First Open Water Dive - Exhausted!!!!

[KerriHMI]

Hi Folks just new to the board and in the middle of my PADI open water course.

Did my first open water dive today and was a bit concerned that I was absolutely shattered while on the surface, couldnt seem to get my breath etc. Was fine once I got below the water but my level of exhaustion meant I had to get out of the Lough a little sooner than I would have liked.

Was just wondering is this fairly normal on the first open water or am I just really unfit!!:blinking:

I was a little anxious with it being my first OW dive but at no stage did I panic and like I said I was fine once below water??

Any tips etc on how I can improve for the next dive are very very welcome!!!

 

[BTravlin]

Probably due to everything just being new and you being somewhat anxious. What were the surface conditions, calm or rough? Did you have enough air in your BC to stay at the surface with relative ease? Or could you have been fighting to stay at the surface with no air in the BC? If you had plenty or air then I would think this will get better with time and experience. Stay with it and have fun.

 

[MurkyRockDiver]

Very normal happened to me as well but it will get better, take your time and try and time it so you are not ready before everyone else.

 

[trucker girl]

Welcome to SB! I know that my first open water dives were a bit stressful- just the absolute newness of it got to me. I took private lessons, so it was just me and my instructor, which was helpful. It took me quite a few dives to get over my- for lack of a better word- fear of underwater objects. The sunken boats etc made me nervous- the same when the underside of the boat makes me nervous when I'm at a lake or something.

Anyway- the more you dive the better your nerves will be- if it was indeed nerves (which is what it sounds like in my non-expert opinion). It never hurts to be in better shape, though! Might want to consider joining the SB 7 day x 30 minute cardio challenge. There's no formal join-in, you just start posting. As long as you're healthy enough to exercise, the challenge is to shoot for 30 minutes of cardio (walking, biking, aerobics, whatever) every day. It's like a support group. I post when I can- but I usually don't get my 30 minutes in unless I'm home (over-the-road trucker, here).

 

[KerriHMI]

Thanks everyone for your replies,

The surface was calm enough but parts or the wreck were just below the surface of the water meaning I had to sort of half climb over them to get to the dive site. My BCD was full of air but I had a lot of weight on and 15litre cylinder so I felt as though I was weighed down a little.

Think I just need to get in better shape!!!

 

[SparticleBrane]

Hmm...your BC was "full" and you were wearing "a lot of weights."
I see a potential problem here.

 

[turtledome]

I had a similar experience in my OW. First day with shore dives I was fine. Second day first dive. We were spending alot of time on surface as instructor had us do tasks one by one or in pairs. Water was in 50's and I had on tightish rented fullbody suit and was wearing 26lbs weights. I was fine temperature wise, maybe on warm side. I was well inflated on surface and was catching my breath (I forget why) and found I was breathing hard but not recovering it. It's never happened before or since.

I told instructor who worked with me. We only had one more exercise to do, but as I had no experience with this happening I returned to boat instead. (Instructor informed me I would not get OW certificate if I did that.)

At no time was I aware of being anxious or nervous and certainly did not panic. On the boat it took me 30 minutes to return to regular breathing.

I did pm dive with no problems at all. But due to am dive issue still flunked day 2 dive and had to redo it on a later date. That was calm water no neoprene and I used no more air than my female instructor.

The first OW Instructor did say the water was the roughest/choppiest they had ever done an openwater in, and that was in doing it for around 15 years. But i don't remember that bothering me. I remember just bobbing in the water quite comfy but out of breath. I still wonder what happened. I wonder if the too tight full body suit was part of the problem. I assume better over CV fitness would have kept it from happening. But I still wonder what was up that day.

 

[boulderjohn]

Hmm...your BC was "full" and you were wearing "a lot of weights."
I see a potential problem here.

I, too.

Can you tell us something about your size, the amount of weight you had, and the kind of thermal protection (wet suit/dry suit) you had?

 

[BTravlin]

Thanks everyone for your replies,

The surface was calm enough but parts or the wreck were just below the surface of the water meaning I had to sort of half climb over them to get to the dive site. My BCD was full of air but I had a lot of weight on and 15litre cylinder so I felt as though I was weighed down a little.

Think I just need to get in better shape!!!

Sounds as if you may still need to adjust your weighting for proper buoyancy. New divers tend to stay at the surface for awhile before getting situated and then beginning the descent. As you get your buoyancy and weighting fine tuned things will improve greatly. At the same time, this will allow you to descend much more quickly and not waste energy paddling around on the surface.

 

[MargaritavilleDiver]

Hi Folks just new to the board and in the middle of my PADI open water course.

Did my first open water dive today and was a bit concerned that I was absolutely shattered while on the surface, couldnt seem to get my breath etc. Was fine once I got below the water but my level of exhaustion meant I had to get out of the Lough a little sooner than I would have liked.

Was just wondering is this fairly normal on the first open water or am I just really unfit!!:blinking:

I was a little anxious with it being my first OW dive but at no stage did I panic and like I said I was fine once below water??

Any tips etc on how I can improve for the next dive are very very welcome!!!

Sorry to hear that; I was also exhausted today, it was my 9th dive, me and my buddy swam into the current only about 30 yards and my leg muscles were burning up. When we got back to the boat I was also getting a bout of sea sicknesses (1st ever time) so we called off dive number 10.

I'd exerted myself too much at the gym yesterday, but I didn't feel any difference in my legs before the dive, only when I started working them continuously. Lesson learned.