Advanced Open Water Certification

[raoulsttexas]

we're kinda in the same boat. i was cert'd 2 years ago and wanted to do every class just to get more water time. however, my friend/buddy/mentor is a really great diver (with duplicate cold water gear) who i trust fully and he's helped me a lot. More than AOW? don't know. haven't taken it yet. but i will say that i get his one on one help every single time i go diving rather than just the check out dives after a class with multiple students.

i'm just now getting my own drysuit, and apart from lead, i'm self-sufficient to dive up here. i'm taking aow in november, partly because i have a laundry list of things i want to work on, but also in order to take the rescue course next year.

so, try to find a buddy to dive with. you may be surprised to find someone willing to let you use their spare drysuit etc. also, take full advantage of the drive time. i always pick my buddy's brain on the way up there and then we do a few related exercises in the shallows before each dive. afterwards, we debrief and i tell him what my experiences were and what i need to work on next.

good luck!

 

[Lobzilla]

Hi maranda1389,

From your other posts it appears that depth is not the core issue. You do not trust your "underwater life-support apparatus" and your skills how to use it.

Firstly, it is OK to have fears. That prevents us from doing really stupid things. However, it is not good when fears control our behavior to the point of making irrational decisions.

My first minutes underwater on a SCUBA regulator where very stressfull until I convinced myself that even if the next breath does not come out of this thing, it's not the end of the world.

Try to deal with the fear of drowning first. Do some free dives or go into the pool and find out how long you can sit at the bottom with the reglator in your hand and not in your mouth. Switch between regulators. Purge with the button and with your remaining lung volume. Do mask clearing drills. Realize that the 30 to 45 seconds that everyone can live without breathing is a long time if used properly.

I would graduate myself by putting the gear on the bottom of the pool, mask included. Then, dive down, put the reg in your mouth, purge, don the mask, clear, put the gear on your back, cinch up, trim and hover.

Understand your gear. How does a regulator work? What is a free-flow and what does that mean to your remaining air time? Why is it normal that your regulator breathes harder when you kneel or stand upright?

How does it feel when I suck a tank 'dry'? (Do this in a pool, possibly with an instructor). Depending on your 1st stage you have several more breath after you notice an increase in breathing resistance.

Learn to manage your air supply properly so you do not worry subconciously about running out. Play the 'guess the PSI' game. Before you look at your SPG, guess what it is going to show, then verify. Soon, you will have replaced that subconcious worry by an awareness (that you should, of course, double check regularly).

Explore the possibility of using a redundant air supply and learn how to transition in a relaxed and smooth way.

Dealing with your fears can actually be fun. When I learned to fly airplanes I was more than a little squeamish in turbulence. To prevent this from screwing up my decision making by escalating into a full blown panic I took up glider flying in the mountains and aerobatics. In retrospect, the fear of being bounced around lost to the fun of 'bouncing around' willingly.

Hope that helps.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Hi maranda1389,

From your other posts it appears that depth is not the core issue. You do not trust your "underwater life-support apparatus" and your skills how to use it.

Firstly, it is OK to have fears. That prevents us from doing really stupid things. However, it is not good when fears control our behavior to the point of making irrational decisions.

My first minutes underwater on a SCUBA regulator where very stressfull until I convinced myself that even if the next breath does not come out of this thing, it's not the end of the world.

Try to deal with the fear of drowning first. Do some free dives or go into the pool and find out how long you can sit at the bottom with the reglator in your hand and not in your mouth. Switch between regulators. Purge with the button and with your remaining lung volume. Do mask clearing drills. Realize that the 30 to 45 seconds that everyone can live without breathing is a long time if used properly.

I would graduate myself by putting the gear on the bottom of the pool, mask included. Then, dive down, put the reg in your mouth, purge, don the mask, clear, put the gear on your back, cinch up, trim and hover.

Understand your gear. How does a regulator work? What is a free-flow and what does that mean to your remaining air time? Why is it normal that your regulator breathes harder when you kneel or stand upright?

How does it feel when I suck a tank 'dry'? (Do this in a pool, possibly with an instructor). Depending on your 1st stage you have several more breath after you notice an increase in breathing resistance.

