Just finished first set of open water dives

[suziqu]

I just got home from my first set of open water dives - we went a little later due to some students having to work till 4.

I was really really anxious all day before hand to go and seriously almost talked myself out of it. but I went. It went good but the nerves never really went away this time like it did in the pool sessions. mainly because I really did not feel comfy with the visibility of only about 10 feet which I was informed was actually really good for the quarry.

We had about 4 instructors with us so each instructor took two people down and had them do about 3 skills at a time and than come back up. I was ok until we went down and than I got even more nervous because of the low visibility. I did the skills just fine and we surfaced but I really did not want to go down again. you couldn't even see the bottom until you hit the bottom. we went down again to do the controlled emergency ascent and it wasn't so bad that time but I still felt a lil freaked out since the only thing I could see was the instructor right in front of me. After that they had us go down about 20 feet and swim along the rock wall.

One of the other instructors knew I was not liking the visibility and was nervous so he swam right next to me and held my hand. We were down for about 20 mins and I was ok until the end - water kept creeping into my mask over my nose and although I wasn't breathing through my nose it just made me uncomfy and that with the low visibility just freaked me out to much so I motioned to go up. I agreed to swim back to the entrance under water but this time my ear started giving me trouble. we got down about 20 feet and although I had equalized numerous times it started to hurt and only stopped hurting when we got back to 5 feet. we tried again to go down and at first it wasn't hurting but as we started swimming along it started to hurt again so we agin resurfaced. after that we just swam on the surface back to shore and that was that.

I think if the visibility was more clear that in the ocean I would have been completely fine but I really did not feel comfy not being able to see barely. not to mention it was pretty boring as there wasn't much to see. saw a few fish and some rocks.

I think now that I know what to expect and can mentally prepare for it I will be better on our next set of open water dives and actually concentrate on practicing my buoyancy and moving around in the water instead of just trying to keep my eye on my instructor and not lose anyone.

 

[TSandM]

Suzi, your first dives were a lot like mine, although I didn't have ear problems. But the viz for my first two dives was horrible, and the DM who took me on my "tour" did a lovely thing -- he had a light on a coiled, stretchy lanyard, and he let me hold it, so I was attached to him and knew I couldn't lose him, and I could also see a little bit better.

Very low viz has never stopped being a little stressful for me, but I can tell you that you CAN learn to cope with it, when the actual mechanics of being underwater don't require quite as much thought.

 

[seacreatures]

Remember this is where you have to learn, not dive Once your certified you can hit the Caribbean, the GBR, and the other 2/3rds of the world!

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

I am glad you stuck with it. I tell my students this- " I know the first dive can be hard, you are nervous, excited, and not sure of everything. Be patient. Remember your training and stop, breathe, and think. When you start feeling tense focus on slow breathing in and out. Just breathe. We have bad vis here, I mean 1 ft vis, all the time. I call it soup and that means you get a treasure hunt. We will go really slowly and you will see things if you are patient.
Now know that you have trained in the hard stuff. You have already seen it. Everything else is gravy. You will only get better and better.
The first sets of dives are never as truly fun as it can be, because you are still learning. You are completing skills and orienting yourself in a new world, so you can't completely relax. Wait until the next 2 dives. And then the next..... Each one is better than the one before.
Hang in there, try not to overanalyze, and breathe."

This applies to you too, OP. Hang in there and just try to relax. It will come together.

 

[rk288]

Right, quarries are boring mud puddles. The one we use is 30 ft and there are wrecked boats, the kitchen sink, a toilet, etc...
A great place to learn to navigate and practice being in control.

 

[gargoyle999]

Thanks for sharing. I think I will experience something similar in two weeks. Just finished the classroom/pool portion today for my open water.

The lake we will be using for our checkout dives in two weeks has poor visibility and I have difficulties equalizing my ears in general.

Hopefully the rest of your dives go well for you and in a couple weeks we can both come back and tell everyone we are now certified!

 

[svnipp]

I finished my OW checkout dives today. The vis was pretty good in most places, about 15 ft. Some places it was more like 8 to 10, but that really wasn't too bad. My biggest probel was equalizing my ears, specifically my left ear. In fact, I still have the funny water in the ear feeling now, 5 hours later. I've used the swimmers ear stuff 3 times since getting out and it's a lot better, but still there a bit. I just hope I don't come down with an ear infection. That would be a real bummer to start out my diving with something like that.

Anyway, stick with it. I had a blast. Did my first post cert dive this afternoon with a new buddy and it was really good. Now I'm looking forward to more diving inn a couple weeks.

