Bummed out by Attempt at OW Dive (long)

[don Francisco]

Angela, one sentence in your post said it all. You don't NEED to know how to dive. You should dive only if you enjoy it, and if not there are lots of fulfilling pastimes you might enjoy as much or more.

I love scuba and dive at every opportunity, so since you enjoyed your first resort dive, I suggest you give it a another chance.

Lots of folks dive only in warm, clear, tropical waters and do so only once a year or so on winter vacations to the Carribean. You'd be amazed at the number of divers from the northern plains states and central Canada, who wouldn't even consider diving at home.

If your memories of your first dive are enough to carry you through, and motivate you to give it another shot, do so slowly and patiently. Having paid for your course at home try to finish it, or better yet, if it's an option, see if you can convert it to a referral course wherein you do your certification dives elsewhere such as Florida or the Carribean. Alternatively, You might start fresh with a new course on your next winter vacation.

If you do quit, do so with no regrets. Don't feel obligated to dive, or to continue your course simply because you spent money on it. It would be like finishing a lousy meal simply because you paid for it. If you dive do so because you enjoy it, and if you're not enjoying it, take up something you like better.

 

[diver 85]

hang in there, you'll 'catch' on...I just turned 56 and just started soloing---on a kayak no less...It'll get better.......

 

[Standingbear56]

Hi Angela,
First, welcome to Scuba Board. I am so sorry that you had such a bad open water experience. I think by you reading the posts here that you will realize you are not alone with this. I would like to encourage you also to give it another go. However as you said, you don't NEED to dive. You should do it because it's something you WANT to do. You are right to think things over - I think anyone who had your experience would. However, I would ask that you give it another try before deciding against it.
Trust me when I tell you that I used to be a total DORK in the water. You'd swear I had 2 Left fins! I was as clumsy and uncoordinated as anyone could have been. I also had to take learning one step at a time, and was easily overwhelmed. I think you had too many things to get used to all at once on your first dive.
I suggest that your instructor takes you in a pool with your full wetsuit and other open water equipment on, so you can get used to it. Make sure it fits correctly and that you can breath OK. Take it one step at a time, and don't rush. Keep doing this until you feel comfortable in doing all the exercises in your full kit. THEN, go to the open water. This eliminates getting used to unfamiliar equipment AND the open water environment at the same time. It also gives you a chance to make sure your equipment all fits properly - which is a major factor.
While the final decision is of course yours, try the above if you can. I think it will make all the difference in the world. Please keep in touch and let us know how you make out - OK.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Safe Diving,
George
PADI MSDT 33859
Prime Scuba

 

[pasley]

..... even though I lived in So. Cal. have never gone diving there. (blasphemy *gasp*) ....)

Say it is not so. I have dove with divers who flew here from Germany and Belgium to dive our gorgeous giant kelp Forrest and you don't dive here.

Seriously, I can understand that cold water diving with 10-15 feet (on a good day) of visibility is not everyones cup of tea. I did my first warm water dives in the Caribbean this past February (dives 262-269) and I can definitely see the attraction. The freedom of not wearing a dry suit or 7mm wet suit, the sounds of the ocean not muffled by a 9-11 mm hood, the feel of the current against my ears and bare hands, 100 feet of visibility, the shear freedom of it. It did make it hard (as I was afraid it would) to get back into our water that usually runs somewhere in the 50s at depth).

You must find your happy place regarding diving. You will need to exercise through out the year to be fit to dive (which motivates me on my non dive days to go exercise). I have dove with divers who had 500 dives in lakes, quarries, rivers and mines (too dangerous for me). So there may be more diving local to you than you think. You may be a weekly local diver, or a vacation only diver. But if diving is something you want to do and can enjoy, then go for it.

You do get use to things with time and training. May I suggest that when swimming out, you roll over onto your back a kick out that way and do not use the snorkel if you can avoid it. Since the visibility is poor, it is not like you are looking at the pretty fishes anyway. I have found that for me a snorkel creates contributes to the "can't breathe" and "tuckered out" feeling on the surface. IMHO The snorkel is a 1 inch tube 18 inches long. This translates into the first 18 cubic inches of each breath is the exhale from the previous breath or dead air. This increases your carbon dioxide load which triggers the "got to breath" response and contributes to the "can't breathe" sensation.


You are still young and have many years of diving ahead of you. I know divers who are 74 and skin diving 3 times a week and SCUBA once a week or more. If it makes you happy do it, if not, find something that does.

 

[Hoomi]

Don't give up on something that appeals to you and that you want to do just because of lousy first attempts. Take the problems as lessons of what to work on for next time.

