Couldn't finish OW course

[xnomadx]

So I started my OW course and my first day went great and got to do an open water dive to a max depth of 40ft. It was amazing seeing the reefs and all the colorful marine life.

The next day I started my deep confined training where we had to lay down and take off our masks, etc. These are the issues I've had and why I had to stop diving.

The first day the only problem I had was some anxiety and learning to control my breathing. Also I kept unintentionally breathing out my nose causing water to enter my throat.

The next day as we were descending to just 6 meters I was getting dizzy and my breathing was ridiculous. I think it was related to thinking of removing my mask and swimming around. I also blame it on not being fully comfortable diving as it is a whole new world and breathing under water is nerve racking for lots of new divers.

My question is can those just getting into diving take courses to get more comfortable? I really enjoyed diving and I have a year to complete my course but I want to be able to get more comfortable so I'm not breathing real hard and heavy and am not just shoved through a open water course in 3 days when I've never dived before.

Thanks to for any responses in advance

 

[Jim Lapenta]

What you need to do is get away from whoever is pushing a course like this. How much pool time have you had? How much theory in the classroom? Where is this taking place and with who? 40 ft on your first day. Not real bright are the instructors I think. Taking an unknown to 40 feet not knowing how they will react.

 

[g1138]

That's tough, I know exactly how you feel, although second hand. I've been a water baby all my life, I love being under the water more than just in the water. I've had to TA a few scuba courses and I've seen it all, from students who forget protocol to ones who just shoot straight from 7 feet to the surface while doing scuba D&R's (probably the worst fright of my life; the student was fine though).

The best way I can think of to cure your nose problem is practice. I assume going under the water's surface is something new to you, you have to break the habit of breathing through your nose. I would suggest to practice breathing through your mouth exclusively for some periods of time. Like if you go jogging practice inhaling through your mouth and exhaling out your nose.

Personally for me I always exhale out of my nose when my mask's off, keeps the water from entering.

The more time you spend in the water in general whether it be a deep pool or out in the ocean, the more comfortable you'll be. Having a buddy you know and trust also helps.

Off the top of my head I can't think of any courses to take for an uncertified diver.
The best advice I can give you for when you're on scuba is to take a break, stop swimming, stop moving, close your eyes and relax. Take a moment to focus on your breathing, play a song in your head. No one should ever be rushing you when you're underwater.

 

[a22shady]

If you just started your OW course I don't think you should even be in open water yet. The course is suppose to start with Class room training and then confined water training (Pool) most pools are between 8-12ft deep. and here is where you will be practicing all these basic skills before you ever hit depths you are describing. I feel this is a big part why your having trouble. Most people that do these skills are at first in the shallow end of the pool maybe 3-4ft of water untill you are comfortable and then as class's progress you will do it once more i the deeper end and finally after you pass all pool work then will go out in OW and usually places of training will save type of platform suspended about 25' and you will do all your skills there.

If this is not how they operate I would only suggest looking into another dive operation. I feel someone as you stated who loves to dive and can do but is struggling with the skills is completly normal and a lot of people starting out go through similar times. The place I trained has there own pool onsite and if we needed more time we stayed and Practiced that simple. There pool is always open to students who want to practice. Even if the instructor say's your ready but yet you do not feel a 100% go to the pool and practice till your comfortable. I would keep practicing it's something that will come with time.

 

[devilkitty]

That's a really strange course you've described. Mind telling us whose OW course it is?

As for the nose thing - put some water in your mask and wear it around the house. You might look like a loon, but you'll learn to breathe through your mouth very quickly.

 

[tkdgodess]

You are learning a new sport. Scuba just like any other sport has a learning curve. You are learning to breathe in a completely new way. It takes time and practice to rewire your brain to do these new skills. If you really want to dive, don't give up. If you are taking Padi courses you are supposed to partial flood & clear, full flood & clear, mask R&R, and no mask breath for no less than 1 min before the required no mask swim. You aren't supposed to progress to the next skill until you can do the first one properly. Don't overthink things or beat yourself up, just like any other sport you are learning. I have a blackbelt in a martial art, do you think I could do a jumping spinning hook kick before I mastered a basic front kick? Tell your instructor you need more attention. If they aren't willing to work with you, they suck.

Padi Confined water skill sessions are described in the back of each module. You are to complete all the skills in the module before proceeding to the next. You have the info to make sure your instructor is proceeding properly.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Dive Today has been happening for at least 10 years. Starting the PADI OW class with the Intro Dive happens every day of the year for many, many successfully certified divers. Starting with the Intro Dive is not for everyone. I have always tried very hard to convince my Intro divers that they should have successful ocean snorkeling under their belt before going on an ocean dive. In my opinion, a successful ocean snorkel would be something along the lines of snorkeling north from Ulua Beach around Ulua Point to Mokapu Beach and emerging with a smile (see map link below).

My employers would not let me require said successful snorkeling experience, so among the few thousand people I have taken to 40 fsw on their first day diving are many who refused to have previous successful snorkeling experience. Many times the ~ one hour of training leading up to the Ocean dive led me to only take the Intro group to ~20 fsw, and often that was because of the participants who refused to successfully ocean snorkel first.

Maui, Kihei, HI - Google Maps

 

[ptyx]

I think a diver-to-be should be completely comfortable in the water before even attempting to put scuba gear on. I would recommend a lot of snorkeling/free diving before attempting OW again.

Try to swim underwater (with and without a mask), learn to properly clear a flooded mask (yes, it's perfectly possible on breath hold), clear a snorkel, recover from a flooded nose (do barrel rolls without a mask) and generally mess around until you're out of ideas.

Start OW again once you can comfortably and without rushing go down with mask, snorkel and fins, ditch everything at the bottom of the pool, go back up, rest, go back down, put on everything underwater and come back to the surface with a clear snorkel and clear mask. Bonus points for blowing a couple bubble rings from the bottom or starting from the other end of the pool.

It will make your scuba training much easier and enjoyable, you'll be able to learn more from what the instructor tells you, and you'll end up a better diver.

 

[H2O 70]

Frankly, it sounds like your issues are really in your head.

If getting dizzy because you're huffing and puffing, it is called hyperventilating. Exhaling through your nose is fine. That shouldn't cause water do go down your throat, unless of course your are inhaling as well.

There are a million tips out there. You've been given some.

You're fighting getting comfortable. That takes time and practice.

In the meantime get a snorkel and lay in a tub face down and just breath through the snorkel.

Hire an instructor for some one on one.

Empirically, SCUBA isn't hard, but it isn't natural. If we were meant to breath underwater, we'd have gills.

Good luck!

 

[imwright1985]

I would say practice alot more snorkeling/freediving. While your in more stable areas (pools, lakes, calm ocean) crack the skirt of the mask open a little and just partially flood and clear it, then build up to the fully flooded senario, and removing/replacing the mask. Diving has only 2 aspects (physical and psychological) If your capible of making it to 40 feet with no Equalizing issues you should be good for most senario's. The psychological aspect is what can cause rapid air consumption and your panic senarios. I, like many of the divers on here grew up snorkling so mask drills, clearing reg, and equalizing issues wernt a problem with me but did see some issues in my class.

The class structure also seems shakey, I was in a 3 week course 2 nights a week doing pool work in 4-10ft deep water, one night doing about a 20ft deep pool, then 2 35-40ft dives and 2 60-70ft dives. Which helped build us to solid fundamentals of trying to relax and breathing through a reg second nature, being capible of swimming around without a mask incase we would have a serious mask failure, and being capible of handling air share techniques.