ScubaFishee
Guest
Well, after a few months of reading posts here on the forum and learning so many new things, (thanks all) I guess it's time for me to share.
I finally went for my OW cert dives yesterday. I was really looking forward to it! Something I've always wanted to do. But I guess I had a few strikes against me starting out.
To keep it short, I'll just fill you in on the basic. I took my classes through a LDS with an in-store pool. (I'll call them LDS-1) Halfway through, I found that another LDS was much more helpful in helping me with equipment problems and diving advice. (I'll call them LDS-2.) So, I bought all my equipment from LDS2. Of course, LDS-1 was not happy about this. And I couldn't use my new equipment for training because LDS-1 will only allow use of equipment purchased from them. (BTW, LDS-1 doesn't sell the BC I purchased, but they did compliment me and said I'd purchased a good setup.)
Anyway, class went well. Had trouble in one class with the back inflate BC pushing my face in the water. *LDS-2* told me to add tank weights and lean back. Problem solved.
I had no problems with skills in class, but did experience what I thought was a little leakage with my snorkel. My "classroom" work was all self-study, but I "aced" all my tests. I took my final exam and scored 100%!
Time for OW cert dives! Signed up with LDS-1. OW cancelled -- not enough people. Moved to next date on June 15th, but I was still the only one signed up. Because of my equipment purchase, LDS-2 said I could take OW with them for free so I didn't have to keep waiting.
Big day was yesterday. Arrived at the quarry with referral papers in hand, excited but a little worried about being not able to try my new gear at all ahead of time. We had four students. I was the only female and I was the only one with a back-inflate BC. My buddy and I geared up and instructor did weight check. After adding more weight I felt really low in the water. Water level was just below my eyes *with my BC and lungs full*. And my weights were probably too far forward because the face push thing was back again. Oh, and something new: my feet floated so I was in a head-down tilted position. Instructor thought it was ok. And I found a way to somehow manage to get uprighted and leaning on my back when I come up , so I didn't complain.
We started to snorkel out to the platform area and my snorkel starts to leak REALLY BAD! After about 15 - 30 secs, it would start to fill faster than I could clear. After stopping three times, the Instructor came over to see what was wrong. I told him my snorkel was leaking and he told me to clear it and keep going. After trying and stopping three more times, I'm getting more and more anxious and I'm constantly saying somethings not right. My instructor is saying keep going, we're behind schedule! He keeps saying to me "Don't lean on your back. Why do you keep getting on your back???" I keep saying "Because I can't tell you what's wrong with my face in the water!!!" I get more and more worked up and my breathing keeps getting faster and faster.
Finally, he tells me to put the reg in my mouth and we go to surface area above the platform. I'm still trying hard to slow my breathing because it's still really fast. Plus, I can't see anything he's demonstrating cause my face is in the water. But hey, at the same time, I'm trying not to keep leaning back because I don't want to start *that* argument up again! Finally, I realize this just isn't going to work, especially knowing that even if I get through this dive, I'd never make it through the snorkel dive that was scheduled next. So, I abort the dive.
Afterwards, I called LDS-2. After asking what kind of snorkel I have, they tell me they've had trouble with those and will send mine back and get me a new one (even though I bought it from LDS-1). They say we'll talk about working something out to get me certified when I come in to return the tanks and weights on Monday.
I do feel much better now knowing that there really was a problem with that darn snorkel and that I'm not just crazy. But I am really frustrated that I couldn't convince my instructor that this was a REAL problem and that I'm not just a wuss. And I'm frustrated that after so much hard work, I only got to be in the water for 15 mins and all of that was on the surface. I feel soooo humiliated, failing a cert dive because I couldn't snorkel over to the platform area! (And to make matters worse, after all of this I think that *now* I am actually a little afraid of a snorkel! Geez, what next???)
;-0
Most of all, I'm both frustrated and really, really worried because now I've got this big fear that if I try the OW again, how can I trust that anyone will believe me if I were to have a major problem underwater?
Sorry for the long post, but I really need some advice about what to do next. I've already spent over $3,000 in lessons and equipment to make my dream come true. But after yesterday, I diving just doesn't seem like fun anymore...