The first time I ever rode a Century Ride on a bicycle (a Century is 100 miles or more in a single day), was right around my 35th birthday. I'd trained all summer for El Tour de Tucson, and had pestered friends and co-workers for sponsorship for this big charity ride. The morning of the Big Ride, I got out of bed and it was pouring rain. The local weather reported snow flurries at the start line. It was miserable outside. I just shook my head and crawled back into bed. Lying there, though, I thought about all the training and all the people who had donated sponsorship so I could do that ride, and decided I was at least going to go start. It was still drizzling when we rolled away from the start line, but cleared up shortly thereafter. I felt pretty good, and kept up a decent pace with a number of stronger riders for the first part of the ride.

That was mistake #2 (I'll get to mistake #1 in a minute). Keeping up with those stronger riders wore me out way too early in the ride, and while they continued on at what was a moderate pace for them, I couldn't keep up any longer and fell behind.

I was already feeling "in over my head" when we reached the rolling hills on the north side of town, but I'd still have a nice, fast descent on the downhill sides of those hills - mistake #3. Rather than hammering the downhills for the short burst of thrilling speed they gave me, I should have used them for resting my legs and conserving energy for the next climb.

About fifty miles or so into the 111 mile ride, I started having leg cramps, revealing mistake #1 to me - I had not hydrated well enough the week before the ride, and now I was running in deficit mode. I could drink loads of water at each rest stop, but it was already too late to get properly hydrated for a good ride. Reaching the summit at the far east end of town, I looked forward to an easy downhill ride back to the start line, only to find instead that we were turning into a stead headwind that made riding downhill a chore as well.

I pretty much limped the last 30 - 40 miles, stopping at every rest stop to stretch out the legs and gulp down more water, and the only reason I didn't quit was that I was just too stubborn to admit defeat. It took me over 11 hours to complete the course, and I finished just ahead of the one-legged guy (no kidding; he rode the entire 111 miles with only one leg). It was hard to imagine describing the experience as "fun", and it would have been easy to decide bicycle riding wasn't for me.

I've since done other Century Rides, and from the lessons learned in that first one, I've had a great time on them and met some wonderful people. I know now how to properly prepare for a long ride, how to pace myself on the ride, and that I don't have to be Lance Armstrong. I'd have never enjoyed those other rides, though, if I'd expected every one thereafter to be as miserable as that first.

Just keep at it, and think about what it is you want to dive for, and tell yourself it's okay to have newbie experiences, because you ARE a newbie. I'll be doing that myself when my dive training starts shortly, so you could say I'm preaching to myself here as well. Just don't quit because of one bad experience; there's a whole world of great experiences ahead if you keep working at it.

 

[tfsails]

Angela--You're from North Dakota, eh? What part? I was stationed in Minot from 1971-73. I'd think there'd be some diving in Lake Sakajawea, but I bet it would be cold below about 20'.

There's so much good advice here that I won't offer any. I learned to dive in Curaçao at 51; it's like learning to ski in Vail. I'm spoiled. Think long and hard about getting a referral to warmer, clearer climes. You won't regret it.

 

[Angela2932]

Wow! You folks are wonderful! What a treasure trove of information and ideas you've shared with me as I sort this through. I really needed this support, and reading through these responses literally brought tears to my eyes and is helping me find a way to put this all in perspective.

It's somehow very reassuring to know that others have struggled, and that it's actually possible to NOT do cold water diving, but dive once a year or so in a warmer place. I was under the impression that unless you dove many times a year, you really wouldn't be competent at all.

Dion, you said you lived for those times each year and that it rejuvenates you. I could see that being the case for me, especially when sometimes it's the anticipation of, and memories of, other glimpses of the world that can help us weather our long stretches of 20 degrees below zero weather. I could see it not only rejuvenating me, but motivating me to be physically ready for diving.

ucfdiver, you mentioned that gear is very important. I'm thinking the fit of the wetsuit makes a difference too? It was so difficult to get into the suit that was brought to the divesite for me; I felt like I needed a crowbar to get into it, and wonder if this was part of my struggle in snorkeling to the float. The wet suit actually was a "farmer john" so it did have both the inner 6.5 mm, and outer 6.5 mm of neoprene. It was twisted to the left on me, on my legs, and I couldn't get it any straighter; I felt like I could move one leg more than the other. Could this be a factor in my feeling like I was tilting over to the left as I snorkeled to the float? Just how tight are these things suppose to be? It didn't look like the 2 instructors were squashed into their suits, like the rest of us were.

Brewski, I really wasn't expecting such differences between the pool and the lake! I thought it would be all about the fish! And no chlorine!

TSandM, I read your dive journal about a month ago, and I'm so going to read it again this week. It's so inspirational to know how you struggled initially and how far you've come since then.

