Discover Scuba?

[shotthebreeze]

Hmm...that's troubling. Let us know if you figure anything out. I wish the two of you luck in your future scuba adventures. It sounds like you'll be signing up for classes soon, though. Welcome to the dark side .

 

[oreocookie]

while I'm no expert, here's my suggestion: Is it at all possible that your wife was subconsciously breathing at least somewhat through her nose? While it sounds obvious that if the reg is in your mouth, you have to breath through your mouth, the average person breaths through their nose probably about 99% of the time, and to make matters slightly more difficult, breathing underwater just isn't "normal", for lack of a better word. Despite being a good swimmer, she may have been inhaling somewhat through her nose if she's not used using a snorkel, for example. The reason I'm suggesting this is because at times, I was doing this, both during the discover scuba and the occasional time I've gone snorkeling, and there really isn't a whole lot of air to inhale from a mask. For me, a small amount of air generally went out my nose on the exhale too, and though I'm not sure that it's a good habit to get into, it did give me one less thing to think about equalising while I was in the deep end of the pool.

Hopefully somebody will have an answer for you and your wife that might encourage her to give it another try.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Hope your wife figures it out if she wants to continue. I enjoy diving with my wife when we get water warm enough for her.

 

[Bob Vincent]

Expect a really fun time ... and think if you could be in the Ocean seeing those really cool things you've seen in pictures ... Now sign up for the real thing and ... I'll be sneaky here and say congrats on becoming a certified diver because I know you will ... good luck!

 

[wreckchick]

I do a LOT of discover scuba diving classes and the biggest I see that could have caused your wife's issue is that brand new divers don't actually exhale very much. They keep a huge volume of air in their lungs "just in case" which leads to a feeling of being unable to draw a proper breath because, well, they can't because there's already air in there.

I second the notion that some snorkeling experience would probably help a lot but remember to let all the air OUT of the lungs so there is somewhere to put the next inhale and trust that the inhaling will work, there will be air available.

I hope this helps!

Rachel

 

[glbtrekker]

Hey everyone, thanks for all the advice. I think there are several things that were mentioned which might lead to a solution. Thanks! We will try the suggestions provided. I think I will ask the question in another thread to seek a wider audience for some additional suggestions as well.