Divers? Anyone else?
Discussion
m3jappa said:
Thank you very much for the advice, it really is appreciated and makes sense.
I do feel pretty comfortable in the water and evidently I'm not a bad swimmer, in the maldives I reckon I snorkelled for about 5 hours a day quite easily, I just can't take enough in, I will say when I'm at a drop off I am a bit scared but not enough to stop, the feeling is amazing and what's in the water is mind blowing tbh. I also realised the dangers and when currents got too strong I knew that something had to be done.
Two things that really stick out in my mind were 1. Swimming with a whale shark, it was almost life changing and almost surreal to see something like that in the wild. 2. I was snorkelling one day and just stopped at the surface for a float about, I was looking out to the deep water hoping I'd see something when all of a sudden I noticed something flashing different colours in front of me, no exaggeration I reckon it was a maximum of 2-3mm long and it was changing colours, purple, red, blue, green it was unreal, I don't know what the hell it was, perhaps some baby squid? But to be in the ocean and see something that tiny blew me away as much as the whale shark! It shot off like some alien craft
I think doing as much here will be our best bet and yes I'm in Essex so any recommendations would be gratefully received
We are very lucky to go to these places, oh has a good job and we have no kids, I think fiji will be the last exotic destination (honeymoon) for a few years as it's now time to start thing about kids (good or bad I don't know yet ) that said I do want to go to the Red Sea as it appears there's still some suburb reefs there, looking at vids on youtube they look better than what I saw in the maldives in any case.
Fiji diving is OK. As in most places it is weather/time of the year dependant whether you will see some big stuff. It will always be better than diving in the UK though I do feel pretty comfortable in the water and evidently I'm not a bad swimmer, in the maldives I reckon I snorkelled for about 5 hours a day quite easily, I just can't take enough in, I will say when I'm at a drop off I am a bit scared but not enough to stop, the feeling is amazing and what's in the water is mind blowing tbh. I also realised the dangers and when currents got too strong I knew that something had to be done.
Two things that really stick out in my mind were 1. Swimming with a whale shark, it was almost life changing and almost surreal to see something like that in the wild. 2. I was snorkelling one day and just stopped at the surface for a float about, I was looking out to the deep water hoping I'd see something when all of a sudden I noticed something flashing different colours in front of me, no exaggeration I reckon it was a maximum of 2-3mm long and it was changing colours, purple, red, blue, green it was unreal, I don't know what the hell it was, perhaps some baby squid? But to be in the ocean and see something that tiny blew me away as much as the whale shark! It shot off like some alien craft
I think doing as much here will be our best bet and yes I'm in Essex so any recommendations would be gratefully received
We are very lucky to go to these places, oh has a good job and we have no kids, I think fiji will be the last exotic destination (honeymoon) for a few years as it's now time to start thing about kids (good or bad I don't know yet
) that said I do want to go to the Red Sea as it appears there's still some suburb reefs there, looking at vids on youtube they look better than what I saw in the maldives in any case.
so I would agree with others that it's a good idea to get your certification here and then just enjoy yourself while on holidays. Plus if you can and enjoy diving in the UK, you can dive anywhere I actually just got back from a little trip around the world, Fiji was one of the stops and I did dive with sharks from Tavewa.
I made a video from this trip, there's some diving in Fiji stuff there, including sharks if you fancy watching http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky5-IvieHTs&fea...
Wow what a trip! I'd love to do something like that.
Reason we have decided on fiji is a couple of things:
Some of the best coral in the world (which is mainly what I'm interested in, the acropora species is my favourite)
Snorkeling good reefs straight off of most beaches, I hear a lot of reviews say the snorkeling is as good as diving as there's so much on the top couple of meters.
The chance to see some of the big stuff, especially if I dive.
The people, the scenery, the culture I hope we see which places like the maldives lack.
The fact we get married end of august and places like maldives in their rainy season. I know there's lots of reefs over the world but finding ones which you can just walk into off the beach is a challenge, more so when you want to travel in a specific month.
I'm well aware the weather there can be a problem, we are going in September so with any luck weather should be ok. I'm very excited
Going to start working on the oh to start doing the course here I think. I was told by their rep that because the place we are going is very quiet they can send one of their dive guides with us and actually do the shark dive as amateurs, scared but excited.
