How many here were scared to death and still completed OW classes?

[Marie13]

I didn't see the man-sized catfish, but I've seen the incredible spoon fish. OMG, they're prehistoric looking and incredibly fun to see!

I’ve seen the paddle fish aka spoon bills. That man-sized catfish is the stuff of nightmares for ME!

 

[TMHeimer]

I didn't say my fear is/was logical!! I realize I can swim in any direction and get out from under it - but with bad visibility (silt-out conditions with bunches of training divers), the totally unrealistic fear that I'll have SOOOO much air in my BC that I'll be basically GLUED to the underside of the platform ... seriously, I'm describing a nightmare and not a reality (I know this). But this is what unrealistic fears are made of, and it's one of the many things that induce diver panic. Our anxiety overrides our ability to think logically and creatively. I've had a panic moment (or two) since then, and learned that I can best take care of myself by staying calm, breathing and asking myself 'what is the next right thing to do?'. But as a diver-in-training I wasn't there yet - and I can still feel that anxiety. (I have other, more important issues, to work on in therapy - this is waaaaay down the list!!!!!!).

I hear ya. We all know the "stop, think, act" advice. I will add that immediately checking your Air is the first step. Once I cramped in both arms and legs at once (only in 8 feet of water). When I knew I had over half a tank of Air, I knew there was no real problem--other than it hurt like Hell.... I may have mentioned this before, but I used the BC inflator to ascend and check my exact location (only time I ever did that big no-no, but arm use was too painful). Took a compass reading to shore, descended and pulled myself to safety where I could stand up. Cramps gone, I actually did the second dive.

 

[MJS1946]

Well..........here’s a follow up to my prior post. I appreciate all the advice I got on that on BTW. I was supposed to do my first confined water dive last Saturday, but freaked badly prior to heading to the pool. The LDS agreed to setting me up for one on one instruction for this portion to be done in time for my trip to Hawaii for the open water portion. To date I’ve not heard back from them, which to be honest, I’m ambivalent about. I’ll continue on if they get in contact or wait a while and seek a partial refund. Maybe later consider a different shop or something.......or maybe not-lol.

 

[GreggS]

I’ve seen the paddle fish aka spoon bills. That man-sized catfish is the stuff of nightmares for ME!

Early this year, my wife and I were diving at one of the local quarries. On our first dive, I was descending and was sort of relaxing, looking up until I was near the bottom (about 10 feet.) When I flipped forward, I was face to face with a big paddlefish. It surprised my and I sort of taken aback. First thought was "What the hell am I looking at?" After a few seconds, the paddlefish just turned and slowly swam away. My wife was above and behind me and saw the whole thing taking place. It's a wonder she didn't drown laughing.

As for the man-sized catfish, I had heard tales of them at another quarry near us. We both did our training there and we have dove it numerous times but have never seen any near that big. If they are there, they have stayed well hidden.

 

[TMHeimer]

I wouldn't want to meet that catfish. I catch them at times fishing (the 12-18" ones) and notice they got one big toothy mouth.

 

[Marie13]

It was at least 5ft long and huge around the head. <shudder>

 

[NAUI Wowie]

I never should have read this thread! I have my first confined water dive tomorrow and my OW dives in about a month in Hawaii. After reading this I now have an irrational fear of running out of air at 60 ft as well as a rash from the wet suit or some other equipment malfunction. Perhaps I’ll just forget the whole thing and return all the stuff to the dive shop. I will then just continue to snorkel!

just realize I was using a tiny dive shop in mexico. There are large shops in cabo also that I used after that were professionally run. This shop was a 1 man operation. And running out of air is no big deal AT ALL if you are near others. I wasnt worried at all when it happened. I had two people within ten feet and when I knew I was running out i was 1 foot away.
Hawaii dive shops are the opposite end of the spectrum to a 1 man dive shop in mexico. The original owner had died of alcoholism unfortunately.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

A few things:

-Get in the habit early on (while you're still doing the pool dives) of checking your air pressure gauge early and often. If you get in the habit early on of checking your air pressure every few minutes, it will be something that you just do out of habit.

-Once you get through training...if something isn't going right during a dive (ex. Your buddy is not even remotely adhering to the agreed upon dive plan)..."thumb" / call the dive and surface. At the end of the day, regardless of how experienced you are and how experienced your buddy might be...you are responsible for your own safety.

-Prevent task saturation. Limit the amount of tasks that you take on so as not to cause task saturation. ex. Taking notes on a dive slate, taking pictures, etc. Your first few dives you should be focused on diving...not tinkering with new toys.

