Encouragement for diving students

[Jocassee Joe]

Jocasseegirl,

I am sorry I did not get to meet you yesterday.Time got away from me and I did not make it to Bill's until about 530 PM. I met some of my Morehead City buddies at the ramp and did 2 great dives with them. For my first dive I hung out with Mark Roth (one of Bermuda Triangle's owners) and did a deep dive with a couple of their advanced students.There were lots of students at the ramp yesterday.Visability was pretty good below 80 feet and very good in the forrest--but it was COLD at 124 feet!

Bill told me he had you meet him on the line to the Lodge as he was doing a deco stop.That must have been something to realize your family's Lodge was just straight down that line another 250 feet or so.Bill told me you had mentioned our chat on the boards but I dont think he had put my name with the face. I just recently started getting my tanks filled at Off the Wall in August of this year---it is just so convenient to get it done on the way home instead of having to drive to Greenville or Spartanburg later in the week.Bill told me you were doing great and you are certainly ready to venture out to the Boat,Skeleton, and upper airplane wing.I am usually at the ramp on Saturdays. Just look for the old, fat guy with his gear on a blue tarp near the ramp. I would be happy to dive with you anytime.We had better enjoy the next few weeks before the lake really starts to cool off.The water is still very nice down to the thermacline and I promise we will not go that deep!

Again, congratulations on your accomplishments and welcome to the wonderful world of scuba,

Joe

 

[Jocasseegirl]

Joe - sorry we didn't meet on Saturday, but Bill cancelled the dive on Sunday, so I figured I would come on home. No point in hanging around an extra day with no diving on the horizon. I had to leave Columbia at 5am that morning - it's a 3-hour drive from Columbia - so I was really bushed. My husband came along and took photos of Saturday's dive. Most of them are on his website www.fletcherimages.com. The dive was rather uneventful, if you can call a 300-foot dive uneventful . . . Bill was hoping to get some great underwater footage of Attakulla Lodge - the viz was great on the bottom - but he dropped the camera and, in the process, the arms that hold the lights got messed up, and the lights were pointing every which way. Bill retrieved the camera and decided to cut the dive short and come on up. I did get to meet him on the upline during his deco -- we're gonna have to find something else to do other than play tic-tac-toe on a slate while he deco's At least I can say "I dove the Lodge!" It was neat, though, knowing that I was hanging from the line that is attached to my beloved Attakulla -- so close - but forever unreachable. I have to live it through my divers' eyes.

I believe the plan is for the gang to meet up there in about 3 weekends - you're right -time is running short for diving Jocassee. Even though the water on the bottom gets warmer, the shallower part where they spend most of their deco gets colder. Sometime in November will probably be the last dive for the season. I'll let you know when I plan to be up there again, and maybe you can stop by Bill's for a chat -- maybe a ramp dive. That would be great!

Deb

 

[ranger]

Congrats Jocassee Girl, now that determination if I've ever heard it. I know Bill, he's a great, easy going guy, and you were lucky to have him for an instructor. Now you need to come to Charleston and get good and salty.

 

[EbonyDiver]

Wow, all of these little stories are encouraging me to hang in there and stay tough! I have run into a few walls (mainly my own ) being scared to death that i would suck in water through my snorkel and choke to death, trying to stop holding my breath while snorkeling, and then the biggest set back.....being allergic to not only latex, but neoprene now as well. Talk about frustartion!! But as i read your past fears and present conquests it encourages me to keep going...no matter what !!! Imagine...this is only going to be week 2 of classes....look out for whatever comes next i guess! lol

 

[wetrat]

Glad you stuck with it Jocasseegirl! You will find your confidence growing with every dive. I live in California and did my OW dives on a boat, so I was nervous about shore diving. The first few times out was scared and tentative but got through it. This weekend, my 26th dive, I faced down six foot waves with no fear! On the dive, we swam down into La Jolla Canyon (San Diego) which was COOOOLD and DAAAARK and DEEEEEP! I kept having to tell myself it was OK and it was! Now I can't wait to go back. Every dive is a learning experience, eh?

wetrat

 

[Jocasseegirl]

Congrats Jocassee Girl, now that determination if I've ever heard it. I know Bill, he's a great, easy going guy, and you were lucky to have him for an instructor. Now you need to come to Charleston and get good and salty.

Everybody seems to know Bill! Where do you dive in Charleston? I know about the Cooper River dives (not quite ready for alligators and black water) :11:

Bill was a terrific instructor - and is a very good friend of mine. We have had quite an adventure together looking for, finding, and exploring Attakulla Lodge. I don't think I would have had the nerve to try scuba without Bill's guidance. I trust him.