Reason we have decided on fiji is a couple of things:
Some of the best coral in the world (which is mainly what I'm interested in, the acropora species is my favourite)
Snorkeling good reefs straight off of most beaches, I hear a lot of reviews say the snorkeling is as good as diving as there's so much on the top couple of meters.
The chance to see some of the big stuff, especially if I dive.
The people, the scenery, the culture I hope we see which places like the maldives lack.
The fact we get married end of august and places like maldives in their rainy season. I know there's lots of reefs over the world but finding ones which you can just walk into off the beach is a challenge, more so when you want to travel in a specific month.
I'm well aware the weather there can be a problem, we are going in September so with any luck weather should be ok. I'm very excited
Going to start working on the oh to start doing the course here I think. I was told by their rep that because the place we are going is very quiet they can send one of their dive guides with us and actually do the shark dive as amateurs, scared but excited.
Wow what a trip! I'd love to do something like that - it was a lot of fun! I'm off to Greenland on Thu so completely different scenario
Some of the best coral in the world (which is mainly what I'm interested in, the acropora species is my favourite) - as I said, it was OK, I think I still rate parts of Great Barrier Reef higher
Snorkelling good reefs straight off of most beaches, I hear a lot of reviews say the snorkelling is as good as diving as there's so much on the top couple of meters. - well yes and no, it is colourful and interesting however it will never be a match for diving. Bobbling along pretty shallow is the best way to do your safety stop
The chance to see some of the big stuff, especially if I dive. - yes but again, time and luck dependant
The people, the scenery, the culture I hope we see which places like the maldives lack. - one and two - definitely, people were awesome! culture? It's all stuff for tourists, you need to go to Borneo etc for authentic experience. Make sure you will do some island hopping in Fiji! Don't just commit to one, that's all part of the fun and they're all great!
Some of the best coral in the world (which is mainly what I'm interested in, the acropora species is my favourite) - as I said, it was OK, I think I still rate parts of Great Barrier Reef higher
Snorkelling good reefs straight off of most beaches, I hear a lot of reviews say the snorkelling is as good as diving as there's so much on the top couple of meters. - well yes and no, it is colourful and interesting however it will never be a match for diving. Bobbling along pretty shallow is the best way to do your safety stop
The chance to see some of the big stuff, especially if I dive. - yes but again, time and luck dependant
The people, the scenery, the culture I hope we see which places like the maldives lack. - one and two - definitely, people were awesome! culture? It's all stuff for tourists, you need to go to Borneo etc for authentic experience. Make sure you will do some island hopping in Fiji! Don't just commit to one, that's all part of the fun and they're all great!
What a coincidense I have just signed up to do my rescue divers course, I Fly out to Fuerteventura on 26th of March to do it with Deep Blue. Great set of guys with a fantastic set up. I have dived with them 5/6 years in the last 12 years.
http://www.deep-blue-diving.com
And best of all, they have beer on tap at the dive centre.
http://www.deep-blue-diving.com
And best of all, they have beer on tap at the dive centre.
Hello All
Just wondering if anyone has any advice on something I have discovered about myself this weekend. I feel I have developed a bit of a fear/phobia of diving below the 20m mark. I wonder if any of you have witnessed or heard of this?
I have always felt out of my comfort zone on a deep dive and didn't admit to myself that this was growing into a phobia until my buddy suggested that maybe I should look at this problem and find a resolution.
20-30 m is a pretty deep dive for me as I mostly dive shallow reefs and shallow wrecks (8 - 16m), I think it is because I don't often go that deep that this may be occurring as I have slipped into a "comfort zone".
What I have seen from viewing the video I took, my breathing gets quicker and I have developed a sort of hum on exhalation. Sometime shortly after this I have to end the dive as I know I am not happy.
I don't panic as I tend to be very calm and simply say I want to go up cutting the experience short but I am concerned I need to get over this (I want to do my IDC at the end of the year. Can anyone suggest what to do? Do you think I should just dive to those depths a lot until I get over it?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Just wondering if anyone has any advice on something I have discovered about myself this weekend. I feel I have developed a bit of a fear/phobia of diving below the 20m mark. I wonder if any of you have witnessed or heard of this?
I have always felt out of my comfort zone on a deep dive and didn't admit to myself that this was growing into a phobia until my buddy suggested that maybe I should look at this problem and find a resolution.
