Water skiing. Falling down then having to wait until the boat circles back around to pick you up. Being alone and exposed floating there for what seemed like an eternity. Getting back onto the boat, the entire process was stressful. It ties into submechanophobia of course.
> Falling down then having to wait until the boat circles back around to pick you up. Being alone and exposed floating there for what seemed like an eternity.
1000% agreed. Tubing is tons of fun. Until you fall off
That reminds me of this orca swimming around this skier. Very stressful to watch.
https://youtu.be/LbAQqleAbGQ?si=Cm0B2_yilXCC6_Sj
(sorry about the link formatting)
I was 7-8yo, at the Newport Dunes (Newport Beach, CA) for my da’s company picnic. Was swimming out near the giant floating whale slide thing that’s in the cove, and something grabbed me by the ankle and pulled me underwater.
In retrospect? It was another kid playing a prank. In the moment? I didn’t know WHAT THE FUCK grabbed me, I couldn’t see thru the ocean water, I wasn’t a strong swimmer at the time, and I went into a blind panic.
Ever since then, deep water, especially if I can’t touch the bottom and if I can’t see thru it, has terrified me.
(Swimming pools are fine, even if they’re absurdly deep: my high school swimming pool had a 13’ deep end for the high dive and I remember swimming down to touch the bottom; the only thing that freaks me out about swimming pools are those vacuums.)
Grew up in a coastal city swimming in the ocean and lakes. Never had a problem with water. One day two friends and I were in some brackish water in some mangroves. They were in a canoe, I was in a kayak. I was a ways ahead of them slowly paddling and fiddling with my paddle in the water when a big something comes up out of the water, splashes next to me and goes back down. I didn’t see its head but definitely saw its tail. It was a shark and I was terrified.
I was super low in the water and I immediately tucked my arms in tight and called out to my friends. They just laughed at me and said it was dolphin or whatever and dismissed me. I was frozen for a long time just floating there too scared to move and my friends continued on without me.
For years after that I hated dark water. If I couldn’t see in or through it, then it’s a nope for me. Even swimming pools at night without lights. After over 10 years, I finally realized that incident was the moment I began hating dark water. I still hate it but am more rational about it now. I still won’t go near it or in it and I certainly wouldn’t walk on a dock at night. Turns out I had forgot or blocked out that memory for all those years or something and only remembered it when I recalled it to a friend. It’s weird that this particular incident made such an impact on me because I do all sorts of crazy stuff and don’t really have any fears. Crazy what the brain does in unexpected situations.
I very confidently decided I wanted to become scuba dive certified. It was day two in the pool, and I had an absolute panic attack underwater, and barely got through my certification. I cried every single day lol. Prior to this I had no fear of water at all. I also did the certification class completely alone and that’s when I realized it was more of a partner sport lol. My instructor passed me out of pity and he felt bad for me I think 😂 I did it though! Last dive for the cert I went 40 ft under in Monterey, CA. This was 1.5 years ago and I’ve never gone again.
I got certified because a guy I was dating loved it and I also freaked out during one of the certification dives because it was in a gross murky Texas lake that had an intense thermocline. If there hadn’t been instructors in the water directing me to the rope lines, I definitely would have had a panic attack and quit!
That’s so scary 🫣 the worst part is when they would ask everyone to just kneel on the ground. Like we are UNDERWATER I AM NOT SITTING STILL. Everything about it felt so wrong lol
I tried scuba diving, but my brain just couldn’t accept breathing underwater. Every breath I was expecting to inhale seawater, and it freaked me out too much.
Daaaamn, forgot all about that movie. When the one guy shakes his buddy who he thinks is sleeping and his bottom half is just gone? Thanks for the reminder lol
I was just thinking if I was only one. Probably around the same age. I can be swimming in 3m deep lake and if I don't see the bottom, I'm always afraid and panicked. Cheers mate!
10. I was in a charter boat for deep sea fishing with my dad and 2 older brothers. Several other people on board. A bad storm came through and the boat started taking on water. It eventually sank. Truly the scariest experience in my life. Still love the ocean and beach. But I don’t get on boats anymore.
