Are you a diver?

[Diesel Bill]

When I was a teenager back in the 60s I used to watch "Sea Hunt" with Lloyd Bridges playing the role of Mike Nelson, and Jacques Cousteau was becoming popular and really piqued my interest in underwater things. I bought mask fins and snorkel and hit the beach out at Great Kills, Staten Island, N.Y. As I was paddling around at low tide in a couple of feet of water I came face to face with a real sea monster (to me) it was a horseshoe crab right in my face. I panicked and spit out the mouthpiece of the snorkel and swallowed water while furiously back paddling as fast as my arms could flap. I think I almost drowned in 2 feet of water. After that I felt like a pro and got back to exploring the shallows and swam right into a large sheet of clear plastic floating in the water.
I thought that a giant jelly fish had swallowed me and freaked out till I realized what it was. Had a good laugh after untangling myself.
Fast forward to 1976 and now living in the Bay Area of Ca. I got my certification and got the open water checkout in Monterrey Ca. When I sold my sailboat in 1980 I kind of let it slide as it was much easier to go snorkeling than carrying tanks and all the needed gear. Iv'e been lucky as I got the opportunity to dive Florida Keys, Baja Mex., Ca. coast, Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and the Philippines.
Conquering the fear of the unknown monsters only came gradually for me. Imagination is a powerful thing that can control your life if you let it. At this point I think it's more scary to walk the streets of a big city than to dip yourself in the ocean. Natural curiosity overcomes the fear of the unknown. Take it slowly at your own comfort level and be willing to push yourself a little bit at a time till your comfortable with what your doing. Definitely get some professional training before getting into trouble.

[SV Bacchus]

I once took a good friend diving off St. Pete, FL. He was law enforcement as well, must be something about you guys (OK, I'm one too). We went to The Tanks, supposedly WWII tanks submerged for artificial reef purposes. I say supposedly because I have never seen them, vis in the GOM is terrible.

We suit up, go over our plan, jump in and begin the descent. I found the bottom, 5 inches in front of my face. Naturally within 5 minutes we were out of sight of each other so following protocol, I surfaced. I waited for a few minutes, no Stu. I get on the boat and wait some more, no Stu. I'm about to start planning an alert to the Coast Guard when Stu pops up screaming "Shark, I've been bitten by a shark!". He is about 30 metes away and I start pulling anchor and go rescue him.

I help Stu aboard and see his leg is bleeding but heck, not that bad. We started investigating the scratches, looked at our location, checked the drift and determined while swimming along he had drifted into the rusty anchor chain holding the marker buoy!

I called him a dipsh-- and we headed in.

Moral: He went looking for a shark and sure enough, that is what he thought he found.

Don't go looking for sharks and you will overcome.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Ted Williams

NO idea who Ted Williams is......

[TooCoys]

Originally Posted by SV Bacchus

I once took a good friend diving off St. Pete, FL. He was law enforcement as well, must be something about you guys (OK, I'm one too).....

Moral: He went looking for a shark and sure enough, that is what he thought he found.

Don't go looking for sharks and you will overcome.

Nice story!! And a good lesson!

[Slaver]

I'm not a diver at all, I've never tried this activity in general because I'm afraid of being under water too I don't like even to swim under water for a short time, I always feel nervous during that, besides I hate all that water in my ears after
I think that if you have the same feelings, than it's better to choose smth else instead of diving. It's like an extreme activity for me, some people really adore them and some not, and there's nothing bad and strange in this.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Davidhoy

I'm a PADI instructor, and have been diving for many, many years. Nothing really bothers me underwater, I'm more anxious about the creatures on the surface, crazy fools on jet skis thinking my dive flag is a great turning buoy.

That said, let me share this story of a friend of mine who was deathly afraid of the water. We worked together, and we had an off-site team building event that involved building cardboard boats and then racing them. After the race was over, and the rest of us started eating, Kevin climbed into the rickety boat we'd built together, and went for a little sail. Our team ended up winning the event, getting awarded bonus points for Kevin's initiative. The next week he approached me and asked if I'd teach him to dive. I was skeptical, but agreed to see how it went first. He did great, and became a very good diver, completely overcame his fears. That one little sail, on a leaky cardboard boat we'd built together, was a turning point for him, and he never looked back. Before that he was a timid, mousy geek. Afterwards he evolved into a strong, confident guy who is now married, has a beautiful family, and holds a very senior position at a big computer company.

Don't discount the effect of taking a conscious step to overcome your fears. It can have a profound impact on your life, not only in regards the particular fear, but in many other areas of your life. It sure did for Kevin, and today I'm proud to call him my friend.

As FDR once said, "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear."