20-30 m is a pretty deep dive for me as I mostly dive shallow reefs and shallow wrecks (8 - 16m), I think it is because I don't often go that deep that this may be occurring as I have slipped into a "comfort zone".
What I have seen from viewing the video I took, my breathing gets quicker and I have developed a sort of hum on exhalation. Sometime shortly after this I have to end the dive as I know I am not happy.
I don't panic as I tend to be very calm and simply say I want to go up cutting the experience short but I am concerned I need to get over this (I want to do my IDC at the end of the year. Can anyone suggest what to do? Do you think I should just dive to those depths a lot until I get over it?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Lady Muck said:
Hello All
Just wondering if anyone has any advice on something I have discovered about myself this weekend. I feel I have developed a bit of a fear/phobia of diving below the 20m mark. I wonder if any of you have witnessed or heard of this?
I have always felt out of my comfort zone on a deep dive and didn't admit to myself that this was growing into a phobia until my buddy suggested that maybe I should look at this problem and find a resolution.
20-30 m is a pretty deep dive for me as I mostly dive shallow reefs and shallow wrecks (8 - 16m), I think it is because I don't often go that deep that this may be occurring as I have slipped into a "comfort zone".
What I have seen from viewing the video I took, my breathing gets quicker and I have developed a sort of hum on exhalation. Sometime shortly after this I have to end the dive as I know I am not happy.
I don't panic as I tend to be very calm and simply say I want to go up cutting the experience short but I am concerned I need to get over this (I want to do my IDC at the end of the year. Can anyone suggest what to do? Do you think I should just dive to those depths a lot until I get over it?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Where do you dive? Is it warm or cold water diving? Do you dive in poor visibility?Just wondering if anyone has any advice on something I have discovered about myself this weekend. I feel I have developed a bit of a fear/phobia of diving below the 20m mark. I wonder if any of you have witnessed or heard of this?
I have always felt out of my comfort zone on a deep dive and didn't admit to myself that this was growing into a phobia until my buddy suggested that maybe I should look at this problem and find a resolution.
20-30 m is a pretty deep dive for me as I mostly dive shallow reefs and shallow wrecks (8 - 16m), I think it is because I don't often go that deep that this may be occurring as I have slipped into a "comfort zone".
What I have seen from viewing the video I took, my breathing gets quicker and I have developed a sort of hum on exhalation. Sometime shortly after this I have to end the dive as I know I am not happy.
I don't panic as I tend to be very calm and simply say I want to go up cutting the experience short but I am concerned I need to get over this (I want to do my IDC at the end of the year. Can anyone suggest what to do? Do you think I should just dive to those depths a lot until I get over it?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Putting aside shorter NDLs and increased distance to the surface, diving at 30m is no more difficult physically than diving at 20m in good visibility, however, in murky water, I can understand why some people become anxious when it starts getting dark. I would recommend you stick at it and try to build up depth gradually and see if you can overcome it over time. I would not recommend you stray out of your comfort zone completely - if something goes wrong, you want to be able to stay calm and deal with the problem.
Why do you want to do your IDC?
Ganglandboss said:
Where do you dive? Is it warm or cold water diving? Do you dive in poor visibility?
Putting aside shorter NDLs and increased distance to the surface, diving at 30m is no more difficult physically than diving at 20m in good visibility, however, in murky water, I can understand why some people become anxious when it starts getting dark. I would recommend you stick at it and try to build up depth gradually and see if you can overcome it over time. I would not recommend you stray out of your comfort zone completely - if something goes wrong, you want to be able to stay calm and deal with the problem.
Why do you want to do your IDC?
Thanks for your reply. It was at NDAC Chepstow, about 8 degrees and fairly good Visibility, 12m ish. It was nice and bright down at the plane and I had a little swim through. It was when I exited the plan that i acknowledged I was at the deepest I have been (29m according to my computer) and then something in my head said, NO you don't want to be at this depth. I could pinpoint the moment in the video where I hear my breathing change, not panicked but certainly not my normal happy breathing. Putting aside shorter NDLs and increased distance to the surface, diving at 30m is no more difficult physically than diving at 20m in good visibility, however, in murky water, I can understand why some people become anxious when it starts getting dark. I would recommend you stick at it and try to build up depth gradually and see if you can overcome it over time. I would not recommend you stray out of your comfort zone completely - if something goes wrong, you want to be able to stay calm and deal with the problem.
