Tired and unhappy :(

[Web Monkey]

Saying this though my pool dive wasn't deep at all (pretty silly really) so obviously my thinking didn't come true. And i would love to get a prescription mask and stretch wetsuit, but the fact is i just can't afford it. Im not even sure i can afford a normal wetsuit let alone one of the better ones Im sure you guys will agree diving is a very expensive hobby.

Diving doesn't have to be expensive. You don't need a prescription mask if you wear soft contacts. You can buy pretty much all your equipment used, with the exception of things that exceed your "yuck!" factor. for example, I probably wouldn't buy a used wetsuit, but your mileage may vary.

You can get great deals (cheap or free) on used regulators and other stuff from divers who can't dive anymore (have your parents ask their friends). Just be sure to have it serviced before you use it. For example, I started diving when my father-in-law gave me all his stuff when his doc said "no more diving".

Once you get all your stuff, the cost of diving is usually just travel cost to the dive site (car/plane/boat/feet) and a few dollars for a tank of air.

Terry

 

[fisherdvm]

Diving doesn't have to be expensive. You don't need a prescription mask if you wear soft contacts. You can buy pretty much all your equipment used, with the exception of things that exceed your "yuck!" factor. for example, I probably wouldn't buy a used wetsuit, but your mileage may vary.

You can get great deals (cheap or free) on used regulators and other stuff from divers who can't dive anymore (have your parents ask their friends). Just be sure to have it serviced before you use it. For example, I started diving when my father-in-law gave me all his stuff when his doc said "no more diving".

Once you get all your stuff, the cost of diving is usually just travel cost to the dive site (car/plane/boat/feet) and a few dollars for a tank of air.
Terry

It does add up though. If you were to do it right... You should maintain your reg ($100-140 a year), dry suit needs new seals every 2 or 3 years ($80 to 200 depending if you do it, or hire someone else), dive boat fee ($60 to 100 per 2 tank dive), tipping (5 to 15 depending on how generous you are) .... Certain within a college student's budget, but you'd have to do alot of local and shore diving.

 

[spectrum]

Gee don't scare her off.....
Service? Usually well under $100 for all of the stages. Cost to service is a good question to ask while buying.
Drysuit seals will last a lot longer unless she's rough on them or a very very active dry diver. Fact is she's probably diving wet at least for openers.
Who needs a dive boat? Shore dive and get experience for the price of an air fill. Go on a boat as a treat when affordable. Don't let boat fees gate your diving. That solves the tipping.
Bring a picnic to share with your BF and that solves the meal out $$ issue too.

Yes there are up front costs but if someone is committed to getting into the sport a mix of rented, borrowed, used carefully shopped new purchases can get you going if you have any discretionary cash at all. Once you have the gear you can dive for very small money for the recreation provided.

If you need to own it all and do it all from day one then open the checkbook.

Pete

 

[jsmharley]

Hello cat, I cannot respond to alot of things like other folks can, me being new to this as well. When I went thru my pool sessions I just took out the cotacts and brought an old pair of glasses with me. It worked great and I felt more comfortable. Now I wear my contacts all the time with no worries. I know its not much but its what I can offer. Take one thing at a time and go at your pace noone elses, after all it is what will become your foundation to your diving life. Above all have fun.

 

[Eskasi]

If you need to own it all and do it all from day one then open the checkbook.

Pete

I did and kinda "regret" doing so at such an early point. Sure, I am not UNHAPPY with the stuff that I have...its just that I have found that I want something different....and I learned that I wanted something different after more dives.

If your goggles are important Cat, and if you are uncomfortable with leaky goggles (I can live with those but who likes that??!), I suggest you buy those as soon as possible. The fit on goggles are much more important than a slightly ill fitting (or god forbid ...slightly stinky) rental suit. The rest of the stuff can wait till you are happier with things.

You may not even want to buy anything at all even if you decide you love the sport. It simply isn't worth it if you only do 15 dives a year on vacation or as a special treat once a month (especially if finances are an issue).

However, if the obsession overpowers you like it has done to most of us here I still suggest waiting a while to buy your gear...figure out what you want from your diving and equipment before chosing the right item.


PS. Even the goggle thing for me was also a bad 1st choice....I got a good fitting single lens mask which had a huge internal volume....felt great on land and didnt leak under water.....during my OW checkout dives, I hated the feeling of my mask being buoyant and "wanting" to float up even though it didn't leak much....like I said, find out what you are comfortable with before buying.

