My greatest fear: Wall dives. Help!

[davezwife]

I started diving in '06 (Thailand, Borneo, Philippines, etc) ) and jumped right into the serious stuff, like Palau Sipidan, etc. I think because I was so green (even though I got my advanced cert) I didn't have time to fear.
Now, 2 years later, and now a mom for the 1st time, I found myself to be TERRIFIED of the wall dives I've done since. I just don't like seeing NOTHING below me.

Give me advice on how to cope with these fears. Tell me the magic secret to overcomming something I've done many times without incident.

We're about to dive Grand Cayman, Belize and Cozamel, and I don't want to miss the great dives, or hold my husband/dive partner back!
Thanks!

 

[Diver0001]

I started diving in '06 (Thailand, Borneo, Philippines, etc) ) and jumped right into the serious stuff, like Palau Sipidan, etc. I think because I was so green (even though I got my advanced cert) I didn't have time to fear.
Now, 2 years later, and now a mom for the 1st time, I found myself to be TERRIFIED of the wall dives I've done since. I just don't like seeing NOTHING below me.

Give me advice on how to cope with these fears. Tell me the magic secret to overcomming something I've done many times without incident.

We're about to dive Grand Cayman, Belize and Cozamel, and I don't want to miss the great dives, or hold my husband/dive partner back!
Thanks!

This is a lovely post. I'm sure you'll get lots of ideas.

To start off with a couple of questions:

- Did something happen during a dive that makes you feel this way?
- If it freaks you out, why do you want to MAKE wall dives...?
- What, if anything, do you feel would help you gain the confidence and comfort you need to make these dives?

R..

 

[VooDooGasMan]

davezwife, if you are not diving regulary at home i would presume that a 06 to now travel dive you might not have bouyancy down yet.

most divers that freak at no bottom is cause they keep sinking, then float up from over compensating the button.



just a thought from your info.


Happy Diving

 

[TSandM]

I'm with both of the above posters: The first thing is to figure out WHY diving without a visible bottom bothers you. I can think of some possibilities, but the first one is that your buoyancy control isn't solid enough that you can trust it. This is something you can definitely work on at home, before your trip, even if it's just in a swimming pool. You can work on hovering without moving, and holding a given depth. You can set up some depth markers and move from one to another and hold. You can practice doing this with your eyes closed, or while clearing your mask, or while sharing gas with your husband. When holding your depth becomes something you really don't have to think very much about, your confidence should be significantly improved.

Remember that walls give you excellent visual markers for depth, as well. If you are swimming along at 60 feet, you can look ahead at what's on the wall at that depth, and if it is slowly getting more above your head, you're sinking

My issue with walls is in current, because I've been caught in down and upcurrents. I've learned a little about what wall topography seems likely to produce them, learned to recognize them more quickly when they occur, and gotten much faster at reacting appropriately and moving to get out of the vertical component of the current.

You just have to figure out what your issue is, and then make a plan to solve it.

FWIW, you won't do any wall dives in Coz where you can't see the bottom. Or at least we didn't.

 

[davezwife]

thanks! didn't expect answers so quick! yeah!

Some thoughts:
- Did something happen during a dive that makes you feel this way?
Maybe. There was an incident in Sipidan where half the group jumped and went down, didn't wait for us. The other 4 of us tried to go under and find them, but they were gone. All I saw was blue. Nothing else. And one glance at my reg saying "80 feet" scared the crap out of me, I had NO idea I go sink so fast.
- If it freaks you out, why do you want to MAKE wall dives...? I don't want to be that one in the group that says "sorry, skerd of that spot, let's go somewhere else." I guess. I don't want to miss the great dives, and hate having this fear.
- What, if anything, do you feel would help you gain the confidence and comfort you need to make these dives?
I *do* need to learn my boyancy more. The 1st half of a dive I'm just getting my nerves in check and then by the time THAT happens, my tank is lighter and I'm fighting to stay down. The last time I dove I had not lost the extra baby weight, so that added to the shame of floating, lol.
This upcoming trip we dive Coz 1st, and I did ok there in August. So I'm going to load up on weight, and let the DM help me with boyancy.
Any other thoughts?????

 

[BioLogic]

I had some trepidation (not that I ever admitted it at the time) about getting into water that had no safe bottom for the first time.

What helped me is to descend slowly and add tiny jets of air at a time. I was using a mooring line as a visual reference, so I could tell I was not picking up speed as the descent progressed. This gave me confidence that I could arrest my descent easily whenever I chose, either by adding air or simply kicking upward, and the anxiety went away.

 

[WaterWolf]

So I'm going to load up on weight, and let the DM help me with boyancy.
Any other thoughts?????

You're on the right track here with working with the DM but loading up on weight may make things worse. Have you considered taking the peak performance buoyancy class (assuming you're a PADI diver)?

