What it's like to dive for the first time

[Reefy]

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.

 

[Brian Mullins]

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.

 

[TMHeimer]

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.

 

[rx7diver]

How did you guys feel on your first dive?

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]

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.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

How did you guys feel on your first dive?

My first of four training dives was in Cabo San Lucas Mexico. I remember being about 40 to 45 feet deep and looking up and feeling the immense size of the ocean and oddly imagining the weight of so much water over my head. It was oddly disconcerting. I have snorkeled and been a water person my entire long life and love the ocean and have no fear of water. It was just the vast feeling of it all over my head that gave off an alien heavy feel, even though I had nuetral boyancy also but the weight.....

 

[NAUI Wowie]

We are running a research project (funded by the NSF) on this question right now, taking people who have never dived before into the Florida springs....in short: scuba diving for the first time is more meaningful and has a bigger impact than folks expect (even among people who WANT to try it for the first time, and think they'd like it!).

even among people that WANT to try it for the first time? Why would someone get scuba certified if they DIDNT want to do it???? Im confused.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

First time is like first time having sex. You think you know what you are doing, it is not the most spectacular but you don’t know that and amazed and then you are hooked for life.

scuba diving is like sex. hmm. Why do I feel that when you describe a new restaurant you say This place was like sex!!!! I mean....scuba is nothing like sex. Ill always choose a hot chick over a day of scuba.

 

[fred32176]

scuba diving is like sex. hmm. Why do I feel that when you describe a new restaurant you say This place was like sex!!!! I mean....scuba is nothing like sex. Ill always choose a hot chick over a day of scuba.

Its not an or. The hot chick will be there when you get home from diving.

 

[GunnersTacklebox]

First time I went under with a regulator during the pool sessions I was honestly surprised at how easy and natural it felt. Going in I had memories from being a kid at the cottage in Haliburton trying to swim to the bottom of the lake (about 7-8' deep at the end of the dock) with a garden hose in my mouth trying to breath and how hard it was lol. I was expecting it to be a bit tougher to get used to.