New to diving. New to Scubaboard. Very overwhelmed

[TexasKaren68]

Hi! I'm Karen from San Antonio and am planning to learn to dive next spring (no free weekends between now and February - yes really) but starting to have some doubts.

Hopefully I can learn a lot from these boards before my first class.

I just got back from Australia and did an "introductory dive" at the Great Barrier Reef. The water was rough (30 knot winds) and after two hours on a sailboat I was pretty darn seasick. I think I lasted about 10 minutes underwater before I had to stop or risk vomiting in the regulator (thankfully, that didn't happen). Other than the seasickness I kind of enjoyed the dive. I didn't have any major problems with my ears and I was just starting to get the hang of moving around underwater when I had to surface 'cause of my upset stomach.

The introductory dive was great. The instructor told me a few basic things (never hold your breath, breathe normal, equalize your ears, showed me how to clear my mask), helped me into the gear and off we went. He just sort of dragged me around underwater and pointed out pretty fish. I think I would have been a better student without the nausea. Oh well, it just made me want to do it again. Too bad another plane ticket to Australia isn't in my near future.

I started looking around the boards and am quite overwhelmed with all the info. There are acronyms being tossed around that I have no idea what they mean. The choices of equipment are so confusing and I'm also starting to freak out at the cost of some items. :shocked2:

I've been snorkeling for 13 years and enjoy floating around with my little waterproof camera looking at colorful fish, but I think it would be nice to get a little closer to the action down below. Of course, I'll have to go buy a new camera (more overwhelming decisions and stuff to learn - aaarrghh!)

Hopefully the training will alleviate my fears. I think I can handle some of the drills required in a training environment. I do wonder though, how often does a mask come off underwater? Is it common to have to share air? Do tanks/regulators fail?

I guess that's all for now. Nice to meet all of you

 

[kathydee]

Hi Karen,

Welcome to Scubaboard! I was totally overwhelmed with the board in the beginning too - stick around and it will sort itself out ;-). Lot's of opinions and great advice here.

Feel free to PM me with questions, even if you think they are silly ;-).

 

[Troutmaster]

Welcome to the board and to the sport!

It all gets eaiser. Choose a good instuctor and don't buy anything until you know what you like as far as gear goes. Take your time and enjoy the learning process. Ask alot of questions but remember that this is the internet and some people here don't know what the hell they are talking about. Sometimes I may be one of them

As far as your other questions:

Masks come off sometimes. They get bumped off your face by any number of things, which is why we train to deal with it until you are comfortable.

It is common to share air, but almost always as a drill. But it is important so we train to deal with it until you are comfortable.

Tanks fail sometimes, but almost always when being filled, so don't worry about that yet.

Yes, regulators fail, but not very often. But it is important so we train to deal with it until you are comfortable with it.

Are you getting the theme yet? Diving equipment keeps you alive underwater. Anything mechanical can fail, so training is designed to make sure you live if your equipment takes a dump.

It all gets easier and simpler, you will do fine.

Again, WELCOME!


And if you have a question you don't want to ask in public, PM me.

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

Welcome Karen,

I know this seems like a massive amount of information. It will all fall into place. Find a course that is not a rush course. One that takes its time and lets you synthesize and get comfortable. As to the board. It is a great group of people. You will catch really quickly. Hang in there. It is worth every second. Feel free to ask any question you have. We love sharing this sport.

Dee

 

[TSandM]

Welcome to ScubaBoard, and soon to diving!

You can think about all the emergency stuff you've read as being similar to my job in the emergency room. I can't look at a person with pain in their left shoulder and assume they've pulled a muscle, even if it seems likely; I have to think about the most dangerous or deadly thing that painful shoulder could be, and make sure I'm prepared to cope with that diagnosis.

Similarly, in diving, there are things that are uncommon but can occur, and can be very dangerous if not properly dealt with. So we train to be ready to deal with those things calmly, even though they may never happen to US. That's a big part of open water class -- learning the procedures to deal with a variety of problems, some of which are common (clearing a leaking mask) and some of which are VERY uncommon (dealing with being completely out of gas).

To deal with your feeling of information overload, I'd just narrow your scope for a while. Concentrate on the threads that are useful to someone considering getting certified, like the sticky thread of Walter's at the beginning of the New Divers subforum, or THIS thread of loosebits'. Read some threads in the diving medicine forum about ear problems (and watch the video and read the articles that are frequently cited there). Maybe read some threads in the New Divers forum about mask problems and buoyancy. You'll march into your open water class with a ton of useful information, and also some good questions to ask.