Why do you want to do your IDC?
I am opening my self up here as this is a new situation for me and I want to learn from it, overcome it and then hopefully be able to help others should someone ever mention they felt this way. I am almost a Divemaster (1 year internship) and have a fairly good logbook of interesting and varied dives. BUT, I have only dived to depths of more than 20m on 4 or 5 prior occasions and therefore I am inexperienced to understand why I felt this way and felt I had to end the dive. My ascent in the video is nice and calm and almost with every m up you can hear me relaxing.
I want to do my IDC to become a good teacher as i love interacting with students and hopefully use this qualification to enable some travel plans.
However first I need to work out how to sort this out. Your suggestion work to these depths gradually is a good plan so I think a few 20-22m dives is a good first step.
Thanks
Just a thought, I've dived NDAC a fair few times, and there is a big thermocline at around 23-24m, its a big old body of water and a lot of it is fairly featureless and can be a little disorienting.
I've also has my one and only ever panic there, which was a mixture of tiredness, not being prepared for the dive - rushed to get in, cold and narcosis.
I was doing a 40m off the cliff, just past the heli at 28m, first dive after coming back from diving 29-31 degree water in Thailand and a massive rush to get down and meet my buddies. Stupid mistake, but the training kicked in and got me back to where I needed to be.
Main thing to remember, and I'm sure you already know this, but dive at your own pace, for you and in your own time, and most of all, remember rule 1 - anyone can call the dive at any time for any reason, no questions.
Certainly took me a couple of dives to get back to being 100% comfortable at depth again.
Edit to add: First few times I dived to the 26-29m range I did experience a little bit of narcosis, nothing major but enough to make me know I was at depth. In my case was a tiny bit of tunnel vision.
A lot of people will say otherwise, but 20+m in cold water is some pretty heavy going diving, a world away from having a bimble round the Thistlegorm in august with 20-30m visibility, especially compared to 5 degrees and 5m vis that we get a lot.
I've also has my one and only ever panic there, which was a mixture of tiredness, not being prepared for the dive - rushed to get in, cold and narcosis.
I was doing a 40m off the cliff, just past the heli at 28m, first dive after coming back from diving 29-31 degree water in Thailand and a massive rush to get down and meet my buddies. Stupid mistake, but the training kicked in and got me back to where I needed to be.
Main thing to remember, and I'm sure you already know this, but dive at your own pace, for you and in your own time, and most of all, remember rule 1 - anyone can call the dive at any time for any reason, no questions.
Certainly took me a couple of dives to get back to being 100% comfortable at depth again.
Edit to add: First few times I dived to the 26-29m range I did experience a little bit of narcosis, nothing major but enough to make me know I was at depth. In my case was a tiny bit of tunnel vision.
A lot of people will say otherwise, but 20+m in cold water is some pretty heavy going diving, a world away from having a bimble round the Thistlegorm in august with 20-30m visibility, especially compared to 5 degrees and 5m vis that we get a lot.
Edited by themanwithnoname on Tuesday 1st April 15:05
It certainly could be, it can be disconcerting if it creeps up on you. For me a bit of narcosis isn't normally an issue (I know its there, and I work around it accordingly - try to avoid task loading etc), but add a few factors and it can certainly contribute to having a bad time under water. Even when you are telling yourself that everything is actually OK, you consciously know that its just your head playing games. Still doesn't stop it being scary at the time. I'm happy to say that I'm man enough to admit I could happily have doused my drysuit that morning! But again, the training kicked in, and I knew that my brain knows that the heli is 'safe' so I employed our pre-agreed plan, and did the Arnie protocol - "Get to the chopper" set my buoyancy once I got there and calmed myself down.
As you're going DM, I assume you have your Nitrox ticket, and on holiday, its usually free or cheap. Might be worth booking some mixes for your planned depths and give yourself a nice END/EAD buffer. Keep your head straight and your eye on the computer/gauges, and depth is just a number. Gives you longer bottom time too, which is always nice.
A 35% mix is good for 30m @1.4 PPO2 and gives you an END/EAD of 23m with 29mins NDL if you want/need it.
Good luck in the warmer waters, take it slow and dive safe.