Learn to manage your air supply properly so you do not worry subconciously about running out. Play the 'guess the PSI' game. Before you look at your SPG, guess what it is going to show, then verify. Soon, you will have replaced that subconcious worry by an awareness (that you should, of course, double check regularly).

Explore the possibility of using a redundant air supply and learn how to transition in a relaxed and smooth way.

Dealing with your fears can actually be fun. When I learned to fly airplanes I was more than a little squeamish in turbulence. To prevent this from screwing up my decision making by escalating into a full blown panic I took up glider flying in the mountains and aerobatics. In retrospect, the fear of being bounced around lost to the fun of 'bouncing around' willingly.

Hope that helps.

For someone who is having issues that she describes the exercises you are suggesting she do are extremely dangerous to just go and start doing without an instructor present. Even though I teach these in OW classes, I'm guessing she did not have to do them. If not she should start with an instructor who will tailor some instruction for her. The doff and don as you describe is easy for someone who has been properly introduced to it. To just tell her what you did could result in an embolism if she panics and forgets to exhale. Also the mask is one of the least needed items in the exercise. Air followed by the stability the weight system gives come first. You are not an instructor yet are giving her advice on how to overcome these issues based on what? Not a good idea.

 

[Lobzilla]

For someone who is having issues that she describes the exercises you are suggesting she do are extremely dangerous to just go and start doing without an instructor present. Even though I teach these in OW classes, I'm guessing she did not have to do them. If not she should start with an instructor who will tailor some instruction for her. The doff and don as you describe is easy for someone who has been properly introduced to it. To just tell her what you did could result in an embolism if she panics and forgets to exhale. Also the mask is one of the least needed items in the exercise. Air followed by the stability the weight system gives come first. You are not an instructor yet are giving her advice on how to overcome these issues based on what? Not a good idea.

Modified to keep all instructors happy:

Hi maranda1389,

From your other posts it appears that depth is not the core issue. You do not trust your "underwater life-support apparatus" and your skills how to use it.

Firstly, it is OK to have fears. That prevents us from doing really stupid things. However, it is not good when fears control our behavior to the point of making irrational decisions.

My first minutes underwater on a SCUBA regulator where very stressful until I convinced myself that even if the next breath does not come out of this thing, it's not the end of the world.

Try to deal with the fear of drowning first. Find another instructor and describe your problems to him/her. Ask him/her for coaching on this issue and do not let him/her sucker you into another course without remedy on the core fear.

Dealing with your fears can actually be fun. When I learned to fly airplanes I was more than a little squeamish in turbulence. To prevent this from screwing up my decision making by escalating into a full blown panic I took up glider flying in the mountains and aerobatics (with proper instruction, of course). In retrospect, the fear of being bounced around lost to the fun of 'bouncing around' willingly (without further hand-holding).

(The other great thing about flying is your first solo. Early on, you can legally leave the 'nanny' on the ground and learn to be self-responsible, which is what you need to be for the rest of your career anyway. One funny thing about some instructors is that they try to tell you that you will die without them, while at the same time, they fail to teach you what keeps you alive in the long run.)

Yeah, and never, ever hold your breath. I hope you got that out of OW.

 

[danvolker]

I just did a quick read through of dive sites in Oregon....between the low viz and cold of the lake dives, and the harshness of the ocean dives, it does NOT appear to be a place I would use to introduce diving to a female friend.

From your anxiety issues, you need nice comfortable dives, and the idea should be "baby steps", not the 10 foot viz with 50 degree water temps, and worse!

