Hudson Grotto on Saturday?

[I Dive]

The dark side will never take me, if you don't believe me just ask Todd! There is absolutely, positively no way I'm going there! I like my water nice and open!

 

[K Mejean]

[GOOGLE][/GOOGLE]

The dark side will never take me, if you don't believe me just ask Todd! There is absolutely, positively no way I'm going there! I like my water nice and open!

Never say never. I swore it wouldn't get me either but you get a couple of spring dives under your belt and before you know it you're on your way. If you want to stay awy from the dark side I recommend you stay away from eandiver and divebandit. Those two are escorts to the dark side.

 

[I Dive]

It's not that I don't want to, I literally can't. I get claustrophobic in underwater overhead environments. I can do deep dives, I can do dark dives, I can do difficult dives, but you get me in overhead environment in 5 inches of water and I am done. Every now and then I give it another shot and it just doesn't happen. I do the springs down to the overheads and that's it for me. I'm lucky to do even the smallest swim throughs. I generally avoid those as well. It's the wierdest thing. I am totally comfortable in every other aqua environment/situation, and am not claustrophobic on land, just something about underwater overhead...

 

[Boats]

I can safely agree with I DIVE, that he has a "slight" issue when diving with a roof over his head.

I have witnessed these events. And I feel secure in saying, he would rather be covered by fire ants, than dive in a cave. OR, anything that REMOTELY resembles a cave.

- Boats

 

[K Mejean]

I can fully understand that. I can only go by my experiences and I had similar issues but mine was just a mental thing I had to overcome. I'm not saying yours is. We all have things we won't do. God knows I have a list. As far as diving goes I personally draw the line at ice diving. I know it is just as safe as any other form of this hobby if properly trained but I'm not doin it. So I know where your coming from.

 

[eandiver]

I get claustrophobic in underwater overhead environments. I can do deep dives, I can do dark dives, I can do difficult dives, but you get me in overhead environment in 5 inches of water and I am done.

I'll be serious here for a moment.

In 1990 I lost an eye in a vehicle accident. After that I became extremely claustrophobic just about everywhere I went, buildings, offices, in the car and even in my own house. Gradually I over came the majority of my fears until I took up diving and once that mask went on the **** started all over again. Again gradually over time it diminished until the first time I went into a cavern (Ginnie) I made it half way down the line and had to bail. I swore I would never have anything to do with caves, wrecks or any overhead but with the help of a couple of friends I took care of this issue too.

I have found that having excellent, not just good, dive buddies, very bright lights, a level of self confidence a little above average and the ability to focus on things other than your claustrophobia at critical times is a start. As the saying goes "How do you eat an elephant?" .... "one bite at a time." Start out doing small easy overhead dives and simply build on that taking it as far as you want to go. Occasionally I still get moments but I have learned to control and deal with them.

Not everyone is going to be full cave but having the ability to safely "take a peek" into the overhead environment opens up a whole new world.

If you ever want to try something like Ginnie or Blue Grotto let me know and I will be glad to go along.

Mark

 

[I Dive]

Thanks EAN! I may take you up on that some day, but I'm not sure it will be any time soon...

 

[Boats]

I didnt think yer eyes were bulging to much behind that mask of yours dude!

- Boats

**I say that with fellow diver concern**