Little bubbles, little bubbles, little bubbles
If you see little bubbles while underwater, it means you are not holding your breath and that is a good thing.
So, last night was my second scuba class - and the first night in the water on air. I must be honest though. When it cam to wearing my mask with the snorkel and submerging... my monkey brain freaked. I have had near drowning experiences when I was growing up and it was no fun. So I had a lot to overcome in this first step. That and my claustrophobia. Those two things combined made for an interesting 20 minutes while I overcame my fear... and not too quietly I might add. I was actually making small whimpering sounds as I worked my way past my fear.
I think part of my difficulty was that my mask tended to leak and I was not ready for that. So, here I was, with my mask on, snorkel in submerging underwater, making an effort to breathe normally. Then I start feeling water coming up into my mask around my nose. My monkey brain freaked out and I had to get my head above the water, so that I could clear my mask. This was part of trying to learn to flood and clear my mask. The first step though, was getting my head underwater. I eventually did it... never once did I think about giving it up as a lost cause. I wanted to get past this hurdle because I really do want to learn to scuba dive.
After awhile (i have no idea how long it took) I was able to successfully submerge without freaking out... remembering to breathe the whole time. Yep! I was breathing underwater. Well, I was wearing the snorkel. *grin* But, I was successful in both flooding my mask and then clearing it. 'Course, I got plenty of practice in the clearing part, because I still have some issues with having water in my mask.
After a bit, we put on our buoyancy compensators (BCs) and repeated the exercise of submerging and continuing to breathe regularly while on the bottled air. I was able to do this, even though I still had/have to deal with the issue of water in my mask. Oh! At one point, Iactually took my mask off underwater - and successfully put it back on. It was intense. Once I had the mask off and opened my eyes underwater, I couldn't see! Normally I wear glasses and not contacts. When I took off the mask, because of the physics of the light/water interaction, I was no longer able to see clearly. I couldn't even make out my hand at the end of my arm. So, now I know that if I lose my mask underwater, I had better start heading to the surface (slowly) because i'm literally blind without it. This is not good. I couldn't evem make out the figure of my dive instructor who was right in front of me. It was rather scary.
So, last night was my second scuba class - and the first night in the water on air. I must be honest though. When it cam to wearing my mask with the snorkel and submerging... my monkey brain freaked. I have had near drowning experiences when I was growing up and it was no fun. So I had a lot to overcome in this first step. That and my claustrophobia. Those two things combined made for an interesting 20 minutes while I overcame my fear... and not too quietly I might add. I was actually making small whimpering sounds as I worked my way past my fear.
I think part of my difficulty was that my mask tended to leak and I was not ready for that. So, here I was, with my mask on, snorkel in submerging underwater, making an effort to breathe normally. Then I start feeling water coming up into my mask around my nose. My monkey brain freaked out and I had to get my head above the water, so that I could clear my mask. This was part of trying to learn to flood and clear my mask. The first step though, was getting my head underwater. I eventually did it... never once did I think about giving it up as a lost cause. I wanted to get past this hurdle because I really do want to learn to scuba dive.
After awhile (i have no idea how long it took) I was able to successfully submerge without freaking out... remembering to breathe the whole time. Yep! I was breathing underwater. Well, I was wearing the snorkel. *grin* But, I was successful in both flooding my mask and then clearing it. 'Course, I got plenty of practice in the clearing part, because I still have some issues with having water in my mask.
After a bit, we put on our buoyancy compensators (BCs) and repeated the exercise of submerging and continuing to breathe regularly while on the bottled air. I was able to do this, even though I still had/have to deal with the issue of water in my mask. Oh! At one point, Iactually took my mask off underwater - and successfully put it back on. It was intense. Once I had the mask off and opened my eyes underwater, I couldn't see! Normally I wear glasses and not contacts. When I took off the mask, because of the physics of the light/water interaction, I was no longer able to see clearly. I couldn't even make out my hand at the end of my arm. So, now I know that if I lose my mask underwater, I had better start heading to the surface (slowly) because i'm literally blind without it. This is not good. I couldn't evem make out the figure of my dive instructor who was right in front of me. It was rather scary.