Panic in Poor Viz

[KerriHMI]

Went diving yesterday in Strangford Lough, and even though I am normally a perfectly calm diver and nothing much phases me I have now found my achillies heel when diving... The visability was less than one meter and by the time I had got to 10m's down I was on the verge of full scale panic. My buddy tried to calm me down but I had to get up and out.

Of course today I am very annoyed with myself for getting out of the water. Anyone have any tips for how to stop the panic or should I just wait until conditions improve??

 

[vablackwater]

I would rather dive with someone who has the courage and judgement to call a dive than someone who pushes themself beyond their comfort or experience. Unless you have a need to be in low/ no viz, it is safer to avoid it, especially at this stage in your diving career.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Given the forum you posted this in, I'm assuming that you're a new diver?

I think it goes without saying that if bad vis makes you panic that you should avoid bad vis.

But, sometimes vis gets bad when we don't expect it too so avoiding it isn't always possible. First I would suggest working on basic dive and watermanship skills because that builds confidence in your control and divers don't panic when they know they are in control.

In addition to that, you might want to work on some low-vis skills in a controled environment like a pool or open water that offers pool like conditions. You might practice diving without a mask or diving with closed eyes or a blacked out mask.

The bottom line is go slow and don't take on new or more challenging conditions untill you have good reason to feel that you're ready.

 

[KerriHMI]

Yep i'm a newbie.

Thanks for the comments, think I am just so shocked that I panicked as it just not like me at all (in or out of the water)!!! Also want to try and get over this because the vis is generally not the best in Northern Ireland, (although not usually as bad as yesterday!!!) so bad constantly avoiding conditions like that I am greatly reducing my bottom time throughout the year. Hopefully increased experience and confidence will help

 

[wrecNcaver]

As a new diver, you will become more comfortable as you spend more time under water. Remember to dive only within your training but train as often as you can. The fact that you called the dive show the mark of good dive training. Try to spend time in a controlled dive environment to practice your skills. The suggestions from MikeFerrara are good ones.

Dive safe, dive often, practice your skills. The rest will come. Good luck!

 

[tedwhiteva]

Yep i'm a newbie.

Thanks for the comments, think I am just so shocked that I panicked as it just not like me at all (in or out of the water)!!! Also want to try and get over this because the vis is generally not the best in Northern Ireland, (although not usually as bad as yesterday!!!) so bad constantly avoiding conditions like that I am greatly reducing my bottom time throughout the year. Hopefully increased experience and confidence will help

Kerri,

Then take Mike's recommendations to heart. The more comfortable you become with your gear and water/buoyancy skills the better off you'll be. Take pushing the envelop slow but dive as much as you can under controlled conditions.

That said, don't forget that you're diving to have fun. If it ain't fun, something needs to change.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Yep i'm a newbie.

Thanks for the comments, think I am just so shocked that I panicked as it just not like me at all (in or out of the water)!!! Also want to try and get over this because the vis is generally not the best in Northern Ireland, (although not usually as bad as yesterday!!!) so bad constantly avoiding conditions like that I am greatly reducing my bottom time throughout the year. Hopefully increased experience and confidence will help

Nothing to be shocked about ... it's fairly normal. I also dive in a location where visibility can often be reduced dramatically, and see this in new divers all the time.

I think you showed good judgment by calling the dive, rather than trying to deal with the onset of panic underwater.

Mike's advice is spot on. Just keep diving ... as you gain experience and confidence the feeling will subside, and you'll find yourself getting more and more comfortable in those conditions.

In the meantime, don't worry about it. You showed a healthy sense of survival, which is a good thing for all divers to possess ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[TSandM]

Kerri, I completely empathize. I dive in Puget Sound, where visibility is often poor, and I got certified in midsummer, when the algae blooms are the thickest. I had (and still have, to a lesser extent) tons of problems with getting disoriented when I didn't have a visual reference to the surface or the bottom.

