gryffin
Contributor
Hi all:
My husband and I are recently certified. We did our OW in the Carribean in the spring and just completed our AOW, again in the Caribbean. We each have about 18 dives now, including our training dives.
After our OW, I felt that there were gaps in our training- and that we were not as self-sufficient as I thought we should be. During most of the dives, I struggled with the following issues: equalization problems/ear discomfort, mask filling, difficulty descending.
We enjoyed it though, and we planned another dive trip to the Caribbean in the fall. We managed to go on only one dive locally between the two trips- and during that dive, I again struggled with my mask filling and with equalization. I spent some time in the pool the following weekend to try to address these issues and thought I had them figured out.
The shop we booked in the Caribbean recommended that we do our AOW on our trip so that we could get more diving in under the supervision of an instructor. I also figured it would help fill in any gaps in our OW training. We did a refresher shore dive on our first day and then did two, 2-tank boat dives to complete the firsts 4 dives of our AOW (Buoyancy, Fish ID, Deep and Navigation). The first dive each day was deeper: 80-90 ft, the second each day was shallower: 40-60 ft. Unfortunately, I continued to have trouble with my mask filling and equalization during all of these dives. I also had trouble descending. I also started to develop a bit of anxiety about whether I could really deal with an unexpected problem under water. I did, however, manage to enjoy the diving despite these issues. Our last AOW was to be a night shore dive. I was a bit anxious about it, but willing to try it and planned to abort if I didn't feel comfortable. I ended up not being able to equalize- with every attempt my mask would fill- and I inhaled some seawater at 20ft- panicked a little and finally aborted.
The next day was a planned rest day, which was to be followed by two more days of 2-tank boat dives. After the aborted night dive, my ears had been bothering me and I had some anxiety about possibly panicking again. I wasn't sure whether I should continue to dive on this trip.
On the following day- I was able to equalize on the surface, so I decided that I would skip the first deeper dive of the trip, but that I would attempt the second shallower dive and try to complete my AOW with a boat dive. I borrowed a mask from the dive shop since mine was clearly not fitting correctly. The dive ended up being the best so far of the trip. I asked for a little more weight to help with descent, surface swam to the mooring buoy and used the mooring line as a reference so I could go slowly to help with equalization. (On the previous dives, we had been asked to descend to 15-20 ft right after entering the water from the stern and then swim underwater to the mooring line at the bow- this hadn't worked well for me since I was struggling to stay down and having trouble with equalizing). I finally had no equalization issues and only an occasional slow leak from the side of the mask- easy enough to deal with.
I spent the afternoon mask shopping to find a better fit than the prior masks I had tried. I also switched to a smaller mouthpiece for my regulator.
The next day, I followed the same plan- I skipped the deeper dive and did the shallower dive with my updated equipment- it was again a very successful experience- no mask filling, perfect equalization and a comfortable descent/ascent along the mooring line.
While everything worked out well in the end, and overall, we had a good time, I feel like the most of the diving we have done- including our training dives, have been more "trust-me" dives than real training. For example, we did the peak performance bouyancy dive as part of AOW, but we never did the weight check part, though we did do a hover exercise. Most of the dive was just following the instructor on a tour of the reef. The shop we used is very highly rated- maybe most people prefer to maximize the playtime.
I worked through the issues I was having on my own, the dive instructor we were working with didn't seem to be able/willing to give me suggestions (though they were aware of the issues).
I continue to feel like there are real gaps in our training that I need to rectify to be a more confident diver. I tend to be an anxious person, and diving definitely pushes me out of my comfort zone. I enjoy touring underwater when everything is going well, but I do worry that if something unexpected happened, I would panic and not be able to deal with the situation. I think that training and experience will help with this, but I'm struggling to figure out how to get that training and experience.
We would like to plan another dive trip for the spring, and I'm looking for suggestions on a good place in the Caribbean for a novice/beginner diver to get more experience doing easy dives. I'd also be interested in any other ideas for helping to increase my skills/improve my confidence.
