Dreading Wed. night class

[desksgt]

Hello fellow Pennsylvanian, and welcome to the Scuba Board! I am real glad you asked those questions in your first post, as a metter of fact I'm real glad you joined up! I must agree with the posts ahead of me that stated basically, don't rush and learn at your own pace and confort level. I waited 50 years to go after my OW cert., and finally did so this past August. I did okay in the pool but then in the quarry, I aborted my first OW dive, with zero vis and a mask leak freaked me out a bit. Went back the next night a did the dive, then a second dive and got my cert. a week later. I am so glad I went back that next night, because I really wanted to be a scuba diver. Now I have 72 logged dives and my master diver cert. and am so glad that I didn't try to force the dive that first night. Just take your time and be safe, and enjoy the water. You can feel free to drop me an email if you need to as well. All the Best! Steve

 

[Beej1123]

Many cudos to you for sticking with it, even though things aren't quite as smooth as you'd like.

I can only echo the salient points above:

Make sure that you are doing this for the right reason, i.e. that you want to dive.

Spend time with your instructor and other, more experienced divers, both in person and here. Most of us got over problem with masks and ears and bouyancy and weighting gradually, by learning from each other, by reading, by trying different fixes. The important thing is to keep working at it if this is really something you want to do.

Slow down. Take your time. There's no reason to rush. Ear problems respond especially well to this technique. Try practicing swallowing throughout the day, lowering the back of your tongue so that you can hear the little crackle that says that your eustacian tubes are opening. In the water, equalize early and often. By the time you feel pain, the tissues are already traumatized.

Finally, I found this web site useful. It's a nice little review of issues that one instructor discusses before taking his class for their first open water dive. Hope you find it useful:

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~lpt/friday.htm

Welcome to the board and the sport. You've got a lot of people cheering you on,
Grier

hi,

Thanks for the info. Since I only have 3 classes left, and I am behind 2 classes already, I have decided to continue to go for the classroom part of the course and will pick up the scuba again at the end of summer when the course is offered again. I definitely need more one on one with an instructor. And I don't want to hold my class back. I can take the class as many times as i want (no charge), so I'm going to take advantage of that. The "want" is there in me, but until I can get the ears working right I can't move forward. I'm disappointed in myself, but I'm accepting the fact that I need extra help and time, which, in the long run, will no doubt make me a better diver. I'm so glad for all the responses I've gotten from people on scuba board who have given me encouragement.
THanks.

 

[cal2632]

hi,

Thanks for the info. Since I only have 3 classes left, and I am behind 2 classes already, I have decided to continue to go for the classroom part of the course and will pick up the scuba again at the end of summer when the course is offered again. I definitely need more one on one with an instructor. And I don't want to hold my class back. I can take the class as many times as i want (no charge), so I'm going to take advantage of that. The "want" is there in me, but until I can get the ears working right I can't move forward. I'm disappointed in myself, but I'm accepting the fact that I need extra help and time, which, in the long run, will no doubt make me a better diver. I'm so glad for all the responses I've gotten from people on scuba board who have given me encouragement.
THanks.

I'm a newbie myself and know how you feel. When I read what I would need to do in my OW dives, I thought "No way!". Now that I've completed the pool sessions, I'm thinking "No problem!". I have a little ear difficulty too, plus I wear a beanie which seems to make it harder. My own personal sticking point was the water up the nose thing. The first time I tried to take my mask off and water went up my nose I shot straight for the surface. Now I'm so used to it I just clear my mask without a thought. (Apparently I make 'faces' underwater and keep breaking the seal on my mask). Sometimes I was apprehensive about pool sesssions, thought everyone was doing better than I, etc. I'm glad you're going to give it another try - I'm happy I didn't give up.

Good luck!

 

[GrierHPharmD]

All I can say is that it's admirable that you're both sticking with it and working through the issues rather than giving up. I meet so many people who tell me that they started an OW class (or, more often, a resort course) and couldn't get over the ear thing or the mask clearing or the feel of the BC, etc., so now they don't dive.

What a shame! With a little patience and a reasonably informed instructor or DM, these issues should be able to be resolved in a few additional sessions in the pool.

Best wishes to you both. It's a great sport. And if you're ever in South Florida and in need of a dive buddy, look me up at the Florida Conch Divers forum here. We have members diving almost daily, and they are, for the most part, experienced, well-trained folks who love the sport and want to share the little pearls that make it easy and fun.

