My first checkout dive at the sea: "You will die! Oh, I meant dive..."

[Sallina]

I'm sorry for the grammar errors. English is not my native language. I can read and understand well, but writing is challenging for me.

I'm an AOW certified diver with 45 logged dives. All of them were in lakes and local quarries. I did not dive for 4 months.
I went to the sea for the first time, to the dive shop that my friend recommended.
I was required to do a checkout dive with an instructor. I thought it was a good idea because it's my first sea diving experience.
We went for a shallow dive (5.5m max depth). I attempted to perform a buddy check with the "BWRAF rule", but got confused because he uses very non-standard gear. I didn't find any buckles, didn't find a weight belt and weights, and both of his regulators were black. Despite this, I didn't ask any questions about his gear and said that everything is ok - it was my first mistake (my inner voice: it's not ok to dive with gear like this! But he is an instructor...). He used a back-inflation BC. I heard about that type but never seen it before.
I used normal standard rented gear.

Our plan was to hover in mid-water and perform several drills: remove and replace the mask, recover the lost regulator, and perform air share. I can do it at the bottom, but I have never done it in mid-water.
I was extremely worried about it, but decided to have a try.

1) Hovering
I went down to the bottom, then added air to my BC for neutral buoyancy. I tried to mimic he's position (he was in a horizontal position with legs up) but had no success. After several retries, I hovered in a semi-vertical position. He gave me an ok signal, I returned it and proceeded.

2) Removal and replacement of the mask
I took off my mask, put it on, cleared it, but lost my buoyancy control and hit the bottom. It's hard to do something else while hovering.

3) Regulator recovery
I had grabbed the wrong hose and put my octopus in my mouth instead of my primary regulator. And hit the bottom again.
Immediately after that, he gave me an "out of air" signal! I was taught to allow an OOA diver to take my octo, but I was breathing from it right now! I freaked out, gave him a "thumb up" signal, and surfaced.

Also, I exceeded the maximum safe ascent rate. I forgot to check my spg regularly. I forgot to secure my spg with a clip and hit the rock with it several times.

We got out of the water and I had a long talk about that crappy dive, but the first that I heard was "You will die! Oh, I meant dive... after taking a refresher course". He was concerned about my buoyancy control skills (or lack of them) and my near-panic reaction. It was too unsafe, so he couldn't allow me to dive.
I never heard that someone ended a checkout dive like that. It was more like an exam than a dive.

I have signed up for a refresher course (it starts next week). I'm afraid that he can fail me again! I'm thinking about to give up and throw away my cards now.
That guy with a weird swimming technique (he swam backwards!) has amazing buoyancy control. He looks far more professional than my instructor.

As the other option, I can forget that "dive" and go to another shop, but feel that "you will die" is not far off...

Any advice?

 

[Doctorfish]

I commend you for your honesty and insight.
Sometimes one early mistake in a dive leads to anxiety and multiple compounding errors.

A refresher is a great idea to help you learn advanced buoyancy control and also to allow your next ocean dive to be in a supervised safe environment.
It took me a long time to be comfortable diving independently. Don't give up.

 

[Schwob]

