Anyone else really nervous in the beginning?

[mcohen1021]

We are hiring guides for now or doing guided dives. None of my family or friends scuba dive.

And hiring a guide is ok too. At least you will be in clear waters! You could always get some practice in a dive shops pool - they should be able to help for a nominal fee.

I'm not gonna lie, myself and I am sure many others on this forum became good divers by diving in crappy lakes - and - making every mistake in the books along the way.

Just don't push what you think are your personal limits. My sister does not like to go beyond 80 ft and that is her choice - and she hired a guide for an easy shore dive in Fredriksted pier.

Me, I will go deeper if the site calls for it, risk is mitigated, if theres something of interest or on like my last blue hole trip, I dipped to 139' for a few seconds just to record my deepest dive in 36 yrs.

but we were sort of "in the blue", a ways out from the reef (it was still just visible)

I did that several times in Belize this past trip, its freaky as hell. Future tip - be sure you take a compass heading when going out into the blue. It can get disorienting and you can lose your sense of direction and which way it is back to the reef/wall.

 

[therookie]

be sure you take a compass heading when going out into the blue

Yeah I would definitely do that now. This was I think the OW3 dive - we were way to new to even know to do that (plus I didn't have a compass yet). And our very qualified instructor knew exactly where we were.

At least in most of West Bay if you just follow your compass east you are pretty much guaranteed to hit the reef

 

[mcohen1021]

Yeah I would definitely do that now. This was I think the OW3 dive - we were way to new to even know to do that (plus I didn't have a compass yet). And our very qualified instructor knew exactly where we were.

At least in most of West Bay if you just follow your compass east you are pretty much guaranteed to hit the reef

Awesome. I loved West Bay - until Huricane Eta went by (2020)

 

[inquis]

Before your next dive, pace off 60 ft from your car in the parking lot. Turn around and look at your car. I think you will be amazed how close it is.

(FWIW, the average step length is 41% of your height. A 60 ft distance would be around 30 steps if you're 5 ft tall, or 25 steps if you're 6 ft tall.)

 

[tmassey]

Depth scares me, I think, because coming up in an emergency from 60 feet is very different from 24 feet.

I thought that was a great question by @johndiver999 and I figured that might be your answer…

know this: an ascent to the surface from 60 feet is almost exactly the same as an ascent to the surface from 30 feet. Yes, it will take you twice as long. However, as you are ascending, the gas in your lungs literally expands: that’s why we are taught to hum or let small amounts of bubbles out as we make such an ascent. And that literally makes up the difference.

I don’t necessarily expect you to emotionally believe that, and certainly not immediately. But you can at least use the analytical part of your brain to explain that to yourself. Keep reminding yourself of that: as you ascend, the volume of gas in your lungs will increase and you truly will make it to the surface with a lung full of air. And that is without rushing to the surface.

Remember that we want to ascend to the surface no faster than 60 feet a minute — ‘follow your large bubbles .’ This means that it will take you no more than a minute to get to the surface in such an emergency situation. Can you hold your breath for a minute? I know that you can! Even when you’re at the point where you feel the need to inhale, I am quite certain you can hold your breath for one minute. I’m not saying it will be comfortable: it won’t be, because of our breathing reflex. But it will not be difficult or even painful, just uncomfortable.

You may find that explaining that to yourself and practicing that with yourself may give you the comfort to know that even if the absolute worst happens you can make it to the surface reasonably and safely without difficulty. Just having that proven, practiced knowledge alone will help you to both be more comfortable at 60 feet, as well as greatly reduce the odds that you panic if something happens.

And then after you remind yourself and prove to yourself all of that, remind yourself of all of the other things that have to go wrong. You have a tank full of air. You have not one but two regulators supplying gas to you. And you are going to have a buddy that is going to be just a few feet away who has all the same resources that you do. And it’s only if all of that goes terribly wrong that you will actually have to make your way to the surface. And even then, you have plenty of time to make a controlled and reasonable ascent to the surface just with the air you have in your lungs. Even from 60 feet — or even deeper, really!

Again, I’m not expecting all of this information to be a magic wand that will put everything at ease in a single moment. It takes a long time to change our emotional reaction to something. But at least having a lot of provable, factual information in your mind and reviewing it frequently between now and your dive can start to make that change in your perspective.

anyway, in the end, stay within your limits and work on expanding them in a careful and controlled manner. You’ve got this! The hard part is getting the gear on and getting in the water. If you can do that, you can work toward doing anything with just a little bit of additional time and effort.