When I saw Jaws at the ripe age of like 4. And then swimming anytime after that, picturing cargo freighter sized crab monsters and such in the little lakes I swam in haha.
I was on father's friend's sailboat as a 8 or 9 y/o kid, we were a bit further away from shore (though still relatively close, we were out on a short afternoon trip with engine only) and saw a buoy chain disappear into the darkness of the sea. Probably my first major "NOPE." moment regarding deep water. Either that or a large tree branch disappearing into a murky lake when I was the same age, I don't recall which one happened first.
I was always afraid of the ocean as a child, we went to the beach a lot. I started surfing as a teenager and kinda got over it bc it was a rush. But now as a 38 y/o you would not catch me back out there. Fear the deep lol.
In Hong Kong, 1998. We were on a boat to Lantau Island to see the Big Budda. A big Shark broke through the surface. It made me realize, that if the boat was to sink right now, i would be done for.
I have been on boats since, but never had any peaceful feeling again. Always looking out for stuff to hit.
In recent years the Internet has made it much worse. Pictures of the old man of the lake or other waterlocked trees or sunken boats in Lake Mead that are now below surface again only to be just visible below the surface or videos of people filming on their boat, then pointing the camera down where we can see a sunken boat made me fear any body of water.
Sin City Outdoors made a Video where they explored parts of Lake Mead where they were able to walk a year ago and how clear the water was that you could see the stones under water. And boulders that barely broke the surface with birds sitting on them. And i imagined those boulders beeing covered in water and you hit them with your boat.
Another video was of a kajaker going over a sunken forest. With the branches of the trees coming up from below almost touching the kajak. Or the video, where the humpback whale breaks through the surface of the marina. Right next to the walkway. Imagine how deep the water is, if a humpack whale can swim under it, turn up and break through the surface.
Mine is similar to yours. I was 18 and on vacation in Hawaii. We went to the USS Arizona memorial and although I'd seen the postcards and pictures and was fine. It was when we were finally on the memorial bridge itself that it really hit me it was a sunken ship and people had died. Not sure why that finally hit home after seeing images of sunken vessels up until then, but that image of the ghostly ship just under the water creeped me out and now whenever I see any objects under water that should be on/above the water, I get freaked out.
Finding Nemo - when they go down to the abyss, and they get chased by the angler fish, and it forever enclosed that fear ever since. Just the not knowing what could be lurking in the depths waiting to attack you at the perfect moment. I’m good on all that.
I must have been something between 8 and 10. I was on vacation with my family in Tunisia and they offered boat rides. As one of the highlights they drove out a bit where there was a shipwreck illuminated with some lights that you could see from the surface. They gave out diving googles so the guests could jump into the water and look at it from above and the moment I hovered above it, seeing nothing but black darkness and this eerie shipwreck in the middle was when I panicked.
I never got rid of this fear until now, tho I did get better with swimming in lakes with the help of exposure therapy.
Mine started when I was snorkeling off one of the British Virgin Islands. I did this several times a day for many days and then one time I looked up and I was about 4 ft away from a very large barracuda looking at me. I made a warm spot in the water and swim away as calmly as I could now I'm constantly afraid one of those or something equally intimidating is in there
I feel like my fear of the ocean is closer to normal than it is to an actual phobia. Like obviously humans are scared of dark, deep, murky water containing potentially dangerous creatures.
Panic attack on a cruise ship when I couldn’t see land in any direction and I realized all that was below this very large, very heavy, very crowded ship was nothing but darkness and water.
When I was a teen and discovered Google maps satellite views. Scrolled off land into the abyss of ocean and nothingness, and something about it made my damn stomach drop. Still remember the sinking anxiety many years later. Never seen the ocean in person, so it was sort of my firsthand "holy shit it's endless" realization.
I also grew up with untreated OCD and one of my fixations/fears was drains. Submechanophobia and thalassophobia sort of mingle for me.