Hi Sallina. By all means, don‘t give up. I am not an instructor, so take my words with a grain of salt. Naturally your and your new instructors skill level are very different and your new instructor seems intent to improve yours to what he deems a safe level. By the sound of it he seems to be taking a harder stance on what he deems minimally safe than your prior instructor. He also may be creating some business for himself. If you feel very strongly that you cannot take that, then maybe continue with another instructor ... but why give up?
However, be honest to yourself, would you and your diving benefit from a skill improvement and would you as a result of it become a safer and better diver and therefore become able to actually enjoy diving and the amazing things to take in ... even so you may have to put a little more effort in to get there?
My take from your description is that yes.
As a certified diver, you have two ways to get there, practice safely with a buddy in an environment you are familiar with (I.e. the quarry). But safely practice the skills. These are skills a certified diver needs to master. Don’t be to put off by these words. Many get certified being quite shaken with these skills. The Industry seems to try to straddle a balance between cheap training and getting more customers and good training. It’s tricky business seen that way. My opinion.
Anyway, practicing these skills with a buddy is easier for many once they achieved a certain skill level and safe diving mindset. Some just are not inclined to practice with a buddy. Don’t know where you fall.
BUT
Look, if you feel that you would benefit from the additional training, then why not take it and do just that ... benefit from it?
I know from your description that you could benefit from the training. But it is somewhat important for your success that you feel that way and embrace it. You did sign up for it after you had that talk with that instructor. But now you seem to have second thoughts. Nothing wrong with that and in the end you will have to follow your heart,
My advise would be to take the training willingly, work on it, ask questions, revisit skills and then do an honest before and after comparison of your diving skill and safety level. If you progressed (I think you will) you may realize that your thoughts on giving up on diving were premature. If you really were a hopeless case (don’t worry, almost nobody is) you’d know too. But you are not. After all, the instructor seems to also think you just need some tweaking where your skills are lacking.
So why not see it as an opportunity to use the input of a professional to do just that, tweak those skills until they are good? It is hard to accept criticism on ones skill and those offering it often are under appreciated because, well they are being critical, But it may be a good thing, You may have found an honest instructor that is interested in helping you to improve, Why not give it an honest effort and really try? What do you have to loose? That would be my recommendation from my vantage point.
...
One caveat: Because of COVID, talk to your instructor. Tell him you do not want to share air sources just for practice. Ask him to modify that drill so you just change to your secondary when he offer his yours or vice versa ... or whatever COVID-safe scheme he suggests,
...
And point out your concerns about his differing equipment to him and how it confuses you (if it still does). That is something he easily can explain and that should give you more peace of mind.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

I was going to ask how deep was the mid water hover, but re-reading I see you were 5.5 meters bottom, so I'm assuming a 2-3m hover.

In my opinion, shallow hovers mid water can be challenging, just like a shallow hover near the surface of deeper water. By comparison, technical diving in a cave, where you have a frame of reference, can be easier than holding a 6m stop without an SMB in an ocean on a choppy day.

Not that it isn't important to have good buoyancy skills, and the lack of control in 3m was probably a bad sign, but because the hovering skill gets easier the deeper you go, and you were with first time use rented equipment, I wouldn't beat yourself up over this. Get better, but don't feel too bad about the issue.

It took me a long time to be ok with mask floods in salt water, even when I can do fresh water floods all day long. I just don't like the salt. I survive by repeating in my head "technically the salt concentration is closer to your body fluids than fresh so this should not hurt or bother you at all!" a few hundred times until I forget the annoyance.

I think you will enjoy the legs up horizontal position, and swimming backwards, once you get used to it.

Regulator recovery skill, it sounds like you tried to trace a hose from the first stage, which isn't how I recall the skill being taught. But if you ended up with an octo on your mouth, for me that just signifies you have not completed the drill, just keep looking for your main reg. But, it might help if you keep the octo around your neck in a bungee necklace, to avoid confusion.

But I think the OOA drill was more of a big deal. I like how pilots say you have to "aviate, navigate, communicate, in that order." But if you can't do the first, then you will crash... in scuba that is breathing, and keeping your buddy with air supply. That means regardless of regulator, regardless of if you are touching the bottom, regardless of how comfortable you feel. The fact that you didn't even try and fail, or try and do a sloppy job, but instead surfaced, indicates that mentally, you weren't ready for the dive. I still don't want you to beat yourself up over this, because I don't want anyone throwing in their cards and stopping to dive. I want everyone to feel comfortable and know the skills to survive and thrive underwater.

