During your first year of diving, what were your biggest challenges?

[JMcD]

Hmmm First YEAR? Lets see...

Buoyancy for the first 9-10 dives... (Cold Water 7Mil suit with 7Mil vest... can we say buoyancy swing?)
then sucking air... (Buddy, you have HOW MUCH air left???I'm at 600!?!?)
Then navigation...

While I hope I don't always characterize them as "challenges", I hope I'm always working on improving something....

 

[Jafo123]

For me it is the proximity to water. The nearest water worth diving is 100 miles away so it takes some planning. Then to top it off the shop where I get my tanks filled is 100 miles the other direction. Get tanks filled one weekend then dive the next weekend. It's a real pain sometimes but worth every bit of it.

 

[Code Monkey]

Buoyancy control.

That was mine, too.

Still is!

The trick that I use is to:

0) relax (and through this technique, don't swim),

1) breathe all the way out and hold for a couple seconds - if you don't start to sink a bit, dump a little air from your BC, then

2) breathe all the way in and hold for a couple seconds (*) - if you don't start to ascend a bit, add a little air to your BC.

Repeat as necessary.

(*) I don't mean that you should close your throat off -- that's inviting embolism. Breathe in by pulling your diaphram down (like you normally do), leave your throat open but continue to pull down on your diaphram. If you were to ascend while doing this, the expanding air would flow out of your lungs just fine. Also, you don't have to overdo the "all the way in" thing, here.

 

[Ram4wd]

Not worrying about my girlfriend/dive buddy so much.

Dave (aka "Squirt")

amen Dave, same here.. and i still do.

 

[Wayfarer2]

1. Not melting my credit card, at which I failed miserably, thank goodness for my tax return money.

2. Skip breathing. I meditate and have learned a breathing method of pausing after each inhalation and exhalation it’s become second nature to me and I do it without thinking about it. So I have to focus on not breathing that way when in the water especially since when I am in the water I feel very relaxed in the same way I do when meditating.

 

[OceanObsessed]

My biggest challenge was paying attention in high school. I got certified during the summer before the 9th grade. I was absolutely obsessed with diving. I would sit in school and daydream about diving instead of listening to the teacher

 

[cruisegirl]

Well I had 3 issues after getting certified that I've called "a work in progress"....lol.....
1. Not panicking on the surface. I had surface issues for awhile and it took alot of concentration & just kicking myself in the tush to "get over it".. I'm so much better under water than floating on the surface.
2. Buoyancy-getting better all the time
3. Navigation- getting better too. After 2 horrid buddy situations where I didn't navigate as I wasn't good at it and relied on others that for 1 were used to diving solo and 2 wouldn't follow the dive plan, I swore I would only dive if I could lead and/or could do my own navigation.
And I'm in agreement with the poster that mentioned doing the adv. too soon after original certification...I was put through beach diving scenarios that have terrified me. Now I won't beach dive in California at all. The Caribbean or Hawaii where there are these terrible waves. I want calm shores and I'll beach dive......

 

[nymbus]

In the first year? Wow... I went right through from OW to Instructor during the first year- and logged about 300 dives in that time alone.
Probably for me it was understanding what a "fin pivot" was. The original instruction was bad, and it looked like you were supposed to be pushing off the floor of the pool with your hands and just bouncing up and down. Funny!
Anyway- the first couple of months was spent driving my poor non-diving friends and family stay crazy with me as I spent ALL my free time diving, talking about diving or reading about diving.
Now I'm living with a (newer) diver who is driving me crazy with the same passion I had back then. Karma, right?

 

[scubadobadoo]

Personally...mask removal in cold water. I still have to do it every time I dive to remain comfy with it. Also, I was over weight and out of shape when I started diving. I have since lost almost 50 pounds and diving was a big part of that. We do a lot of shore diving and being in shape and lighter make shore diving in a dry suit much more fun. Being in shape while diving vs not being in shape has literally changed the way I dive and how I feel about diving. Basically it's MORE fun now and LESS work. All that said, I am more conservative now as a diver than I was when I was out of shape and fat. Being in better shape has only added to my self awareness. Just some thoughts...

 

[Lehmann108]

Since I just started diving I'm in the middle of the learning curve. After 12 dives at nothing deeper than 60 feet nothing is really "difficult," but I do have to watch my ears and descend slowly always equalizing. I'm also getting used to the odd, tired feeling of being nitrogen saturated for a couple of hours after diving. At first I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me! Also, I took my OW certification with my dad who's 81. He's still struggling with his buoyancy and had an ear injury on his first open water dive (he sank like a freight elevator!) but other than that. he's fine.