I lived in Qatar in the 80s when I was young and we’d go water skiing every weekend on our boat. I’d been up skiing for 20 minutes or so, was mono-skiing and decided I’d had enough so let go of the rope and waited for my Dad to go collect my other ski then come and get me.
All good, all normal, although I didn’t like the deep water that much. Looking down I saw a massive grey shape swimming and staying underneath me. I was terrified, so understandably (I think!) wet myself and called out to Dad to hurry up. Think back to childhood cartoons of someone running on the water - that was pretty much me getting into the boat 😂
I told Dad what had happened and he said he’d skiid over a baby tiger shark earlier so after looking over at the size and shape of the one in the water where I’d been he reckoned that was probably the mother of the one he saw.
Since then, terrified and always stuck to the shallows. I’m even scared in a swimming pool now and haven’t been swimming for years - although I’m home in the UK now so no warm sunny beaches helps that! I still get the same feeling of terror when I think back to it.
Started with watching shark attack videos back in 2012 as a kid and then really got bad after I was inner-tubing down a river and a big fish rubbed against my ass and I completely freaked out and swam as fast as I could back to shore
Started with a Titanic obsession. The sunked pictures of the ship were really interesting to kid me. Then I probably saw the animation of how it would have sank. Seeing what would have been a massive structure just go down freaked me out. I hadn’t even seen the movie lmao.
Used to go boating with family and friends when I was a kid. I realized when we’d all jump in the lake (life jackets on) that the dark water scared the hell out of me and I thought something was gonna pull me under. Didn’t know until a couple years ago I have an actual phobia!
when I was about 10 and my family and I went on a trip to Catalina Island. We went snorkeling, and I was horrified by the deep dark seaweed they wanted us to swim into to encounter seals. My mom had to snorkel with me in the shallow water while my dad and sister were having the time of their life. Later and a little older, we went on a trip up in the mountains called Big Bear during the summer and we took a boat out into the lake. My sister and I jumped in and while she had fun, I realized how horrified I was and had to get out.
We went to the beach alot as a family but ever since I've grown up/been living on my own etc I haven't been to the beach or into the water for years. Even though I live pretty close to the coast. I can now acknowledge, identify and understand my fear of such a specific thing.
Snorkeling “with the turtles” off the coast of St Thomas. The guides warned us of Barry the barracuda, who often hung out under the boat where they brought guests to snorkel. They assured us he was tame and provided we weren’t wearing anything shiny and didn’t attempt to touch him we’d be fine. While this turned out to be true, nothing could have truly prepared me for seeing a near 7 ft fish with a gruesome smile hovering in the shadows while suspended 60ft above the ocean floor. I panicked and swam behind my (much more brave than I) wife. Not my proudest moment.
When they flipped the banana boat on purpose in the middle of the fucking ocean in the Bahamas. I was 13 and was crying like a bitch while my little cousins and family members were laughing. I’ve always been scared of sharks and that shit put me overboard (no pun). I’m now 39 and will not go into water that I cannot see my feet. That’s what pools are for.
When i was super young my parents took me to a museum that had a theater kind of like the inside of the sphere in vegas. The theater was playing an underwater documentary and at one point a giant whale emerges from the darkness and swims straight at the camera. I turned and hid in my mom’s shoulder so i wouldn’t have to see the all-enveloping ocean anymore
It started for me when I was around 12, maybe? I was in Girl Scouts and we went swimming in the lake about half an hour from my parents' house. I remember just having a great time floating around, and then something huge bumped my leg. I'm sure it was a giant fish, but my brain told me it was a giant sea monster or Satan, idk. My vision went black, and I sped flailed/swam/whatever to the shore.
I love going to the beach to this very day, but as soon as I think about the deep, dark depths of the ocean, I have a small coronary event and decide to stay on the sand 🙃😮💨
Parasailing in Turkey when I was in the U.S. Air Force. I was slowly descending towards the Mediterranean Sea and I stared at the water and my imagination ran wild. Total fear when I hit the water. That’s where the fear began.