 

[davezwife]

actually, Wolf, I just signed up for one - it's in a pool, but I have all brand new gear (and a new fluffy body thanks to my new baby) so I'm going to spend some time in the water hoping it will help get my "wall legs" back. Great idea, though - thanks!

 

[boulderjohn]

From what you have said so far, it appears as if buoyancy control is indeed an important part of your issue, and as was just said, "loading up on weight" is not the way to solve the problem and can make it worse. If you are significantly overweighted, then you will have to put a lot of air in your BCD to compensate and stay neutral. That extra air will respond to changes in depth by expanding or contracting so much that you will be fighting for neutral all the time.

If you were underweighted at the end of your last dives, then you just need to make sure you are OK at the end of the dive. More than that is counterproductive.

There are only a couple of Cozumel dives that might give you trouble. Santa Rosa Wall is really about it, unless your DM chooses for some reason to treat any of the Palancar reefs as wall dives (and I have seen that happen).

Wall dives are valuable because of the interesting stuff there is to see on the walls right next to you. That's where your focus should be. Spend your time examining the beautiful sights on the wall--there is nothing below you that is interesting, so don't look there!

 

[Diver0001]

- Did something happen during a dive that makes you feel this way?
Maybe. There was an incident in Sipidan where half the group jumped and went down, didn't wait for us. The other 4 of us tried to go under and find them, but they were gone. All I saw was blue. Nothing else. And one glance at my reg saying "80 feet" scared the crap out of me, I had NO idea I go sink so fast.

Ok, what I'm reading through this is that you have a skills issue (buoyancy) that you're unsure about (if it's realistically good enough is irrelevant) and that you've had a real diving experience that makes you unsure of whether you're in a position to handle yourself on deep walls or not.

Well, davezwife, (I hope you have your own name too) ....

I don't find it the least bit surprising that you feel freaked out on walls.....!

Diving is all about 3 things:
1) comfort (and comfort zones)
2) safety
3) technique

On the wall in Sipidan you were diving well outside your comfort zone and that in itself is reason enough to cause you to be nervous.

It's not surprising, given this experience, that it could cause you to be unsure of yourself. There's nothing wrong with that and I think talking about it is the right approach. You're right on track.

I would suggest two things to you. (1) that you can do something about the skills you have doubts about and (2) not all walls as are *tough* as the wall in Sipidan.

- If it freaks you out, why do you want to MAKE wall dives...? I don't want to be that one in the group that says "sorry, skerd of that spot, let's go somewhere else." I guess. I don't want to miss the great dives, and hate having this fear.

Ok...... On the issue of peer pressure... This is mostly between your ears. I'll tell you something. I have nearly 1300 dives and last week I stepped out of the water at the entry on a dive I've made 100 times before and called the dive.... AND in front of 4 open-water students!! I was having multiple equipment problems related to a leaking drysuit and I just said "I'm sorry guys, there are too many things happening right now that I'm not happy with" and the dive was over. I've called MANY dives because I "wan't happy" and in front of my OW students I wasn't afraid.... it was just strong modelling of an adequate behaviour.

One of the things we all have to get used to as divers is that we have boundaries. I've sat out many a dive before because it didn't fall within my "comfort zone" and even with the experience I have now, there are just some things I won't do. In Egypt some of the dive guides regularly dive to 100 metres on air for the *kick*.... when invited I say "sorry 60 is my personal limit".....

Does that make me "skerd"? no. It makes me a confident diver. I understand that you don't want to have this fear but accpeting it makes you a much stronger diver than someone with the same fear who denys it. !!! really!

- What, if anything, do you feel would help you gain the confidence and comfort you need to make these dives?
I *do* need to learn my boyancy more. The 1st half of a dive I'm just getting my nerves in check and then by the time THAT happens, my tank is lighter and I'm fighting to stay down. The last time I dove I had not lost the extra baby weight, so that added to the shame of floating, lol.
This upcoming trip we dive Coz 1st, and I did ok there in August. So I'm going to load up on weight, and let the DM help me with boyancy.
Any other thoughts?????

Ok, this is purely a technique issue. The good news is that you can train this. It takes some time, some attention, and maybe 50-60 dives but you WILL learn it. Just slow down and relax and build up your experience at the pace that feels comfortable to you.....

as for "loading up" with weight. I can certainly understand this way of thinking but taking the "right amount" of weight is probably better. When you go to Cozumel there is a small cove a bit north/west of the city where you can make a check dive from shore before you start diving from teh boat. Go with a DM and do a proper buoyancy check and just dive and have fun.

As far as I recall there aren't any deep walls near Cozumel. I recall making a lot of deep (+/- 100ft) drift dives but there was a hard bottom at that depth....

The main message in all this is to not be too heavy on yourself..... Diving is something you learn one dive at a time and comfort is something that's only built up with experience.... not expectations.

R..