The fear of "whats in the water"

[c r0ck 1]

I used to feel the same way. On my first two boat dives I would step to the edge and tremble (thinking of getting eaten by a shark) until a wave would make me lose my balance and then I would giant stride out. Once I was in the water concentrating on my diving I would forget all about it. I would come back from the dive and just be so pumped to do the next dive I would never think about it anymore. You would be suprised how much is around you that you never notice. You'll be fine.

Yea ill be fine!.. cant wait.

 

[BTravlin]

yea i havent even gotten wet yet.. so im just getting nervous... IM the kind of guy who will swim in a lake and will not touch the bottom with my bare feet.. lol...

Sounds smart to me as I won't put my bare feet on the bottom in a lake either. My Lab sliced his paw wide open on a pop top one time and required several stitches.

Wait until you try your first night dive, you'll love it!

 

[fishdelasol]

I am similar to many other posts on this topic. I grew in FL and finally just got my OW at 28 years old because I was really scared about what was out there. I ended up getting over it by doing a ton of snorkeling at the end of the pier on LBTS. I knew it was time for diving when I kept getting frustrated by not being able to see as much because I was stuck on the surface and could only dive down for a minute at a time to explore.

I still get the creeps as I swim out to the reef and it gets a bit deeper and you can't quite see what is up in front of you or around you. Then, when you find the reef it is sooo awesome. I also used to get nervous about how big the ocean seemed and now I really like that feeling. There has to be so much to see under there!

I will point out that I definitely have a fear of swimming in lakes. I don't know why but they REALLY creep me out. The lake I swam in as a little girl in MN had snapping turtles and softshell turtles. The bottom was always really slimy, too. Just thinking about it gives me the willies!

 

[c r0ck 1]

I am similar to many other posts on this topic. I grew in FL and finally just got my OW at 28 years old because I was really scared about what was out there. I ended up getting over it by doing a ton of snorkeling at the end of the pier on LBTS. I knew it was time for diving when I kept getting frustrated by not being able to see as much because I was stuck on the surface and could only dive down for a minute at a time to explore.

I still get the creeps as I swim out to the reef and it gets a bit deeper and you can't quite see what is up in front of you or around you. Then, when you find the reef it is sooo awesome. I also used to get nervous about how big the ocean seemed and now I really like that feeling. There has to be so much to see under there!

I will point out that I definitely have a fear of swimming in lakes. I don't know why but they REALLY creep me out. The lake I swam in as a little girl in MN had snapping turtles and softshell turtles. The bottom was always really slimy, too. Just thinking about it gives me the willies!

that pretty much explains how i feel.. lol.. Well i grew up all my life until just recently with the main body of water in my area being the Passaic River.. IF anyone is from up north (Passaic, Clifton, Garfield, NJ ) Area you can chime in on this one.. lol

 

[nereas]

I am similar to many other posts on this topic. I grew in FL and finally just got my OW at 28 years old because I was really scared about what was out there. I ended up getting over it by doing a ton of snorkeling at the end of the pier on LBTS. I knew it was time for diving when I kept getting frustrated by not being able to see as much because I was stuck on the surface and could only dive down for a minute at a time to explore.

I still get the creeps as I swim out to the reef and it gets a bit deeper and you can't quite see what is up in front of you or around you. Then, when you find the reef it is sooo awesome. I also used to get nervous about how big the ocean seemed and now I really like that feeling. There has to be so much to see under there!

I will point out that I definitely have a fear of swimming in lakes. I don't know why but they REALLY creep me out. The lake I swam in as a little girl in MN had snapping turtles and softshell turtles. The bottom was always really slimy, too. Just thinking about it gives me the willies!

Swimmers, snorkelers, and scuba divers at the surface of the seas and oceans are the most vulnerable, compared with being underwater. When you are underwater on scuba, virtually nothing is going to bother you. The food for the food chain in the oceans is at the surface, consisting mostly of dead things floating there. Mix into that splashing noisy swimmers and the silhouette of a snorkelers, and you get a menu for disaster.