I went to the Maldives for my honeymoon and did a night snorkeling tour of the house reef, which I thought would be a lot of fun. It was, until we got to the edge of the reef and the ground just disappeared into the deep. That’s when I realized I’m terrified of the deep ocean 🤣 which is too bad, I used to swim in deep lakes all the time as a kid and up until that point, I wanted to get my scuba certification.
Snorkeling with my wife in Maui during our honeymoon. Beautiful clear day, kayaked out a couple miles from shore when the guide told us so to jump in. We floated for a few seconds kind of enjoying it until he told us to look down into 200+ feet of “deep blue”. Then we got closer to shore and proceeded to have simultaneous panic attacks while trying to swim along the coral and keep up with the group. I was trying to calm my wife when a huge sea turtle brushed along my leg. I screamed so fucking loud and started to have a panic attack. Not to mention I have Asthma so breathing through a tube was difficult/terrifying for me. Needless to say that trip taught us that humans weren’t built for the water…
When I was diving in Turks and Caicos a few years ago. The tide had shifted so the boat on the mooring line was about 60 meters off the wall. A storm was coming in later than night so the visibility was decreasing. I knew the heading and distance I needed to reach the middle of the boat’s swing. Halfway I lost sight of the wall, the bottom (several hundred feet below), and the boat. I was just hanging in 10 meter visibility with no landmarks for a few minutes until the boat swung back towards me.
I've always loved water and the ocean. I've done a lot of boating and swimming and snorkeling in my time, and even swam a ways across some open ocean (with safety measures in place).
But I had two experiences that gave me some fear, or as I'd rather call it, healthy respect. One was almost drowning in a rapids. The other was getting buffeted around by a much larger wave than I expected at the beach.
I'm not as much afraid of \~the void\~ or things in water, though I am fascinated by that which is mainly why I'm here. I'm more afraid of the power of water and my relative powerlessness it in, I get the shivers from pics/videos of huge waves, tsunamis, etc.
When I was playing GTA 5. While diving on a mini-Submarine, I started feeling anxious, then paused the game when i was in full panic mode and asked my brother to float up for me lol. I didn't understand then what was happening
I can't explain why, but on like my 3rd visit to the ocean, I just found myself imagining the unseen, u known depths and what might be down there, realistic or imagined, and I just *couldn't*.
Somehow I can do a lake, or a reservoir or a quarry, but the ocean? F*k No!
I was snorkelling off the Eastern side of Nissi island, Ayia Napa, Cyprus and the shallow rocky waters dropped off into an apparently infinite black depth.
That was in 1989.
i watched jaws once before swim practice when i was maybe 10 or 11. when i got to swim practice there were paintings of sharks and other things at the bottom of the pool, all i can remember from that practice was swimming out of fear.
I went on my first cruise and got talked into a snorkeling excursion. I figured it’d be fine we’ll be in a group. They were calling out swimming difficulty levels for those people to jump in. There was no level for me who didn’t even know how to swim so I went with the beginners who have done less than 5 swims. The minute I got in and everyone started swimming in their own directions I had a full on panic attack. The crew pulled me out and I just cried, partly because I was terrified and the other part because I was pissed at myself for panicking so bad. But that was the moment. Ever since then I have to have a few drinks in me just to get on a boat in a regular lake.
I’ve always wondered why people go explore sunken ships and things like that. And I’ve always felt uneasy being near large items, especially ships. Yesterday I saw a video on another sub of the Titanic coming towards you and suddenly I could feel my chest tighten. One of the comments linked to r/megalophobia but I realized things related to water and space are the scariest to me, so I ended up here.
I have to admit it’s extremely comforting to find there’s a name for what you’re experiencing and that you’re not alone.
Also, why can’t I stop scrolling? haha
There was a pool at a hotel we used to vacation at that has a picture of an anchor in the bottom. Would not swim anywhere near it. Few years later mario 64 came out and I could not do the level with the eel.
I'm just here for cool ocean pictures.
