Question Panicking once in the sea

[Hojo in SC]

I can't imagine learning to Scuba dive and not being a very proficient swimmer, hence, I certainly understand your anxiety. Just the opposite for me, I'm anxious getting my scuba gear together and getting to the boat to set up, but once I'm in the water, all is well.

Then when I go to a lake with the family and not to dive, I feel uncomfortable jumping in the water without at least my wetsuit on, knowing that I don't have the extra buoyancy made me nervous about jumping in. Now I'm training for a Triathlon and I'm back to feeling fine about jumping in the water, lake, or ocean, with our without gear.

Hang with it, maybe take more baby steps.

 

[TMHeimer]

I can't imagine learning to Scuba dive and not being a very proficient swimmer, hence, I certainly understand your anxiety. Just the opposite for me, I'm anxious getting my scuba gear together and getting to the boat to set up, but once I'm in the water, all is well.

Then when I go to a lake with the family and not to dive, I feel uncomfortable jumping in the water without at least my wetsuit on, knowing that I don't have the extra buoyancy made me nervous about jumping in. Now I'm training for a Triathlon and I'm back to feeling fine about jumping in the water, lake, or ocean, with our without gear.

Hang with it, maybe take more baby steps.

Agree of course. One of the hardest things for me was remembering the order of putting the unit together. Funny thing too, when I would go for a swim from shore (not scuba), I always felt a little uneasy when it approached being over my head. Now, I didn't have that so much if I had fins on, nor if I jumped off a boat into deep water. And not when I was diving to 120 feet. But still gives me a little heebee jeebees doing that shore thing in 6-7 feet of water. Who knows?

 

[mac66]

Get used to breathing through a snorkel. Many people have problems the first time they put their face in the water. Breathing through a snorkel helps relieve the anxiety somewhat.

 

[freeflowigb]

This is very relatable for me. But I managed to overcome it.
Being born in a landlocked place, I had never been in any significantly large body of water before I got into scuba diving. My first dive was in an aquarium with sawfish and sand tiger sharks and I really enjoyed it, although I was a bit hesitant to splash in.
However, I was terrified of open water and the thought of diving in the sea made me super uneasy. Since I liked diving, I wanted to press on, so I took about 20 DSDs in pools in different dive shops and booked private lessons. I asked the instructors what I needed to be aware of diving in the sea and asked them to teach me all the necessary skills. Mind you, I was still scared of jumping in the deeper end of the pool, which was about 7 feet deep.
Then I went on a vacation and contacted this dive shop for a DSD in the sea. I loved it, but anxiety hit me for no reason at about 20 feet, and the rest of the dive I was just blowing through my air on the verge of freaking out.

What I say next is probably a bad idea and in no way do I recommend doing this.

I contacted DAN about my anxiety issue and asked for their opinion if I should try taking anti-anxiety medications before my dive to alleviate the stress. They recommended against it and advised me to seek medical help for my condition instead.
I did not particularly like their response, so I popped a clonopin the night before the dive, and, quite obviously I was very relaxed and the dive went smoothly.

I used that ”strategy” to do finish my OW course. I did the same for about 20 subsequent dives. Then I only popped a Xanax before the last dive out of the 3. Then I stopped doing that altogether. I did about 70 more dives “sober”, and barely had any anxiety.

Again, in retrospect, this does not sound safe at all, but that was my way. I did not have a chance to have a private instructor gradually condition me into diving, so, being in love with diving, I did what I could do. After that I did night dives on my own, did extremely murky dives in cold water, and I was ok. Still, I know anxiety is still there, but I learned to push through it, and one good way I came up with is occupying my mind with something - checking my spg, removing and putting my mask back on, checking my octo, "losing" and retrieving my reg. Just doing something that is anxiety-inducing on its own, but you know how to do.

 

[MidOH]

I aced my training, it wasn't until about a dozen dives after, that I had issues. On one dive I just couldn't get enough air.

I tried breathing deeper thinking I wasn't clearing all of my dead air. No help. Eventually had to rise 50' over everyone to conserve air. Ended up in a school of stinging jellyfish. Most beautiful thing I ever saw, but must have felt a "static shock" 100 times.