What helped me was doing a bunch of shore dives, where we could follow the contour down. I also had to hook up with divers who were VERY diligent about staying with their buddies, because searching for my buddy was one of the things that made me unbearably anxious. That got me diving, and allowed me to become more comfortable with being underwater and the tasks one had to manage to dive. But it didn't fix the midwater collywobbles.

To work on that, I've had to do a lot of practicing, and trying to learn the cues that allow me to orient myself in green water. I had to learn to track bubbles, and feel my gear, and pay very close attention to my ears and to the movement of gas in my drysuit. I had to improve my own general stability and control, so that I could maintain a position that allowed me to track the downline or my buddies. I still don't LIKE midwater, and I still lose some control with my eyes CLOSED, but as long as they're open and I can keep some kind of visual cues, I do okay these days.

You're not alone in not liking poor viz, and my general rule is, if I can't see the bottom without putting my nose in it, it's not worth diving . . .

 

[SlowRain]

Given the forum you posted this in, I'm assuming that you're a new diver?

I think it goes without saying that if bad vis makes you panic that you should avoid bad vis.

But, sometimes vis gets bad when we don't expect it too so avoiding it isn't always possible. First I would suggest working on basic dive and watermanship skills because that builds confidence in your control and divers don't panic when they know they are in control.

In addition to that, you might want to work on some low-vis skills in a controled environment like a pool or open water that offers pool like conditions. You might practice diving without a mask or diving with closed eyes or a blacked out mask.

The bottom line is go slow and don't take on new or more challenging conditions untill you have good reason to feel that you're ready.

MikeFerrara nails it. Given where you live I expect 100' visability is the exception rather than the norm. Start a program that introduces you to reduced visability diving gradually. I also agree with the poster who mentioned having the wherewithall to call a dive when you are outside your comfort zone enough to feel panic. I can't imagine any newer diver jumping into water with one meter visability and being okay with it.

In thinking about it I have been in water with less visability, but it was because I had to as a part of a law enforcement dive team. Give the choice, I would probably not dive in water with 1 meter visability unless there was some specific reason to do so.

I know in teaching deep dive class in Puget Sound around the Seattle area, we would go to the Agate Pass Floating Bridge. The original bridge sunk and once you swim out of the boat launch area and pass the "boat cut" and drop down it starts at 100' and can go as deep as 600'+ at the center. It is like swimming down the middle of a 4 lane divided highway when you get down there, and some of the biggest ling cod I ever saw.

When you drop down past say 80', you can't really see the surface and at 120 you need to have a dive light. During plankton bloom it was worse. We continually had instances of having to call dives because of observed stress in students, mostly on descents because they became disoriented with not being able to see the surface or the bottom and didn't have a visual reference point, pretty much like vertigo.

Eventually we figured out a pool session with a blackout mask and subsequently making a dive or two to a lesser depth to get them comfortable with not having view of the surface and poor visability...and then going to the deeper depths for certification of the class worked a lot better. Like everything else in diving...just take bites big enough to chew and swallow, and move forward when you are comfortable.

 

[Pearldiver07]

I agree with the above posts - you showed survival instincts, and from how you described it, I wouldn't call it panic.

Many, many of us have gone through the same anxiety when newly certified or new to low-viz conditions. I went through a 80cuft tank in less than 20 minutes at 30 feet. Many times. I stayed close enough to my buddy at all times that I could touch him. Several times I felt like giving up and finding a new hobby.

Could be that your best bet for regular diving will bring you into contact with low viz. Talk with your instructor and/or buddy about strategies to get more comfortable. I always stayed in contact with either a descent/ascent line or the bottom. Let's face it - in low viz there's not much to see mid-water anyway.

Now look at me (and thousands like us) who have incorporated this environment into how we dive. It actually opens a lot of windows. I've seen many blue water divers get awful antsy about doing an ocean dive on vacation because there was only 10m of viz. You'll find yourself laughing on the inside, then getting in for a great dive.

There are some excellent locations to dive in the world that don't have great viz. You're going to find it is much easier to later adjust to better viz than start in the clear blue and adjust to limited viz.

Have fun, and don't sweat the small stuff.