Very nervous about "deep" dives

[TSandM]

Well, diver84, you are right to question how thoroughly trained you are at the end of four open water dives. But also think about what it is that you will have to do on your tropical resort dives: You will have to be able to check your equipment, to make sure it is assembled and working properly. You should be able to do this.

You will have to listen to a dive briefing, and decide whether the proposed dive fits in the parameters you've decided are your diving limits. You should be able to do this.

You will get in the water and establish neutral buoyancy. You should be able to do this.

You will follow a dive guide through the described dive (the VAST majority of resort diving is guided). You should be able to do this.

You may have to cope with some small problems, like a leaky mask or a loose fin. You should be able to do this, or you shouldn't have been certified.

So you see, it isn't that complicated. Things newer divers could reasonably be expected to have difficulties with are things like very low visibility, complex compass navigation, finding the boat in low-relief terrain, and coping with deeper dives and strong currents. A good dive operator, if you have informed them of how new a diver you are, should not put you into those conditions, but you should always ask about them.

And remember, if you finish your four dives and YOU don't feel comfortable diving, don't do it! Get some more time with an instructor, until whatever issues you have have been addressed to your satisfaction.

 

[emoe1973]

bit of a late reply i know, but here goes!

Dont feel pressured or anxious about your fears.
Firstly, we are MAMMALS, and we dont like water on the face and inability to take a standard breath.
Secondly, that is bad enough for some at a depth no deeper than a standard swimming pool, when taken to 18m the reality of depth kicks in.

What i would say is that you are quite within a standard percentage of people who are slightly afraid of the depth.
After all, in 1meter of water, if you dont feel real happy, you stand up! in 18meters you cant really just stand up!

Remember when you first drove a vehicle? You were not the most proficient! we all got worried by something while learning. Its the same principal.
Just take YOUR time, and progress as you feel comfortable.
At the end of the day, explain your worries to the Instructor and Divemaster and explain that you need to progress slowly.
Im sure that they will help you out with it, it just means it may take you longer to get your C-Card.

HOWEVER, please remember that if the qualification certifies you to 18meters max, then really the Instructor needs to know you are ok with a depth somewhat close to that.
Once you pass, it doesnt mean you HAVE TO DIVE that deep!

Its your Diving, ENJOY IT.

Good luck!

 

[RonFrank]

Welcome to the UW world!

Take the certification training, get certified, and then find locations/trips/dive-sites that match your interest. At first these maybe shallow. Your apprehension is normal and healthy. The UW world in which so many critters are at home is NOT a place where we survive without a heavy dose of technology.

Over time you may realize that 60' is not all that deep, and your comfort level may increase. If it does not, there are lots of things to see in the first 35' or so.

Once certified, if you are not comfortable diving without more experienced divers about, you can always hire a DM or guide, or maybe just find some friends that are more advanced to dive with.

Most of all, be safe, and Enjoy!

 

[Ashmai]

OP; I didn't read all 5 pages of reply's, but thought I would tell you the way I feel about the situation you are having.

Originally I had the same thought... "What if something goes wrong at 60+ feet down, and I need to get to the surface!". Well, after training, you realize that with the way air expands in your lungs as you come up from depth, if a SERIOUS problem occurred (no backup air, no buddy, SOL...) on one breath of air at 100 feet down you could reach the surface and survive. Secondly, if you ran out of air, it wouldn't be an immediate thing. You would be able to get a full breath (although it would be a bit labored to pull it in) by the time you realized air was slowing down. With that full breath, a rapid accent to the surface would be possible (following safty protocal obviously, and letting out air slowly as you rose)

Heck, I believe that in training we had to do something similar, a controlled assent on one breath while slowly letting air out as it expands.

60 feet doesn't seem that deep once you are down there.

Keep in mind, needing to come up quickly would be rare if you are diving with a competent buddy. You would simply swim over to them, signal "out of air", take their back up and control up to the surface.

If you are really concerned, it isn't uncommon for divers to pick up "SpareAir", giving you about 20 breaths to reach the surface (or a buddy) safely.

Remember, if you were to race to the surface due to a problem, even if you get up with air you may still have to find a decompression chamber depending on the dive limits you were at when you headed up quickly!

 

[Web Monkey]

Originally I had the same thought... "What if something goes wrong at 60+ feet down, and I need to get to the surface!". Well, after training, you realize that with the way air expands in your lungs as you come up from depth, if a SERIOUS problem occurred (no backup air, no buddy, SOL...) on one breath of air at 100 feet down you could reach the surface and survive.

It's possible with a breath of air, however you don't usually have a full breath (if you did, you wouldn't yet recognize the emergency). However, even with a partial breath, you may be OK if you remain calm.

Also, doing a safe OOA ascent requires maintaining a clear head, and remembering to orally inflate your BC on the surface and/or ditch your weights. Quite a number of divers safely make it to the surface, only to sink back down and drown because the "elevator button" doesn't work when the tank is empty.

Secondly, if you ran out of air, it wouldn't be an immediate thing. You would be able to get a full breath (although it would be a bit labored to pull it in) by the time you realized air was slowing down. With that full breath, a rapid accent to the surface would be possible (following safty protocal obviously, and letting out air slowly as you rose)

Some first stages will make breathing more difficult as the tank pressure drops, while others will breathe more or less normally, until the tank is almost empty, then stop.