Thanks!
My husband and I are recently certified. We did our OW in the Carribean in the spring and just completed our AOW, again in the Caribbean. We each have about 18 dives now, including our training dives.
After our OW, I felt that there were gaps in our training- and that we were not as self-sufficient as I thought we should be. During most of the dives, I struggled with the following issues: equalization problems/ear discomfort, mask filling, difficulty descending.
We enjoyed it though, and we planned another dive trip to the Caribbean in the fall. We managed to go on only one dive locally between the two trips- and during that dive, I again struggled with my mask filling and with equalization. I spent some time in the pool the following weekend to try to address these issues and thought I had them figured out.
The shop we booked in the Caribbean recommended that we do our AOW on our trip so that we could get more diving in under the supervision of an instructor. I also figured it would help fill in any gaps in our OW training. We did a refresher shore dive on our first day and then did two, 2-tank boat dives to complete the firsts 4 dives of our AOW (Buoyancy, Fish ID, Deep and Navigation). The first dive each day was deeper: 80-90 ft, the second each day was shallower: 40-60 ft. Unfortunately, I continued to have trouble with my mask filling and equalization during all of these dives. I also had trouble descending. I also started to develop a bit of anxiety about whether I could really deal with an unexpected problem under water. I did, however, manage to enjoy the diving despite these issues. Our last AOW was to be a night shore dive. I was a bit anxious about it, but willing to try it and planned to abort if I didn't feel comfortable. I ended up not being able to equalize- with every attempt my mask would fill- and I inhaled some seawater at 20ft- panicked a little and finally aborted.
The next day was a planned rest day, which was to be followed by two more days of 2-tank boat dives. After the aborted night dive, my ears had been bothering me and I had some anxiety about possibly panicking again. I wasn't sure whether I should continue to dive on this trip.
On the following day- I was able to equalize on the surface, so I decided that I would skip the first deeper dive of the trip, but that I would attempt the second shallower dive and try to complete my AOW with a boat dive. I borrowed a mask from the dive shop since mine was clearly not fitting correctly. The dive ended up being the best so far of the trip. I asked for a little more weight to help with descent, surface swam to the mooring buoy and used the mooring line as a reference so I could go slowly to help with equalization. (On the previous dives, we had been asked to descend to 15-20 ft right after entering the water from the stern and then swim underwater to the mooring line at the bow- this hadn't worked well for me since I was struggling to stay down and having trouble with equalizing). I finally had no equalization issues and only an occasional slow leak from the side of the mask- easy enough to deal with.
I spent the afternoon mask shopping to find a better fit than the prior masks I had tried. I also switched to a smaller mouthpiece for my regulator.
The next day, I followed the same plan- I skipped the deeper dive and did the shallower dive with my updated equipment- it was again a very successful experience- no mask filling, perfect equalization and a comfortable descent/ascent along the mooring line.
While everything worked out well in the end, and overall, we had a good time, I feel like the most of the diving we have done- including our training dives, have been more "trust-me" dives than real training. For example, we did the peak performance bouyancy dive as part of AOW, but we never did the weight check part, though we did do a hover exercise. Most of the dive was just following the instructor on a tour of the reef. The shop we used is very highly rated- maybe most people prefer to maximize the playtime.
I worked through the issues I was having on my own, the dive instructor we were working with didn't seem to be able/willing to give me suggestions (though they were aware of the issues).
I continue to feel like there are real gaps in our training that I need to rectify to be a more confident diver. I tend to be an anxious person, and diving definitely pushes me out of my comfort zone. I enjoy touring underwater when everything is going well, but I do worry that if something unexpected happened, I would panic and not be able to deal with the situation. I think that training and experience will help with this, but I'm struggling to figure out how to get that training and experience.
We would like to plan another dive trip for the spring, and I'm looking for suggestions on a good place in the Caribbean for a novice/beginner diver to get more experience doing easy dives. I'd also be interested in any other ideas for helping to increase my skills/improve my confidence.
Thanks!