Keep us posted on your progress!

 

[ta]

Hi Karen, glad to hear that you will be learning to dive. Don't worry about the information overload on the net. At this point, I think the only important research you need to concentrate on is figuring out who you'll sign up with to do your training.

Edit: check out this post on how to select your trainer:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...ng/287780-how-find-excellent-scuba-class.html

Find out about training in your area, and not just the dive shop but feedback on the individual instructors. It makes all the difference in the world - I scrubbed out of one program and did great right after that someplace else.

The place where I certified has a free "try scuba" session every month or two in their own pool. If you can look around for places like that where you live, then this may be a good way for you to do your own research on different training facilities and instructors.

I hope that you are able to do your training in a place that has their own pool. Getting enough pool time with patient instructors was the key for me. The place where I certified was fantastic. The instructors always made it a point to say that we were not rushed and that we should keep doing the skills till we all felt comfortable. They made it really fun and relaxed.

What worked well for me was to take the class on a weekend. This gave time between the classes to do the reading and to practice the skills.

The other thing that really helped was that we did our initial dives in springs so we didn't have to deal with rough surf and poor visibility on our first time out. That was in marked contrast to the first program where after what seemed like only the briefest time in one lane of a community pool we were out in the middle of the gulf with almost no vis. I was glad in the first class that we learned about boat diving and low visibility, but it was definitely a less stressful training experience to do the first training dive in clear water.

Best of luck to you, and I'm sure you'll be glad you decided to go for it

Theresa

 

[gypsyjim]

Hello Karen. I'd say simply, slow down, and take it one step at a time. There is way too much info on the net (not all of it is all that accurate either! ), so it can be quite overwhelming. Even experienced divers can find internet sites a bit overwhelming.

As has been said above, if you focus your attention for now on searching for the best possible instructor available in your region, THAT will be the single most beneficial thing you can do right now. Not all local dive shops (lds) or dive instructors are the same or offer the same level of quality instruction, or outlook on safety issues. If you spend some time contacting experienced divers from your area, and learning about the instruction available to you close by, and who has the best reputation, you will be miles ahead. You can even post questions in the newer diver forums, or in a forum specific to your region. You will be surprised how many very helpful divers there are on this board, who are happy to share their knowledge and experience with new divers, and potential new dive buddies!

When my two young ones wanted to become divers, I did quite a bit of searching, and it was threw ScubaBoard suggestions here, that I picked the lds where I took them for their training. It was NOT the closest, or the cheapest lds/instructor available, and required a 2 1/2 hr drive each way, but I have never regretted making the decision to make that trip, because they turned my two you fish into very safe and confident divers!!!!!!

The people or person who teaches you, if you find the right one, will not only make all this information overload disappear, they will make you feel relaxed and at home under the water, as well as pass along their love for this sport.

 

[D_B]

Welcome to ScubaBoard and to diving, Karen

The people or person who teaches you, if you find the right one, will not only make all this information overload disappear, they will make you feel relaxed and at home under the water, as well as pass along their love for this sport

that pretty much sums up my experience, a good instructor will make you feel that they are more than happy to spend the time you need to feel comfortable underwater.

you can send Personal Message to kathydee(Kathy) or TSandM (Lynne) two woman that are very knowledgeable and have grown much in their skills , and ZenDiver3D (Dee) is an instructor with great knowledge

 

[TexasKaren68]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. I've started to look for a place to take lessons and my choices seem pretty limited in San Antonio (we're not exactly a scuba diving hub of activity here in cowboy country ) I started at the PADI web site and they listed three dive shops, two of them are the same company with two locations. So basically I have two companies to choose from and both have locations convenient to my house so I'll do a bit more research and probably visit each of them at some point to talk and see what they offer.

Oh, and then I realized that there is also an SSI shop here in town so I started doing research on SSI vs. PADI. Boy, some posters can be pretty mean Depending on what I find out when I visit the dive shops I'm almost certain to end up with the PADI cert because the SSI shop is about 30+ miles from my house (in traffic) and the PADI ones are really close and convenient. That will make a difference even after I'm certified. I mean, who wants to waste half a day to go buy a new snorkel

Once I get certified (if I get certified ) I doubt I'll be doing much diving in Texas. I love the Caribbean and this will give me more options when looking at what do do for shore excursions when I'm on a cruise. I may even do things like fly off for a long weekend of diving in Bonaire or something like that. I can dream

I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but I plan to take refresher courses every year, as I'll probably only get a few dives in every year on vacations.