Serious Question.

[RETIRED 11]

As an intro diver, I do not ever violate my training limits, I am enraptured on every dive by things which most of you probably consider mundane, but occasionally I get this feeling of "Oh wow" this is a dark scary place, and a long way from home....
It seems to get less with each dive, but is this common???

[Wizard]

I call it "the get out goblin" talking to you. Never had it for years and one day boom, on exit 400 feet from the entrance. I steadied myself on a rock and looked around for a second and it went away. Others have told me they've had it. Look around and concentrate on something or someone else and get the ol' mind back on track. Funny thing though, never had it solo diving. Guess I stayed too focused or something.

[RETIRED 11]

Steady on rock and deep breath. Remind myself that there two ways out from here only one is acceptable... works every time.. but for a split second it can be a little unnerving. Thank you... hoped it was not just me... I have discovered an awesome place to get away from it all...what more is there to life??

[TMet]

I had it on my last dive at Peacock (I'm intro too). We hadn't even made it to Pothole. I got the sinking feeling of "WTF am I doing here this is retarded and I'm going to die". Then I noticed some pretty rocks to look at, realized I had an experienced buddy, and had almost full double 104s. Then the reality set in that my instructor did a good job teaching me, I knew what to do if something went wrong, and in the particular cave even if I did go the wrong way I'd likely pass a couple of exits long before I ran out of gas. I did frantically signal my buddy... but it was my first time seeing a cave critter and I wanted to show her the crayfish. It ended up my favorite dive to date. My entire inner freakout dialogue lasted about 15 seconds. I imagine I'll have many more, I'm fine with that, they will just get me to check my gas more often. I love this hobby

[Merlin Rhoda]

We refer to it as squirrel control. If you let the squirrels out of the cage then it's over.

The above is not a reference to CDF users with squirrel in their names. From what I hear when you let *them* out of their cage the party begins

[Kelly Jessop]

A form of general anxiety,that will reduce with the more cave diving you do.

[stairman]

Agreed. experience, training, redundant ger and a cool head. All problems can and will be solved.

[Line Squirrel]

We refer to it as squirrel control. If you let the squirrels out of the cage then it's over.

The above is not a reference to CDF users with squirrel in their names. From what I hear when you let *them* out of their cage the party begins

[kensuf]

A form of general anxiety,that will reduce with the more cave diving you do.

This.

The process for me went something like:

~1-20 cave dives, just calming my nerves and developing basic skills.
~20-40 cave dives, a bit of anxiety that the cave was trying to kill me.
~40-80 dives, a feeling of confidence and belief that I was experienced enough to handle most situations.
~80-120 - realisation that I didn't know squat.

I was diving fairly regularly at the time (~2-3x a week) and chalked up my Abe Davis in my first 10 months of cave diving.

[Mark Vlahos]

I definitely had that feeling in my cave class. I managed the problems, and moved forward. I still get that feeling from time to time, but with less urgency. Now it is perceived by me as a healthy respect for the environment, and not fear. Now I look at it as a positive. It keeps me honest, and reminds me that I am in an inherently unforgiving place, and that I need to pay attention and not get complacent with anything.

Mark Vlahos