Now, I use a snorkeling on the first dive of every trip. Get in the water earlier than other Divers and snorkeling around. It's my touchstone. Gets me calm. Saves a ton of air. The rest of the weeks dives, I usually don't bother bringing it. Just the first dive.

 

[SlugLife]

Now, I use a snorkeling on the first dive of every trip. Get in the water earlier than other Divers and snorkeling around. It's my touchstone. Gets me calm. Saves a ton of air. The rest of the weeks dives, I usually don't bother bringing it. Just the first dive.

I try to calm my breathing before going under as well. Between donning gear, moving around 1-or-2 full sized tanks, and perhaps some surface-swimming ... I might be breathing a little heavy, and need to clear out some CO2. That can be a lot of wasted air, compared to just waiting a minute on the surface.

It also helps keep me in the habit of very steady breathing when underwater; I pretty much always slow down or even stop if I get even marginally "out of breath."

 

[DAJ]

It might sound odd; however, I have met a number of divers over the years that could not swim. While many of us had to pass a swim test, in only a swim suit, there are large numbers out there that did not do a swim test as part of their course. While having the ability to swim may help with overall confidence in the water, you really don’t swim, in the literal sense, when you are diving. You wear equipment that floats, you have fins to drive you around, and you don’t use your arms for any type of swimming stroke so it’s not necessarily difficult to be a diver that can’t swim.

 

[MidOH]

My swim test was pass my gear to the boat guy, then swim without touching the boat or anything, while my instructor did the skills test with another group a few steps behind me.

If I wasn't dead by the end of their dive, I passed. But it was salt water. Can anyone not stay afloat in that?

In Cozumel, I think I fin kicked maybe 7 whole strokes in 3 days. Why even bother putting fins on, there.

 

[KatieMac]

Hello everyone, I am new to scuba diving, finished my two days training in the pool, I had some challenges learning how to breath, clear the mask, etc but it went well and the instructor gave me confidence that I am ready for the first open water dive as part of the training. It was one to one, shallow water and the minute he signaled to go under water, and I looked around I panicked, could not breath or use the regulator, I wanted to inhale from my nose and I felt as if suffocating. We tried several times and I could not make it and called it a day. Every time I think of being under water I have anxiety attack now and I feel really bad for failing. Is this Normal for new divers? Can I get better and overcome my fear or scuba diving is not for everyone and should not be forced and just accept the fact that it is fine if I can’t learn it. Would benefit from others experience and advice. Thank you!

I have always been mesmerized by fish and coral reefs in images but spent 50 years being afraid - well petrified really - to put my toe in the water. But with 4 divers in the family including my spouse, I decided to snorkel one day. Once I put my face under the water and saw the fish and coral, my lifelong fear seemed to disappeared. I saw divers down below and really wanted to be down there with them. I realized that I wasn't afraid of the ocean. I was afraid of what I couldn't see. So I jumped into OW and completed quite easily - with only the mask clearing as a hiccup that almost made me quit.

The only part of diving that has caused me any anxiety since has been after the dive is done while waiting in the water for my turn to get back on the boat because my face was above water and I couldn't see under the water again. I slowly worked through that but did overcome that anxiety too.

I know it's the opposite of what you are experiencing - my anxiety was OVER the water, not under it, but I feel most people who take on diving have some level of fear at the beginning. Only you can decide if it's a fear you can overcome.

 

[Billg68bg]

My swim test was pass my gear to the boat guy, then swim without touching the boat or anything, while my instructor did the skills test with another group a few steps behind me.

If I wasn't dead by the end of their dive, I passed. But it was salt water. Can anyone not stay afloat in that?

In Cozumel, I think I fin kicked maybe 7 whole strokes in 3 days. Why even bother putting fins on, there.

Man. I had to do a 200m pool swim. Guy said,” Doggy paddle, backstroke, front stroke. Whatever. Just don’t touch anything but water until I tell you to stop. “ Not an easy task for 54 and fat. Then he made me tread water for another 10 minutes before I could stop. Very memorable experience, I must say.