Some Advice Required

[TSandM]

You've gotten great advice already. I just wanted to add that, here in Puget Sound, it's pretty rare to be able to see the bottom, even from as shallow as 20 feet. This means that one spends part of just about every descent in murky, green water where you can't see anything but your buddies (if you're lucky enough that you've stayed together!). I found that incredibly difficult, and to this day, I do not enjoy midwater without a visual reference. You are not alone. That was a very challenging thing for someone who really wasn't even a new diver yet. But you made it through it, and if you enjoyed the rest of what you did, go on and get certified! The majority of your early dives should be in places where you can keep a visual reference, at least the majority of the time, and if you do get to where you can't, you've already been through it and know it can be managed.

 

[TracysaCADiver]

Evening all,

I tried my first dive in Turkey this summer, it was superb and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We went from Fetiyhe and headed for Dalyan Cove.

For the second dive of the day we went to a place called Tarzan Bay - unfortunately this is where I encountered a problem; I was the only beginner, the rest of the divers were open water qualified (at least) so while those guys went down to 18 metres while I was held at 6 metres with my own instructor. As they descended below us they disappeared (as did the sea bed) and all of a sudden I was unable to see anything at all (other than ocean) and I got spooked.

I really want to pursue to diving, however I continue to remain unnerved by this experience. The instructor with me was an ex-special forces diver and was clearly very relaxed in the water, perhaps he didn't realise the predicament that I was in. We had a language barrier so I couldn't feed back to him on the experience.

If any one has pointers on how to get over this (hopefully minor) hurdle I'd be grateful.

Thanks,

James

James - Don't know if this has been asked or not, but what diving agency are you with? I could be totally wrong on this, but I thought the open water certification for PADI (at least) would be about 20 meters (60 ft under the American Standard System)? For someone who is held only to about 6 meters is a little disconcerting to me.

 

[Jimbo the Ambo]

Just to clarify,

It was a effectively a try dive, my first time ever, however there was a skill mix, some open water and some beginners (ie me!). I was the only beginner who wanted to go on the second dive so I was assigned my own instructor who kept us at 6 metres while the other guys went deeper.

I recognised at one point that I was hyperventilating (see my handle, I've been to lots of people hyperventilating over the last ten years!) so I signalled that I'd had enough and we surfaced. Just slightly unsettling, but I ain't throwing the towel in yet!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Jimbo, the "spookiness" you felt is normal the first time you find yourself unable to see your surroundings, although it's unusual for a new diver to find themselves in that situation in the first place.

When you put yourself into an underwater environment, the sensory signals that you've spent your life taking for granted undergo a fundamental change. Weightlessness and exposure equipment affect your sense of feel. Hearing becomes increased, but you lose your ability to tell where it's coming from. And so your brain relies more heavily on vision to get its information. Putting on a dive mask inhibits that sense too by reducing your peripheral vision to a fraction of what you're used to. Suddenly you find yourself in a situation where all you can see is your instructor and a few bits of floating debris, and your brain says "I don't know what to do." That's what spooked you.

Your instructor is more comfortable with it because he's learned how to interpret more subtle sensory data ... the changes in water pressure affecting ears and sinuses ... the "sense" of up and down that comes with subtle prssure changes ... and enough awareness to glance at his gauges from time to time to verify what his other senses are telling him. And so he's more "anchored" to where he's at. But for the uninitiated that hasn't yet learned how to interpret those clues, it's unnerving ... and something that takes some time to get used to.

I train mid-water skills at the AOW level ... after the diver has had a chance to begin "rewiring" their sensory inputs to the underwater environment. And even then, it's not at all uncommon for the student to struggle the first few attempts, while their brain adjusts to dealing with this new way of interpreting your surroundings.

Just keep diving ... and work on learning how to reserve a part of your brain to keep track of what's going on around you ... awareness is one of the most important skills any diver can learn.