 

[spectrum]

I think now that I know what to expect and can mentally prepare for it I will be better on our next set of open water dives and actually concentrate on practicing my buoyancy and moving around in the water instead of just trying to keep my eye on my instructor and not lose anyone.

Getting certified is nothing like diving will be. You did well to stick it out and accomplish the dives. When diving as a certified diver remember that any diver can call any dive for any reason at any time. When in doubt get out. In this case you were under the guidance of an instructor and it was apparent that you just needed to face disappointing conditions.

When you are diving and begin to have some experience you will be able to focus on your surroundings and find surprises even in very limited visibility. You may even come to enjoy those conditions.

Meanwhile you have faced some relatively challenging conditions and will be well prepared for what the future holds.I do urge you to stick with local diving. Unless you have a killer vacation budget local diving is where you will become proficient and safe.

Pete

 

[Zen1300]

Strangely, I had more problems in the pool than the lake. I think it's important to recognize challenges us. It's important to face these challenges in controlled environments.

The OW training seemed to focus on how to get out of the most common situations and to show you that with the skills you learn and a calm head, these situations won't escalate to emergencies. That was important to me. I hated removing the mask in the pool, yet in the lake, it was no big deal.

Now it's time to focus on the other aspects of diving - buoyancy control, trim and attitude in the water, and navigation. These I see as my main objectives.

 

[dburg30]

I just got home from my first set of open water dives - we went a little later due to some students having to work till 4.

I was really really anxious all day before hand to go and seriously almost talked myself out of it. but I went. It went good but the nerves never really went away this time like it did in the pool sessions. mainly because I really did not feel comfy with the visibility of only about 10 feet which I was informed was actually really good for the quarry.

Granted that doesnt do much for 'sight seeing' but there are times, IMO that bad vis can actually help you learn to be a better diver, if the other conditions are right.

We had about 4 instructors with us so each instructor took two people down and had them do about 3 skills at a time and than come back up. I was ok until we went down and than I got even more nervous because of the low visibility. I did the skills just fine and we surfaced but I really did not want to go down again. you couldn't even see the bottom until you hit the bottom. we went down again to do the controlled emergency ascent and it wasn't so bad that time but I still felt a lil freaked out since the only thing I could see was the instructor right in front of me. After that they had us go down about 20 feet and swim along the rock wall.

Being newly instructed I can understand the whole not being able to see the bottom until you are there (if you are dropping down feet first, that makes it worse as you are adding distance, once underwater and 'on the way down' I tend to go horizontal so you can get that extra few feet of top / bottom visibility).


One of the other instructors knew I was not liking the visibility and was nervous so he swam right next to me and held my hand. We were down for about 20 mins and I was ok until the end - water kept creeping into my mask over my nose and although I wasn't breathing through my nose it just made me uncomfy and that with the low visibility just freaked me out to much so I motioned to go up. Something you do need to just work on and focus on. Unless you have a perfect face, IMO there is just no way you are going to avoid leaks. That is something you can work on just about anywhere thoughI agreed to swim back to the entrance under water but this time my ear started giving me trouble. we got down about 20 feet and although I had equalized numerous times it started to hurt and only stopped hurting when we got back to 5 feet. we tried again to go down and at first it wasn't hurting but as we started swimming along it started to hurt again so we agin resurfaced. after that we just swam on the surface back to shore and that was that.

Well, if ears remain a problem even after trying to clear often / properly, you'll want to monitor that closely. Maybe even have a doc check it out if it continues... were you stuffy or having any other congestion before diving?

I think if the visibility was more clear that in the ocean I would have been completely fine but I really did not feel comfy not being able to see barely. not to mention it was pretty boring as there wasn't much to see. saw a few fish and some rocks.

I think now that I know what to expect and can mentally prepare for it I will be better on our next set of open water dives and actually concentrate on practicing my buoyancy and moving around in the water instead of just trying to keep my eye on my instructor and not lose anyone.

That will keep your mind going that's for sure. Obviously you always want to focus on your location in the water column, make sure you arent bobbing up and down too much, down it will be obvious since your ears will let you know. Going up, you have to keep an eye on your depth to make sure you arent accending without knowing it. But for checkout dives make sure you focus on sticking with your instructor, and that should keep you pretty much where you need to be.

Over the weekend, my nephew and I finally got to dive together. We went to a quarry here south of Columbus. It's not deep, and since many places do OW check dives here there are parts that get pretty stirred up. I had warned him about this since he's done mostly warm / salt / reef dives with great vis. With the 'less then optimal vis' here we were really able to focus on keeping track of each other, keeping level in the water, got some good underwater navigation in etc. Basically it made you focus on everything you were doing and it was a lot of fun.