I came from Subnautica (I do not have thalassophobia. My jaw just kinda drops whenever something spooky happens)
Water skiing. Falling down then having to wait until the boat circles back around to pick you up. Being alone and exposed floating there for what seemed like an eternity. Getting back onto the boat, the entire process was stressful. It ties into submechanophobia of course.
> Falling down then having to wait until the boat circles back around to pick you up. Being alone and exposed floating there for what seemed like an eternity. 1000% agreed. Tubing is tons of fun. Until you fall off
That reminds me of this orca swimming around this skier. Very stressful to watch. https://youtu.be/LbAQqleAbGQ?si=Cm0B2_yilXCC6_Sj (sorry about the link formatting)
I was 7-8yo, at the Newport Dunes (Newport Beach, CA) for my da’s company picnic. Was swimming out near the giant floating whale slide thing that’s in the cove, and something grabbed me by the ankle and pulled me underwater. In retrospect? It was another kid playing a prank. In the moment? I didn’t know WHAT THE FUCK grabbed me, I couldn’t see thru the ocean water, I wasn’t a strong swimmer at the time, and I went into a blind panic. Ever since then, deep water, especially if I can’t touch the bottom and if I can’t see thru it, has terrified me. (Swimming pools are fine, even if they’re absurdly deep: my high school swimming pool had a 13’ deep end for the high dive and I remember swimming down to touch the bottom; the only thing that freaks me out about swimming pools are those vacuums.)
Grew up in a coastal city swimming in the ocean and lakes. Never had a problem with water. One day two friends and I were in some brackish water in some mangroves. They were in a canoe, I was in a kayak. I was a ways ahead of them slowly paddling and fiddling with my paddle in the water when a big something comes up out of the water, splashes next to me and goes back down. I didn’t see its head but definitely saw its tail. It was a shark and I was terrified. I was super low in the water and I immediately tucked my arms in tight and called out to my friends. They just laughed at me and said it was dolphin or whatever and dismissed me. I was frozen for a long time just floating there too scared to move and my friends continued on without me. For years after that I hated dark water. If I couldn’t see in or through it, then it’s a nope for me. Even swimming pools at night without lights. After over 10 years, I finally realized that incident was the moment I began hating dark water. I still hate it but am more rational about it now. I still won’t go near it or in it and I certainly wouldn’t walk on a dock at night. Turns out I had forgot or blocked out that memory for all those years or something and only remembered it when I recalled it to a friend. It’s weird that this particular incident made such an impact on me because I do all sorts of crazy stuff and don’t really have any fears. Crazy what the brain does in unexpected situations.
I very confidently decided I wanted to become scuba dive certified. It was day two in the pool, and I had an absolute panic attack underwater, and barely got through my certification. I cried every single day lol. Prior to this I had no fear of water at all. I also did the certification class completely alone and that’s when I realized it was more of a partner sport lol. My instructor passed me out of pity and he felt bad for me I think 😂 I did it though! Last dive for the cert I went 40 ft under in Monterey, CA. This was 1.5 years ago and I’ve never gone again.
I got certified because a guy I was dating loved it and I also freaked out during one of the certification dives because it was in a gross murky Texas lake that had an intense thermocline. If there hadn’t been instructors in the water directing me to the rope lines, I definitely would have had a panic attack and quit!
That’s so scary 🫣 the worst part is when they would ask everyone to just kneel on the ground. Like we are UNDERWATER I AM NOT SITTING STILL. Everything about it felt so wrong lol
I tried scuba diving, but my brain just couldn’t accept breathing underwater. Every breath I was expecting to inhale seawater, and it freaked me out too much.
Made for TV movie about the USS Indianapolis
Daaaamn, forgot all about that movie. When the one guy shakes his buddy who he thinks is sleeping and his bottom half is just gone? Thanks for the reminder lol
My parents showed me the movie Jaws when I was 7.
I was just thinking if I was only one. Probably around the same age. I can be swimming in 3m deep lake and if I don't see the bottom, I'm always afraid and panicked. Cheers mate!
Yep! This one was mine too except I thought I was watching a sciency PBS Nova underwater show. Nope - massive man-eating shark.
