As usual, Mike knows his stuff and gives excellent advice. I would add that any time you feel like you might be about to panic, you need to concentrate on your breathing. Take slow deep breaths.
Panic in Poor Viz
- Thread starter KerriHMI
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Yeah, what Bob, Mike, and Lynne said...
Diving routinely scares the crap out of me, and I've been diving for 12 years. I'm also not a typically jumpy person, but dark, and low vis waters tend to up the intensity level quite a bit. I agree with everyone else who said not to get too upset about it. Just two weeks ago, I was diving in Seattle (with NWGrateful Diver actually), and a harbor seal was swimming around us for part of the dive. We both knew it was there, and when we got a little shallower, it swam between me and the bottom while I was hovering less than 3' from a small wreck. We both KNEW there was a seal in the area, but I had looked away for just one second to look at a fish, and then I had nothing but seal in my face. It only scared me for a second, but I swear to god I almost jumped out of my drysuit. I know it's not exactly the same as happened to you, but even after 200 dives, it still happens to me. Bob even told me a story about one of the deeper dives he made where it happened to him, and he has about 2000 dives.
If you want to get over it, don't worry, eventually you just get used to it. Take it easy, and don't push it, and your tolerance level will just increase, but like Lynne said, if you can't see the bottom before running into it, get a beer instead! If you get into patches of bad vis, sometimes getting closer to your buddy helps. Also, getting closer to the bottom tends to help me get more of a reference. Touching something almost always helps me, and looking at my guages if I can't see the bottom at least lets me know my position through other means.
Tom
Diving routinely scares the crap out of me, and I've been diving for 12 years. I'm also not a typically jumpy person, but dark, and low vis waters tend to up the intensity level quite a bit. I agree with everyone else who said not to get too upset about it. Just two weeks ago, I was diving in Seattle (with NWGrateful Diver actually), and a harbor seal was swimming around us for part of the dive. We both knew it was there, and when we got a little shallower, it swam between me and the bottom while I was hovering less than 3' from a small wreck. We both KNEW there was a seal in the area, but I had looked away for just one second to look at a fish, and then I had nothing but seal in my face. It only scared me for a second, but I swear to god I almost jumped out of my drysuit. I know it's not exactly the same as happened to you, but even after 200 dives, it still happens to me. Bob even told me a story about one of the deeper dives he made where it happened to him, and he has about 2000 dives.
If you want to get over it, don't worry, eventually you just get used to it. Take it easy, and don't push it, and your tolerance level will just increase, but like Lynne said, if you can't see the bottom before running into it, get a beer instead! If you get into patches of bad vis, sometimes getting closer to your buddy helps. Also, getting closer to the bottom tends to help me get more of a reference. Touching something almost always helps me, and looking at my guages if I can't see the bottom at least lets me know my position through other means.
Tom
As a sidenote, these are the dives I tend to remember the most from my experience. The ones that go smoothly don't stick in my mind as much as the dives I had some difficulty with. I tend to look back more fondly on them as being hurdles I've been through, not as deficiencies in any way.
Wondering if your dive plan included a low visibility situation...ie...did you anticipate the visibility was going to be as limited as it was? The saying...plan your dive and dive your plan never gets old. If the dive doesn't go as planned then abort the dive...For that matter, anytime you find yourself feeling anxiety begin to creep in I would encourage you to abort at that point instead of waiting until you are close to being in a panic situation. Go with your gut...If it doesn't feel right then it probably isn't going to get better...Not for that particular dive at least.
Papa_Bear
Contributor
Go to a place you know in real world places. Start sallow and work up to it! When I started diving in the early Seventies in places like Big Rock near Malibu Three foot of Viz was great! So it's what you get used to! If you go some place your familiar with and comfortable and just don't go for any other reason than to get comfortable. Start in sallow water and work on your buoyancy laying on the bottom with your face plate on the bottom feel around and get comfortable. Then work on changing position and then go up and down in the column of water until you get an idea of up and down. That is what freaks most out, not just the dark, but the sense of loss of balance and direction. You have to learn to read your gages and watch your bubbles if you can! Learn to feel other clues as well, like the bubbles going up around your head!
I was a Public Safety Diver for Six and a half years and we were lucky to get a foot on some of our dives looking for things most people have nightmares about finding! The way you overcome the fear is by doing it! Go slow and go often into the same situation and before long you will consider 1 meter as very workable! This is a picture of a lift exercise in about 3 feet of viz! Then one day you find yourself looking for a body at 100ft in pitch black with a muddy bottom and cold water where you have to feel for everything!
I was I big Bear lake in those conditions behind the Dam in a search when the biggest ass Crawdad ran into my mask! :11: Even the best of us can still have an O-**** moment!
I was a Public Safety Diver for Six and a half years and we were lucky to get a foot on some of our dives looking for things most people have nightmares about finding! The way you overcome the fear is by doing it! Go slow and go often into the same situation and before long you will consider 1 meter as very workable! This is a picture of a lift exercise in about 3 feet of viz! Then one day you find yourself looking for a body at 100ft in pitch black with a muddy bottom and cold water where you have to feel for everything!
I was I big Bear lake in those conditions behind the Dam in a search when the biggest ass Crawdad ran into my mask! :11: Even the best of us can still have an O-**** moment!
That would be an adrenaline rush, for sure!
Belmont
Contributor
Your brain looses reference because your inner ear's cochlea, your eyes and your body position don't compute. When this happens to an airplane pilot, who is not instrument trained and equipped, research shows that he has an average of 178 seconds to live.
They teach a pilot to keep his head steady and to avoid unnecessary and sudden head movements and to absolutely rely on their instruments.
This can help avoid panic in a diver, the situational helpers there could be the shot line, the depth gauge and the bubbles. Be weary of the bottom, it might not be horizontal.
They teach a pilot to keep his head steady and to avoid unnecessary and sudden head movements and to absolutely rely on their instruments.
This can help avoid panic in a diver, the situational helpers there could be the shot line, the depth gauge and the bubbles. Be weary of the bottom, it might not be horizontal.
Papa_Bear
Contributor
Agreed, But it is down if not level! In some weightless no viz conditions you can't tell, just like those clouds except you can't see even your bubbles! The other Panic situation for a lot of people is a blue water dive with no references and great viz! So just don't give up and go slow!
Don't ride yourself too hard, it's that lack of confidence that may very well have kept you from making a fatal mistake that day. Remember that on any given day your panic factor can change. Something can make you panic today and the next day that same situation won't even phase you. Your body is going to answer the flight or fight syndrome naturally, the important part is how you let it answer. As a new diver I think you did the right thing and surfaced, as long as you did it in a controlled manner. I would be willing to bet that in a few more dives in low vis that it won't bother you at all. If it does bother you, remember that diving is for fun and don't dive in low vis. I know that vis can go south while on a dive, but you can surface when it starts getting beyond your comfort level. Listen to that voice of reason, if it tells you to get out of there do it, in a safe manner of course.
We've got a local wreck that's sitting at an angle on the bottom -- I spent about ten minutes of a dive trying desperately to dive as though it were upright, and wondering why I felt so unstable and awful -- until I saw another team coming toward us and realized the truth!
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