Thinking of trying again - advice please

[Winterpeg]

If you really want to do this - for yourself, not for your "other half" - then don't give up. But if you're heart's not in it, don't stress yourself any further.
Two years ago I was in your shoes. My husband had certified years before and I wanted to learn so we could dive together. I have posted several times on this board about some of the difficulties I had - the main one being no-mask breathing. If you can do that, you have overcome the worst already.
Your biggest problem is that your were rushed and pressured at the start - both by yourself, and by the dive instructor. When I took my course, I was told that the number of confined dives required prior to OW was "however many" it took for me to be comfortable and master all the skills. I honestly don't remember how many it took - but at least 7 or 8. Same with the theory - it was mainly self-learning and go in and take the test when you are ready. I would not be here writing this today if I had been rushed and pressured - I would have given up. Some people probably can master all the knowledge and skills in a short course, but I doubt very many. I know honestly I could not have passed a "short course", and I was hard on myself initially about that, because I was always a good student and didn't foresee failure. Since joining ScubaBoard, I have learned I am not alone. Read some of the threads on this forum and you will see you have lots of company.
Big deal if you have to review theory - 2 years later I am still reviewing my OW text prior to taking my AOW. It takes a while to absorb everything, and since you were so stressed the first time, you probably don't remember half of what you studied. Second time round it will be much easier and you will retain more.

 

[hbpurple]

Thank you everyone for your helpful replies and advice. It has been really helpful to hear them all. I have a couple of local diving schools in mind so I will contact them - feeling much more optimistic!

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Thank you everyone for your helpful replies and advice. It has been really helpful to hear them all. I have a couple of local diving schools in mind so I will contact them - feeling much more optimistic!

Thanks for posting your question and some of the posters for some ideas I will use! I had a terrible time in my OW but now I have getting close to 360+ hours underwater. My OW instructor (25 years experience) told me later he was surprised I came back for the second day of Ocean dives and shocked by my "turn around". Someone said it was a "head thing" for me it was. I didn't expect to have such a hard time... when I spent some time, analyzed my reaction and was prepared for it... "I got my head around it" I was ok.... not comfortable.... but ok! It was sure worth the effort.

I have this problem.... when water hits my nose... I seem to sniff as a reflex I felt stupid cause I had to pinch my nose during the mask recovery so I wouldn't sniff. Weird huh? Well I thought so till I saw one of Australia's Olympic Gold Medal swimming champions interviewed. He said he has to wear a nose clip because as soon as his nose gets in the water.. HE SNIFFS!

It has taken a while but now I can get water in my mask and ignore it when it fills up around my nose. Sometimes you just get a leaky mask... I really like the idea of standing in shallow water and repeatedly flooding the mask until comfortable... I think I will practice that myself.

Hang in there, find someone you are comfortable with, take your time... it is a great sport if it is for you. I was asked why I was insisting on getting certified when I was clearly terrified. I wanted to overcome my fear and to experience the amazing underwater world. Some will say the first reason isn't a good enough reason.... you get to decide that.... no one else

I hope you find the solution that is right for you... good luck:blinking:

 

[tstormdiver]

hbpurple, it's wonderful that you looked into why you were so upset, that's half of the battle. It does sound like you & the instructor may not have been compatible,..... it happens, even with the best instructor out there. Don't let it deter you, if you really want to do this, find someone who will put you at ease & give you the time you need to grow. My instructor trainer/ certifier told our class of a student he had when he began teaching. In the first class, she couldn't even put her face in the water, my instructor asked her why she wanted to learn how to dive. She told him in tears, "I want to see the pretty fish on the reefs". He decided that that was reason enough & kept her on. As the class progressed, she was finally able to do that & to sit at the bottom of the shallow end of the pool. Long story short, she went through 2- 3 more courses & now several years later, she is a diving & photography fool (I mean absolutely no offense by this). Even her husband is amazed at how well she's done. She & her husband go on all the shop's trips, even to Asia & she takes the most amazing pictures I've ever seen. I understand, also the self criticism that one can do to themselves. I'm my own worse critic. The best advice I can give there is, like was said earlier, be yourself, don't be afraid to be a beginner & to absorb what the instructor is teaching you, don't put your expectations first. Keep plugging away at it,... if you want it bad enough & can find someone willing to put the time into you that you need, you will succeed. Once again I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.

 

[Walter]

Most classes are poorly designed. You said you wished you'd learned to snorkel first. A good class will teach you to snorkel first. You'll probably be much, much happier with BSAC. I would suggest doing some research before settling on an instructor. You are hiring someone to do a job (teach you to dive), you should interview applicants before hiring anyone. Remember a good class will take time, usually several weeks.

How do I find an above average course and how will I know I've found it?

Interview potential instructors. Most people never ask any questions beyond price. As the old saying goes, "You get what you pay for." Excellent instructors will usually have a higher priced class for a number of reasons. The instructor is dedicated toward providing you all the time you need to master necessary knowledge and skills. Extra pool time can be expensive. Keep in mind; the instructor is trying to make a living. His time is valuable.