When you are scuba diving, try to minimize your surface time. When you roll off the boat, head down the anchor line or down-line quickly. When you enter at a beach, submerge as soon as is feasible.

As far as lakes go, there is nothing in a lake.

All this trepediation I think is the effect of too many horror movies. Horror movies seem to satisfy some people's need for masochism. I suggest you stop going to these kind of R-rated movies. Here is your word for the day, then:

mas·och·ism
–noun 1.Psychiatry. the condition in which sexual gratification depends on suffering, physical pain, and humiliation. 2.gratification gained from pain, deprivation, degradation, etc., inflicted or imposed on oneself, either as a result of one's own actions or the actions of others, esp. the tendency to seek this form of gratification. 3.the act of turning one's destructive tendencies inward or upon oneself. 4.the tendency to find pleasure in self-denial, submissiveness, etc.
[Origin: 1890–95; named after L. von Sacher-Masoch, who described it; see -ism

]

 

[c r0ck 1]

mas·och·ism
–noun 1.Psychiatry. the condition in which sexual gratification depends on suffering, physical pain, and humiliation. 2.gratification gained from pain, deprivation, degradation, etc., inflicted or imposed on oneself, either as a result of one's own actions or the actions of others, esp. the tendency to seek this form of gratification. 3.the act of turning one's destructive tendencies inward or upon oneself. 4.the tendency to find pleasure in self-denial, submissiveness, etc.
[Origin: 1890–95; named after L. von Sacher-Masoch, who described it; see -ism

]

what the hell are you talkin about.

 

[nereas]

what the hell are you talkin about.

"talkin" about the reasons some people go to see horror movies, thus scare themselves wit-less, then are paranoid later on when they go scuba diving in the oceans.

This is Freudian stuff. Prolly over yer head.

Here is another word for the day, for tomorrow, for you:

Freud·i·an
–adjective 1.of or pertaining to Sigmund Freud or his doctrines, esp. with respect to the causes and treatment of neurotic and psychopathic states, the interpretation of dreams, etc. –noun 2.a person, esp. a psychoanalyst, who adheres to the basic doctrines of Freud.
[Origin: 1905–10; Freud + -ian

]

 

[c r0ck 1]

"talkin" about the reasons some people go to see horror movies, thus scare themselves wit-less, then are paranoid later on when they go scuba diving in the oceans.

This is Freudian stuff. Prolly over yer head.

Here is another word for the day, for tomorrow, for you:

Freud·i·an
–adjective 1.of or pertaining to Sigmund Freud or his doctrines, esp. with respect to the causes and treatment of neurotic and psychopathic states, the interpretation of dreams, etc. –noun 2.a person, esp. a psychoanalyst, who adheres to the basic doctrines of Freud.
[Origin: 1905–10; Freud + -ian

]

I really dont appreciate you trying to put me down.. stop the bull**** words and study guides. Im not a little kid.. With that said. the point about going into movies to scare your self then being scared of what you saw is a good point.

- c r0ck

 

[Ice9]

I actually have a similar (and sometimes odd) fear of "whats down there."

My deal is that I don't have a problem with anything down there thats natural, but man-made objects tend to cause me some varying amount of fear. For some reason pipes are high on the list. I think if I were ever swimming along and ran across a cable (electrical or communications) I would be terrified.

Of course, on the surface I have a healthy fear of cables and electrical boxes that hum too.

Good thing none of those exist in the lakes that I've been...

 

[nereas]

...the point about going into movies to scare your self then being scared of what you saw is a good point.

- c r0ck

The movies are the main problem. JAWS was a fiction based only slightly on a single 1930s incident about a white shark along the New Jersey coast. But even in California and Australia, places where white sharks abound, you do not see such events transpiring, other than occasionally strictly in the case of surfers. Yet the mentalities instilled by these type of movies causes paranoia for the greater part of the population. And this is seen among new scuba students as well.

The fascinating underlying question though is why do people go to horror movies? What do they get out of it? Do they want to be frightened to their wits' end? I believe that the answer is Freudian.

I myself do not like horror movies and avoid them like the plague which they are. And so, I have no fears of the oceans, and certainly not of lakes either.