Fish out of water

My boyfriend enjoys SCUBA so naturally I was interested.

Scuba diving equipment has everything a man could wish for: valves (chrome), dials (luminous), compass (scientific) gas bottle (dangerous) and wet suit (cool). Nothing can really prepare you for your first experience of diving. If you imagine jumping into those IKEA coloured balls in the children's area and having Vanessa Feltz sit on top of you it might come close to the feeling. Even though you are only in a swimming pool there is a massive feeling of claustrophobia as you sink deeper and deeper underwater. The only thing keeping you alive is the breathing regulator in your mouth, which you grip on with your teeth as if your life depends on it. As indeed it does. You suck on that regulator like a piglet on it's mothers teat, looking mental with your bulging eyes and wild Don King hair. Learner divers are not an attractive sight.

I didn't enjoy ANY of my first diving experience. You get into trouble. You freak out. You get into more trouble. You freak out, this time with gusto. One thing leads to another.

Many reasons have been kicked around for the increase in incidents, but I believe the answer is very simple. The increased demand for agencies and instructors to train more and more divers has led to shorter, cheaper courses being run for relatively inexperienced divers. The inevitable result has been a drop in training standards and the emergence of a new breed of divers who simply are not adequately prepared to make deep mixed gas.

This is why we've had so many accidents – inexperienced divers have a minor problem and freak out. The thing is, if nobody tells you you're not ready to make these sorts of dives, how can you be expected to know until it's too late? Don't rush into teaching something you're not ready for.

My advice: Choose an instructor who cares. The casual ego centered instructor, male or female, who feels like he's the brave one because he can dive, who shows ridicule or lack of patience will make your lessons miserable, and you may never want to try again. Search for the instructor who is really a teacher and not just a person who relates the facts and techniques. The good instructor must be able to let you, the student, control the learning situation.