It is possible that the guy just put his fin in his mouth with the die/dive remark, because I can see how that would be a kind of humorous joke. But in that moment, you were stressed, and it hit wrong. It's also possible he's not the right fit of an instructor--but in that case, I would still recommend finding one to help you improve your skills.

I do think that at this point, you are all suited up and in the water, tanks mostly full, and you know you need some more work. I get that the diver doesn't want to spend all day with you doing a refresher because you didn't sign up for that yet, but I do think they could have eased the transition for you by blowing a bit more gas, deciding on one of those skills to work with you, talking on the surface and doing it again underwater. Letting you leave the water that day knowing you are coming back in a week to do more work, but having learned and felt improved that same day on atleast some tiny skill, would be a big difference and you would be looking forward, instead of dreading, the next week.

Glad you are asking about this stuff, and I think it shows you will get the skills quickly and soon, will feel confident in the ocean and fresh water. Then you can show off your newfound skills to your AOW instructor. Unfortunately AOW doesn't mean a whole lot nowadays. I got scolded in my AOW class because I was horizontal floating mid water, and the other students were on their knees. I was a remedial student, sent to get AOW to do deeper wrecks after years of full cave decompression dive experience.

 

[Angelo Farina]

The instructor was definitely a tech instructor, given its equipment, his trim and his kicking technique. Those things are absolutely mandatory for a certain type of tech diving (caves, wrecks) but are absolutely optional for normal rec diving outside enclosures. They are also quite wrong for certain specific types of diving, like in the strong current of reef channels at Maldives.
Each environment requires different equipment and different techniques, as you have learned the hard way when you first encountered open ocean. Definitely different from a lake or a quarry.
Personally I am much more comfortable in the ocean, particularly if the water is not not very cold, as at Maldives or here in the Mediterranean, where I often do not us any suit at all!
But I have seen several of the customers I had to dive with, coming from cold waters (hence used to a dry suit), and to limited spaces, to feel literally lost in the wide ocean, particularly when diving from a not-anchored boat in the current, where you have just to jump in and reach the bottom as quickly as possible, or to allow the current to drift you away while flying over the corals.
So yes, you definitely need to be re-trained for being safe diving in the open ocean, learning the proper techniques, and getting you used to the vastness of the environment and to the need of staying always away from the bottom and the corals.
Buoyancy, trim, kicking and breathing control are the skills you need to acquire. Follow the guidance of your instructor, take the time and number of dives needed (at least 10, in my experience), and you will become a proficient "open water" diver. Whatever your card says, your are not yet an "open water" diver, you can only dive in a confined water basin, such as a lake or a quarry.
Last point: the checkout dive IS some sort of exam, and is routinely practised exactly because we know that a number of customers, despite showing a long list of cards, are not accustomed to the particular environment and equipment to be used. The checkout dive is useful for the DM or instructor for assessing the real capabilities of the diver. Also I have to do the checkout dive, even if I am an instructor, whenever I first dive at a diving center where they do not know me. I am not offended of being examined again, after 45 years of experience: it is something really useful, both for me, and for the DM who will be responsible of the group of customers with whom I will have to dive.
It allows me to learn the peculiarities of the equipment and of the procedures used in that center, and it allows the DM to see how well I can comply with them.
For example, when I was the responsible of a diving center at Maldives, if a customers arrived with short, hard fins, and insisting to frog-kick only (the typical "tech - cave - wreck" technique), I had immediately de-classed him in the group of low-level divers, those who were excluded by diving in the reef channels, where you need to use long and powerful fins, and to be able to use them for a fast, efficient propulsion...
In a different environment it could be exactly the opposite, and you cannot go there with long freediving fins, as the typical diving there requires to frog kick and to be able to reverse kick outside narrow passages...
As said, one must adapt equipment, technique and behaviour to the local conditions and requirements, and the check dive is there for ensuring that this happens. If you fail the check dive, no worry, it just means that it is time to improve your training with a specific course for that environment.

