some proper weight check: you need to be able to descend at the beginning of the dive with empty lungs and need to hold a safety stop at three meters with your tanks almost empty without surfacing. If you are negative during the safety stop with nearly empty tanks, you probably need less weight.

 

[SlugLife]

You may wish to seek assistance from a therapist of some sort. What I'm observing is you have significant levels of self-doubt, and that may impact you far more than your actual abilities or skills. Based on my conversations with scuba-instructors, the most common cause of failure in early scuba-classes, is a direct result of one's state of mind, such as panicking easily.

One of the best ways to remain safe underwater is to remain calm, and to make your actions slower and more deliberate. You want to stop, remain calm, analyze the situation, think, then act (and repeat if necessary). Even a scenarios like being entangled, running out of air, equipment failure, and loss of visibility are better addressed by a calmer, slower, and more deliberate actions.

The same mindset is good for doing skills as part of a class. Don't rush the skills, take your time. For example, your instructor asks you to do a mask-flood and clear. Before you do anything, pause, and remember what you're supposed to do. "Remove mask enough to flood, slightly tilt mask, blow out nose, it might take a few exhalations to completely clear." Now that we've remembered what to do, then we do the skill, at a slow-ish pace (not rushed)

The majority of scuba-instructors aren't in it for money, because it really doesn't pay well. (Though the dive-agencies might be making good money). You may still wish to switch instructors, simply because your instructor's teaching style may be incompatible with your learning-style.

"1) I don't seem to be conscious of my body's position."

To be fair, the pools are relatively confined & the first position you described aren't really used outside class. Maintaining this vertical position in a pool, with long fins extending from your feet is somewhat of a pain. I absolutely despite kneeling with fins on the bottom of a pool.

For normal diving you should try to never touch the bottom & use horizontal trim for the majority of the dive. For horizontal-trim, the best horizontal trim is slightly tilted past horizontal, and slightly head down. Horizontal trim is also impacted by your gear, and the location of weight and buoyancy. For example, heavy fins will naturally tilt you more head-up.

2) Even experienced divers sometimes struggle with their equipment getting a little twisted and tangled, or finding the arm-hole, including my highly experienced dive-buddy. You might have that problem a little more than average, but it's not the end of the world. You might see if the dive-shop where you're doing training will let you practice putting on and taking off the equipment.

3) I feel the third issue will go away with practice. Though I can't think of a time I've actually scuba-dove without a mask, other than basic mask-clearing. In part because I'd probably lose my contacts.

 

[Julius SCHMIDT]

Why on earth would i be making fun of someone with your depth of problems. I'm quite cognizant that the seriousness of your situation must be resolved in order for you to be successful and avoid any life threatening incidents occurring.
If you would like a basic answer to your thread title, that may even provide some comfort I would say there are very many people who just cannot dive including some divers

 

[girlwithbigtanks]

I would work on some kind of mind body connection first. Something not dangerous or threatening like Yoga. As a student in scuba you sound like what I would refer to as a “wet noodle”. You need to engage your body. Don’t tell the Yoga instructor that you are useless or he//she will give you extra attention, just hide in the back and figure out how your body works.

 

[CuzzA]

Diving is not for everyone. I don't think it is for you, and there's nothing wrong with that. I am not of the belief that "anyone can dive." The truth is some people shouldn't be diving and of those I'm sure a good percentage become a statistic.

If physical things are difficult on land, like riding a bike, they are ten times harder underwater and especially during stressful situations which at some point you will likely face a stressful situation if you do enough dives.

I can't sugar coat it, there's a million other hobbies and activities out there. Surely one of them will have your name on it and bring you joy and satisfaction rather than frustration and possibly hurt yourself.

 

[Ana]

I don't think diving is for everyone. I know some instructors take pride on "teaching" people scare of the water to get a OW card, when I hear that I wonder what's going to happen to this individuals or their buddies when Mr. Instructor is not right there next to them.
Not implying that you are scare, but for whatever reason this isn't clicking for you.

You say there's no other instructor around, from that I'll infer that in order to go diving travelling will be necessary. So it isn't like you'll see people going diving every morning on your way to work and wonder if you are missing something.

Give it a try this 3rd time if you already have it set up, but I think using the same instructor may make matters worse. He/She already has a first impression of you, and there's a risk that you not making it translates into a failure for this instructor, just my opinion.

You know yourself, like you mentioned above. People tells you "Sure, you can do it" after 30 minutes of meeting you. Here you'll have a similar situation with posters that will give you a solution after reading a few paragraphs of your initial post.

Hope things work out and you can find a way to decompress, even if it isn't diving.