oh god ! trying out for adv.class, i suck help!!!!

[Danielle's_Dives]

I agree with the above poster, practice on land for a while. If you have kids, get them involved they may enjoy it! The more you dive, the more nav comes second nature. I have not done my advanced...yet. But I did do the night and Nav when I did my open water cert in Nicaragua. Scared to death on the night as it was my first and the nav part, I actually did well. It is quite simple, do a square, do a triangle then go for dive and find way back to boat. They spent about 20 minutes on land with me. You can watch around you and also, FYI on a clear dive, you can see the anchor of the boat.
For Nav, some simple rules, parallel lines on sand to shore. sea fans and whips tend to flow parallel to shore. looking back I was way to freaked out for what it actually required of me. You will feel quite proud after you prove to yourself you can do it. Just don't panic.
My husband is my dive buddy and he does most of the gear assembly and disassembly. I always have to stop and think when I do it while it is second nature to him. He carries the dive flag a lot so I will do the nav many times.
I can't help you with dry gear at all. That is a mystery to me.
Good luck and let us know how it goes!

 

[Descending]

Just wanted to send out a "kudos" to you for recognizing that there are areas in which you are dependent on your SO, and are taking the steps to improve on! It's nice to have a SO as a buddy, but heaven forbid something happens, we want to be able to have the knowledge and skill to properly handle a situation as safe as possible. We owe it to our "buddies" whoever they are!

The nav skills took me longer to get down. I learned with a male buddy who was amazing with all of my questions, and very patient in every aspect of learning to dive. EXCEPT navigation. I did not realize how dependent on him I was until I moved to Florida, went on dives without him, and had to learn to use a compass. I got the hang of it, and it was not as daunting of a task as I thought it would be.

Congrats again on taking this step, and have fun with it!

 

[TSandM]

Well, my first reaction may be in part due to the lack of punctuation -- but your posts sound breathless and anxious! Remember that dive classes are just dive classes, and not examinations that will ruin your life. Advanced open water is often taught to people straight out of their first class, so most instructors are not expecting a high level of performance going into the class, and they certainly expect to teach the skills you are supposed to learn.

That said, I think your family may have a point. There is no reason to raise your stress level, which is already high because of the solitary travel and diving with unfamiliar people, by trying to rush into unfamiliar equipment. Spend some time on the dry suit, getting comfortable with it and learning what insulation you need under it to stay warm and comfy. Classes are not fun when you are wet or cold -- believe me, I know!

Take some time in the meantime to work on your fitness and strength, too. If you have been letting your husband do the heavy lifting for you, now's the time to take some of that over. Although diving is a buddy sport, most of us don't really expect to have to handle our teammate's gear for them, unless someone is injured and that is arranged ahead of time (she says, having done just that today).

Take small steps, and think about each thing in this whole process that you find anxiety-provoking, and come up with a strategy to defuse that anxiety. Whether it's making your travel arrangements well ahead of time, or even making the trip once before your class; or becoming more familiar with your gear, or even going and diving the sites you'll use in class ahead of time -- whatever it takes to allow you to do this with confidence and a clear mind, so you can focus and enjoy your class time.

 

[j2s]

Take a deep breath, relax, go at your own pace...It's not a race or a contest....It's a never ending journey in an AMAZING world ;D !!!!!!

 

[hummer]

i have been doing alot of thinking and wondering why i am expecting so much of myself so fast ?i like to be good at what i do i like practise .when i am diving with others with more experience i find myself trying always to catch up. me i like to do a dive over again b/c i miss stuff the first time trying to do well and keep up ,not lose my buddy.if i go back i know the terrain and i feel more relaxed and i learn more each time, i feel like a sponge to learning .when i decided to try the first course i had to take it in small hurdles and im just going to have to do that again .i guess like they say slow and steady wins the race. heehee. i want this to be an adventure for me not a terrible thing just to get through. i want to enjoy to dive and if slow is the way i have to do it so be it .fist thing i did was sent my bcd and regs over to get ready for dive season the i will find a way to get over there and get help from the dive shop on what to fit underneath my suit and maybe a lesson in the pool on drysuits then my hub and i are going to take a few dives with some divers i know who all use some kind or other of a drysuit and right now im working on brushing up on useing my dive planner and watching how to use a compass and review dive skills on youtube .who knew youtube would come in so handy eh! thanks to everyone for the replies i guess i was sounding a bit paniced because i was .

 

[Selchie in LB]

I haven't read the whole thread, but from what I have read:
1) YOU rock! I started diving at 51 and have not stopped.
2) Any additional training is worth it - more time in the water.
3) Please keep us updated on your progress.
4) I switched to drysuit recently and so far have not had a run-away (fingers crossed).
5) Diving has allowed me to become more outgoing & ask a lot of questions or just eavesdrop!
6) Have FUN.

 

[TSandM]

You know, there is nothing wrong with going slowly, whether that's with training or on any particular dive. If you like to move slowly underwater, see if you can find a photographer for a dive buddy! They can almost never find anyone who likes to go as slowly as they do. I really like diving as a photographer's spotter -- they settle in to take a bunch of pictures of something, and I case the immediate vicinity for the next subject.

May I respectfully ask a favor of you? Your posts would be much easier to read if they were punctuated a little.

 

[thirdcoastdiver]

she was so nice i was the worst in the class .i sucked so bad even i knew i sucked my teacher didnt have to say anything ,and that was just in the pool lol went out for the first boat dive dove off the water was rough ,paniced and got back in the boat. but i never gave up went to pool and practised alot of morning 6am took open water dives in mexico passed and tada! got my ow.lic.im like a dog with a bone i just hope i didnt bite off more than i can chew this time

I spend a lot of time working with teaching theory and how students learn. Some students don't need to study or work hard in the class. Others will struggle with content and skills during the course. If you test them 6 months later, the students who had to work really hard in the class will typically have much higher retention of material and skills than the students that didn't need to work hard to get through the class. I had to work really hard to get through my OW, and AOW classes. The rest of the students in the course made it look easy.....I'm still diving, they aren't. You have the drive to dive and become a better diver. Nothing can stop you unless you let it! Go for it! You will do well in the end, even if you have to work harder than anybody else in the beginning.

 

[Shasta_man]

Kudos for your self initiative on improving your skills and working on areas of improvement. The best thing you can do is learn all those skills to take care of yourself. Then you can take of others too, if the need arises. I do have to disagree with TSandM, photogs move slowly but you will be bobbing on the surface before they'll notice you're gone.

 

[hummer]

heehee ,sorry about the punctuations TSandM.I tend to write as i speak , all in a staight line ,then as i get stressed, get faster.lol I am turnning 50 next month, and i think this is one of the reasons, for my big push to finally do this for me and to help how i feel about myself,myself-confidence.my freinds tell me 50 is just another year older and you're just as old as old as you feel,but for some reason this is a big mile stone for me.maybe im scared i wont pass the medical one of these times , or maybe be to old to dive or do anything sighhhh . i live in a small community divers are as scarse as hens teeth. woman divers, nil to non existant .woman in my community my age ,bake ,sew,volunteer for the community, quilt, knit, for hobbies. Don't get me wrong it's just not for me yet , i want to do some wild and interesting things, makes my life interesting ,i find as i've gotten older, i need that in my life i've raised 4 daughters now its for me, hub is just as happy to watch t.v.