Worries when diving

[cool79]

i think would like her have more experience 1st before bring her to Maldives.
think is just Bali, Phuket, Tioman and Bintan for now.
till she gets more comfortable, then will let her learn AOW.

mean time, would wait for the monsoon session to be over then i would go n take my rescue course.

If you should go to the Maldives, be very selective about which dive sites you choose. A significant attraction there are channel dives, which can have bottomless walls and strong currents. You do NOT want to take any beginner to one of those sites ... particularly not one who is apprehensive about basic skills.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[SangP]

i think would like her have more experience 1st before bring her to Maldives.
think is just Bali, Phuket, Tioman and Bintan for now.
till she gets more comfortable, then will let her learn AOW.

mean time, would wait for the monsoon session to be over then i would go n take my rescue course.

I'm not sure if you comprehend the severity of the situation...

Bali isn't for the uninitiated as the weather and currents can be pretty rough not to mention that the boats tend to be rudimentary. I've done my tech course there and it's not a place I'll bring someone that uncomfortable in the water like your wife there. A lot of divers, experienced ones at that have gone missing and many have die due to the currents in places like crystal bay, Manta Point and even USAT Liberty requires a rocky beach entry.

Diving around Phuket is generally for the advanced divers too as there are a lot of divers in the water on the more popular sites and it's easy for a new diver to get confused and end up with another group. Currents can be strong and there are many sites that have very deep waters.

Tioman and Aur might be better in the sheltered zones but I seriously disagree about taking your wife along for any dive unless she first receives proper training with someone who understands her needs.

 

[dbulmer]

Cool79,

I think you should re-read the replies you have been given. I agree in particular with SangP in that you do not appear to realise how serious the situation is.

When I read your first post about your wife it reminded me of how I was. Please realise that your wife might be terrified of something happening to her mask because she thinks she cannot do it.

My first dives were very stressful because I thought I couldn't do it - each dive was full of dread and foreboding. I did the dives because I was stupid. After realising that diving was supposed to be fun I wanted to address the issue and that's how I came across Scubaboard. Having read and followed some advice on SB I decided I needed more practice and ended up joining a dive club here in the UK. I did not intend to be a cold water diver _ I just wanted to overcome the fear. Over time and with practice I got over that fear but I needed a lot of help on the way.

I would suggest that you listen to SangP and get your wife to a good instructor. Until this issue is solved your wife will never be comfortable in the water because th e fear will be ingrained in her head putting herself at risk and you too.

If you are thinking it's no big deal consider the following:-

Her mask strap breaks, what do you do?
Someone kicks her mask off, what do you do?
The mask does not fit properly, what do you do?

When you are that anxious there is a tendency to get out of the situation - bolt to the surface is one way and is dangerous.

You want to do rescue training? Ok that's good - first rule of rescue is: Rescues take place because of poor judgement by a diver or divers. Second rule of rescue - do what you can to help someone but don't put yourself at needless risk.


It would be bad judgement on your part to continue to dive with someone who cannot perform a basic skill and it also puts you at needless risk when all you have to do is to get your wife to spend some time with a good instructor.

I apologise for any offence I may have caused in this post but I do hope that you take seriously the advice you have been given by others on SB.

 

[chillyinCanada]

To the OP, you keep saying "I will let her do this, I won't let her do that". It should be her choice, she shouldn't be doing any of this because of what you want or you think. Your wife needs to decide on her own, whether or not she wants to keep it up and she should choose to do more training, starting with in the pool to become more comfortable about her mask. If that is the only issue, and don't think it is, pool dives without her mask on at all, may start the process for her. Practicing taking off her mask, re-donning it and clearing it is very important. She should apply the "stop think and act" she was taught in OW. A new diver that realizes that as long as she can breathe, she has time to figure out what to do, will start to overcome many fears. Really, if SHE wants to continue diving and become more comfortable for herself, then she should get herself some more one on one training with a good instructor.

 

[boulderjohn]

hmmm is there any good instructor in singapore?
i did heard a lot of instructors in singapore are mostly out for the money instead of teaching the student correctly or correcting their mistake. like for my OW and AOW. i did not learn how to do basic recuse during my OW and did not learn how to use SMB during my AOW. and for the wreck dive, it's just bring us down to take a look at the wreck...

