Scuba diving is not as easy as it looks. It takes mental toughness, discipline and agility. This is my story learning how to scuba dive in my mid-30s and receiving my PADI Open Water Certification with Allan Power Dive Company in Luganville, Vanuatu.
Day 1: Holy Crap! I am only breathing through a tube
I was excited and I was a good student. The instructor told me to read the first section of the book on Sunday when I arrived. I even read some of the second section out of the five total sections. The passing score on the multiple choice test was 75%. And the book had most of the material needed to study. I also had to complete five dives in a controlled water environment and four dives in the open water.
I showed up at 8am on Monday to start my training. There were five other people. Two guys from France. A couple from the Netherlands. And a guy from Switzerland. All divers were ready to dive the President Coolidge shipwreck. So much history with this ship and it was so close to the shore.
I wanted to dive the shipwreck also, but I was doing my first dive ever. Learning is the first step. I love the water so how difficult could it be? When I filled out the medical questionnaire the day before, I came to the question on “do you get claustrophobic often” and I answered “NO”. Because I don’t. But I have gotten more claustrophobic recently, only not that bad.
I went through all of the basics on setting up my gear with my instructor and all of the other divers go out to start their dive. After I learned the gear set up, it was time to go in the water. Sweet. I got this!
My instructor showed me the basics with my mask and snorkel placement. Now it was time to put my head under water and breath with out normal air around me. Holy crap. I did it, but it was the strangest feeling. Underwater I was thinking, “holy crap”. I felt trapped. Like if something happened to my oxygen, then that was it. And I was only submerged by a foot of water.
While we were underwater, my dive instructor asked if I was ok via signals we learned and I shook my hand letting him know I was nervous. He told me to relax and to calm down (with hand gestures of course). I thought to myself, “Cory, you meditate all the time, you got this.”
But I couldn’t get out of my own head. I could feel my heart rate rising and I was starting to freak out.
“Calm down. Breath.” I would tell myself. He wrote “calm down. breath” on his small board underwater. I laughed to myself because that is exactly what I was trying to do. I was telling myself “you got this”. But then I was thinking “Holy crap, you are under water and can’t just breathe air around you and through your nose. You only have this tube for air.”
I was letting my mind control me and I was not controlling my mind. And then I was upset that I didn’t have control of my mind. After all of my meditation training I have done over the past four years and now trying to put the practice to use. But I was failing. Ugh.
I tried to calm down and my instructor was trying to calm me down. I did ok, but then I freaked out and we had to go up to the surface. We were only about a meter below the surface. It was very frustrating.
Before I got into the water, I was all excited and thinking that I got this scuba thing in the bag. Everyone I have spoken with say they love to scuba dive. And they make it sound so easy. But it isn’t. It really is mind over matter.
Eventually, my instructor told me to put in my regulator (breathing mouth piece) and we just swam around the little area. There were beautiful fish below. I was trying to take it all in, but I was upset at myself. And I was thinking too much.
After a 15 minute relaxing swim along the surface with the air tube, we tried to go under again. I felt ok and slightly better. But then I got water inside my mask and I started to freak out again. I got the water out as the instructor showed me by pressing the stop of my mask against my face and blowing air out of my nose to push the water out of the bottom of the mask.
I was able to get the water out but then I wanted to breath in through my nose. Water got in my nose and that freaked me out. So we went up. I think my instructor was frustrated and so was I. But I was a little relieved to be up with air and able to breath through my nose. I just need to overcome my mind and practice.
My instructor decided that we wouldn’t dive in the afternoon so I went back to my hotel and thought about how I felt about the day. I felt defeated. I felt frustrated. But I knew it was all mental. I could overcome these feelings and I needed to work at the mental portion.
I began to meditate and breath only through my mouth to mimic scuba breathing. And took deep, slow breaths to control the breathing as you need to do underwater. I shut my eyes and envisioned myself in ten meters of water with the top of the water shimmering above. A couple minutes into the meditation I could feel my body begin to tense up breathing only through my mouth. My mind was overthinking. Relax. Breath. I kept going. I was training my mind to relax underwater. After ten minutes of practice, I felt better. And I was ready to take on the second day.