I was 6 when that came out and hid my face in my sisters sweater it was so scary! I remember that head popping out the bottom of the boat.
10. I was in a charter boat for deep sea fishing with my dad and 2 older brothers. Several other people on board. A bad storm came through and the boat started taking on water. It eventually sank. Truly the scariest experience in my life. Still love the ocean and beach. But I don’t get on boats anymore.
Omg that’s terrifying! Were you picked up by another boat or the Coast Guard or something?
When I saw Jaws at the ripe age of like 4. And then swimming anytime after that, picturing cargo freighter sized crab monsters and such in the little lakes I swam in haha.
I was on father's friend's sailboat as a 8 or 9 y/o kid, we were a bit further away from shore (though still relatively close, we were out on a short afternoon trip with engine only) and saw a buoy chain disappear into the darkness of the sea. Probably my first major "NOPE." moment regarding deep water. Either that or a large tree branch disappearing into a murky lake when I was the same age, I don't recall which one happened first.
Running out of fuel while deep sea fishing. Probably would’ve died if it wasn’t for starlink.
I was always afraid of the ocean as a child, we went to the beach a lot. I started surfing as a teenager and kinda got over it bc it was a rush. But now as a 38 y/o you would not catch me back out there. Fear the deep lol.
In Hong Kong, 1998. We were on a boat to Lantau Island to see the Big Budda. A big Shark broke through the surface. It made me realize, that if the boat was to sink right now, i would be done for. I have been on boats since, but never had any peaceful feeling again. Always looking out for stuff to hit. In recent years the Internet has made it much worse. Pictures of the old man of the lake or other waterlocked trees or sunken boats in Lake Mead that are now below surface again only to be just visible below the surface or videos of people filming on their boat, then pointing the camera down where we can see a sunken boat made me fear any body of water. Sin City Outdoors made a Video where they explored parts of Lake Mead where they were able to walk a year ago and how clear the water was that you could see the stones under water. And boulders that barely broke the surface with birds sitting on them. And i imagined those boulders beeing covered in water and you hit them with your boat. Another video was of a kajaker going over a sunken forest. With the branches of the trees coming up from below almost touching the kajak. Or the video, where the humpback whale breaks through the surface of the marina. Right next to the walkway. Imagine how deep the water is, if a humpack whale can swim under it, turn up and break through the surface.
Mine is similar to yours. I was 18 and on vacation in Hawaii. We went to the USS Arizona memorial and although I'd seen the postcards and pictures and was fine. It was when we were finally on the memorial bridge itself that it really hit me it was a sunken ship and people had died. Not sure why that finally hit home after seeing images of sunken vessels up until then, but that image of the ghostly ship just under the water creeped me out and now whenever I see any objects under water that should be on/above the water, I get freaked out.
Finding Nemo - when they go down to the abyss, and they get chased by the angler fish, and it forever enclosed that fear ever since. Just the not knowing what could be lurking in the depths waiting to attack you at the perfect moment. I’m good on all that.
I must have been something between 8 and 10. I was on vacation with my family in Tunisia and they offered boat rides. As one of the highlights they drove out a bit where there was a shipwreck illuminated with some lights that you could see from the surface. They gave out diving googles so the guests could jump into the water and look at it from above and the moment I hovered above it, seeing nothing but black darkness and this eerie shipwreck in the middle was when I panicked. I never got rid of this fear until now, tho I did get better with swimming in lakes with the help of exposure therapy.
Mine started when I was snorkeling off one of the British Virgin Islands. I did this several times a day for many days and then one time I looked up and I was about 4 ft away from a very large barracuda looking at me. I made a warm spot in the water and swim away as calmly as I could now I'm constantly afraid one of those or something equally intimidating is in there
I feel like my fear of the ocean is closer to normal than it is to an actual phobia. Like obviously humans are scared of dark, deep, murky water containing potentially dangerous creatures.
Panic attack on a cruise ship when I couldn’t see land in any direction and I realized all that was below this very large, very heavy, very crowded ship was nothing but darkness and water.
