Am I being a wimp about these dive plans, or is this how you become a better diver?

[Damselfish]

If you’re not ready and comfortable for a dive, you shouldn’t do it. And no one should be pushing you. It’s true much of your learning will come from just diving and pushing your limits - but a little at a time, not making big leaps you’re not ready for.

AOW is not really advanced but is a good way to gain some skills and practice and comfort with an instructor, which sounds like it might be perfect for you right now, even if the scheduling isn’t ideal this trip. (Often assuming you are boat diving, you could still be on the same boat with your husband to do your dives and he might be able to tag along and you may still have time to just dive together for part of the time, depending how long your skills take. Ask the dive op. Maybe your husband should be taking it with you, since his diving isn’t recent and it sounds like there are some points he may have missed the first time. Or, if he is nagging you to do dives you don’t want to do yet, doing your own AOW thing for a few dives may not be a bad idea…)

Search and recovery may not be about rescuing a person, but should still be a good skill builder. There is a Rescue class, pretty much everyone agrees it is a very good class to take. Under PADI you need AOW and 50 dives, and it’s not time yet, but something to keep in mind.

 

[Guille G]

(…) this is a HOBBY; if it doesn't immediately sound like fun but rather more like a possible source of anxiety, don't do it. (…)

Just wanted to echo this. If the sites are known dive sites commonly visited by OW divers, then they are most likely benign - but that is really a personal thing. If you don’t feel it, go somewhere else or back to site 1 - the fish are never the same!!

As for AOW dive samples, I didn’t do either specialty but actual drift and night diving are both a lot of fun, if you are near a site that allows either at the beginner level. Neither requires much depth, necessarily.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

If you aren’t ready or comfortable, DON’T DO IT.

 

[AfterDark]

Check with the dive op they may not allow an OW diver to make dives 2 &3 so you're off the hook.

 

[-JD-]

No, you are not being a wimp. Especially, coming out of a period of not diving!

IMO, If you don't feel that a dive is within your comfortable capabilities, don't do it, even to make your spouse happy. That doesn't mean never doing something more than you have done, but keeping the expansion steps "comfortable", incremental, and generally in one dimension. For one dive you may go a little deeper. For another maybe you do a 10' long swim-through. Going significantly deeper AND doing a longer swim-through in the same dive - not yet, and if you aren't comfortable with it - never is fine.

Doing AOW sooner rather than later is a good idea to expand your experience/limits in a somewhat controlled environment. Ironically, you may be doing somewhat similar dives to what you perceived as "too much," but broken down, in a training situation, where you can focus more on you, without any (long term) relationship dynamics. I would suggest from some observations that spouses, partners, or parents should not be around if they are not part of the course, and at least on a different team if they are. Divers need to develop to operate independently - for the benefit of both, even if you are later a buddy team.

As for the specialty choices I believe Deep, Night, and Nav would be the most valuable because they are the areas that tend to create "situations" if not done right. I agree with the others that say that PPB is probably only as good as the particular instruction situation - If you don't do it as part of the course read the book section and play around in the pool.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Local diving isn't a thing where I live, so...

Where is local? There's always local diving. My local diving isn't great at all, cold and dark, but it can be fun with the right gear. Getting good and comfortable local (where you can take your time and it doesn't matter) is really great at alleviating any fears on a vacation.

 

[rick00001967]

i will pass along what i told my employees when training them to be gas fitters....."if you are asking yourself if you should do something, then you already have your answer."

i applaud you for questioning the dive plan and considering whether it is appropriate for you.

you are 100% correct that it is extremely important to dive within your personal limits.

that all said, we cannot expand our abilities unless we try to push past our current limits. i think the key is be comfortable as possible with the idea of trying something new. it is impossible for anyone to know how you feel. only you can make those decisions. if an idea terrifies you, that is a bit different than if it simply makes you a bit nervous.

it is also important to make sure that whoever you are diving with is capable of handling the situation if these go wrong (if you panic for example). otherwise both of you could be in a very dangerous situation.

for me, two things jump out. if you have never been deeper than 52 feet then perhaps with your limited experiance, it would be better to gradually extend your depth range before attempting a 100 foot wreck dive. it will not only allow you to mentally adjust to new depths but will give you the opportunity to see how you gas consumption is while divng deeper.

i also was quite disturbed to hear you say that your hubby has been "cave diving". i assume he does not have cave training or any cave certification? this is a huge red flag. no offense to your husband but i would be questioning his ability to make decisions about what is an appropriate dive and what is not.

 

[Gone for diving]

100ft for the first time is a mile stone for most people.

That said
52ft in murky cold water or 100ft in clear warm water... are 2 very different things,

I assume you haven't been diving cold dark dives,
so probably it's not smart to do 100ft dive without doing a easy 75ft in the same area.
You probably will not remember much about that dive because you'll be focused on your air supply, NDL, etc

Just find something shallower that you like better...
Diving somewhere you have never dove before can always be a bit challenging

 

[Marie13]

I

i also was quite disturbed to hear you say that your hubby has been "cave diving". i assume he does not have cave training or any cave certification? this is a huge red flag. no offense to your husband but i would be questioning his ability to make decisions about what is an appropriate dive and what is not.

Yeah exactly my thoughts. Bingo!

 

[Marie13]

@twostringsandawheel

I don’t really care where you are, but since you say there doesn’t appear to be any local diving, I’m going to suggest you try to find a dive shop that will allow you to do an occasional pool session in between trips. That will keep your skills from getting really rusty. Some shops will do pool sessions where any certified diver is allowed in the pool with a buddy. Sounds like that would be quite beneficial for you.