What you descibed is probably the most difficult condition a new diver can face ... having no visual sense of where they are. It takes some time and effort to learn how to deal with it. Many new divers would simply reject the whole situation and head for the surface ... that you did not do that speaks well of your ability to adapt.

Humans are amazingly adaptable creatures ... some more so than others. Stick with it ... and with a bit of exposure you'll amaze yourself with how much information you can process without relying on vision. Learning how to use it will make you a much better diver in the long run ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Jimbo the Ambo]

NWGrateful diver, (et al!)

Some incredibly kind and encouraging posts in response to my question, I'm utterly grateful. It would seem that I was put into a slightly inappropriate situation inadvertently by the DM (Don't get me wrong, I'm confident that I was 100% safe at all times). I'm definitely going back for more, and I will mention my experience in the hope it'll be avoided.

My old man was a diver and I felt hugely privileged to be at the bottom of the Med, seeing things 'normal' people don't see. if you guys are interested I might update you on my progress. Don't want to bore you though!

Thanks again,

James

 

[TracysaCADiver]

That makes sense then. I was thinking that you were OW certified. I can see then why they kept you at a shallow depth.

 

[geogator]

An odd issue I've encountered thus far in my few experiences diving in near zero visibility is my ability to control my trim. I've gotten much better at staying more horizontal descending when I can see the bottom or a reference (wall, line, etc.) which helps me to control my descent speed, but when the visibility stinks my ability to stay more horizontal tends to shift to where I become more legs down which speeds me up. Monitoring my depth gauge or computer helps the speed issue some but if I get too focused on watching it & the bottom suddenly appears, it's a sudden unintended stop! Too bad there's not a heads-up horizontal indicator gauge for diving like there is for flying a plane.

 

[LowDrag]

An odd issue I've encountered thus far in my few experiences diving in near zero visibility is my ability to control my trim. I've gotten much better at staying more horizontal descending when I can see the bottom or a reference (wall, line, etc.) which helps me to control my descent speed, but when the visibility stinks my ability to stay more horizontal tends to shift to where I become more legs down which speeds me up. Monitoring my depth gauge or computer helps the speed issue some but if I get too focused on watching it & the bottom suddenly appears, it's a sudden unintended stop! Too bad there's not a heads-up horizontal indicator gauge for diving like there is for flying a plane.

There is a mask with a H.U.D.. I found one at LeisurePro but they are spendy. I didn't have time to see what all it does because my lunch break is over. Good luck Jimbo, keep on diving.



Oceanic DataMask HUD (Heads Up Display) Hoseless Nitrox Dive Computer with Transmitter

 

[TSandM]

Geogator, that just takes practice. You have to learn what your gear feels like on your back when you are horizontal, and notice where your bubbles are going (and where the bubble in your dry suit is, if you are using one). One of the hardest things in all of diving for me was to learn how to stay oriented when I couldn't see (which isn't much different from staying oriented when you have no visual reference, except that almost all water contains particles you can use to know if you are rising or sinking). But I kept at it, and most of the time, I'm pretty solid with it. If I can't see at all, or have nothing to look at, I'm fine. But if there are things in my visual field and they aren't doing what they ought to be doing (uplines with weird curves in them, or that are flying back and forth, and the like) I have a much harder time. Eyes still trump kinesthetic input!

 

[Token]

Don't worry about it. Lack of visual reference is often disconcerting even to very advanced divers. It is usually a pretty rare event, though. I am having a hard time thinking of a time when I have been in that situation during normal recreational diving.

Maybe it's rare... Last May I was diving in murky water [algae bloom] where it was impossible to see either the surface or bottom after getting a couple of metres down. I found it profoundly disorienting, and it only added to the struggles I was having with my 7mm wetsuit and new BCD.

I'd suggest that your next few expeditions be limited to fairly clear, shallow water until you feel a lot more comfortable with your buoyancy and diving ability in general. Don't let this experience discourage you!