confined water dive skills

[BabyDuck]

saving enough to blast my snorkel

as a newbie myself, that was my hangup on this skill. i was going so slow and being so calm and breathing bubbles between reg & snorkel that by the time i got the snorkel in my mouth, i didn't have much of a breath left to blast with. no-one, i think everyone's advice has been wonderful and you should give it all a try, paying attention to exactly which part is slowing you down from getting this skill. if it is the nose-wet-trying-to-breathe-through-nose, work on that part, if any other aspect is the holdup, work on that. (helpful, huh? not.)

 

[RP Diver]

If you have a good instructor, he or she will go out of their way to get you over this hurdle. As others have said, it is not an uncommon problem, and there are good drills to help you through it step by step. One of the things that the shop I worked at did was to set a student who was having difficulties aside with the divemaster (almost all classes had at least one divemaster assisting) and just focus on these drills in the shallow end of the pool. I can't remember a student who didn't eventually get past this when I spent time with them in this way, one on one.

 

[_no_one]

So i guess that includes if it went bad..

-well i planned on going to the pool, but that never happened, the first time my dads leg hurt him too much to go, (im too young to drive myself), and then when i finally go to go the scheduled life guard never showed up so i didnt get too swim.

anyway i ended up using a dif snorkel with a little drainy, (<--must love the correct terminology) and so i got the switching from snorkel to regulator easily.

But then when we were supposed to go underwater for a review, i freaked out. the little voice in my head thats supposed to be a conscious, but does a very bad job, was all like haha your gonna choke again.. haha. And I couldnt make him hush. It was horrible. I think i just thought about it too much, everyone says dont think about it, but im just the kind of person who obsesses over stuff like that.

So anway i regressed, if i keep up with my pace i can be afraid to drown when i wash my hair by next week. Im not really sure if this is something i want to do anymore now, but since my parents paid lots of $ for the class i guess i have to... So any suggestions for not being afraid of watery death-ness(more great terminology.) ??? well, other than 'quit being so stupid and tie bricks to your feet and jump in and you ll get over your fear, while if you dont we'll be rid of you anyway. '


Basically i think next time i want to see the cute little fishies, some one needs to remind me to just go to the drive through and order a Mcfish.

 

[Diver0001]

So i guess that includes if it went bad..

-well i planned on going to the pool, but that never happened, the first time my dads leg hurt him too much to go, (im too young to drive myself), and then when i finally go to go the scheduled life guard never showed up so i didnt get too swim.

anyway i ended up using a dif snorkel with a little drainy, (<--must love the correct terminology) and so i got the switching from snorkel to regulator easily.

But then when we were supposed to go underwater for a review, i freaked out. the little voice in my head thats supposed to be a conscious, but does a very bad job, was all like haha your gonna choke again.. haha. And I couldnt make him hush. It was horrible. I think i just thought about it too much, everyone says dont think about it, but im just the kind of person who obsesses over stuff like that.

So anway i regressed, if i keep up with my pace i can be afraid to drown when i wash my hair by next week. Im not really sure if this is something i want to do anymore now, but since my parents paid lots of $ for the class i guess i have to... So any suggestions for not being afraid of watery death-ness(more great terminology.) ??? well, other than 'quit being so stupid and tie bricks to your feet and jump in and you ll get over your fear, while if you dont we'll be rid of you anyway. '


Basically i think next time i want to see the cute little fishies, some one needs to remind me to just go to the drive through and order a Mcfish.

In terms of the technique I thnk you've gotten some good advice already. What you need to do now is to re-read what you've been told (pay special attention to the technique the way Walter describes it) and hit the pool for an hour or so to practice. It sounds to me like you're winding yourself up and some practice time on your own (no pressure from the instructor) is a good idea. It's really time that you made that happen.

Also, I suggest you talk to your parents about your feelings. I'm sure they don't want to see you panic and drown while you're diving and if you believe that you´re in over your head (so to speak) then you should tell them. Maybe they can get you some remedial time with the instructor (or another instructor....that could make all the differnece), make sure that your practice in the pool gets priority and support you with dealing with this fear (is it a fear of drowning or a fear of failing and letting your parents down...??).

If I'm any judge of character, I don't really think you want to quit this but you're looking for a handle on how to succeed. You probably also feel like you're running behind schedule and it's eating at you. Correct? If so that's another good reason to talk to your parents and your instructor. They want you to succeed too but if you keep it to yourself they won't know what you need from them to succeed.

It's also clear to me (this is going to sound mean but it's not) that if you continue to focus on the failure that you will fail. It's like that with everything in life.....what you visualize is what you get. Fantasize about doing it right, find many moments in a day to run through how it *should* go (not how it went) in your head and get down to the pool a couple of times this week to work on it. Walter explained a technique that you can do in hip deep water safely and I give it a good chance of working if you take the time.

Good luck and keep us posted.

R..

 

[fins wake]

Im not really sure if this is something i want to do anymore now, but since my parents paid lots of $ for the class i guess i have to...

