1st day in the pool...Yikes!

[sillyal]

Today was my very very first day in the pool with my instructor. Technically, classes don't start until next week but since I had time, he took me in, we worked on clearing the mask and he got me breathing at the bottom of the shallow end with the scuba gear.
Everytime we started crawling towards the deep end, I panicked. My breathing went crazy (he said I would breath 3 times for every 1 breath he took). Since I left the pool, I keep saying that it'll get easier and that i'm sure the panic is normal, but I'm freaked out.

I really want to dive. I've been snorkeling for a long time and thought this would be an easy transition, but I'm scared that maybe I won't be able to do it now. Is this normal?

Any advise or stories of your issues would be greatly appreciated.

 

[TMHeimer]

Well, I sort of had the opposite situation. Always got nervous when swimming or snorkelling in water that got a bit over my head (though I consider myself extremely comfortable in general in water of all types since childhood). Ashamed to say it STILL gives me the willies at times. Yet I've been very deep on scuba often with none of that. Hard to explain. Maybe it's because I know that without scuba I only have the air in my lungs and am not great at holding my breath very long. Maybe a way into scuba for you would be to very gradually increase your depth. I know this is unlikely during the class, as your pool sessions and OW checkout dives may be to 15- 20 feet. But if you can get through that, maybe just do a lot of shallow dives for a while. Good luck.

 

[daz88]

yeap totally normal. just try and relax. (easier said than done) Just relax and tell yourself you're having fun dammit. After a couple of weeks of class you'll wonder how you felt like that your 1st time in the pool. good you're getting a head start. have fun, enjoy...and relax.

 

[k ellis]

You have to remember that from an early age forward most people are taught to respect water and that one can drown easily. When we begin doing things that are very unnatural to us such scuba diving there is a natural hesitance to learning the sport. It takes time and patience and your not the first one to notice heavy breathing as a beginner.

When I first started scuba diving I could not even swim to save my life but a kind hearted instructor took time out of his busy day to teach me how to wing it and learn to float. After that I put 2 and 2 together and just learned swimming on my own.

My advice to you is as simple as it can be and thats just like the others have stated and thats go just to the depth your comfortable (During training discuss this with your instructor) there is one lady diver I know who has been certified for quiet some time and she just does not believe in anything deeper then about 30 feet.

Remember the rules of scuba diving. Its meant to be fun, its meant to be relaxing and its meant to be safe. If ever one of the 3 things is missing its ok to abort the dive too as your safety comes first.

Relax and let the instructor work with you and you will get it just be patient.

 

[Markrobert]

i was exactly that way! i was getting so mad at myself that i was ready to give in but i knew how much i loved seeing the ocean and scuba diving is something that i know i will enjoy! You have to relax! cant say that enough! convince yourself that you CAN do this! go spend extra time in the pool as you are doing, I find that if i find something to keep my mind off of breathing so much it helps me out a bunch! Check your gauges you need to do that any way so let that occupy your mind! Look at the other people in the pool! any thing to relax and take your focus off only breathing! It can be done i just finished my 3rd dive of the four for the open water certification and if you would have seen it you probably would have never believed the shape i was in two weeks ago! You can do it just take it slow!

 

[Markrobert]

I was exactly that way! i was getting so mad at myself that i was ready to give in but i knew how much i loved seeing the ocean and scuba diving is something that i know i will enjoy! You have to relax! cant say that enough! convince yourself that you CAN do this! go spend extra time in the pool as you are doing, I find that if i find something to keep my mind off of breathing so much it helps me out a bunch! Check your gauges you need to do that any way so let that occupy your mind! Look at the other people in the pool! any thing to relax and take your focus off only breathing! It can be done i just finished my 3rd dive of the four for the open water certification and if you would have seen it you probably would have never believed the shape i was in two weeks ago! You can do it just take it slow!

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Maybe taking you on scuba to the deep end was just too much for you at that point in time.

Have you completed all of the readings that would prepare you for the first confined water class session?
If you haven't, I'm not surprised that you had an anxiety-ridden response to your first underwater breathing experience.

It sounds like you were pretty comfortable in the shallow end. Perhaps you should stay there for a while until the extreme novelty wears off.

I don't know how large your OW class is. If the class starts to outpace your level of comfort, then you might want to consider a private or semi-private class setting.

 

[XF15-Loader]

Try concentrating on something other than the fact that youre going to the deep end of the pool. Listen to your breathing, think about the feeling of weightlessness or the feeling of being coddled in your BCD. Having just finished my pool time myself, I am no expert but these are some of the things that helped me during pool time.

 

[Frosty]

Hey sillyal --How much water do you need? -say 3foot by 3 foot x 6 foot. You have air and you can see -who cares where that 3x3x6 is? --i'm not really saying it prpperly I'm sorry but ya get the point?

 

[ThomasScherrer]

what you are affraight of, is you can not get to surface
if the air supply stop for whatever reason,
the trick is to make you know and see you can do that,
and also make you thrust the air supply works, and can be found and reinseted into mouth.
the more confident you get at low depth, the sooner you can go deeper.

when I try out scuba with friends in a pool, I simply let them hold the ladder, and just put the head under water first,
after awhile they slowly crawl longer and longer down the ladder, build up confidence
and after a while they sit on the bottom laughing and enjoying it.

just ask for more time, go as slow as needed, newer push your limit, just to make the pace of course or others,
that is only money and a few more days, you will manage that.

the kind of mind and person the instructor is, is also important to make you feel relaxed and safe,
let him hold your shoulder or even better, you hold his, and close eye contact,
so he can see you are fine, then you feel much more safe.