Day 2: Smashed It! What a difference a calm, prepared mind makes
I let go of my fear and the sensation of not being able to use my nose. I knew I had the mental strength to overcome the sensation. Before I dove on the second day, I wrote down my goals for the day:
- Relax
- Work on mental toughness
- Breath through mouth only
- Know that many other people can do this successfully and you will to
Then I meditated the same way as yesterday, breathing only through my mouth and not my nose as I usually do when I meditate. With my eyes closed, I visualized me with water all around me around me and being very calm. I could feel my heartbeat move faster as I felt anxious about not breathing through my nose but I pushed through it.
The result of the day: I smashed it. I was calm and cool. The morning session was ok. I had to remove water from my mask underwater and also do some buoyancy skills.
But the afternoon session was amazing. My instructor gave me the initial plans before going underwater. We then went through all of the skills underwater. But then, instead of going back up to the surface for a verbal explanation, he moved on to new skills underwater without explaining them to me like we initially did above water. We just went through all of them.
One of the skills was to take my mask off completely submerged and then put it back on and clear out the water. Then I had to use his additional regulator and act as if I was out of air. And I had to help him also. These skills are necessary in case something happens deep underwater.
Another skill was to take my full kit off underwater (Buoyancy Control Device – BCD – and tank), set the full kit front of me in the sand, and then put the kit back on. No problem! Then I had to swim ten meters underwater without my mask, put the mask back on and clear the water out. No problem!
We surfaced after going through all the skills and my calm instructor, Lionel, said, “Wow. Wow. You just completed your confined water training and I didn’t even have to explain it to you.” Such a great feeling to know that I nailed the training. I was so happy and I felt so great. When I got back to the dive shop, I finished watching some training videos and then went back to my place to rest feeling accomplished!
Day 3: Remaining perfectly buoyant underwater is extremely difficult
Today was ok with scuba. I got very frustrated underwater. One of the hardest skills for me was to maintain a neutral buoyancy while underwater, which means being able to maintain a specific depth without ascending or descending.
Of course maintain neutral buoyancy underwater sounds like it would be super easy. But inhaling air makes you more buoyant. And breathing air out makes you less buoyant. So your position in the water changes. Plus, we are wearing an inflatable life jacket (BCD) so you have to also control how much air is in the life jacket underwater to prevent ascending or descending too quickly. And I couldn’t control my ascent or descent properly.
The dive site was extremely beautiful. So many gorgeous fish in front of me. And the bottom was so pretty. Blue starfish. White sand. So amazing.
When we came back up to the surface (we were under water for thirty minutes), my dive instructor told me that I need to better control my breathing. I wasn’t breathing consistently and therefore this situation affected my buoyancy. I was trying to use my Inflatable life jacket to maintain buoyancy. Lionel tried to help me but it was my breath. I needed to work on breathing to help me stay level underwater.
We went back to the dive shop and I finished my videos. Lionel decided that I will finish all my dives tomorrow. The rest of the day was spent finishing the reading. But I felt much more relaxed compared to the first couple dives.
Day 4: I passed! Certified to dive at 18 meters
I dove three times today. It was frustrating. I feel like I still didn’t accomplish finding neutral buoyancy but I did manage to remain neutral for 30 seconds which is all I needed for the certification. Everyone says it’s the hardest thing to get right away and most people need many dives to finally get it. I feel good knowing that.
My instructor Lionel was awesome. He was very patient with me. I trusted him and felt safe the entire time. We dove in the harbor on the final day and it was more murky than the water at the President Coolidge dive site. I saw a large sunk barge and that was cool. And I got to 18 meters which is the max of the training! Lionel was happy for me!! It felt really good.
After completing all of the necessary dives and skills as well as passing my final exam, I did it! I passed my open water diving course and am now certified to dive up to 18 meters.
THE FINAL TAKE: Scuba is a great reminder to life’s greatest lessons
I learned a great deal about myself learning how to scuba dive. I know these things already but it is a great reminder.
- Relax. And to not overthink things. You are in control of your mind.
- Breath. Calm yourself down by breathing.
- Trust myself. I doubt myself at times. And put myself down at times.
- Can accomplish anything you set your mind to. You can overcome obstacles.
- Take one step at a time. You don’t have to do everything at once. Focus on one thing at a time.
I focused and worked very hard to accomplish a goal. And I conquered. I feel very proud knowing I pushed through some fears. And I meditated and focused on accomplishing a goal. This “life lesson” applies to most things in life.
Did you find it challenging to learn how to scuba dive? Share your story below. Where did you learn? How many dives have you made since? What have you learned about yourself?
