Learning to dive, learning to stop

Learning to dive, learning to stop

"Life is too short for bad books," once a friend told me. We had exchanged recommendations for a while and I was horrified that he had given up The Kite Runner. "Keep it up," I pushed. "You will love it."

he twitched his shoulders. "If I don't like a book in the first two chapters, it was." He pretended to throw it away.

"I wish I could be more like you," I said. And I meant it seriously. See, I am the type of person who persecuted a book or a task or a project that I don't enjoy fun so that I can end it. Reading a suitable boy was the only thing I ever had under control and that I ever gave up - and it still annoys me today.

only, I couldn't.

Day 1 went relatively well. Our group of five students met Michael, our diving instructor, for the first open water dive of the course. Apart from the fact that I put my life in the hands of a 22-year-old, I actually felt quite comfortable in the water. I just found it to breathe through the breathing controller, and when we settled on about 11 meters, I felt much safer than on my very first dive.

Afterwards Michael warned that day 2 would become intense because of the shortened length of the course. We spent theory with theory, followed by practical tests in the pool and our second open water dive. The day after, we would take our final exam, followed by two open water dives. I slipped back and forth on my seat and asked if someone ever failed during the practical exercises.

Michael shook his head. "As such, you can't fail, but most people get out of the pool tests."

that totally blew me away. We had already lost one of the students in our group (after five minutes at the controller, he said that it was not for him and went). I thought that after I had the first dive behind myself, I was fine, but actually the most difficult part was still ahead.

That evening Peter and I spent the evening to work through five lessons in the Padi course book. I paused on the various lists with practical exams. They usually spread over four or five days - I had a morning. The knot in my stomach contracted, but even then my conviction remained that I would exist.

Day 2 started at 8.30 a.m. We did two hours of theoretical work and learned how we assemble and dismantle our entire diving equipment. Then we started with the practical tests.

First, 200 meters was swimming, followed by 10 minutes of water. Second, we had to remove our breathing regulators (breathing hoses) under water and use it again after 10 seconds. To my surprise, it was much easier than on my very first dive when I freaked out and almost from the whole thing.

Next we had to "lose" our breathing regulators and put them under water and use them again. After that, we had to remove a little water that Michael had embedded in our masks - a process of inhaling through the air regulator and the strong exhalation through the nose to press the water out. This was followed by "out-of-air" tests, in which we take our breathing regulators, swimming to another diver, asking him about his alternative breathing controller and puting it in our mouth, then interrupted the arms and swimming to the surface.

An hour later I was surprisingly well. Later Michael admitted that he didn't believe that I would go so far as I told him that I wasn't a good swimmer. Next I switched from our breathing controller to a snorkel and then back under water, which I went out of trouble. Then we had to duck under water with a snorkel, let it fill it with water and then exhale sharply to make it clear. Again I made it difficult.

And then the test came that stalled me. We knelt on the pelvic floor and Michael filled my mask with water, the idea was that I would breathe through my mouth and exhale through my nose to squeeze out the water. I instinctively breathe in both with my mouth and my nose, which flooded my sinuses and gave me the feeling of drowning. I shot the surface, tore down the mask and took out my breathing controller - classic signs of a panicked diver.

Michael and Peter appeared to calm me down and encouraged me to try again. After a few minutes I did it. This time I managed to remove half of the mask, but got into panic again and shot up. The third time it happened again. The fourth time I just managed, but instead of swimming quietly, I shot up again and took off my equipment.

"I did it back then, right? I did it."

Michael nodded and then said solemnly: "But you have to do it again." He saw my reaction and explained: "You have to do it until you are sure that you can do it in the open water. We will test them in depth and you will not be able to shoot the surface."

I knew that I couldn't go on. Oddly enough, I found that when I put my head into the water with my breathing controller, but without a mask, I was able to breathe through my mouth and exhale through my nose, but with a flooded mask I couldn't help but try to pick it up as much air as possible. In the depth of the ocean, neither Michael nor I would be able to do something if I experienced the same panic.

I looked around in the pool. At that time a second diver in our group had gone and only had two others: Peter and a Frenchman named Johnny.

I turned to Michael. "I don't think I can."

Peter tried to encourage me to try again, but to be in this kind of panic on the bottom of the ocean would not be fun for me or fairly towards my diving colleagues.

I shook my head. "I can't do that." And so I left the pool with Michael's consent and became the third person who left the course. I watched the last two students to complete the remaining tests, and then joined them for their second dive on the boat.

Michael asked if I wanted to take the exam so that I could complete the theory and at some point in the future with practice. It was one day earlier than planned, but I reached 86 % - much, much easier than the physical side of things.

Alt = ““> Last Men Standing: Michael (center) informs Johnny and Peter before their second open water dive

Before I stopped, I thought I would feel shitty. I thought I was full of disappointment and would regret it later, but when I left this pool, I felt a rush of relief and real luck that I didn't have to go on.

Today I watched how Peter and Johnny received their certifications. Instead of feeling remorse or disappointment, I only felt relief and proud.

Maybe stopping is not that bad.

alt = “Learning to dive: All smiles: Michael forgive me that I broke off the course”> All smile: Michael forgive me that I have broken off the course

How to exist the Open Water Diver course

Over 30,000 people used Atlas & Boots to prepare for their course. We have now summarized all of our tips, advice and learning aids in a practical issue. For only $ 2.99 you get:

- a list of all physical tests>
- Examples of all 5 repetitions of knowledge - diving signals - over 100 index cards for repetition - a link to interactive index cards online - beginner errors that need to be avoided and more

See complete table of contents

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