 

[inquis]

Can you hold your breath for a minute? I know that you can! Even when you’re at the point where you feel the need to inhale, I am quite certain you can hold your breath for one minute.

OP, if you're inclined to test this in your living room, you should understand that ascending (with associated exhalation) for one minute is MUCH easier than holding your breath for a minute on land.

Without getting too detailed, our need to inhale is related to the number of waste molecules in the lungs, which are generated at about the same rate during both exercises. The key difference is you are throwing away lots of them as you exhale during ascent.

(That said, you should breath normally on a normal ascent.)

 

[shelbylouise]

Hi all,
I’m not new to scuba board or really to diving but I’m very inexperienced. Got certified NAUI in 1989 and then never dove because we had kids. Did a refresher in Cozumel last year to 60 feet and I was so relieved when it was over. Did another refresher type dive yesterday in Curacao and I was so nervous but it went well. She knew I didn’t want to do 60 feet again so we went 32 feet and I really relaxed and loved it.
Doing a guided dive today and they said they can’t keep to 30 - 35 feet and I feel so anxious. I love the ocean, I can free dive of sorts and am a good swimmer but going deep is not comfortable for me yet. I may bail and go back to where I went yesterday although this is all paid for.
I do love it when I feel safe. It’s otherworldly down there.
Any advice more than welcome, including mental exercises.
Thanks,
Nancy

I had to do a wreck dive at 50ft in a high current location after only ever diving in 20-25ft spots. All low vis as I'm in the northeast US. I was really nervous at first, but when I got down there, I realized it really wasn't much different

All in all, stick to where you feel comfortable, but know you're not alone in that feeling!

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

@nldunn

The most nervous of all of my students was a 6'5" 280 lb firefighter, a man who would break through walls to rescue someone in a burning building.

And he was afraid of the dark water.

He got over it, but my point is, if someone like that can be afraid of the water, no one should feel bad about themselves having reservation. He got over it with enough time under the surface.

I don't know if you have local shore diving opportunities, but my suggestion is to do gradually deeper dives shore, adding 5'. So start at 40', and when comfortable go to 45 feet. Once comfortable .... rinse and repeat. Go at your own pace. There is no timeframe requirement for progressing. The only "requirement" is to enjoy yourself. Gradually you will open up more dive sites that will be enjoyable to you.

Good luck!

 

[tmassey]

And he was afraid of the dark water.

Dark water sucks. Actually, any water you can’t clearly see in sucks.

My least favorite dive on earth is 18 feet deep in a nearby inland lake. The water is green, you can’t see anything, and they have sunk things for diver entertainment. You know, boats, equipment, things like that.

The problem is the water is just bright green and you can’t see through it until this dark, foreboding… thing…slowly resolves itself slowly in front of you. It is the absolute creepiest, most intimidating feeling of doom, and I have it for every single object every single time when I dive in that lake. The things in the bottom of the lake are bad enough, but when the objects are tall enough to be noticeably over your head… That is way worse.

I dive caves. I dive 200 foot deep shipwrecks. And I hate that lake the most.

So, yeah. Never feel bad about feeling uncomfortable. We may not all have the same trigger, but we all have that feeling.

ETA: oh, by the way, I’m diving there next weekend. It’s not nearly as bad when there’s ice on top of the lake: all the algae dies back and you can actually see things. I’m actually looking forward to it.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Dark water sucks. Actually, any water you can’t clearly see in sucks.

My least favorite dive on earth is 18 feet deep in my local lake. The water is green, you can’t see anything, and they have sunk things for diver entertainment. You know, boats, equipment, things like that.

The problem is the water is just bright green and you can’t see through it until this dark, foreboding… thing…slowly resolves itself slowly in front of you. It is the absolute creepiest, most intimidating feeling of doom, and I have it for every single object every single time when I dive in that lake. The things in the bottom of the lake are bad enough, but when the objects are tall enough to be noticeably over your head… That is way worse.

I dive caves. I dive 200 foot deep shipwrecks. And I hate that lake the most.

So, yeah. Never feel bad about feeling uncomfortable. We may not all have the same trigger, but we all have that feeling.

We can see about 10 to 15 feet. I also give my students my own personal dive lights as I believe from a practical point of view a requirement for diving in the Puget Sound.


This guy was in amazing shape. He created a bit of a wake doing the navigation swim at the surface and just took off. I was afraid he'd go into the shipping lanes! LOL