Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus

Steve and I recently took a Scuba certification class. The rest of the class is certified as of a few weeks ago. But I am not. I went to the crater on the first day of the certification test to have one of the most traumatic experiences of my life thus far and needless to say, didn’t show up for the second day of certification.

Ask any experienced scuba diver and they will tell you the most important thing to master in scuba diving is buoyancy. More specifically neutral buoyancy, which, when achieved, will allow you to neither float nor sink in the water. If you are not neutrally buoyant, you can sink or float rather quickly without knowing it, which is bad because if you don’t know that you are changing depth, then you won’t adjust your mask, ears, etc to compensate, which could result in serious injury.

So back to our class (where we weren’t taught anything about buoyancy, other than reading a paragraph about it in the textbook… no application): Our first several dives were in the swimming pool. Easy. Then comes the final class certification at a crater/hot spring nearby. The first day of certification entails two dives: a 25 foot dive and a 40 foot dive. During the 25 foot dive, because I was told to use 18 lbs of weight while practicing at the pool, I sunk. Fast. Without knowing it, because on top of being a crater with limited visibility, it was also 10pm and I couldn’t tell up from down, or find the rest of the group. I in fact thought I was going toward the surface, when really I was sinking. Finally an instructor on the dive found me – this is after my common sense had switched off – I’m already screaming swearwords and sobbing into my regulator – oh and voluntarily taking my regulator out of my mouth only to continue breathing as if the water were air.

So my first dive was somewhere around 45 feet, while the rest of the group dove to 20 feet. I had so much weight on, the only way to get to the surface was by inflating my BC (buoyancy compensator - vest full of air) so full that it slipped up around my neck once I got to the surface. This is why I didn’t participate in the second dive. And I haven’t shown my face in class ever since. I’m not generally a quitter in situations like this, but I’m so pissed off at the instructors (who were recently fired because others had similar experiences) for not even checking my buoyancy or giving me a chance to adjust it once we were under water. In fact, they were yelling at me to hurry up and get in the water. What if I had, I don’t know, forgot to turn my air on in my rush to comply and get in the water asap?

The owner of the scuba shop has agreed to work one-on-one with me until I’m certified. That’s a nice gesture and all, but do I care about being certified now? Do I EVER see myself enjoying scuba? “Getting” scuba? Taking scuba trips? I am scuba-ruined. Should I give it another try one-on-one? Help me.