Consider alternatives. While many instructors teach through dive shops, some of the best are independent instructors or affiliated with colleges, universities or YMCA's.

Questions to ask the instructors:

How long have you been teaching? Most instructors improve over time. They learn new techniques and get ideas from other instructors and through experience to improve their classes.

Do you certify all your students? Only instructors who are in a hurry and care nothing about your safety will answer yes. You want an instructor who will require you to be safe and knowledgeable before issuing a c-card. An excellent instructor might tell you that he is willing to keep working with a student until the student either qualifies or gives up.

What skin diving skills will I learn? While there is some disagreement on this point, many professionals believe a solid foundation in skin diving will not only make you a better SCUBA diver, it will make learning SCUBA easier.

Will I learn confidence-building skills? There are some skills which have no direct application to a typical dive, but which do build your confidence as well as your abilities. This, combined with an understanding of the panic cycle, will make you much less likely to panic.

Do you teach the panic cycle? Panic is the most dangerous aspect of diving. Many instructors do not understand panic and believe there is no way to combat it. In actuality, panic is understood. It is though learning the panic cycle and by increasing skill levels that panic is avoided.

Do your students swim with their hands? This will let you know if the instructor pays attention to details. Good divers do not use their hands for swimming.

Do you work on trim? Divers should usually be horizontal in the water. Good instructors will see that students are striving towards good trim. Poor instructors often neglect it.

Do you overweight your students? Many instructors overweight students. It is not a good practice.

What method do you use to correctly weight your students? Any answer that does not involve actually getting in the water means you want to avoid that instructor.

How many people will be in my class? Small classes are better. You'll have more individual attention. Unless the instructor is using certified assistants, more than four students are difficult to watch.

How many certified assistants will you be using? Unless the class is relatively large (more than 4 students) this should not be an issue. An instructor should have a certified Divemaster or Assistant Instructor for every two students over four. There are times when divers working on their Divemaster or Assistant Instructor certifications assist with a class. This is normal and not an issue, but they do not count toward the assistants an instructor should have when working with larger classes.

Will I be learning skills kneeling on the pool bottom or mid-water? This question is not critical, but will let you know if you've found an instructor who has a great deal on the ball. The over whelming majority of instructors (even good instructors) teach skills kneeling on the bottom. Don't eliminate instructors who do. Some instructors have realized your mask will flood while you are swimming, not when you are sitting on the bottom. You need to learn skills in the manner in which you'll be using them.

Do you dive for fun or just when you are teaching? Instructors who've stopped diving for fun are burned out.

Questions to ask yourself:

Is the instructor patient? While talking with your potential instructor, you should be getting a feel for his personality. Patience is an important quality for an instructor. You want to avoid instructors with a drill sergeant demeanor.

Would I be happier learning from a man or a woman? Only you can answer that question, but in general it is not usually a serious consideration. There are excellent instructors and there are poor instructors. Men and women fall into both groups.

 

[Peter Guy]

My wife had some of the same issues and we dealt with them in various ways -- including sitting in a hot tub and having her "play with" her mask and doing mask off drills. She was/is NOT a "natural diver" but she has become a very good one.

Just so that you know you are not alone, I highly recommend reading her notes on becoming an OW diver:

On Becoming a Diver

(I just reread it -- you really should read it, at least her "letters to her friend Tanya" about her OW class!)

 

[la_diver]

Hang in there hbpurple. Find yourself a patient instructor. Got certified in march of 2008. Wife certified mainly because i wanted her to. She had issues with mask clearing. If not for a diver training for his rescue diver cert. she may not have certified. But she did finish . She was always saying that diving was not on her top ten list of things to do. Now diving is top on the list and something that we do together. The anxiety and fear I hope will go away as it did for me. Now breathing underwater is not much differient than normal breathing on land. one thing that help was snorkling. We have a pool and would swim laps everyday. I'm talking about swimming with fins mask and snorkle at pace that gets your heart and lungs to working. Didn't realize that breathing at that rate I was actually closing off my passage to breath through my nose , which helped when I had to breath through regulator without mask. Good luck

 

[bowlofpetunias]

I think one of the problems with learning to dive is focus! Breathing is both a voluntary and involuntary action. We seldom think about how we are breathing when we are breathing. When something happens that brings it to our attention... the focus causes the breathing to become voluntary and it changes! This is why we were taught as Paramedics to use little tricks to keep the Patient from realizing we were checking their breathing so we get more accurate rates.

When you are training (exercising) you may train your breathing and the same occurs in Scuba. We become acutely aware of our body, our breathing, and our ears. Those things we normally don't think of get our attention and we question... is this normal? We compare it to what.....ummm....since we normally don't think about it unless there is something wrong.. we have nothing to compare it to... so it no longer seems normal/natural which creates stress.

It just takes time and practice. My instructor told one of the students to get a tank, put on a mask and sit watching tv breathing off the reg. Not a bad idea really!