As you're going DM, I assume you have your Nitrox ticket, and on holiday, its usually free or cheap. Might be worth booking some mixes for your planned depths and give yourself a nice END/EAD buffer. Keep your head straight and your eye on the computer/gauges, and depth is just a number. Gives you longer bottom time too, which is always nice.
A 35% mix is good for 30m @1.4 PPO2 and gives you an END/EAD of 23m with 29mins NDL if you want/need it.
Good luck in the warmer waters, take it slow and dive safe.
Diving somewhere warm with clear viz will allow you to establish if it is a comfort zone issue, 30 Mtr in the red sea or warm is not like 30Mtr off the UK.
Both are great, and thinking out aloud, if you subconsciously have a "thing" about depth in the warm you can take it nice and slow. In the UK with fewer references and some say poor viz, what is a meter or two, it is less likely to be a depth issue more a comfort and most fish do not go deep...
Narcosis will affect everybody, however its affect will be different on everybody, for some it is quite marked others it is not.
Slow and easy I think would be the best way, I know folks who are happy to do trimix, but when I, sorry, they go for a hull sweep in a marina I, again I mean they, are spooked, blame the head in Jaws.....
Both are great, and thinking out aloud, if you subconsciously have a "thing" about depth in the warm you can take it nice and slow. In the UK with fewer references and some say poor viz, what is a meter or two, it is less likely to be a depth issue more a comfort and most fish do not go deep...
Narcosis will affect everybody, however its affect will be different on everybody, for some it is quite marked others it is not.
Slow and easy I think would be the best way, I know folks who are happy to do trimix, but when I, sorry, they go for a hull sweep in a marina I, again I mean they, are spooked, blame the head in Jaws.....
I do have my Nitrox qual so maybe ill use that next time. I don't have a tank for Nitrox so didn't use it at NDAC, but will hire one next time for a dive below the 20m mark. Maybe that will help get rid of the "spooks"
Thanks for being nice guys. Sometimes it is hard to bring things like this to the forums and I didn't want to post this on the usual dive boards as you can end up bombarded with tech that doesn't help.
Thanks for being nice guys. Sometimes it is hard to bring things like this to the forums and I didn't want to post this on the usual dive boards as you can end up bombarded with tech that doesn't help.
We're a community that only works if we work together.
Divers, not PHs!
Everyone spooks, everyone faces challenges, everyone has a bad day. Anyone in the diving community who doesn't help others will find it hard to have a buddy/dive team. We all rely on one-another to stay alive down there, whether its a loss of weight/trim or a major physical/equipment failure, there is always someone who will jump in and help.
Divers, not PHs!
Everyone spooks, everyone faces challenges, everyone has a bad day. Anyone in the diving community who doesn't help others will find it hard to have a buddy/dive team. We all rely on one-another to stay alive down there, whether its a loss of weight/trim or a major physical/equipment failure, there is always someone who will jump in and help.
themanwithnoname said:
We're a community that only works if we work together.
Divers, not PHs!
Everyone spooks, everyone faces challenges, everyone has a bad day. Anyone in the diving community who doesn't help others will find it hard to have a buddy/dive team. We all rely on one-another to stay alive down there, whether its a loss of weight/trim or a major physical/equipment failure, there is always someone who will jump in and help.
and thats the truth, if you are not happy with your buddy then find a new one, of if its somebody on a boat who does not help, move away from them, be comfortable and the underwater world will come out to play..Divers, not PHs!
Everyone spooks, everyone faces challenges, everyone has a bad day. Anyone in the diving community who doesn't help others will find it hard to have a buddy/dive team. We all rely on one-another to stay alive down there, whether its a loss of weight/trim or a major physical/equipment failure, there is always someone who will jump in and help.
themanwithnoname said:
Ayahuasca said:
Oceanic white tips. Supposed to be on the bitey side.
Hehe, they are terrifying man eaters don'cha know.The real buggers are the Tigers. They really don't give a f
k.Edited by Fishtigua on Friday 4th April 18:32
Fishtigua said:
themanwithnoname said:
Ayahuasca said:
Oceanic white tips. Supposed to be on the bitey side.
Hehe, they are terrifying man eaters don'cha know.The real buggers are the Tigers. They really don't give a f
k.Edited by Fishtigua on Friday 4th April 18:32
The real buggers are Bull Sharks, nasty things.
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