Because it's not really noticeable unless you're paying attention (in which case you wouldn't have run out in the first place), the first indication of OOA may be trying to inhale and getting almost nothing or a partial breath.

Heck, I believe that in training we had to do something similar, a controlled assent on one breath while slowly letting air out as it expands.

An Emergency Out of Air Ascent is required during pool training for all the major recreational agencies, however I beleive it's no longer required during open water dives for at least some, so yes, you probably at least did one in the pool, and maybe OW.

60 feet doesn't seem that deep once you are down there.

If it's warm clear water, 160' doesn't seem "that deep either", and that's a real problem.

The best way to handle an OOA emergency is to not have one. With the exception of a small number of catastrophic hardware failures, OOA emergencies are almost always caused by inattention, not following training and poor judgement.

In the event of an actual OOA emergency, the best thing to do is share air with your buddy, and surface as taught in OW class. If you ever need to "blow and go" it's an admission that you screwed up badly, since you need to both run out of air and lose your buddy.

As long as you maintain good buddy distance and are diving with a competent buddy, "Out of Air" is never an emergency and doesn't require bolting for the surface.

If you are really concerned, it isn't uncommon for divers to pick up "SpareAir", giving you about 20 breaths to reach the surface (or a buddy) safely.

Depending on how deep you are, how much air you use and how freaked out you are, a Spare Air may only be useful if you want to run out of air twice on the same dive.

Much preferable to running out of air would be to get a regular buddy and regularly work on dive planning, gas management and all the SCUBA skills, including depth and pressure awareness, air sharing and maintaining buddy distance.

Terry

 

[Rhone Man]

Firstly, we are MAMMALS

Speak for yourself - I reject such stereotyping!

 

[Breatholder]

Why does every thread manage to drift so far off the original post?
The poster was curious about the depth required to dive to obtain
an OW cert. He also was brave enough to express his fears about
depth,quite honorable and to be commended. Somehow as each
person responded more info was interjected to feed those fears, such
as..well dude..if ya go ooa at 60 ft you can jam to the surface and
providing your lungs dont explode after a chamber ride you should be
able to survive....sheesh.
Fact is he already has spent 20 minutes at 30 ft on a resort dive
and was comfortable. So not to worry future diver, your OW course
confined water section will NOT exceed 30 ft. (im sure I will get responses
to this) However i have never heard of any agency in the Tampa area
doing 30+ dives. The majority of confined water dives are done in
the local springs.
So..to answer the question, Is diving for you?..from your post ide
say heck yeah...you had a blast at 30 ft,you love to see all the
great sealife on shallow reefs and you have enough common sense
to be aware that this sport has risks. Most importantly, you man up
instead of taking the macho show no fear and express your concerns.
The best advise i saw posted was from the old moss and barnicle
covered divers that stated shallow reef diving was awesome,rewarding
and very relaxing...and believe me these guys have a zillion hours
and dives under their belts. So find a shop or a private instuctor
voice your concerns and dont sign up untill you are happy and trusting
with the instructor you decide upon..Please post after you finish your
certification and let the world know your fears were most likely just
butterflies...GOOD LUCK to you and your wife.

 

[Ashmai]

The poster was curious about the depth required to dive to obtain an OW cert. He also was brave enough to express his fears about
depth,quite honorable and to be commended. Somehow as each
person responded more info was interjected to feed those fears, such
as..well dude..if ya go ooa at 60 ft you can jam to the surface and
providing your lungs dont explode after a chamber ride you should be
able to survive....sheesh.

I can only imagine you were talking about my post, and if so, took it way differently than was intended...

I was simply giving the OP the info that I needed to conquer the same fear, going below 30 feet. Like I stated, it would ALWAYS be a worse case scenario having to rush to the surface, but IF IT HAPPENED the things you can tell yourself to help with the fear... Worked for me... Sorry I scared you.

Thought I made it clear enough in my post that it is very rare that would need to be done, and if it did, it would be fine as long as he remained calm.

 

[jen_b]

Hi, I just want to say that I feel the same way- I'm a new diver and I don't like going deeper than 30' and I've seen the most incredible sea life in my shallow dives anyway.
I was rather unfortunate in my OW certification experience it seems after reading these posts- I did my skills in 20', but due to the reef depths where I was certified (Boynton Beach, FL)- my DM made me do my certification dives at 60' and it scared the hell outta me. I was told there was no choice in the matter- I wish I had known about scubaboard before then. I started hyperventilating and came up from a dive early (after a safety stop of course) my DM made me do two additional dives at 60' to get my certification! She made me feel really bad about being scared- even though I know it's normal. So my recommendation is talk to your dive shop about your concerns first- it's totally normal to be nervous and in fact I saw a lot of her students after me chicken out completely on their certification dives and they never came back- it ruined the experience for them! Go at your own pace, enjoy it, and don't let anyone make you feel bad about it- it's supposed to be recreation!

 

[medic5]

I became certified in Aruba and I would guess that your resort dive was on the Pedernales wreck. The depth there is 20-25 feet, the only way to go deeper is to bring a shovel. If you have the opportunity to return to Aruba to become certified the Pedernales is where all of my dives took place for my OW certification. I am sure that many other operators in other destinations also use a relatively shallow location for their OW dives.