 

[seaducer]

Hello

I am looking for some advice please.....

You came to a good place. Lots of advice here.

My fiance completed his open water a couple of years ago and last March (2008) we spent a week in Eygypt with a view to me getting my open water qualification. I was really looking forward to it as I am very comfortable in the water and it scuba diving was something I had always wanted to try. Unfortunately it didn't go to plan.....

My finacee was supposed to get certified in Bonaire last year, but comfort, ear issues, and butthead instructor caused her to bail. It happens. No worries, you try again, or not, depending on what you wish to do.

I found myself completely taken over with nerves and before we even got into the pool for the first dive I was near tears. When we did get in the pool and I took my first breaths underwater I found it really unerving - not exhilirating as all the books described. I don't have a problem with holding my breath and diving down but breathing underwater just felt plain wrong -

This is not uncommon The first time I tried to breathe with my face in the water, I just plain couldn't. My brain would not allow me to breathe in with the feeling of water on my lips. No matter how much I told myself I could breathe safely, it didn't work. I finally fixed it by breathing in as I lowered my face down. Took a while before I got over this completely.

I'm hoping the more you do it the less weird it feels! I managed to calm down a little and start the skills.....I did the one where you take the mouthpiece out and put it back in again okay

Yes, it does begin to feel normal soon

but when it came to flooding my mask it all went to pieces. I panicked, tried to breathe and came shooting back up - I kept trying and trying...this went on for ages and in the end the instructor ended the pool session.

I have had issues with this before as well. Not in class, oddly enough in OW class I mastered this before anyone else. But years later for a pool test to volunteer at an aquarium I started to panic a little. I had not had my mask off uw in years, didn't care for the feeling, and because I was using borrowed gear that was way too small I could not draw a full breath to clear the mask. I started to hyperventilate and wanted to bolt. For me, I was able to calm down and complete the task. But I had years of experience and joy from diving at this point. This is a skill that takes some time to get used to for many people. And it is something that you cannot forget about once your class is over. I suggest starting out by breathing with a snorkel in the shallow end, but no mask. Work youself up slowly. It really is no big deal once you get used to it, even though right now it seems very difficult.

The next day I decided I didn't feel able to continue with the pool work - I was feeling very distressed and I suppose took the easy way out by not continuing. Instead, I completed the theory work and the instructor gave me a referral form (I think it is called) which would last for one year. In the meantime my other half completed his advanced qualification while we were out there. I found the how experience very pressured and while I'm sure most people can complete the whole thing in 4 or 5 days, I think I need a gentler way of learning.

Diving should be fun. If it isn't, then don't do it. As for the training, some people think that unless you learn in a Boot Camp style, you are not going to be a competent diver. That is BS, you can learn at your own pace. Try to find an instructor who has experienced similar issues when they were learning. Not only might they have some tricks to help you, but they can at least empathize with your feelings and take the time to train you properly. If you really want to be a diver, you can be.

Since then I have recently learned to snorkle (how I wish I had done that before I tried diving!), and have found it really helped in terms of getting used to breathing underwater. I have also spent lots of time flooding and clearing my mask so feel much more confident doing that now.

Awesome! You are totally on the right path. I was an avid free diver as a child, before scuba. It doesn't eliminate all the issues, but it does give you a place to start that is light years ahead of where you were.

Time is ticking on and I know I only have till March to do something otherwise I will have to do the theory all over again. I would love to be able to dive especially as my fiance loves it but I am concerned about freaking out again in front of more strangers and I also don't want to be a panicky diver.

Any advice on what to do next? I am based in the UK.

Panic is something that can be controlled by your mind. If you worry too much about freaking out in class, you may do exactly that. Instead visualize some things you do well, or have since learned to be comfortable with. Instead of imagining problems, picture yourself at the bottom of the pool without your mask on, totally at ease, calmly breathing, with all the students watching you and thinking how well you do this skill.

You should be aware that cold water presents new challenges, and may not be the best way for you to experience open water for your first time. If you are planning to vacation soon, I would to your pool work as soon as you can, then take the refferal on holiday and check out with a few dives in warm water.

Or, if you are confident enough now with your free diving experience, give it a go in the UK. The checkout dives will be someplace that is pretty calm, at least they should be. So really the only worry is the cold. Make sure your suit fits well, and good luck!

 

[hbpurple]

Thank you all for your advice. Just an update for you......I have contacted a local diving club and had a chat to them about my issues. What has been suggested is that I book in for a one to one session just to get in the pool with the equipment on and build up my confidence again. They said I can do some skills if I want to or I can just swim around and get used to breathing underwater. If I am happy after doing this I can then start the confined dives sessions - they are run over a couple of weeks and he said they will do more sessions if I need it. The open water dives can either be done in the UK (not sure about that sounds a bit chilly) or they are planning a trip abroad in April so if it all went to plan I could do them then.

They are not open for another week or so so once they are I have arranged to pop into the dive centre to meetthem and then take it from there if I still feel happy to.