Angela2932
Registered
Things did not turn out as I'd hoped at my Scuba open water dive this weekend, and I'm doing some soul-searching and serious thinking about what I want to do.
This is Small Potatoes in the grand scheme of things, but I have to level with myself about what's realistic and wise when you're just a week or two shy of 55 years old. And live in a land-locked state with infrequent chances to even be where scuba diving would be available. From reading posts here, I know it's not that unusual to start diving in the 50s, but I also know that since I live in the northern plains, chances to actually dive are going to be few and far between.
Anyway, I had done one dive in Mexico through a resort, loved it, and took a weekend PADI certification course. One issue I had in the course was getting the proper weighting to descend, but figured that would come with practice and getting relaxed with breathing. To help prepare for the open dives, I did lap swimming in the Y pool with my snorkel, mask and fins. . . just to get more relaxed in general.
At the open dive this weekend, I just seemed to run into stumbling blocks that really threw me. I found the 6.5 mm wet suit to be miserable! I felt like I could barely move in it and really struggled with its level of bouyancy. Snorkeling out to the float in the lake felt very unstable, and half the time, I felt like I couldn't breathe. Looking at the photos my husband took from shore, I think I had my snorkel attached at a crazy angle that didn't help matters any. But then I really struggled with the descent. I wasn't sinking. And my fins kept floating up behind me, and I compounded the problem by floundering around with my fins, mainly ending up under the float at the surface, and somehow also flooding my mask. At this point, I started to panic, couldn't get my mask cleared and kept swallowing water, somehow tried to both clear my mask and equalize my ears at the same time (yep. by pinching my nose shut!)and then surfaced.
I told the instructor that maybe scuba just really isn't for me after all. The instructor, who was very kind, was reassuring and willing to help me calm down and try again, or take a break on shore and he'd help me individually with a descent. He later reminded me that once I got below the surface, the water pressure would have compressed the suit enough that bouyancy wouldn't have been so problematic; it's while you're on the surface that you struggle the most with controlling movements. So I headed back to shore, but didn't know the proper way to exit the water. I got very close to the shore and stood up with all the gear on.
I felt this snapping in my knee and it twisted out. At this point, I pretty much knew my diving was over for the day. (Well, at least I figured THAT out!) But as I sat on shore waiting for my husband to come back and the rest of the group and instructors to return, I thought more about this. The lake water was not anything like what I'd hoped. The visibility was really bad; it was hard to even see the person right in front of me. And realistically, these would be the lakes I'd get to scuba in maybe once or twice each summer.
Maybe once a year (although likely less) I'd get to go on a trip to a more tropical place, and see all these really cool fish and ocean life that I saw while I was in Mexico. You don't need extremely bouyant wet suits in Mexico. And I actually like snorkeling more in some ways. The only thing I really like more about scuba, strangely, is getting to play with the equipment, and maybe the "boasting rights." (as in, "when I was on the bottom of the ocean, I saw a creature that has a mustache just like yours!") Ok, maybe not that.
Which brings me to this point as well. I really don't NEED to know how to scuba dive or have this as a hobby. Scuba diving is really interesting and exciting, but so are other things. Interest in diving did get me going to the pool to do water aerobics, and doing the lap swimming with the fins, snorkel and mask (although there's certainly nothing to look at in a Y pool other than icky things!) And if next summer, I really, really still want to do this, I can start the pool portion of diving over and make sure I really have the skills down before trying an open dive again.
I know all of you really love diving, or you wouldn't be on this board. But sitting here with ice on my knee right now, I'm just trying to figure out whether to call it a day for diving. If I were in my 20s, I'd certainly keep going with this. If I were me at my age (which I actually happen to be ) and lived in a warm place, I'd also definitely do it.
I guess at some level I'm asking if I should give up on this, or wait till courses are offered again next year and try again if I'm interested, or if there's something I could do now to make it more likely to turn out better.
Thanks in advance,
Angela
This is Small Potatoes in the grand scheme of things, but I have to level with myself about what's realistic and wise when you're just a week or two shy of 55 years old. And live in a land-locked state with infrequent chances to even be where scuba diving would be available. From reading posts here, I know it's not that unusual to start diving in the 50s, but I also know that since I live in the northern plains, chances to actually dive are going to be few and far between.
Anyway, I had done one dive in Mexico through a resort, loved it, and took a weekend PADI certification course. One issue I had in the course was getting the proper weighting to descend, but figured that would come with practice and getting relaxed with breathing. To help prepare for the open dives, I did lap swimming in the Y pool with my snorkel, mask and fins. . . just to get more relaxed in general.
At the open dive this weekend, I just seemed to run into stumbling blocks that really threw me. I found the 6.5 mm wet suit to be miserable! I felt like I could barely move in it and really struggled with its level of bouyancy. Snorkeling out to the float in the lake felt very unstable, and half the time, I felt like I couldn't breathe. Looking at the photos my husband took from shore, I think I had my snorkel attached at a crazy angle that didn't help matters any. But then I really struggled with the descent. I wasn't sinking. And my fins kept floating up behind me, and I compounded the problem by floundering around with my fins, mainly ending up under the float at the surface, and somehow also flooding my mask. At this point, I started to panic, couldn't get my mask cleared and kept swallowing water, somehow tried to both clear my mask and equalize my ears at the same time (yep. by pinching my nose shut!)and then surfaced.
I told the instructor that maybe scuba just really isn't for me after all. The instructor, who was very kind, was reassuring and willing to help me calm down and try again, or take a break on shore and he'd help me individually with a descent. He later reminded me that once I got below the surface, the water pressure would have compressed the suit enough that bouyancy wouldn't have been so problematic; it's while you're on the surface that you struggle the most with controlling movements. So I headed back to shore, but didn't know the proper way to exit the water. I got very close to the shore and stood up with all the gear on.
I felt this snapping in my knee and it twisted out. At this point, I pretty much knew my diving was over for the day. (Well, at least I figured THAT out!) But as I sat on shore waiting for my husband to come back and the rest of the group and instructors to return, I thought more about this. The lake water was not anything like what I'd hoped. The visibility was really bad; it was hard to even see the person right in front of me. And realistically, these would be the lakes I'd get to scuba in maybe once or twice each summer.
Maybe once a year (although likely less) I'd get to go on a trip to a more tropical place, and see all these really cool fish and ocean life that I saw while I was in Mexico. You don't need extremely bouyant wet suits in Mexico. And I actually like snorkeling more in some ways. The only thing I really like more about scuba, strangely, is getting to play with the equipment, and maybe the "boasting rights." (as in, "when I was on the bottom of the ocean, I saw a creature that has a mustache just like yours!") Ok, maybe not that.
Which brings me to this point as well. I really don't NEED to know how to scuba dive or have this as a hobby. Scuba diving is really interesting and exciting, but so are other things. Interest in diving did get me going to the pool to do water aerobics, and doing the lap swimming with the fins, snorkel and mask (although there's certainly nothing to look at in a Y pool other than icky things!) And if next summer, I really, really still want to do this, I can start the pool portion of diving over and make sure I really have the skills down before trying an open dive again.
I know all of you really love diving, or you wouldn't be on this board. But sitting here with ice on my knee right now, I'm just trying to figure out whether to call it a day for diving. If I were in my 20s, I'd certainly keep going with this. If I were me at my age (which I actually happen to be ) and lived in a warm place, I'd also definitely do it.
I guess at some level I'm asking if I should give up on this, or wait till courses are offered again next year and try again if I'm interested, or if there's something I could do now to make it more likely to turn out better.
Thanks in advance,
Angela