3 ms·

In hindsight, and after taking more advanced courses, it became quite clear that scuba instruction was all about teaching the students how not to panic. I hope

by lief79 16y ago

In hindsight, and after taking more advanced courses, it became quite clear that scuba instruction was all about teaching the students how not to panic. I hope they make that clear to the instructors, as I only went for personal instruction.

callahad 16y ago
Cave training places an extremely strong emphasis on controlling panic. In open water, if you bolt to the surface you might get bent, but there are chambers for that. In a cave, you either swim out, or you drown. You don't even have the option of a quick, merciful DCS hit. Keeping a clear head is essential when your own self-rescue is on the line.
- siculars 16y ago
  I just went for my Cavern Diver Cert and am not ashamed to say I had to withdraw, washout as it were. The odd thing was that the place I was taking the Certification allowed fun divers with only an Open water Cert to dive the caverns (with guides, of course). After my experience, there is absolutely no way I would ever, ever, ever advise anyone to ever go cavern/cave diving without the appropriate instruction and cert level. If for only the reason of exposure to cave(rn) panic inducing situations. It is the lack of exposure that will bring on a massive panic attack at the absolute worst moment that can kill not only the diver, but the entire group. Personally, I had a weighting issue. As in I was too heavy. the instructor told me to use 10% bodyweight + 6 lbs. as the weight. 175 lbs, head to toe 7mm wetsuit, one AL80 tank @ 2500 psi, fresh water - anyone know the algo for figuring weight with these variables? Haven't done my peak performance buoyancy yet... My trim was off, we went over a cliff with an overhang, I was in the process of calling the dive at this point as my trim was positioning me vertically. As soon as I hit vertical my belt slid right off into the 150 ft abyss taking a fin with it and I started ascending quicker than I would have liked. At that point my self rescue brain kicked in with my Rescue diver training. I absolutely made sure i was breathing, put my right hand above my head to protect from the overhang, made sure my reg was in my mouth, my mask was on and tried to deflate my bcd but could not get the proper positioning. I was also tied up in the line. The safety instructor saw all this, was able to hang onto my leg and flaire out to increase drag on the way up. Needless to say, I made it out alive. I have a new respect for diving and the cardinal rules that you learn in your Rescue class that are the key ingredients in what makes an accident an accident. [edited for buoyancy variables]
  - Tuna-Fish 16y ago
    > Personally, I had a weighting issue. As in I was too heavy. the instructor told me to use 10% bodyweight + 6 lbs. as the weight. 175 lbs, head to toe 7mm wetsuit, one AL80 tank @ 2500 psi, fresh water - anyone know the algo for figuring weight with these variables? This was a total failure from your instructor. You do not try to calculate the correct weighting -- there is too much of individual variance. Instead you just measure. Get in shallow water and add weight until you are comfortable. (Make sure you are not either almost too heavy or almost too light, both can be problematic.). Even small things like differences in what you ate last night can have serious effect on the amount of weighting you need. (too much gas in intestines...)

by lief79 16y ago

callahad 16y ago

Cave training places an extremely strong emphasis on controlling panic. In open water, if you bolt to the surface you might get bent, but there are chambers for that. In a cave, you either swim out, or you drown. You don't even have the option of a quick, merciful DCS hit. Keeping a clear head is essential when your own self-rescue is on the line.

siculars 16y ago
I just went for my Cavern Diver Cert and am not ashamed to say I had to withdraw, washout as it were. The odd thing was that the place I was taking the Certification allowed fun divers with only an Open water Cert to dive the caverns (with guides, of course). After my experience, there is absolutely no way I would ever, ever, ever advise anyone to ever go cavern/cave diving without the appropriate instruction and cert level. If for only the reason of exposure to cave(rn) panic inducing situations. It is the lack of exposure that will bring on a massive panic attack at the absolute worst moment that can kill not only the diver, but the entire group. Personally, I had a weighting issue. As in I was too heavy. the instructor told me to use 10% bodyweight + 6 lbs. as the weight. 175 lbs, head to toe 7mm wetsuit, one AL80 tank @ 2500 psi, fresh water - anyone know the algo for figuring weight with these variables? Haven't done my peak performance buoyancy yet... My trim was off, we went over a cliff with an overhang, I was in the process of calling the dive at this point as my trim was positioning me vertically. As soon as I hit vertical my belt slid right off into the 150 ft abyss taking a fin with it and I started ascending quicker than I would have liked. At that point my self rescue brain kicked in with my Rescue diver training. I absolutely made sure i was breathing, put my right hand above my head to protect from the overhang, made sure my reg was in my mouth, my mask was on and tried to deflate my bcd but could not get the proper positioning. I was also tied up in the line. The safety instructor saw all this, was able to hang onto my leg and flaire out to increase drag on the way up. Needless to say, I made it out alive. I have a new respect for diving and the cardinal rules that you learn in your Rescue class that are the key ingredients in what makes an accident an accident. [edited for buoyancy variables]
- Tuna-Fish 16y ago
  > Personally, I had a weighting issue. As in I was too heavy. the instructor told me to use 10% bodyweight + 6 lbs. as the weight. 175 lbs, head to toe 7mm wetsuit, one AL80 tank @ 2500 psi, fresh water - anyone know the algo for figuring weight with these variables? This was a total failure from your instructor. You do not try to calculate the correct weighting -- there is too much of individual variance. Instead you just measure. Get in shallow water and add weight until you are comfortable. (Make sure you are not either almost too heavy or almost too light, both can be problematic.). Even small things like differences in what you ate last night can have serious effect on the amount of weighting you need. (too much gas in intestines...)