On the wet suit thing...I'm not going to lie...that's why I ran out and bought my own wet suit prior to my OW dives. The thought of wearing something that dozens of people had pissed it did not appeal to me. Wet suits aren't too pricey for average sized people. If you can swing it...pick one up.

Think safety first and you'll be fine.

First she did mention about equipment malfunctions in that post and that is what happened to me. I was at 650 psi once my air was completely out 100% so checking air wouldnt have helped because i was doing that dilligentely. the next dive my tank pre dive registered 3900 psi. On an ALUMINUM 80. I was new but I knew that the max they can hold is 3200. So that was 2 separate malfunctions.

Second the pissing in the wetsuits thing is actually safe even if everyone is doing it then you use it. Its the putting them away wet and letting them sit in a dark corner while wet that will get you. Which is what happened.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

Well..........here’s a follow up to my prior post. I appreciate all the advice I got on that on BTW. I was supposed to do my first confined water dive last Saturday, but freaked badly prior to heading to the pool. The LDS agreed to setting me up for one on one instruction for this portion to be done in time for my trip to Hawaii for the open water portion. To date I’ve not heard back from them, which to be honest, I’m ambivalent about. I’ll continue on if they get in contact or wait a while and seek a partial refund. Maybe later consider a different shop or something.......or maybe not-lol.

Hey dont worry you are reading about really bad case scenarios and these give you information to not let things happen to you. Dont worry about the pool dives you will be totally safe. Reschedule that. Once you get underwater and breathing you will love it. Find out the best wetsuit for this time of year for hawaii and buy one you can always find 5 mils and 7 mils on sale for around 200 or less.

If you LOVE snorkeling you will TRIPLE LOVE scuba. Thats a fact. always keep a buddy within a 2 second kick or less than ten feet away and you have all the backup you need. Pay for individual instruction as you are apprehensive. Do it you wont regret it.

 

[almostDIR]

when started snorkeling some years ago it was very very difficult for me to get used to the feeling of breathing underwater. it took a LONG time... but when I got used to it, it was extremely easy to get used to scuba, took something like 2 minutes or so.

when planning a dive I actually have pretty serious fears of running out of air (never happened to me yet, not even close) or getting entangled to something (especially fishing nets are on top of my fear list) . It may be that I fear those things the most which I have never experienced (yet). One thing is though that I don't trust ANY technical equipment in general (because I know they will always fail sooner or later) and generally don't trust dive buddies much either if talking about OOA scenarios.
I normally dive with a good size pony bottle and have recently tried to learn to dive without it just trusting the single tank setup, it is slow to learn but progressing little by little... the fears are normally pretty much gone when underwater but when planning on dry land they are much worse.

I would not say I seriously FEAR much anything when actually in water scuba diving though I am always very worried about hurting my ears, equalisation is pretty difficult to me and I got pretty bad middle ear barothrauma once after the final OW checkout dives so I know how easy it may be to get it if not paying attention

well I'm actually pretty terrified about boat propellers. not regularly diving in areas where there is lots of boat traffic but that is a fear I will never get over with I think

Dale, I did not read all your posts but did you have a faulty SPG on your OW dives?
I learned from somewhere that one fault mode of a SPG can be indicated when turning the air on, the needle will react slower than usual if there is something wrong. modern SPGs should not blow to your face if they are leaking (there is a weak point or rubber plug on the side or back of the SPG which would blow off and release the pressure) so you should always watch the needle when turning air on. though if it is only A LITTLE off the "normal" 50bar reserve should make up the difference so there would be at least something left when you surface.

one thing I started to do a while ago (not using AI computer, just having regular SPG) is that I check the computer every now and then (like I would do anyway to see the depth) and see how much dive time have passed since the last SPG check. I may for example decide that I will check it every 5 or 8 or 10 minutes and if going deep then more regularly if needed. One needs to know one's air consumption of course. but this really helps with the overly nervous SPG paranoia when it seems like it was forever since you last checked it but your computer says it was only 2 minutes ago. You have to decide how long a interval would be comfortable and safe to you and adjust by the depth and workload to get a sense how often you REALLY should check the pressure (assuming that the SPG works correctly of course)

It is quite disgusting for me to use other person's or rented regulator and I would not trust it at all either. tanks and lead I may borrow if needed but otherwise will only trust my own gear. I also want to know that for example the regulator's and BC corrugated hose's zip ties are in good order and will not fail me in the middle of the dive, that could be pretty serious if not having hard bottom close and accidentally pulling the hose completely off flooding the BC. it seems to be that those zip ties are normally replaced only if they are close to breaking or already failed which of course worsens my fears. Maybe just being paranoid I don't know