diving lessons

Question
My son and I are hoping to get certified to scuba dive for a trip to Turks and Caicos that we are taking in late July.  We are taking our confined water classes in upstate New York, where we live, and hope to do our open water dives in Turks and Caicos.  My son is 15 and he's fearless, but I'm nervous myself.  What I'm most nervous about is the lesson where we will have to remove our mask and then put it on again and clear it of air.  I have an awful feeling I'll panic and I won't believe that water won't go up my nose.  I wasn't too worried about this before, but at our first lesson (today) I saw that our instructor's pool goes very quickly from extremely shallow (maybe 3 feet) to deep (8 feet). So I assume we'll have to do the mask removal and replacement in 8 feet of water, whereas I'd hoped we'd do it where it would be shallow enough that, if I panicked, I could just stand up.  How can I keep myself calm, or convince myself that, when the mask is off, water won't rush up my nose?  (I know rationally it won't, but it's my irrational mind that I worry about!)

Thank you for any advice.  My next lesson is tomorrow, June 25th, so the sooner you can write back the better ...

Claire

Answer
Greetings Claire,

First of all, my apologies for not answering sooner. I was out of the country. On the airport I got internet connection and could download your message. When reading it inside the airplane I noted the fact that the date already passed.

I do hope you were able to overcome your fears. My only and best recommendation would've been (and still is) to explain this same issue to your instructor because you have a valid concern which he can easily address by simply not pushing the deep-water sessions until you've mastered the skills at 4-5 ft.

On a side note, I would never take somebody diving if he/she is only doing it to "prove him/herself that he/she can 'do it'". Diving does have some risks that are easily mitigated, but requires a willing individual. You do sound motivated but have some normal apprehension to certain skills.

Regarding the panic issue, always remember the following: if at any time you have a problem, any problem, always remember to "1. stop, 2. breathe, 3. think". Stopping whatever you are doing will let you concentrate in the fact that YOU CAN BREATHE and that is the single most important thing. Then you can think on what's going on. Let's say your mask was kicked away because you were swimming too close to the diver in front of you. If you suddenly lost your mask... STOP (so you don't swim away from it), BREATHE (you don't need your eyes or nose to breathe through your mouth like you've been doing through the entire dive), then THINK about simply looking around to find your mask. That's the objective of the skills. Obviously, it is very important in case you want to do anything as simple as readjusting your mask's fit or trying another mask from a friend.

In order to convince your irrational mind, practice in 3-5 ft of water until you realize that it is EXACTLY THE SAME as doing it in 8, 15, 25, or 55 ft.

I hope this advice helps you along your open water certification course.

Dive safely!

Gustavo E. Flores
PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor