Worries when diving

[pasley]

This topic has been well covered. So to summarize
1. You the husband cannot teach your wife anything. Just accept this fact. Any correction you make, no matter how sweetly and delicatly worded is not going to end well. Trust me on this. Married 38+ years and I would not even attempt to teach my wife how to butter her tost.
2. Need to address why she is SCUBA diving at all? Is it to please you? If so she should stop SCUBA diving now. Unless she is diving for herself and wants to do it for herself she will not enjoy it and will be a danger to herself and others. When discussing this topic besure to listen closely and engage wifespeak mode. She may say "no, it is not to please you, I really wants to dive" which in wifespeak could translate to "yes it is to please you, and I am scared to death of SCUBA." (her fear in the ocean is a real clue here). Tough to tell.
3. Engage a Compentent instructor to fill the gaps and address her issues and spend time in the ocean with her as well as the pool.
4. Snorkel in mouth, no mask on, face in water. Quickest and best way to stop exhaling through the mask.
5. Death grip on mask, sign of diver on verge of panic and a dangerous situation. She needs a while in the pool and probably the ocean too, scuba diving without her mask on at all. But this has to been done at her pace with a professional.
6. A mask rest on the face, the strap just holds it there above the surface. I usally do a lap around the pool with my classes with the mask just sitting on my face, no strap to demonstrate this. Mask too tigh leak and cause marks and headaches.
7. There is always the risk the mask will come off on a dive. Another diver fin kick to the face , broken strap etc. So she needs to get comfortable with this. How is she with the regulator getting knocked out of her mouth underwater? It should be no big deal. The fact her mask came off on entry should not have been a trauma for her, but since it is, it most likely reveales some unspoken terrors of SCUBA diving and that she is only doing it for you.
8. Dive site selection. Be careful you are not selecting dives beyond her and your current ability. Just because the dive op will let you do the dive does not mean you should be there.

 

[cool79]

This topic has been well covered. So to summarize
1. You the husband cannot teach your wife anything. Just accept this fact. Any correction you make, no matter how sweetly and delicatly worded is not going to end well. Trust me on this. Married 38+ years and I would not even attempt to teach my wife how to butter her tost.
2. Need to address why she is SCUBA diving at all? Is it to please you? If so she should stop SCUBA diving now. Unless she is diving for herself and wants to do it for herself she will not enjoy it and will be a danger to herself and others. When discussing this topic besure to listen closely and engage wifespeak mode. She may say "no, it is not to please you, I really wants to dive" which in wifespeak could translate to "yes it is to please you, and I am scared to death of SCUBA." (her fear in the ocean is a real clue here). Tough to tell.
3. Engage a Compentent instructor to fill the gaps and address her issues and spend time in the ocean with her as well as the pool.
4. Snorkel in mouth, no mask on, face in water. Quickest and best way to stop exhaling through the mask.
5. Death grip on mask, sign of diver on verge of panic and a dangerous situation. She needs a while in the pool and probably the ocean too, scuba diving without her mask on at all. But this has to been done at her pace with a professional.
6. A mask rest on the face, the strap just holds it there above the surface. I usally do a lap around the pool with my classes with the mask just sitting on my face, no strap to demonstrate this. Mask too tigh leak and cause marks and headaches.
7. There is always the risk the mask will come off on a dive. Another diver fin kick to the face , broken strap etc. So she needs to get comfortable with this. How is she with the regulator getting knocked out of her mouth underwater? It should be no big deal. The fact her mask came off on entry should not have been a trauma for her, but since it is, it most likely reveales some unspoken terrors of SCUBA diving and that she is only doing it for you.
8. Dive site selection. Be careful you are not selecting dives beyond her and your current ability. Just because the dive op will let you do the dive does not mean you should be there.

Thanks for the summary. Will send her to living sea for training n hope she will get better. Also took note for point 8. If she is not comfortable with the dive site. For me each dive is a good experience for me. Hard or easy.

 

[AfterDark]

she was ok during her open water. it was an one to one training.
after her OW, we went for 2 shore dives in Bali and she is ok.

after a mth, we went to tioman for 5 dives, and she got freaked out during her 1st dive, as she did not learn giant strike before in Bali.
once after her failure of giant strike, her mask flew off and she get panic.

after that dive trip, i trained her in the pool for 3 sessions. it's on giant strike, mask clearing, fining and also breathing.

last weekend, we went for LOB and she did 5 dives, but during the 3rd and 4th dive, the group was like keep fining and fining to the destination. and after the dive, i told her to move at your own pace, i will be behind her. but she keep fining against the current... ended up, i lost her and she was under my friend care during that dive, and i was left alone.

after that dive, i enjoyed solo dive!!!

---------- Post Merged at 09:32 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 09:27 PM ----------

how do i train her on how to breathe in the water without breathing out through the nose?

You might try asking her to breath underwater in a pool without a mask while wearing a nose clip. She'll get the feeling of water on her face and in her eyes and the nose clip will force her to exhale through her mouth. Also if she wears a hood she can put the mask strap under the hood. That'll make the mask very hard to kick/fall off.

 

[cool79]

had contacted livingsea, will meet them this coming wed, will also talk to them regarding my wife condition and let them access.

i would also check with them for rescue and DM course.

 

[TSandM]

Great! Glad we gave you some options.

 

[cool79]

really need to thanks all of you guys. especially pasley for stating his example, that he dont teach his wife. anyway she keep watching youtube to learn.

also his point number 8 made me realised, if she is not comfortable for this dive, she can abort it.