 

[Manatee Diver]

I have signed up for a refresher course (it starts next week). I'm afraid that he can fail me again! I'm thinking about to give up and throw away my cards now.
That guy with a weird swimming technique (he swam backwards!) has amazing buoyancy control. He looks far more professional than my instructor.

As the other option, I can forget that "dive" and go to another shop, but feel that "you will die" is not far off...

Confession time: I bolted on my first open water dive. And I am a now a tech/cave diver.

Everyone screws up when they are first learning, but if you keep at it with the right instructor you can succeed. So I wouldn't dwell on the errors you made in the dive, and if you are comfortable dive with this instructor continue with the refresher course. If you aren't find another shop that you are comfortable with. Also if you aren't comfortable with the instructors gear, ask him to spend some time telling you about it. If after the explanation you still aren't comfortable ask him to wear training gear similar to yours I am sure he will accommodate you if he can.

 

[jadairiii]

.... I'm thinking about to give up and throw away my cards now.
That guy with a weird swimming technique (he swam backwards!) has amazing buoyancy control. He looks far more professional than my instructor..

1st, dont give up. What you experienced is the realization that most basic scuba courses do not prepare you properly for diving. Take this person's refresher course, sounds like he will help you. Diving is a life long learning process. Not a "one and done" sport.

And as an example of what I said, check out my post regarding my daughter's basic scuba class I just recently posted on SB. To pass she was required to perform all of the skills you discussed while holding proper horizontal trim, buoyancy control, and performing 5 different kicks. I consisted of 6, 8 hour + days.

Why choose GUE Rec-1?

 

[BlueTrin]

I don’t think your situation is uncommon and you should not be scared of ‘failing’ that refresher.

• About different configurations, you already noticed but there is nothing shameful in telling the other person ‘look I am not familiar with your config, can you walk me through it’. Since he is an instructor, he should have talked you through it, if he does not you can ask him.
• Hovering: it usually takes some time before people are able to control their trim and buoyancy (personally, I am still working on it). Also you had a break and it was your checkout dive so that seems more or less normal ?
• Mask clearing, it is common for people to lose buoyancy and/or trim during any skill if you didn’t practice it. When task loaded people stop finning for example: so if they were negative, they will ‘fall’. Also for mask removal, it can be hard to keep breathing normally when the water hits your face normally.
• Regulator recovery, you can practice switching regulators (in a safe environment) until you feel confident switching primary and octo at will ?

There are two things that I didn’t know at first (and learned only later) that may help you:

1. For masks skills it is much easier if you flood the mask by breaking the seal a tiny bit by putting a finger under one side of the seal: it will fill the mask slowly rather than flooding suddenly. Once it is flooded you can remove it easily. (If you don’t want to do this make sure you blow air from your nose so the water does not get up your nose)
2. When you feel like you are not ready to do a skill you can give a stop signal and sort yourself out until you are ready to do the skill. Unfortunately there is a bit of an exception: the OOA skill, because it would be a bit weird if you give an OOA diver a stop signal.

If you don’t feel at ease with this instructor maybe you need to find an instructor with who you feel comfortable to ask questions and obtain feedback ? He can be an amazing diver without being a good instructor.

I think the instructor thought that because you bolted on when he signalled an OOA, you need more practice in case your buddy goes OOA.

Is there a reason you are scared to fail ? Do you have a dive trip coming soon ?

 

[Scraps]

The following comment assumes the OP accurately describes the situation. The instructor may have a different version, more information, or different recollection. Based on this one side of the story . . .


Sallina,

Your instructor may have amazing diving skills, but better observational and communication skills on his part would have given you a more helpful checkout dive experience.

When you performed the BWRAF check incompletely, he should have slowed down to make sure the check was done properly and you understood his setup. Either he failed to notice your unfamiliarity or he let you cut corners on it. Also, normally on a buddy check with someone you haven't dove with before, each person gives a rundown on his or her equipment. It doesn't sound like he extended this courtesy to you.