That's a really bad reason for taking up an "adventure sport" like diving. If you don't feel that diving is for you right now, don't do it. Talk to your parents, explain how you feel. You can always redo the course in a few years' time if you feel like it. You certainly won't be the first one.

Already in your first post you mentioned that "the more i think about it, the less i wanna do it again". Well, the answer is: Don't.

Diving is a great sport, but so are many others. I know plenty of great people who don't dive, and who never will. For my own part, I've taken up plenty of hobbies and sports that I've quickly (or eventually) found were not for me. That doesn't make me a lesser person.

You state that you're too young to drive. That means that you have a whole lifetime to discover which hobbies you want to pursue, and which you don't. Your parents are very likely going to look to your well-being in the big scheme of things and not the course fees (and you might get a partial refund anyway if you explain your position very politely), so don't worry and don't fret, just do what you really feel like doing. If that is quitting the course, so be it.

I don't usually recommend people not to dive, but in this case it might be the most opportune course of action right now. And remember, you can always change your mind in a few years' time.

All the best!

 

[Jeddah Aquanaut]

Almost everybody has anxiety at the beginning. I did too. I was lucky to have some really good friends who were very experienced divers, and didn't mind taking out a newbie on their dives. They never took me into situations that were beyond my abilities. I learned a lot from them. Now one of those friends is an instructor, and I am a divemaster. I help him with students now. Experience doesn't come overnight. It will take time, but if you have the patience and dedication, it will come. Best of luck, and bienvenido (welcome!).

Okay im new to diving, and working on getting the padi Ow1 certification, and i was doing good, i completed all the paper/book work quizzes and stuff. (brag=i did good too, (missed two questions out of all the quizzes.) but i guess that wont help me if i drown.) I did okay on on confined water dive 1. But confined water dive two was really bad.

I had problems with: breathing underwater without a mask and switching from snorkel to regulator. I looked around and found that other people had these same problems, but didnt really find anything helpful for me.

I think one of my problems was that i messed up the snorkel/ regulator skill and got kind of frazzled. I got to the regulator just fine, but i had trouble with snorkel clearing.. i did it semi-okay, but i always had like an inch of water left at the bottom of my snorkel. Is there anything i can do for this... someone suggested getting a snorkel with a self drain valve, so would that actually help or were they just trying to sell me stuff?

then on breathing without a mask and mask replacement, i did fine in the shallow end but when i went to the deep end i cough/ choked and just kind of freaked out and went to the surface. (which was very dumb, at least i know what i did was wrong.)
Anyway i tried it a couple more times, and couldnt do it again after that, even in the shallow end.

Pool sessions are two weeks apart, and the more i think about it, the more i get freaked out: (. I really want to finish thisand i wanted to do this all my life , but now that i messed up i dont trust my self and it seems scurier. and the more i think about it, the less i wanna do it again.

I was considering going to a local pool and just paracticing snorkel clearing, and mask replacement at/near surface with a snorkel. would that help or just be a waste of time?

So does anyone have any advice on how to fix these problems? I know part of it is just something i need to work out in my head, but are there any tips for making this easier, or being more relaxed?

Also, are these really common or am i just freakishly bad at this?

Any input is greatly appreciated.

 

[StingRob]

These are new experiences for you and you will need probably more time to fell comfortable breathing underwater or performing the dive skills.
Contact the dive shop and ask your Instructor or the Dive Master to help you find the right technique on the pool for what you feel does not work. Practice is most of the time the right answer, and will help you to overcome any issues you just have – just find what technique works for you.

 

[rollinssm]

Okay im new to diving,

I had problems with: breathing underwater without a mask and switching from snorkel to regulator. I looked around and found that other people had these same problems,

then on breathing without a mask and mask replacement, i did fine in the shallow end but when i went to the deep end i cough/ choked and just kind of freaked out and went to the surface. (which was very dumb, at least i know what i did was wrong.)
Anyway i tried it a couple more times, and couldnt do it again after that, even in the shallow end.

I really want to finish thisand i wanted to do this all my life , but now that i messed up i dont trust my self and it seems scurier. and the more i think about it, the less i wanna do it again.

You have had some really good advice! When I started to learn to dive (I was a little older than you), I had real problems with exactly what you are having problems with. If you want to dive, and it sounds like YOU do, then you can get over this problem. I wanted to learn to dive. I wanted to learn to dive so much that I did not care if I looked stupid. I would do what ever it took to learn to SCUBA.

Fortunately for me I had a really good instructor. It took me a month to get to the point that I could pass the mask flooding and clearing thing. Yes, I was scared of failing also, yes it was hard but if you want to do it then you will as long as you don't give up. But, you have to want to do it for yourself.

I am now a SCUBA Instructor. I have helped several students get past what you are having trouble with. You are not alone. Don’t force it, take your time and think about exactly what you are doing. Stop Think Act. Do each step one at a time, talk your self through it as you are doing it.

Read the other comments, there is some good advice in here. :35:

 

[skeet]

Hey what kind of name is "NO ONE ", are you just another troll antagonist? If not I will say you have a self-worth,self-confidence issue in life all together much less diving.