Good luck,
Grier

 

[CBulla]

Beej1123 - Patience, practice, and confidence in yourself. You've got the bug and interest, otherwise you'd have opted to not post here about it Based on your desire and support of others here, I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding buddies once you get certified!!! Post a note in the FL Conch Divers section if you take a trip to FL

 

[Beej1123]

Hello fellow Pennsylvanian, and welcome to the Scuba Board! I am real glad you asked those questions in your first post, as a metter of fact I'm real glad you joined up! I must agree with the posts ahead of me that stated basically, don't rush and learn at your own pace and confort level. I waited 50 years to go after my OW cert., and finally did so this past August. I did okay in the pool but then in the quarry, I aborted my first OW dive, with zero vis and a mask leak freaked me out a bit. Went back the next night a did the dive, then a second dive and got my cert. a week later. I am so glad I went back that next night, because I really wanted to be a scuba diver. Now I have 72 logged dives and my master diver cert. and am so glad that I didn't try to force the dive that first night. Just take your time and be safe, and enjoy the water. You can feel free to drop me an email if you need to as well. All the Best! Steve

Hi, thanks for the info. WHere is Myersville? I've decided to finsih up the class room part of instruction and just sit out the next 2 scuba classes and pick it back up again the end of summer when the class starts up again. I am behind in the pool instruction and I don't want to hold the class up anymore. It's disappointing to me, however, I know I need more one on one with my instructor. The scuba part of the class moved too quickly for me and my ear clearing problems just set me way back.
I'll be taking my son to the quarry for his dive test (he's doing great in the class, loves it...already is asking me to take him to Cayman Brac). I did hear that the visibility is poor at the quarry.
I'm determined and won't give up, and the extra time will help me become a better diver.
Thanks again.

 

[mcm007]

I have had people like you in my class before. I don't want to be negative, so I 'll try to put you in other people's fins..

I have seen firsthand people with ear problems , and people who have problems with their mask and other gear. and of course those who need to be held by the hand..

Several points:

1. Perhaps this is big red stop sign telling you that this is not for you.

2. It is a mind over matter thing with breathing under water..

3. If you are having this much trouble in a pool, how much trouble are you going to have in the ocean with seas raging ??

4. Is it really fair to take up everyone else's time who are there to learn ?

It's because of people like you that took up most of my class time, you know the people who spend more time on the surface of the water in class or serious people who
wait and wait for you to be comfortable?

 

[H2Andy]

points 1 through 3 are well taken, but obviously she is asking for help on how to
get past her problems, so what is the point in beating her up for it?

the fact is that you are going to share your class with a bunch of people. some do
hold you up. but let me put you in someone else's fins as well: did it ever ocurr to you
that you most likely are holding others (who learn faster than you) back as well?

your logic, taken to its conclusion, would dictate that all students other than the
fastest learner should just drop out so as not to waste the fastest learner's time.

if slow learners bug you that much, you can always arrange for a private class.

 

[gtxl1200]

I'm a great swimmer spent my whole life in or on the water, it never bothered me. but when I started scuba that all changed and what it was, was my instructor he intimidated me so bad that I couldnt concentrate on what I was supposed to be doing I fumbled around and was like a fish out of water pardon the pun. I would come home everynight from class discouraged and upset at how I thought I was performing but I stuck it out and graduated and got my c-card once I got to dive on my own I was fine like I had been doing it for awhile. My problem was the instructor. So beej you might want to look at that. How is your instructors demeaner towards you. That might be making you nervous. I made the mistake of not telling my instructor this and it might have cost me this wonderful hobby of diving. Think about it and see if talking to him/her might help. On that note I was at a local quarry a couple of weeks ago This quarry does a lot of ow certs there. I was standing on the entrance dock just seeing what was going on. here comes a woman who almost had tears in her eyes heading for the dock. She had trouble with her ears. what is the first thing we learn in class NEVER BE AFRAID TO CALL A DIVE. Well she is sitting on the dock and I'm helping her get her gear off she said she had pain in her ears and they were popping and plugging up. Well about 5 minutes later hear comes her instructor out of the water and this guy was just berrating this poor girl about not doing things right and blah blah blah I was totally mad at this guy for treating a new diver this way not to mentioned it started to bring up my days in class. It was all I could do to not say something to this guy. As I'm walking away I hear him tell her dont take your wetsuit off we'll give you some sudafed and in a half hour your back in the water. So Beej I ask you to ask yourself is your instructor intimidating you. Cause it can make a big difference. I wish now I would have gotten this guys name and is cert agency and reported him.

 

[Foo]

I have had people like you in my class before. I don't want to be negative, so I 'll try to put you in other people's fins..

I have seen firsthand people with ear problems , and people who have problems with their mask and other gear. and of course those who need to be held by the hand..

Several points:

1. Perhaps this is big red stop sign telling you that this is not for you.

2. It is a mind over matter thing with breathing under water..

3. If you are having this much trouble in a pool, how much trouble are you going to have in the ocean with seas raging ??

4. Is it really fair to take up everyone else's time who are there to learn ?

It's because of people like you that took up most of my class time, you know the people who spend more time on the surface of the water in class or serious people who
wait and wait for you to be comfortable?

Why do you think that just because a person doesn't catch on quickly that they are not there to learn? Or that they are not serious? If a person is willing to do all that Beej is doing in order to learn to dive, then it seems to me that he/she is very serious about it and is determined to learn...

Hopefully,you didn't intend to sound rude. Just because a person needs more time does not necessarily mean that they should not dive. Goal setting and working toward them is positive, as we should be toward our fellow divers.


Foo