 

[tracydr]

Exactly why from day 1 I avoided masks with valves and I always carry a backup mask in my pouch should my primary be knocked off and lost.

I have taken to carrying an extra mask in my drysuit pocket.
Recently, on a lobster dive, I had my mask kicked off in fairly poor-vis/night conditions and the dive was deep enough losing my mask would not have been fun. I was able to retrieve the mask but if I'd had to make it back to the boat that night with out a mask, just the return swim in rough ocean conditions ( maybe 3-4 foot waves or higher) would have been miserable.
I need to get some shorts to wear over my wetsuit for pockets, now that I have a DIR style rig.
Anyway, I really encourage beginners to practice flooding, clearing and removing their mask on very dive until its second nature. Also practice the swim without a mask, having your buddy guide you if necessary.
Some people have trouble breathing without a mask, because they inhale through nose and mouth. I had this issue for the longest time and really had to work to train my body not to inhale water up my nose without a mask.

---------- Post Merged at 06:27 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 06:12 AM ----------

We did snorkeling before and she is ok with it. She done her OW cause I wanted to bring her to Maldives. So would be better to don't let her dive?

I realize English is your second language but would it be a matter of " letting" her dive or would you just recommend that she not dive and allow her to make her own choice.
If she decides to dive, encourage her to get extra training, focusing mainly going over the important skills learned in your open water class and just increasing her comfort underwater.
Comfort underwater is likely to improve when she trusts her skills and ability to do the dives.

---------- Post Merged at 06:31 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 06:12 AM ----------

This topic has been well covered. So to summarize
1. You the husband cannot teach your wife anything. Just accept this fact. Any correction you make, no matter how sweetly and delicatly worded is not going to end well. Trust me on this. Married 38+ years and I would not even attempt to teach my wife how to butter her tost.
2. Need to address why she is SCUBA diving at all? Is it to please you? If so she should stop SCUBA diving now. Unless she is diving for herself and wants to do it for herself she will not enjoy it and will be a danger to herself and others. When discussing this topic besure to listen closely and engage wifespeak mode. She may say "no, it is not to please you, I really wants to dive" which in wifespeak could translate to "yes it is to please you, and I am scared to death of SCUBA." (her fear in the ocean is a real clue here). Tough to tell.
3. Engage a Compentent instructor to fill the gaps and address her issues and spend time in the ocean with her as well as the pool.
4. Snorkel in mouth, no mask on, face in water. Quickest and best way to stop exhaling through the mask.
5. Death grip on mask, sign of diver on verge of panic and a dangerous situation. She needs a while in the pool and probably the ocean too, scuba diving without her mask on at all. But this has to been done at her pace with a professional.
6. A mask rest on the face, the strap just holds it there above the surface. I usally do a lap around the pool with my classes with the mask just sitting on my face, no strap to demonstrate this. Mask too tigh leak and cause marks and headaches.
7. There is always the risk the mask will come off on a dive. Another diver fin kick to the face , broken strap etc. So she needs to get comfortable with this. How is she with the regulator getting knocked out of her mouth underwater? It should be no big deal. The fact her mask came off on entry should not have been a trauma for her, but since it is, it most likely reveales some unspoken terrors of SCUBA diving and that she is only doing it for you.
8. Dive site selection. Be careful you are not selecting dives beyond her and your current ability. Just because the dive op will let you do the dive does not mean you should be there.

This post is so good, I almost think it needs to be a sticky in the New Diving section.

---------- Post Merged at 06:36 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 06:12 AM ----------

You might try asking her to breath underwater in a pool without a mask while wearing a nose clip. She'll get the feeling of water on her face and in her eyes and the nose clip will force her to exhale through her mouth. Also if she wears a hood she can put the mask strap under the hood. That'll make the mask very hard to kick/fall off.

Problem is, the nose clip won't teach her to breathe through the regulator while the nose is open. And, she also needs to be comfortable swimming with no-mask.
Pasley- My husband is an instructor and he's taught me several classes but there are times when I need to learn from somebody besides him, just because of the dynamics that occur from having my spouse teaching me know skills. We get along fabulously so this helps a lot.

 

[shmuggy]

I was very concerned about losing my mask when I first started diving - I used to tether my mask to my BC so that if it did come off- I would still have it. I never needed it but it helped put me at ease. I ahve seen other people strap a spare mask to their leg. I think that you didn't help matters when you got separated so in my opinion, if she is ever going to get comfortable in the water- she is going to have to feel secure that you are a relaible buddy and you are probably going to ahve to focus more on her until she gets her skills where they need to be- 11 dives is not enough for that. I would also consider hiring a DM on some dives to go with both of you- I don't know if you can do some less challenging dives where you live but that would be a good idea.

 

[stevensamler]

how do i make her comfortable in the water?

Well first of all you don't she is the only one that can do that, remember scuba is not for everyone. Scuba may be your sport and it sounds like you enjoy it but it may not be hers.

 

[Insta-Gator]

There is no substitute for experience. I was always anxious about removing my mask in the beginning. It's only natural. Now, I don't give it a second thought, regardless of depth. I even squint my eyes so I can see that I'm maintaining my position and not endangering any coral formations.

Think about the first time you (she) tried to drive a car. Very stressful, too much to think about, worried about causing damage or worse. Now, I expect she can jump in a car, go through the procedures for start up and drive away without much of a conscious thought. It becomes second nature. Give it time and repetition. She'll likely be fine.