Encouragement for a beginner

[TMHeimer]

I would add that it may may feel very natural to mouth breathe underwater, with or without a mask. If you have done a lot of surface snorkeling. You're still breathing basically underwater because that's where your face is. Take the snorkel out (or leave it in) and swim down maybe 10 feet to the bottom. Up again, blast it clear and continue to "breathe underwater". They even made this part of the PADI OW course--I imagine quite a few decades after I started doing this as a kid. I know it's hard to snorkel in northern waters without exposure suit, except for a fairly short time in summer. But maybe do a lot in the pool. Anyone who can do basic snorkeling probably doesn't find it at all unnatural to breathe through a regulator at depth--just way lest restrictive as to depth, etc.

 

[archer1960]

I would echo what most other people have said - stick with it. When you are first learning to dive there is a lot to remember, and when you first learn a skill you do so in isolation - you are only concentrating on doing one thing. Then you will start to task load, and it is normal to be caught out every now and again when something unexpected happens. It is different when you first get cold water on your face during a mask removal - it can feel like a bit of a shock, but it will soon feel nothing out of the ordinary.

Try to acclimatise yourself a little, fill you mask with water and put it on your face, or stick your face in the water without you mask on before you dive, that can help to get you past the "bl**dy heck it is cold!" moment.

Sea diving is great, and you have some fantastic diving in the lochs and around the coast of Ireland. And of course once you are qualified you can go on diving holidays, live-aboards, or do warm water dives in exotic locations! so the world really is your oyster.

It does get better, and pretty soon you will wonder what all the fuss was about. You have done it successfully already, just practise, don't be scared of it, and pretty soon you won't think about it at all.

Have fun and dive safe - Phil.

This (the bolded part) is what my refresher instructor told me to do when I first started diving in the cold water near home, rather than the tropics where I learned. I did it for the first 5 or so dives after that, until I found that I no longer needed to do it. My body quickly adapted to cold-water diving, so I no longer have the "gasping" reflex when my face hits the cold water. Of course, being properly dressed (thick suit, hood, etc) helps that too...

 

[Pipingwidow]

Thank you all again for your great responses. I'm pleased to report I was back in the pool and after some playing around I found that I could do it when I floated face down but not upright in the water. So I tried doing it upright but looking down at the bottom of the pool and hey presto! It must be an angle thing for me. It helped that I kept thinking about Darth Vader - to do an impression of him you have to breathe through your mouth! "Luke.........I am...........you're father". ��
You also feel like such a muppet you can't help but smile and hence relax a bit. We're thinking of doing the dry suit course before hitting the OW so I'll get a chance to practise with a regulator again hopefully. ��

 

[boulderjohn]

i went to the pool a few days later and practised with my snorkel until I could float facedown with just goggles and my snorkel not breathing through my nose. I must have inhaled half the pool trying but I got there! My sinuses burned the rest of the day.

Here is what I do with my students who have the problem. You are thinking along the right lines here, but go one step further---take the mask off and breathe through the snorkel with your bare face in the water. You can even do it in a bathtub. Just do it and do it and do it until it feels comfortable.

Here's another tip. Many instructors still use the old technique of teaching skills with the students on their knees. That's not how we swim, and that is one of the reasons PADI now recommends that instruction not be done on the knees. They want it done while in a horizonal position and neutrally buoyant. Mask removal and replacement is a real problem for many people when it is done on the knees because the bubbles from the exhalation go straight up the face, pushing water into the nose. If instead you are lying horizontally, as you would be when you are swimming, the bubbles go past your cheeks and do not touch the nose.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Great advice given so far and it is great you are sticking with it. Something nobody has mentioned yet is how wonderful it is to be able to share diving with your partner. It is worth hanging in there just for that.

 

[Nasser]

Sometimes it takes a while to develop skills. For some it could be mask clearing, others buoyancy and trim, still others it may be fin technique or gas consumption etc.. Some folks grasp certain techniques very quickly and for others it comes much more gradually over several dives.

Don't feel you need to rush in and master everything from the very beginning... just be sure to try and have a good instructor who can help point things out to you and give you constructive feedback. That way you will be less likely to develop bad diving habits and you can work on proper technique slowly and surely at your own pace. The skills will come in time and remember it's a constant learning process... even (or especially) at the most advanced levels of diving.

good luck - cheers.

 

[Doc Harry]

Practice is all you need

 

[Pipingwidow]

Thanks John, that's just what I found! (see post above yours). I think I must have been subconsciously been copying my instructors in bowing my head to fill and remove my mask without realising it. Then the first time I kept my head up water went up my nose and I could not figure out how I'd gone from being able to do it (and swimming with just my regulator), to not being able to even half fill my mask! I'm actually glad it happened as now I know that angling my head will help me and I can add it to my steps.

 

[SillyQuestions]

I wrote something earlier, but I'll pipe up again.

When I was new to cold water diving mask off was a nightmare. Now I can just whip it off and swim around quite happily. It gets easier.


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[MZPT]

I am also a nose breather, had a mask that constantly leaked, inhaled a bunch of seawater in a panic moment and made a b-line for the surface from 60ft down - my husband and instructor looked around for me underwater then noticed I had surfaced. It takes a while, but you'll get it, I absolutely LOVE diving and wouldn't trade it for the world. Keep to it, it's wonderful!