Maybe I shouldn't do it?

[SkimFisher]

Only one way to get over it and that's just to do it and take it slow. Hang out in the pool and work on skills. When you move into open water just stay shallow and take it as slow as you need to. Don't let anyone rush you. Just move at your own pace and do what youre comfortable doing.

 

[miked]

To quote Rocky, "go for it!"

From your post, it sounds like you have the makings of a thinking, careful, and safe diver.
Follow your training, go at your own rate,and enjoy!

 

[diver 85]

Once you hit the water(certified), you'll be looking for caves & sunken ships--------

This is a close one, what will you lose, a couple hundred bucks??....

GEAUX for it, IMO...

 

[Codiak]

Welcome to SB, and longer term the sport!

All the advice so far is solid.

Fear/Flight is normal response but as you've already dove, with sharks no less, the hard part is over.

Reading the Accident Reports is like a getting your news from a single source... CNN/FOX ;-)
I too started by reading them and still do, but rather than "OMG that will happen to me" approach its "So that's how I avoid an issue"
Honestly, just stop reading them until after your 50th dive or your really comfortable in the water.

As to the two items you point out as your mistakes: Rapid accent and blowing through the safety stop.
1) *shrug* Rapid accents are common, too common, yet most never have noticable problems.
The key here to make sure your never holding your breath...
Just doing something that's kept you alive since the day you were born: inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale...
Btw, if you'd been going way too fast the DM probably would have controlled your ascent rate for you.
2) Safety Stop's are not Deco Stop's. This forum is wrong place for a full discussion just remember there is a big difference, and blowing past a deco stop is a LOT worse.


Finally,
The course work focuses on what can go wrong and teaches you to identify and deal with the issues rationally. Ascents/Desents, Surface Tows, Emergency Ascents, Air-Sharing.... it's enough to scare anybody, relax... it's learning to walk, if I knew then how many times I'd scrape my knees, bumb my head, or break a bone I'd have stayed in my crib!

 

[qwertyhoot]

In all honesty, this thread has made me feel MUCH better. Strange how hearing that it's a normal reaction calms you down a bit. I know all about fight or flight. I was a nurse before becoming a stay at home mom...

The other thing that happened is that since we were diving ALL day from a boat, after the very last dive, getting on the boat, I was so sea sick. I thought I was going to throw up. But I didn't and as soon as I was on land and had a bite to eat, it got better pretty quickly. I wonder if dramamine or sea bands might help.


I'm super nervous about the water here. I live in the pacific NW! I get cold easily. My goal is to get trained into a dry suit. But I'm only doing one thing at a time.

I'm doing it. Voicing my fears and reading your comments helped a lot.

 

[Damselfish]

As far as accident reports, you can learn lots from them but realize that people usually write about things that are out of the ordinary. So while you may feel you're seeing lots of accident reports it's statistically meaningless. People tend to write when something bad happens, or maybe about the really cool time they saw the whale shark or whatever. But they don't write about most of the bazillions of dives where things basically went as expected.

 

[Codiak]

I'm super nervous about the water here. I live in the pacific NW! I get cold easily. My goal is to get trained into a dry suit. But I'm only doing one thing at a time.

Cold is the bane of all divers.

Some locations actually do open water certification dives with Dry Suits.

Dry Suits can be a great investment if you dive cold water frequently.
I waited for until after 50 dives, finding 50% of them to be below 58f it was time to upgrade from 7mm

Get certified, dive, dive, dive and most of all ENJOY!

 

[dhuskins]

I'm super nervous about the water here. I live in the pacific NW! I get cold easily. My goal is to get trained into a dry suit. But I'm only doing one thing at a time.

Some people love cold-water diving. Some don't. I don't like getting cold, so I now dive with a dry suit. I stay warm and comfy AND still get to dive often. There are some great things to be seen in cold water that are not available to "warm water only" divers.

For now, go through the steps. Like anything, first we learn to crawl, then we learn to stand and finally walk. Study your manual (or online course), then practice in the pool. Once you feel comfortable, take your checkout dives and you will be a certified diver before you know it.

 

[--tom--]

Did you think that maybe most of the students in your class will be having the same feelings? Many feel some trepidation/apprehension before a scuba class. The class is structured to minimize stress and help you to progress through a set of skills that you will need. I will let you in on a secret: you won't be perfect the first time you try the skills. It is a class, it is a place you can make errors with a minimum of risk. It is a place to let you figure some things out for yourself. It is a place where there will be someone there to help, commend, refine, and improve your capabilities. You will do well. You have the correct mind set.

I love cold water diving. I need to get up to the Pacific NW there are some awesome divers I would like to dive with and awesome dive sites that I would love to dive.

 

[diver_doug]

Diving seems way more dangerous than it is. I mean, anytime there's a drowning or a shark attack etc. you hear about it on the news which creates the illusion that diving is highly dangerous. The news never has reports like "Scuba diver dives...and nothing happened!", or "Scuba diver surfaces from deep dive...and is fine!" because no one would be interested. I would say statistically you are more likely to be killed/injured on the drive to the beach than you are during the actual dive.