Havin a hard time

[Flood]

tiggrr,
Dont give up man.... i am new to this also and am going for my open water dives at the end of the month. When i started i also had problems with removing my mask, when we were in the pool.. i would forget to breath through the reg. Its like anything else you need to get use to it.. But my instructor made me do something and told me when your done with this you will have no problem removing and putting back on youre mask.... and that is swimming a lap around the pool with no mask on. and just concentrating on breathing with reg. By the time i was done i was filling my mask with water to clear fog in deep and shallow water.. it really helped me....(try it)
And for the instructor being a TOOL i guess he forgot that once he was new at this and had to get use to it. Anyway good luck and stick with it...
flood

 

[waterkitty]

this little light went on..."stick the reg in your mouth and BREATH you moron"

That little light became my best friend during my OW training.

 

[tiggrr]

Went to the new class last nite with a different instructor and 2 assistants. It was fantastic!! The main instructor really talked us through everything, gave a lot of positive reinforcement, the whole works. What a huge relief. I still made mistakes but, really feel like I learned something. This was the 2nd confined water for this particular class and the other major difference I noticed was that everyone really utilized the buddy system. The last class just wasn't geared like that and all of these things are really obvious now.

As far as clearing and taking off my mask......when it came time to take my mask off in the shallow end, I was too scared and said no. And yes, what a huge baby, I cried. Just scared for whatever reason. But, the assistants came over and gave me some other hints like, if you tilt your face down it doesn't feel like water is going up your nose. Then, no problem......did it again and again and again. Whew, just feel awesome today. Nothing like conquering fear!!

Oh yea!! One other thing.......when we were in the 10 ft area had a couple of moments where I felt the panic again. We were doing the arm sweep to retrieve our regs and did 2 sweeps and mine was hooked in my octo. Just talked myself thru it....don't panic....just reach back and grab the hose.....pull it thru.... The other time was.. inhaled a little water thru my nose while doing an excersize....started to feel the panic and same thing "duh breath thru the reg and cough"
Oh yea, funny how I Remember to purge my reg now!! Won't forget that again!

Thanx again for all of the positive responses and all of the newbies that don't feel quite so alone anymore. LOL

 

[paige_va]

Great Job!!! From one who knows how strong that panicky feeling can be, I'm totally impressed at the way you faced your fears. I know that I still have a few diving deamons to battle....and that whole no mask thing is definitely one of them....