Help! I love to swim, but am getting nervous!

[YPink]

I am a fish, could swim before I could walk, lifeguard, swim team in high school...

My fiance and I are planning a honeymoon in aruba and decided to take scuba cert lessons before we went. The only thing I was afraid of...loving it too much and wanting to go all the time!

We started class Friday night...class is great and I ace all the tests.

I LOVE swimming on the bottom of the pool with the tank! It is like heaven.

HOWEVER, there are times when going down makes me panic, and then I shoot to the top of the pool. BAD BAD BAD.

I think my problem is multitasking with what I need to do when going down. I am one of those people that holds her breath when she gets nervous, so I am constantly watching my breathing, then when I try to equalize, etc etc, or do the tasks, clear mask, switch regs, I sometimes start to panic.

I think it all comes down to breathing and me being so paranoid about it. (Obviously not paranoia, but you know what I mean). My mouth also gets dry and I need to learn and how to swallow and breathe, and how to just relax.

Any ideas? I really want to do this!

Thanks

 

[Dryglove]

Relax, relax , relax and what ever you do dont ever hold your breath. You might start to ascend and not know it and if your holding your breath you could easily get an over expansion injury.Resist the urge to shoot to the surface.When you feel panick starting to arise, stop and get a hold of yourself. Signal your buddy and do a nice controlled ascent to the surface.

If you are having a hard time doing a free decent then use a downline so you can stop your self and equalize, etc till you get more comfortable doing a free decent.

Its gonna take some time but you will get more comfortable in the water with each dive.Take it slow and dont get in over your head to fast by sticking to easy dive sites and always dive with a buddy.

 

[Bob3]

... dont get in over your head...

It sounds like you skipped the "snorkeling" part when you were younger.
One of the best ways to learn to relax is just lay on the surface & breathe. It's OK to burn up several tanks of air doing this, once you get used to the idea of breathing with your face in the water, they won't be able to hold you back.

 

[Juls64]

stop and breath. Slow deep breaths, reassure yourself that you are a great swimmer and that you are in a comfortable environment. Just breath slow and deep and think happy thoughts and you will calm down and then you can continue. Its sort of like giving yourself a time-out.


Juls

 

[MikeFerrara]

Are you descending too fast? If descending too fast it's easy for a new diver to get task loaded when trying to keep up on equalizing ears and mask. Getting neutral at the surface and exhaling to get slightly negative to descnd SLOWLY at first will provide the time you need to sort things out on the way down.

OTOH if you dump all the bc air and drop like a rock, like many are taught, you have to do everything at once and it can be very task loading.

 

[navy85]

Seems like I have been swimming all my life and I was quite comfortable in the water - swam competitively from age 8 through my freshman year in college, was a lifeguard in HS and even taught lessons. :embarr:

Oddly enough, I did my certification in Aruba. No problems with the confined water dives, but as I descended on my first OW dive, I experienced that panic you describe. I essentially followed Juls advice - stopped the descent, took slow, deep breaths, thought happy thoughts and reminded myself that I could do it (also reminded myself that I had just paid a tidy sum to complete this course!), then continued and had an enjoyable dive. I had the same feeling for the next dive but much less intense, and even during my first dive the next year. Now, as I have become more comfortable diving, I do not have that panic experience at all.


Pasa un bon dia na Aruba!

 

[MaresMan1]

You sound like a good swimmer on the surface, but when you scuba you breath in water. That is a different feeling entirely. OK, so your misson is to feel comfortable while breathing under water. Try to get comfortable breating under the surface first. Take things slowly and remember ot breathe slowly. Take your time and breathe slowly. If you love diving I am sure that you will complete your desire.

Enjoy the Ride
:mean:

 

[YPink]

Had my last class tonight and all my fears went away! I was so comfortable down there, I guess it just took some getting used to. The only problem I have now is clearing the mask, which I need to solve before OW.

Thanks for all the words of wisdom, I think they helped calm me down!

Steph

 

[Bob3]

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26942

Once you get used to having water on your face, it's a piece of cake.

Practice breathing through your snorkel with water in your mask, then take your mask all the way off & practice breathing that way.
After you're comfy doing that, start with the mask clearing drills.

 

[Big-t-2538]

Stop breath, relax, breath, think, breath, act, breath....

that is my formula for task loading...take a few breaths and relax (unless you're doing OOA drills) that should help you out considerably.