Regards,
David

OP: Find an instructor like this ^^ and work on your fears and confidence in the water. Odds are good you can overcome them.

If not, water and panic are a very bad combination.

Me, I used to be a hard core diver, but over the years have migrated mostly to snorkeling...less equipment to hassle with and most of the really pretty stuff is shallow anyway. [emoji41]

[meatservo]

I spent 30 years skydiving, and after having several high speed malfunctions, what scares me much more is being at 130 ft. and having issues with your gear, been there done that, in my old age I might dive to 30 or 40 ft. with nitrox, my commando days are over. I much prefer to be in the company of a beautiful Woman and go sailing!

Sorry if that doesn't help!


meatservo

[toddster8]

I've taken many people on their first cold water dive, post certification. My opinion is that some people are born for it and other people are not. Some people hit the reef and get this feeling that they've come home. Some people are a little wild-eyed at first , but you show them their first octopus and suddenly they're having fun. Others think they're being sucked into the lower levels of Hell. There's nothing wrong with that... just need to go back to the beach, have a Irish Cocoa, and find another sport.
Heck, I tried Ice Climbing for a year before deciding that the fun/terror ratio wasn't right.

[GTom]

Originally Posted by TooCoys

...
So did any of you have the same fears when you started? And if so, how did you overcome them?

Before I started diving I was afraid of the deep where details disappear in the deep. With SCUBA on I learnt there are more wonderful details behind the blue.

Btw limited vision can be made a bit better with good masks. Get certified in a good school and pick their brains on equipment as well.

[danielamartindm]

Originally Posted by Diesel Bill

When I was a teenager back in the 60s I used to watch "Sea Hunt" with Lloyd Bridges playing the role of Mike Nelson, and Jacques Cousteau was becoming popular and really piqued my interest in underwater things. I bought mask fins and snorkel and hit the beach out at Great Kills, Staten Island, N.Y. As I was paddling around at low tide in a couple of feet of water I came face to face with a real sea monster (to me) it was a horseshoe crab right in my face. I panicked and spit out the mouthpiece of the snorkel and swallowed water while furiously back paddling as fast as my arms could flap. I think I almost drowned in 2 feet of water. After that I felt like a pro and got back to exploring the shallows and swam right into a large sheet of clear plastic floating in the water.
I thought that a giant jelly fish had swallowed me and freaked out till I realized what it was. Had a good laugh after untangling myself.
Fast forward to 1976 and now living in the Bay Area of Ca. I got my certification and got the open water checkout in Monterrey Ca. When I sold my sailboat in 1980 I kind of let it slide as it was much easier to go snorkeling than carrying tanks and all the needed gear. Iv'e been lucky as I got the opportunity to dive Florida Keys, Baja Mex., Ca. coast, Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and the Philippines.
Conquering the fear of the unknown monsters only came gradually for me. Imagination is a powerful thing that can control your life if you let it. At this point I think it's more scary to walk the streets of a big city than to dip yourself in the ocean. Natural curiosity overcomes the fear of the unknown. Take it slowly at your own comfort level and be willing to push yourself a little bit at a time till your comfortable with what your doing. Definitely get some professional training before getting into trouble.

Thanks for the memories. I grew up on the island, and had occasion to watch an old Sea Hunt episode on Youtube recently. I was amazed at the ignorance and naïveté therein. An orca was "hunting" Mike and his female client, and the killer whale was portrayed as the most vindictive, devious, persistent, bloodthirsty, vengeful creature on earth. With our innocence went ignorance, I guess.

[tinysailor]

To this day, fish create a reaction in me similar to that feeling when people drag their finger nails down a chalk board, I cannot bear to touch fish, it can be that bad that if there’s a fish tank in a restaurant, I have to turn my back to it.

Here’s the weird part, I love to dive; I found my nirvana under the deep blue.

By accident I took a PADI course almost 13 years ago, started technical diving on a twinset, indulged in DIR / GUE, became a PADI instructor (not so fussed on teaching), bought a rebreather a decade ago and just kept going deeper (I get bad narcosis post 30 meters so trimix is a blessing).

We’ve met and maintained an incredible international circle of friends through diving and visited some amazing places. During labour while chugging on the gas and air, I imagined myself diving back in the canyon in Tiran, Egypt

Below is a video I made from a rebreather adventure in Sharm El Sheikh back in 2012. Precious times

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RV8UvcF6KdI

(I still have an insane phobia of fish!)

Kind regards,

TS

[Cormorant]

Originally Posted by weavis

NO idea who Ted Williams is......

Famous baseball player. He was cryogenically preserved after death, and He shall rise again!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ted-wil...in-two-pieces/