new to diving

[Buoyant1]

Definately before you really try it, I would also agree with the no mask breathing, swimming etc.. BUT...as one who never ever went under water without either a mask or holding my nose let alone opening my eyes, I can tell you that the desire to do this was enough to GET me to do it!

I had a copy of an old PADI manual supplied by a friend and when I read that (over the winter no less) it was required to do the no mask swim, I almost gave it up and thought "snorkeller for life" but I really wanted to do it, so at the first chance I had in my in-laws pool, I jumped in without my mask and just a snorkel!

By the time my classes started, It was old hat and doesn't bother me anymore. When I got to the cert dives, I wasn't worried about that one!

It's alllll fun!!!

 

[gtownjj]

Dude, am I thinking in reverse?

To me, mask clearing was much, much, much easier than regulator exercises! For mask clearing, you can still breathe, and you can take all the time you want and have so much margin for error. It's trippy when I found that you can breathe easily with your mouth without getting water into your nose...you'd need to try, in order to get it up your nose.

Regulator exercises were okay, but I feel more scared and stressed doing them, knowing that I wanna do them correctly every time, cause taking in water is scary. You just gotta be purposeful and fully attentive, I think.

I got certified in a quarry, so the cold water made both types of exercises more stressful. Hopefully my cert dives in cold water were helpful because now warm water should be much, much easier.

 

[Buoyant1]

Since I knew they were coming the reg skills weren't too freaky...I practiced a lot on my own in the pool with a snorkel breathing..removing and replacing the snorkel, etc... (and if I had access to a tank and a BC!)

Maybe the course should have the instructor YANK your reg out of your mouth to see how you handle it in a "stessful" situation! That's really how it will happen (by accident of course)

Think about it... you're kneeling on the platform, your instructor does the skill and points to you...and you are actually THINKING about taking the reg out of your mouth, so you take a deep breath and toss it over your shoulder (while blowing bubbles..and anticipating blowing bubbles) then tilting, doing the arm sweep bubble bubble bubble..and grasping it and putting it back into your mouth either purging by mouth or purge button and you're done...no worries..you're in control.

NOW what would happen if you're swimming along and your instructor sneaks up beside you and YANK...gulp gulp panic panic panic!

I'm sure that some of the other skills would be a bit more stressful to do if they were a surprise.

What's more "real world" ?!?!

The thing that got me through my OW's was the fact that I knew that I did some real dives already, I knew the skills cold, and that the platforms were at a very manageble depth. The reason I was nervous was basically the fear of the unknown, never being in a quarry, and that this was my "test"...after the first dive on the first day things were great...I knew I just had to get through them...

 

[asmith5]

There should be nothing scary about your open water dives. I think my worst fear when my wife and I got our OW cert a couple of weeks ago was that she would not enjoy it. I was wrong and we are already looking into getting our advanced open water cert. The lake we did our OW dives in had a surface temp of 70. It was cold, but all of the underwater skills were easy. If you have a small class, your dives will be easy. My class was large. On our first dive, I was the first one to go down to the training platform. I had to wait for 14 others to make it down before we continued. Some of our class members had problems with their bouyancy and took a long time to get down. At the end of the dive I had less than 100PSI of air left. That was the only scary thing that happened to me, but I was under water for over an hour and we didn't go deep. When I gave the instructor a low air signal, they sent us back to the deck to surface. I ascended when a diver kicked up the bottom and I could not see my air gauge and I knew that I was almost out. I could not see my buddy because she was behind me in the muck so I could not share air with her. When I started worrying about my air supply, I started using more of it. I felt like I had done something wrong, but my instructor said I did everything right because I was checking my air, which a lot of people had not done. My advice is to take it easy and have a good time. The OW dives are a peace of cake and are a lot of fun. I felt really weird when I strapped on a new tank after being certified and was told by my instructors to have fun. I was so used to following them around and doing everything they told me that I had forgotten that I was certified and was able to dive on my own.

 

[Parrothead_Diver]

As far as I am concerned the hardest part wasn't any of the skills required, but rather the anticipation and/or nervousness about the unkown. Just relax, slow down and think about what you are doing and everything will go great.

 

[pilot81]

When I did my open water, the greatest fear i had was the mask removal. I wear contact lenses and the salt water stings the eyes, when that happens i would insticntively breathe through my nose. So i realised the pressing the nose while the mask is completely removed helps me to breathe through my mouth.

 

[Buoyant1]

That was my fear more than anything else. A. I had never even SEEN the quarry B. I didn't know which area we would be in. and C. just the whole "how am I going to do, will I get a cramp at the wrong time etc..."


It's NO BIG DEAL! As someone said to me, you'll look back at how nervous you were and laugh!

After my first dive, it wasn't stressful at all, the whole experience was enjoyable, and I will most likely do some dives there next year when it gets warmer...For now...I have a trip to the Keys scheduled so that'll hold me over!

 

[Xanthro]

Everyone has skipped the really scary part. How much money you spend and the reaction of your significant other when the bill comes in!!!!

Xanthro

 

[BobRussell]

For many beginners the mask removal/replacement is the challange. For others it's having the reg out of your mouth. Execution of these skills may result in a small bit of water up the nose or down the throat. For this reason, the first skill I teach in a confined water class is how to cough u/w.

 

[new guy]

I am a new diver (Just certed end of Sept.)
During the class, the hardest part for me was the mask removal. But, after my last cert dive, my first dive as certified, I had clouding problems with my mask, and had to flood and clear often, and it was second nature.
The only tips I could say is: PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, relax and have fun.