When you lost control of buoyancy during the mask removal and recovery, he should have given you a second opportunity. It's good that he wanted to perform the skill mid-water, but he should know that a lot of recreational divers have never done it that way and given you a second chance.

After you retrieved the wrong second stage on the regulator recovery skill, he should have waited for you to get back to your original configuration--or prompted you to rearrange your reg if you didn't do it on your own. Then had you perform the skill a second time.

What was most surprising to me was that he let you begin the out-of-air drill while you were still breathing from your octo after the botched regulator recovery. Presumably, you had your primary second stage floating around somewhere loose at that time. He didn't notice that? Either he failed to observe that you had the octo in your mouth, or he put you in a no-win situation on purpose. Either way, that's no way to conduct the drill.

A check-out dive is sort of a hybrid between a refresher and a verification of skill level. He seems to have treated it as a weeding-out exercise or a marketing tool for other courses. I don't think that's what you needed, and it's certainly not a reason to give up diving. He can prevent you from diving with his operation, but he can't take your C-card away from you.

I'd look for a better teacher.

Please don't let this incident discourage you.

Best wishes,

 

[BRT]

I'm sorry for the grammar errors. English is not my native language. I can read and understand well, but writing is challenging for me.

I'm an AOW certified diver with 45 logged dives. All of them were in lakes and local quarries. I did not dive for 4 months.
I went to the sea for the first time, to the dive shop that my friend recommended.
I was required to do a checkout dive with an instructor. I thought it was a good idea because it's my first sea diving experience.
We went for a shallow dive (5.5m max depth). I attempted to perform a buddy check with the "BWRAF rule", but got confused because he uses very non-standard gear. I didn't find any buckles, didn't find a weight belt and weights, and both of his regulators were black. Despite this, I didn't ask any questions about his gear and said that everything is ok - it was my first mistake (my inner voice: it's not ok to dive with gear like this! But he is an instructor...). He used a back-inflation BC. I heard about that type but never seen it before.
I used normal standard rented gear.

Our plan was to hover in mid-water and perform several drills: remove and replace the mask, recover the lost regulator, and perform air share. I can do it at the bottom, but I have never done it in mid-water.
I was extremely worried about it, but decided to have a try.

1) Hovering
I went down to the bottom, then added air to my BC for neutral buoyancy. I tried to mimic he's position (he was in a horizontal position with legs up) but had no success. After several retries, I hovered in a semi-vertical position. He gave me an ok signal, I returned it and proceeded.

2) Removal and replacement of the mask
I took off my mask, put it on, cleared it, but lost my buoyancy control and hit the bottom. It's hard to do something else while hovering.

3) Regulator recovery
I had grabbed the wrong hose and put my octopus in my mouth instead of my primary regulator. And hit the bottom again.
Immediately after that, he gave me an "out of air" signal! I was taught to allow an OOA diver to take my octo, but I was breathing from it right now! I freaked out, gave him a "thumb up" signal, and surfaced.

Also, I exceeded the maximum safe ascent rate. I forgot to check my spg regularly. I forgot to secure my spg with a clip and hit the rock with it several times.

We got out of the water and I had a long talk about that crappy dive, but the first that I heard was "You will die! Oh, I meant dive... after taking a refresher course". He was concerned about my buoyancy control skills (or lack of them) and my near-panic reaction. It was too unsafe, so he couldn't allow me to dive.
I never heard that someone ended a checkout dive like that. It was more like an exam than a dive.

I have signed up for a refresher course (it starts next week). I'm afraid that he can fail me again! I'm thinking about to give up and throw away my cards now.
That guy with a weird swimming technique (he swam backwards!) has amazing buoyancy control. He looks far more professional than my instructor.

As the other option, I can forget that "dive" and go to another shop, but feel that "you will die" is not far off...

Any advice?

Stay with this guy till he thinks you are good to go.