 

[rawls]

Hi Cat,

I am not saying anything that other people have not already touched on.

I had a student last Fall who had a hard time with everything...I mean everything. I remember one thing she said early on...We were talking about her problems and she said...

I'm NOT GIVING UP...I am GOING TO SUCCEED.

She said it to me with such conviction that I had absolutely no doubt she would succeed. I must say that I was having some doubts at first. Did I say she had trouble with everything
But hearing the conviction in her voice...I can't say how good it made me feel to hear someone so determined...
Guess what...She became certified. By the time she was finished she had become a solid diver. We have become friends since then and guess what else.
She is about to leave for Spain at the end of this month to do a 5 month scuba internship.

Having everything fall to dookie therefore cannot be an excuse because you are not having anymore problems than my friend had...and other divers who still went on to get their certification.

The question is...Do You Want To Do It...You have to want it for yourself. If you do then you will succeed....
Good luck

You can PM me if I can help...

 

[paradicio]

Hi Cat!

Welcome to the board, a lot of good advice here.

I am new to diving myself, and like you I had spent a lot of money on gear prior to getting in the pool and as soon as I went under for the first time I felt much like you did. No matter how much air was coming through the regulator it wasn’t enough, I felt trapped and confined. The mask on my face felt as if it was a very small cell and the bubbles coming up on either side of my head just reinforced that feeling. I came up, took a couple of breaths, went back down and felt exactly the same way. I came up immediately and felt panic starting to set in. “I’m not going to be able to do this”, I thought.

Then I started thinking a bit. When ever I travel to a new location, I have to get out of the hotel and take a short walk. If I don’t I won’t be able to sleep and the “confined” feeling just won’t go away (this really sucks when I arrive somewhere late at night…). But I thought, why can’t this apply here. I spoke to my instructor and asked if I could do a couple of quick laps around the pool, just to prove to myself that I wasn’t trapped. And you know what? It worked. It worked wonders. After my first few kicks I felt free and lighter than I’ve ever felt. I couldn’t help thinking that I’d just swam into a new wide world just waiting to be explored. That more than anything helped with the claustrophobia.

Now, I’m not saying what worked for me will work for you, you’ll have to find your silver bullet on your own. But don’t give up. You will overcome.

Happy diving let us know how it works out!

Sean

 

[Web Monkey]

It does add up though. If you were to do it right... You should maintain your reg ($100-140 a year), dry suit needs new seals every 2 or 3 years ($80 to 200 depending if you do it, or hire someone else), dive boat fee ($60 to 100 per 2 tank dive), tipping (5 to 15 depending on how generous you are) .... Certain within a college student's budget, but you'd have to do alot of local and shore diving.

Sure, diving isn't free, but depending on where you dive, it doesn't need to be hugely expensive.

I was mostly touching on the fact that money doesn't have to be a show-stopper and that there's a lot of good used gear around for cheap or free.

Around here (Central NY), there's a ton of nice shore diving that can be done in the summer with nothing more than a wetsuit, and an air fill is something like $8.

It's probably different in costal areas where the diving is mostly by boat.

Terry

 

[GrandpaScuba]

Hi Cat,

Keep trying!!! You can do it! Maybe you should swim around with a mask and snorkel on your own to get used to breathing underwater. And now that you know the mask clearing drill, you can practice that at your own pace. Good luck and remember to have fun. That's what this is all about.

Chris

This is good advice. Take your mask, fins, snorkel to the local pool and just swim around with those and get used to wearing the mask. Occasionally try flooding and clearing your mask at the surface. It's okay to close your eyes when you flood your mask.

Also, make sure you are taking diving because YOU really want to. Not because you want to please your BF. That said, diving is fun. If you can learn to relax and get through the class, there's lots of cool stuff to see.

 

[muddiver]

I agree with CatFishBob, just swim around a pool with your mask and fins. Get use to how the mask allows you to see every thing underwater. Think about keeping your legs straigh while you kick with the fins. Try diving down to the bottom off the deep end and clear your ears and then sort of sit near the bottom for a moment and listen to the nothing ness.

On your next SCUBA dive in the pool start by putting your face in the water with the mask on and try breathing with the regulator. You can do this standing in the shallow end or by swimming around on the surface. Think of it as snorkeling with a snorkel that won't get water in it. Also, lose the wet suit and dive the pool with just the tank, buoyantcy compensator, mask and fins. You will not get hot that way and hopefully you wont feel constricted.