I finally went for my OW cert dives yesterday. I was really looking forward to it! Something I've always wanted to do. But I guess I had a few strikes against me starting out.
To keep it short, I'll just fill you in on the basic. I took my classes through a LDS with an in-store pool. (I'll call them LDS-1) Halfway through, I found that another LDS was much more helpful in helping me with equipment problems and diving advice. (I'll call them LDS-2.) So, I bought all my equipment from LDS2. Of course, LDS-1 was not happy about this. And I couldn't use my new equipment for training because LDS-1 will only allow use of equipment purchased from them. (BTW, LDS-1 doesn't sell the BC I purchased, but they did compliment me and said I'd purchased a good setup.)
Anyway, class went well. Had trouble in one class with the back inflate BC pushing my face in the water. *LDS-2* told me to add tank weights and lean back. Problem solved.
I had no problems with skills in class, but did experience what I thought was a little leakage with my snorkel. My "classroom" work was all self-study, but I "aced" all my tests. I took my final exam and scored 100%!
Time for OW cert dives! Signed up with LDS-1. OW cancelled -- not enough people. Moved to next date on June 15th, but I was still the only one signed up. Because of my equipment purchase, LDS-2 said I could take OW with them for free so I didn't have to keep waiting.
Big day was yesterday. Arrived at the quarry with referral papers in hand, excited but a little worried about being not able to try my new gear at all ahead of time. We had four students. I was the only female and I was the only one with a back-inflate BC. My buddy and I geared up and instructor did weight check. After adding more weight I felt really low in the water. Water level was just below my eyes *with my BC and lungs full*. And my weights were probably too far forward because the face push thing was back again. Oh, and something new: my feet floated so I was in a head-down tilted position. Instructor thought it was ok. And I found a way to somehow manage to get uprighted and leaning on my back when I come up , so I didn't complain.
We started to snorkel out to the platform area and my snorkel starts to leak REALLY BAD! After about 15 - 30 secs, it would start to fill faster than I could clear. After stopping three times, the Instructor came over to see what was wrong. I told him my snorkel was leaking and he told me to clear it and keep going. After trying and stopping three more times, I'm getting more and more anxious and I'm constantly saying somethings not right. My instructor is saying keep going, we're behind schedule! He keeps saying to me "Don't lean on your back. Why do you keep getting on your back???" I keep saying "Because I can't tell you what's wrong with my face in the water!!!" I get more and more worked up and my breathing keeps getting faster and faster.
Finally, he tells me to put the reg in my mouth and we go to surface area above the platform. I'm still trying hard to slow my breathing because it's still really fast. Plus, I can't see anything he's demonstrating cause my face is in the water. But hey, at the same time, I'm trying not to keep leaning back because I don't want to start *that* argument up again! Finally, I realize this just isn't going to work, especially knowing that even if I get through this dive, I'd never make it through the snorkel dive that was scheduled next. So, I abort the dive.
Afterwards, I called LDS-2. After asking what kind of snorkel I have, they tell me they've had trouble with those and will send mine back and get me a new one (even though I bought it from LDS-1). They say we'll talk about working something out to get me certified when I come in to return the tanks and weights on Monday.
I do feel much better now knowing that there really was a problem with that darn snorkel and that I'm not just crazy. But I am really frustrated that I couldn't convince my instructor that this was a REAL problem and that I'm not just a wuss. And I'm frustrated that after so much hard work, I only got to be in the water for 15 mins and all of that was on the surface. I feel soooo humiliated, failing a cert dive because I couldn't snorkel over to the platform area! (And to make matters worse, after all of this I think that *now* I am actually a little afraid of a snorkel! Geez, what next???)
;-0
Most of all, I'm both frustrated and really, really worried because now I've got this big fear that if I try the OW again, how can I trust that anyone will believe me if I were to have a major problem underwater?
Sorry for the long post, but I really need some advice about what to do next. I've already spent over $3,000 in lessons and equipment to make my dream come true. But after yesterday, I diving just doesn't seem like fun anymore...