NA - Found out I have a Phobia that I assumed everyone had

simtech said:
I'm an open water diver, been down to 120ft deep, dove reefs at night, and I've dove into some tight cenotes,..BUT I'm right there with ya @SixPapaCharlie , I don't like large man made underwater structures either!!!
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Did a dive off Haifa in 91 to this wreck https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_submarine_Scirè_(1938) and at 105' my deepest. Visibility was such a lot of the descent was with neither surface nor bottom in site. I said never again to diving like that but dove the USS Scrimmage in 95 (http://www.navsource.org/archives/11/02297.htm) off Oahu and thought, hmm, warm water, 200' visibility that's what I like.

Haven't done any diving since except in Monterey CA off the beach and those were too cold for me to even want to remember.

We all evolve too - In High school I did a fair amount of spelunking and no zero chance I'll g in a cave.
 
I know it's not the same, but when I started my PPL training, I had to overcome the very uncomfortable feeling of "being naked" in the cockpit because I didn't have my parachute on my back. I was so used to hop in a plane and feel safe because if things went downhill I'd say sayonara to the pilot and get the hell out...
 
When I was younger, I never used to like swimming next to the hull of a boat. Used to jump off the swim platform of my buddy's boat in the Chesapeake and swim like crazy to get away... had no problem treading water about 10' away from the boat, but getting close to it always made me nervous. Always felt like the thing was going to roll on top of me... These days doesn't seem to bother me for some reason.
 
Confirmation that @SixPapaCharlie is one beautifully odd dude. :)

Interesting tidbit that I found as a result of this thread: 46 people died in the Andrea Doria accident. At least 22 have died diving on it since, so maybe Bryan ain’t so crazy after all.
 
This always scared me...

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Dave Theisen said:
Confirmation that @SixPapaCharlie is one beautifully odd dude. :)

Interesting tidbit that I found as a result of this thread: 46 people died in the Andrea Doria accident. At least 22 have died diving on it since, so maybe Bryan ain’t so crazy after all.
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Yes, it has run up quite a toll, considering that only perhaps 500 divers have visited it. I thought the toll was 18, but still too many. The tech diving community is a small one, so it's rare for someone to make a trip out without knowing one or more of the people who died on the wreck. It gives you a lot to think about on the overnight run to get to the wreck site.

Another interesting tidbit; Linda Morgan, then 14, was asleep in her bunk when the bow of the Stockholm knifed into the Doria, just below her cabin. She fell onto the bow of the Stockholm, and as the ships separated was found there, largely unhurt, but thoroughly confused.

Tidbit two: everyone who survived the initial collision survived the sinking. Doria was about 3/4 the size of Titanic, but it had enough lifeboats, the water was warmer, it was just over 100 miles from Montauk (and even closer to Nantucket), and of course the Stockholm was right there to start assisting survivors. Of course, if the Stockholm hadn't been right there, the Doria wouldn't have sunk...
 
Man made objects don't bother me.
Carnivorous fish? They bother me. Don't want to end up shark/barracuda poop.
 
Hmm, this might just be a rational fear, depends on the water conditions. If you're in the ocean, it would be pretty easy to get smacked into a bridge piling by the waves, and considering they get covered with barnacles and/or oysters, that could cut you up pretty badly. I definitely stay away from them while in the boat, don't want to have a confrontation with a bridge piling.
 
If you’re worried about underwater hazards, look up the SS Richard Montgomery. LOL
 
GaryM said:
Another interesting tidbit; Linda Morgan, then 14, was asleep in her bunk when the bow of the Stockholm knifed into the Doria, just below her cabin. She fell onto the bow of the Stockholm, and as the ships separated was found there, largely unhurt, but thoroughly confused.
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Sad part of this tidbit, her sister sleeping in the bunk below her was crushed to death in the accident.

GeorgeC said:
:hairraise: Thanks for that. I took a cruise on the SS John Brown a few years ago, neat ships.
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Liberty ship production amazes me, 2710 ships produced between 1941 and 1945. America could never do that now.
 
My primary anxiety about both of those photos, is that other humans have to respect the Lock Out/Tag Out processes. And it takes me a while for anyone to earn that much trust with me.
 
kayoh190 said:
Being around large objects underwater is no problem - I actually think it's really cool. But enclosed areas like a dam, or cave diving? Yeah, no thanks.
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My freshman year of college I went into this cave that’s on campus. The entrance is through this little square hole in the side of a large hill. I tend to get claustrophobic on occasion and being with a large group, in a small, tight area didn’t help. I’d definitely go into it again and would like to at some point, but I’d prefer a group of five or less.

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Open water definitely freaks me out. I hear the Jaws theme-song everytime I am just floating in open water. If I'm up against something it's not so bad (for no good reason of course). I had to make myself start SCUBA because I hate not doing things because of irrational fears. This is me and my group in Guam last year diving the SMS Cormoran & Tokai Maru (really cool wrecks if you are into that kind of thing - one from WW1 and the other from WW2 right next to each other).
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I was outbound on a boat to go for a dive one day when a submarine passed us (surfaced) going into port. That would probably F R E A K me out if I was down there on the bottom and a sub came cruising by.
 
I've always gotten the heebee geebees from being surrounded by huge, noisy machines, especially when there are lots of rumbling pipes involved.

You can imagine how I felt working in the offshore oil and gas industry... Just driving to work through the South side of Port Arthur is creepy; crawling around a massive oil platform was, uh... impressive.
 
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GeorgeC said:
:hairraise: Thanks for that. I took a cruise on the SS John Brown a few years ago, neat ships.
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If you get a chance, watch the propaganda film "Action in the North Atlantic". A real hoot if you are somewhat familiar with the realities of Liberty Ships...
 
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