VVladimir, you totally cracked me up! It's when I read your comment about macrame that I think I started to turn a corner today! It's exactly because of macrame, that I WANT to go scuba diving! Two years ago, I could barely walk, because of a misdiagnosed form of inflammatory arthritis. I kept being put in walking casts (that I didn't need), and was feeling trapped into life as a couch potato that I didn't want. I taught myself to crochet from the internet out of boredom; regaining mobility makes me want more out of life, more than macrame!

Winterpeg and Dux, I so identify with your journeys! At some level, there's some real philosophical issues about keeping going with diving. I don't NEED to do it, as I said before, but your ideas and thoughts help me realize that WANTING to dive, may be reason enough. I've always been such a nose-to-the-grindstone kind of person, and there's nothing practical about diving. But it's like the icing on the cake; after all, what's life for, if not for getting to enjoy the "great buzz . . . . and very surreal nature of it all" (although I'll pass on the hand from the handless-corpse!!!!!) And asking myself how I'd feel in future years if I stop. . . well, I really do know the answer to that!

Eau Girl, ligresandtions, don Franciso, diver 85, Standingbear56, thank you for being part of the chorus encouraging me not to give up! I'm really understanding more that I may need to move away from just following a standard path put forward by the local dive shop, and see if I can work with my instructor to develop a more individualized plan that will work for me.

pasley, I think you touched on the thing that was huge in my struggle; I felt like I couldn't breathe by the time I got to the float. I'd never experienced this before, and had been practicing like crazy in the pool for the past 4 weeks, doing lap swims with a snorkel. But it was practically effortless crossing the pool; I bet it just had something to do with much less oxygen consumption. It makes me feels so much better thinking there was some logical explanation, and not that I was just the diver who needed to be voted off the island.

Hoomi, I bet your sense of satisfaction was enormous at the end of that 111 mile ride. You're right; there's no replacement for the deep, internal knowing of "I did it," especially when the "it" is tough.

And tfsails, I'm in Grand Forks, ND. On the eastern border, about 2 hours south of Winnepeg. Truthfully, I'm not even sure where Lake Sakajawea is. I'm closer to the Minnesota lakes (I think!)

Tomorrow, I'm getting my knee checked out and am hoping to hear the magic words "just rest and ice it." And then I'm going to work on my Scuba Remediation Plan, especially with all the suggestions from all of you. And then I'll call the dive intructor and see what help will be possible from him.

Thank you all, once again! I'll keep you posted, and if you have more suggestions about what I should work on, I'd love to hear them.

 

[Grish]

Angela,

As with many others here, I too have had some miserable experiences with cold water wetsuits. The ones my LDS has for class use make me miserably claustrophobic, I break at least one nail every time I try to get it on (lol, retarded thing to mention, but it's frustrating for me), and they rip up my knuckles. One thing I found that helped quite a bit as far as getting it on was buying a dive skin. I also went up a couple of sizes from my 3mm wetsuit size. It still fits me well enough to keep me warm enough in even 40 degree water, but it gives me a little more neoprene to work with when getting into it and making sure it's fitting to my body evenly.

Don't give up!!

 

[Standingbear56]

Angela, I hope you get good news about your knee. Like everyone has said - take things one step at a time. Please keep in touch and let us know how you are making out. If there is anything we can do to help - you know where we are.
Safe Diving,
George
PADI MSDT

 

[rollerboi]

Angela,

Welcome to the allure of diving. I dove off Isla Mujeres (mexico) shortly after becoming OW certified, and it was just a blast. I felt totally dialed in, skimming the bottom without stirring up silt, and just generally having a terrific dive.

Then I came home to Utah.. fast forward to a dark, cold dive in less than 2 foot visibility. Way different. My wife and I were able to identify a comfort zone of about 10 foot viz to really be comfortable in our dives. I struggled with the buoyancy of my new wetsuit, and couldn't get down on my second dive due to the changes in my AL80 tank.

Fast forward... to a fantastic dive in Puget Sound, Washington. We both braved 47-degree water in wetsuits, to have the time of our lives. I was enthralled with all the different types of life found at Edmonds, from the 6-foot lingcod to the 6-inch diamondback nudibranch. I was extremely humbled, though - came out of that dive realizing a few things. One was that having all my weight on my weightbelt completely destroyed my trim, and I flailed around like a drunken bumblebee.

Lessons learned, humble pie eaten. It's not always going to be nice like the Carribean.

I think you may find that buying yourself a wetsuit of your own** that fits correctly will help vastly with your underwater comfort levels. Then, you can work on your buoyancy and trim. This means, probably, being aware of how high or low you attach your tank to the BCD, as well as breaking weights up between your belt and the BCD pockets.

The more comfortable you are, and the more trimmed out you are, the better prepared you will be to handle everything else regardless of where you dive.

** Buy an appropriate wetsuit to where you plan to do the majority of your dives. Warmer climate dives probably won't require a 6.5mm+ wetsuit. This will help in those situations where the dive shops don't have your exact size, or ... yeah.