Don't use those experiences as a means of judging instructors. I am not sure what you mean by basic rescues, but most people do not learn rescue techniques other than how to tow a diver on the surface in their OW classes. Only a few AOW classes teach deploying the SMB. You might have had perfectly fine instructors who did not teach those skills because they were not part of the course.

 

[cool79]

What she had told me is, she wanted to go phuket n try out more dives. Also she learned her OW in Bali n she told me the condition is better in Bali compare to Tioman where there are current at the surface.

I have emailed a few instructors n see when they would be free to train her.

She can clear her mask in the pool without any issue and swim freely in the pool without panicking, but once she is in the open sea like Tioman, she will panick...

She did breathing exercise in the pool without a mask for 10 mins and also removal of mask in the pool without issue, but when she is in the ocean, she don't dare to.

She feel comfortable in the pool but not in the open sea...

I did told her, if anything happen when we are diving, stop, breath normal, think and act. Do not surface as its risky n my cause health issue.

 

[cool79]

I'm not sure if you comprehend the severity of the situation...

Bali isn't for the uninitiated as the weather and currents can be pretty rough not to mention that the boats tend to be rudimentary. I've done my tech course there and it's not a place I'll bring someone that uncomfortable in the water like your wife there. A lot of divers, experienced ones at that have gone missing and many have die due to the currents in places like crystal bay, Manta Point and even USAT Liberty requires a rocky beach entry.

Diving around Phuket is generally for the advanced divers too as there are a lot of divers in the water on the more popular sites and it's easy for a new diver to get confused and end up with another group. Currents can be strong and there are many sites that have very deep waters.

Tioman and Aur might be better in the sheltered zones but I seriously disagree about taking your wife along for any dive unless she first receives proper training with someone who understands her needs.

She was diving at pandan Bai and tulamban. Hopefully an experience instructor can understand more in details.

 

[chillyinCanada]

It is encouraging that your wife wishes to continue diving and also, that you will be getting her some more one on one with an instructor whilst in the ocean. Have fun and stay safe.

 

[SangP]

What she had told me is, she wanted to go phuket n try out more dives. Also she learned her OW in Bali n she told me the condition is better in Bali compare to Tioman where there are current at the surface.

I have emailed a few instructors n see when they would be free to train her.

She can clear her mask in the pool without any issue and swim freely in the pool without panicking, but once she is in the open sea like Tioman, she will panick...

She did breathing exercise in the pool without a mask for 10 mins and also removal of mask in the pool without issue, but when she is in the ocean, she don't dare to.

She feel comfortable in the pool but not in the open sea...

I did told her, if anything happen when we are diving, stop, breath normal, think and act. Do not surface as its risky n my cause health issue.

I have raised my concerns and it's all I can do. On a good day even the coastal waters around Perth are dive-able on a bad day Aur has surface currents strong enough to sweep divers faster then they can swim towards open ocean.

The fact that nothing has happened so far is a blessing so don't push your luck.

Of course your wife wants to go to Phuket, Okinawa or a dozen other pretty dive sites but wanting something doesn't mean able to do it.

The fact she has open water fears, breaths through her nose and has who know what other fears and wrong techniques raises a lot of red flags about her ability to handle herself should something go wrong.

Don't take it the wrong way but till you know how bad you or your wife is doing it wrong you'll won't understand the risks.

A pool session with the guys at livingseas, watching them do drills for DIR fundies will give you some measure of how you stack up.

Confidence in the water is everything, overconfidence is something else.

 

[SeahorseDeb]

Cool-79, I agree with Japan-Diver and the rest of the posts. First you should never "make her comfortable the water." Let me illustrate one scenario: if your wife's mask was accidently knocked off by accident, usually someone's errant fin will do this, can she breathe on her regulator without pinching her nose closed? Because if the answer is no, she needs further training. She can't hold her breath long enough to find a mask, and she can't hold it while making any form of emergency ascent. I don't mean to be brutal, I am just a fellow diver, who cares for the community of all of us. If she isn't comfortable in the water now, perhaps do what my husband and I do: he golfs, I scuba!