 

[Jocasseegirl]

Wow, all of these little stories are encouraging me to hang in there and stay tough! I have run into a few walls (mainly my own ) being scared to death that i would suck in water through my snorkel and choke to death, trying to stop holding my breath while snorkeling, and then the biggest set back.....being allergic to not only latex, but neoprene now as well. Talk about frustartion!! But as i read your past fears and present conquests it encourages me to keep going...no matter what !!! Imagine...this is only going to be week 2 of classes....look out for whatever comes next i guess! lol

Hey, EbonyDiver! Everything you are feeling is very, very, very normal - at least it was for me. Breathing underwater did not come naturally to me -- I really had to work at it. If anybody was watching me on my first lesson, I'm sure they were thinking "there is NO way that lady is going to ever be a diver." It was a fiasco, as far as I was concerned. Check out my husband's website (www.fletcherimages.com) and click on Special Events. The 9-24-05 dive shows some of me -- proof positive that if I can do it, YOU can do it! Take it slow and don't push yourself. You're not in a race with anybody. Keep me posted on your progress! :05:

 

[EbonyDiver]

Well....I beleive I am a water flunkie!!!! I panicked with the regulator and was holding my breath (apparently). It was sooo weird...all of a sudden I felt claustrophobic and it seemed "unnatural" to be trusting a contraption to be giving me air...UGH....Thankfully the assistant instructor spent extra time with me trying to get me to relax and trust the regulator, but I don't know......

This is all normal right? lol.....

 

[Jocasseegirl]

Well....I beleive I am a water flunkie!!!! I panicked with the regulator and was holding my breath (apparently). It was sooo weird...all of a sudden I felt claustrophobic and it seemed "unnatural" to be trusting a contraption to be giving me air...UGH....Thankfully the assistant instructor spent extra time with me trying to get me to relax and trust the regulator, but I don't know......

This is all normal right? lol.....

Ebony Diver - I believe what you are experiencing is very normal. Everyone kept talking about how relaxing it was to be underwater -- hearing only your breathing. Exactly! That is what I DIDN'T like - hearing my own breathing. I thought it sounded like Darth Vader. The sound of breathing was so obvious, that I couldn't relax and put it out of my mind. However, I have found that once I could concentrate on looking at something - a fish in the lake, or even a particular tile on the wall of the pool, I would start to relax - and you will, too. Maybe you need to do what I did and really get comfortable with snorkeling for a while. I remember the first time I set out to snorkel in a pool, I went up there all full of determination that I was gonna lick this thing - but then as soon as I put my face in the water, that same old panic hit, and I began to go through the mental gymnastics of how much I could sell this stuff for on eBay :06: But I decided that - for me - it was a "do or die" proposition, so I made myself keep my face in the water for about 20 minutes to try to give myself time to relax. Eventually, that worked. The next time I snorkeled was in Lake Jocassee. I was in 300 feet of water, so there were no fish to look at - no rock formations, or anything - but I just concentrated on keeping my face in the water and listening to my breathing. I think some of us just take longer to get used to the sound of our breathing, and admittedly it is "harder" to breathe through a snorkel or regulator than it is while you're sitting at your desk. After all, you're essentially sucking air through a straw. I believe if you give yourself some time to get comfortable with it, it will come. And if you decide that diving isn't your thing, that's OK, too! I don't know what your Faith is, but I sang songs in my head that comforted me while I was snorkeling - gave me peace. All that helped me to relax. Some of my tri-mix diver friends have told me that a large part of diving is mental -- and they're right. You do have to trust your equipment - and your training - and that just comes with time and building confidence. Hope this helps a little! Just be assured that there are probably a lot of us divers out there who had some issues to overcome in the beginning. We're rooting for you! Girl, you're a Legal Assistant - if you can work with attorneys, you can do anything (been there, too!)

 

[EbonyDiver]

Hey Jocassegirl!

As always...."Thanks"....I think that you are probably right about my just learning to "relax" Maybe I have to many other thoughts in my head ( I have gone back to school, changing careers) Instead of working with the attorneys....I'll be working with the thugs they have put away....*sigh*.....as one door opens another as opend....I'm hoping the same will be with the diving. I REALLY want to do this....I have big faith so I know that all will be well.....(just have to convince myself....lol) I will try your suggestions of looking at a particular tile on the pool floor...and maybe even ask my instructor about snorkeling some more first...I think I feel a little rushed too...maybe that's the biggest thing....feeling rushed to accomplish this goal....