While this may not be feasible for you, my best advice is to book a trip to a tropical getaway like Grand Cayman, and spend 3 to 5 days learning to Freedive there....a few scuba dives toward the end would be good as well. I did a quck search, and this popped up ... Grand Cayman scuba diving cayman island scuba diving cayman island scuba resort cayman scuba training cayman cayman island scuba grand cayman scuba dive cayman islands scuba diving scuba diving in grand cayman scuba diving cayman scuba diving on gran I expect they could get you exactly what you need....
What I think you need is huge physical skills in underwater swimming....Perfect your ability to move up and down in the water, and to learn to be able to swim effortlessly...Typically, this eludes scuba divers till they have been diving a very long time, unless they were a "natural". If you go and take a peek at the typical AOW class going on at most training areas, the efficient and effortless swimming skills appear to be elusive to students at experience levels well beyond AOW.
If you learn underwater propulsion and efficiency the way a freediver does, when you get back to scuba diving, you will find you now KNOW how to move better throughout the scuba dive, and can do so without even trying. When you learn the basics of freediving, you learn critical bouyancy skills ---when you understand how important it is to NOT be too heavy, or to NOT be too light, you will not allow yourself to scuba dive at any other weighting than absolutely perfect weight ( or you should not allow yourself
Also, when you realize that 40 feet down is nothing for a freediver( you) on a single breath of air, the idea of gear failures at 40 feet will not concern you to the point of anxiety any longer..You should always plan on a buddy nearby for this contigency, but the simple knowledge that a reg failure is more of an "inconveniance" than a life and death issue to a freediver/scuba diver, should eliminate this fear that is screwing up your dive experiences.

My guess is that if you became just a "novice freediver", these skills would make scuba diving in Oregon MUCH easier for you...Comfort levels..efficiency in the water..ability to handle waves or currents, understanding being "slick" in the water to be efficient in propulsion, much lower heart rate and breathing rate, all this and much more would accompany the freediving skills.
REgards,
DanV

 

[lmorin]

FWIW--Maranda, your perspective on deep dives sounds similar to that of my wife when we were both novice divers. She immediately loved the diving, but did not want to go deeper than about 60 ft. After 25-30 dives, we did AOW. We did it because my wife had an approach/avoidance relationship with diving to 80-100 ft. On the one hand, she wanted to be able to do so, but on the other, she was quite worried about the depth. So, the AOW course required a deep dive, but with an accompanying instructor. My wife needed to feel comfortable and safe to build her confidence and the instructor provided that support. Our deep dive was to 100 ft. We would never have done it without the instructor present because my wife was just too worried at that time in her diving development. The accompanied deep dive removed a bunch of worries. Many more dives under a whole variety of conditions have removed a lot more worries for both of us. As you dive more and more, the idea of going to 80-100 ft is likely to become less and less bothersome. It's called 'experience' and it has enormous value where comfort level is concerned.

 

[maranda1389]

Modified to keep all instructors happy:

Hi maranda1389,

From your other posts it appears that depth is not the core issue. You do not trust your "underwater life-support apparatus" and your skills how to use it.

Firstly, it is OK to have fears. That prevents us from doing really stupid things. However, it is not good when fears control our behavior to the point of making irrational decisions.

My first minutes underwater on a SCUBA regulator where very stressful until I convinced myself that even if the next breath does not come out of this thing, it's not the end of the world.

Try to deal with the fear of drowning first. Find another instructor and describe your problems to him/her. Ask him/her for coaching on this issue and do not let him/her sucker you into another course without remedy on the core fear.

Dealing with your fears can actually be fun. When I learned to fly airplanes I was more than a little squeamish in turbulence. To prevent this from screwing up my decision making by escalating into a full blown panic I took up glider flying in the mountains and aerobatics (with proper instruction, of course). In retrospect, the fear of being bounced around lost to the fun of 'bouncing around' willingly (without further hand-holding).

(The other great thing about flying is your first solo. Early on, you can legally leave the 'nanny' on the ground and learn to be self-responsible, which is what you need to be for the rest of your career anyway. One funny thing about some instructors is that they try to tell you that you will die without them, while at the same time, they fail to teach you what keeps you alive in the long run.)

Yeah, and never, ever hold your breath. I hope you got that out of OW.

Lol, I would NEVER hold my breath underwater =) Thanks for your help.

 

[mblazer]

maranda1389:

First and foremost, you need to know that you are not alone. My wife just got her OW and insists that she will not go below 30 to 40. Not because she can't, but because she has some issues with anxiety and claustrophobia. Fortunately for us, we're going to Costa Rica for a week around Thanksgiving. There will be 4 of us -- my wife and three of us with more experience (one with a whole lot more). We intend to go very slowly and patiently. She knows she can do it -- she just needs to get over some of the mental hurdles. So the best advice I can give is don't be in a hurry. Take your time, relax, and get comfortable. The rest will come in time.