I haven't read the other responses yet but I predict a wave of chest thumping about how lousy your instructor is.
I'll try to deal with what you actually said
I just had my first first Open Water classroom lesson yesterday and pool lesson today. I went into this thinking it would be fun and easy and now I'm really panicked. I think what is also making me nervous is that our instructors today said that we got through everything we were supposed to so we are not doing a second pool dive tomorrow as scheduled. So my next dive will be a real one. He said it won't be a deep dive, I think he said 23 feet. But STILL! I'm worried that I'm going to drown, pop a lung, blow out my eardrums because I'm by no means a comfortable scuba diver yet. They said I was doing fine, but I didn't feel like I was doing fine!
They're rushing, which should not become your problem. Demand the extra time in the water. You paid for it, it's scheduled, you have a right to it and you need it.
1) During the first 10 minutes of the lesson, I inhaled water (and then coughed for a few minutes). For the rest of the lesson, I definitely kept getting anxiety because I thought it would happen again. I know that it is supposed to take practice to get used to breathing underwater, but since I inhaled the water I can't seem to feel comfortable. My instructors also told me I tend to breathe fast because they think I'm anxious. (which i am!) In the shallow end of a pool, at least I knew that if I chocked I could just quickly lift my head out of the water and then cough to get the water out of my lungs. But I'm really worried that I will accidentally inhale water when I'm actually on a dive and at a greater depth. What do you do if you choke underwater!!!???? This really really really freaks me out.
Realistically, what happened when you coughed? ... it's possible to do that through the regulator, right? So that's something valuable you learned and you can trust that it will work the same even if the water is a little deeper. In fact, next time, *try* it in deeper water (the coughing, not the inhaling of water) and prove it to yourself. One tip.... put a hand on your reg if you need to cough so you don't accidently cough it out of your mouth.
2) Water in my nose. I don't mean inhaling it this time. But I felt like every time I cleared my mask I still had water in my nostrils, which made me want to constantly breathe out of my nose out of fear of inhaling it. I know you are not supposed to breathe out your nose, but I felt like if I didn't breathe out my nose I would have inhaled water more than once today.
This is ordinarily a technique issue. Next time you clear your mask, start with your head down and start exhaling through your nose *before* you start to life up your head. This will keep the water out of your nose.
3) Buoyancy. I suck at it. I feel like I was either sinking or rising too fast and totally against my control. I often struggled with sinking at all actually. Is it possible at a depth of 20-30 feet to pop a lung/eardrum because you ascending/descending too fast? I just don't feel I can quite control my speed yet. But since our dives are going to be relatively shallow, do I need to be worried?
Yes. I won't personally take anyone into OW until I'm sure they can control their descent and depth. In fact, in Mod 5 I do the hover by starting to descend and then stopping 1/2 way to the bottom and holding the hover there for 30 seconds before resuming the descent (as an aside, I acutally start with this on module#2 but don't "do it for real" until mod#5. This is because students need time to master buoyancy control) . Enfin, every diver should have the ability to halt a descent at any point. During the first checkout dives it's not *such* a big deal because a high level of control is applied the manner in which you make your descent and you will be diving over a "hard bottom" but nevertheless, buoyancy control is essential to your safety and it would appear that you need more practice. This is normal, by the way, that it takes time. Most divers need clear instruction and "time" just swimming around and getting a feel for it before the coin drops. There's nothing unusual about your case aside from teh fact that your instructors would appear to be rushing.
4) Biting on my mouthpiece. So the instructors said it was really important for your ears that you "hold your nose and blow out your ears" on the way down and "bite down" or yawn on the way up. But I felt I was ALWAYS biting down really hard on my mouthpiece, even why descending. My jaw is actually pretty sore. Am I going to mess up my ears?
No, you will not mess up your ears, but this issue is a bit of the tip of an iceberg. You're not comfortable, ergo, you need more time to get comfortable. Once again, there is nothing unusual about your case aside from the fact that you are not being offered enough time to get into it.
5) I'm about as strong as a 5 year old. Is it normal that I find the equipment EXTREMELY heavy? I was the only one in class today that couldn't lift the tank off the ground to help the instructors store them when the class was over. Is this really bad?
Sounds like it.
There *are* smaller tanks and tanks made from other materials like carbon wrapped steel that are quite a bit lighter. The gear *is* heavy, however, so account for that when you go diving. Perhaps getting into a bit better shape could help too. I don't know if you do much on sport but if you go to a sport club, a bit of light weight lifting in your routine will help your upper body strength.
6) Holding my breath. Again, I'm TERRIFIED I'm going to pop my lungs. Growing up I took ballet classes and was told repeatedly that I was holding my breath which would make me face turn bright red. I was totally unaware I was doing it. Maybe it was because my feet were in pain, but now I have that in the back of my head and I'm worried I will hold my breath under water even though I know I'm not supposed to. I obviously don't hold it forever, because, I do in fact need to breathe. But sometimes I think I forget for a second, especially if I'm concentrated on something. I mean really, ARE MY LUNGS GOING TO EXPLODE!?
Holding your breath can be more dangerous in scuba diving than in ballet dancing... I'm sure about that! To me, this comment is addressing the same issue as several of your other comments, which is that you haven't had the time needed to start to relax yet. Some people are naturally very comfortable in the water. I would venture a guess that you're not really one of them. In your case you will simply need more time to get under water and swim around so you can get used to it. Some training on buoyancy control and breathing would help a lot in your case too. It may take another hour, or 2 or 8 but if you want to become comfortable diving then you will need that time. I would suggest returning to the shop and telling them about your comfort issues and requesting more time in the pool, even if it means you need to pay for a few private sessions. Those sessions will pay bigger dividends on the long term than you can possibly imagine.
I know my biggest problem, not just in scuba diving , is that I tend to over-think and panic. But knowing that doesn't help me to stop doing it, LOL. I'm sure with more practice I'll get the hang of it. But I guess my biggest question is, do I need ot be worried about hurting myself/dying on a 20-30ish foot dive? Or are problems like "popping a lung" more for deeper dives? Because I'm okay doing a few shallow dives and then doing deeper dives when I start feeling like a pro.
Scuba diving can be very safe but ideally your default emotional/mental state of mind should be centered. If you're feeling highly stressed when nothing unusual is happing that's not a very good indication for your ability to make the right decisions when something *does* happen. That's why it's so important to spend the time *now* to get comfortable and to not rush it. You need to slow down and take the time to relax, at least within your natural ability to do so.
Incase anyone knows these sites, I will be diving the Blue Heron Bridge in Palm Beach for my first dive, and Pompano Beach for my second.
Not my neck of the woods. Sorry.
R..
