What it's like to dive for the first time
- Thread starter Lncky
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Reefy
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As someone who was used to freediving before I started SCUBA, it actually felt... almost laborious and tedious at first. I felt awkward in the water with all of the gear, not to mention the noticeable difficulty of controlling my buoyancy enough to stay where I wanted to be in the water. That being said, as soon as I started to feel less like I was fighting my gear and more like I could actually take in my surroundings, I knew that SCUBA would be a large part of my life. I'm not sure the exact number of dives that took, but it was before the completion of my OW class.
Fair guess given the vague thread titles, lack of responsiveness and perhaps more important, the word under the Op's username to the left of their posts.
Brian Mullins
New
It was cold.. the quarry was 45º with about 4' of visibility. Every dive after that was a treat. I think there is something to be said for setting expectations. 
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On my first checkout dive (2005 Nov.) the word may be "pensive". I wasn't nervous about diving to 20+ feet having often snorkeled down to 10-12 feet since a teenager. I was excited to not have to come up for air all the time. I was also locked in on doing the required skills.
My scuba course (in 1986) was an extremely thorough and demanding YMCA/NAUI, semester-long, three credit hour university PE course. We didn't wear exposure gear for the entire course, not until we were just about ready to leave for the Open Water Checkout. During a single, several hours-long pool session (called the "Gear Checkout"), a couple of days before we left for our Open Water Checkout, we were introduced to our full wetsuits (two-piece, 0.25" farmer John/Jane with booties, hood, and gloves/three-finger mitts). And I really didn't care for all that bulk!
My first "dives" (training dives), in a full wetsuit, in a northern AR Army Corps of Engineers freshwater lake (Bull Shoals Lake, AR) in May during the Open Water Checkout, were NOT so much fun, in all that bulk. By the end of the second day of training, I had gotten comfortable enough with the bulk of that full wetsuit. I was finally at one with the bulk by the third day of training, and thoroughly enjoyed our very first "deep" dive (where we dropped down to 60 ffw, below the thermocline).
rx7diver
Cthippo
Contributor
Once I got my hood to stop choking me, it was a non event. I had been comfortable in the water all my life and comfortable with breathing apparatus from work, so breathing underwater was no big deal. Honestly, being able to see underwater with a corrective mask was a bigger thing for me than breathing. I had been practicing the skills before the class and so I was pretty comfortable.
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