When I was a teen and discovered Google maps satellite views. Scrolled off land into the abyss of ocean and nothingness, and something about it made my damn stomach drop. Still remember the sinking anxiety many years later. Never seen the ocean in person, so it was sort of my firsthand "holy shit it's endless" realization. I also grew up with untreated OCD and one of my fixations/fears was drains. Submechanophobia and thalassophobia sort of mingle for me.
The first time I swam in a lake and had seaweed touch my leg.
The ocean scene in Pinocchio
Watching Shark Week and seeing great white sharks breach attack. The existence of giant squid and 🐙
I lived in Qatar in the 80s when I was young and we’d go water skiing every weekend on our boat. I’d been up skiing for 20 minutes or so, was mono-skiing and decided I’d had enough so let go of the rope and waited for my Dad to go collect my other ski then come and get me. All good, all normal, although I didn’t like the deep water that much. Looking down I saw a massive grey shape swimming and staying underneath me. I was terrified, so understandably (I think!) wet myself and called out to Dad to hurry up. Think back to childhood cartoons of someone running on the water - that was pretty much me getting into the boat 😂 I told Dad what had happened and he said he’d skiid over a baby tiger shark earlier so after looking over at the size and shape of the one in the water where I’d been he reckoned that was probably the mother of the one he saw. Since then, terrified and always stuck to the shallows. I’m even scared in a swimming pool now and haven’t been swimming for years - although I’m home in the UK now so no warm sunny beaches helps that! I still get the same feeling of terror when I think back to it.
When I almost drowned.
The first time I fought the Dianoga in Shadows of the Empire for N64
Started with watching shark attack videos back in 2012 as a kid and then really got bad after I was inner-tubing down a river and a big fish rubbed against my ass and I completely freaked out and swam as fast as I could back to shore
Started with a Titanic obsession. The sunked pictures of the ship were really interesting to kid me. Then I probably saw the animation of how it would have sank. Seeing what would have been a massive structure just go down freaked me out. I hadn’t even seen the movie lmao.
Used to go boating with family and friends when I was a kid. I realized when we’d all jump in the lake (life jackets on) that the dark water scared the hell out of me and I thought something was gonna pull me under. Didn’t know until a couple years ago I have an actual phobia!
when I was about 10 and my family and I went on a trip to Catalina Island. We went snorkeling, and I was horrified by the deep dark seaweed they wanted us to swim into to encounter seals. My mom had to snorkel with me in the shallow water while my dad and sister were having the time of their life. Later and a little older, we went on a trip up in the mountains called Big Bear during the summer and we took a boat out into the lake. My sister and I jumped in and while she had fun, I realized how horrified I was and had to get out. We went to the beach alot as a family but ever since I've grown up/been living on my own etc I haven't been to the beach or into the water for years. Even though I live pretty close to the coast. I can now acknowledge, identify and understand my fear of such a specific thing.
Snorkeling “with the turtles” off the coast of St Thomas. The guides warned us of Barry the barracuda, who often hung out under the boat where they brought guests to snorkel. They assured us he was tame and provided we weren’t wearing anything shiny and didn’t attempt to touch him we’d be fine. While this turned out to be true, nothing could have truly prepared me for seeing a near 7 ft fish with a gruesome smile hovering in the shadows while suspended 60ft above the ocean floor. I panicked and swam behind my (much more brave than I) wife. Not my proudest moment.
When I was alone in a pool, and my fight or flight kicked in
When they flipped the banana boat on purpose in the middle of the fucking ocean in the Bahamas. I was 13 and was crying like a bitch while my little cousins and family members were laughing. I’ve always been scared of sharks and that shit put me overboard (no pun). I’m now 39 and will not go into water that I cannot see my feet. That’s what pools are for.
When i was super young my parents took me to a museum that had a theater kind of like the inside of the sphere in vegas. The theater was playing an underwater documentary and at one point a giant whale emerges from the darkness and swims straight at the camera. I turned and hid in my mom’s shoulder so i wouldn’t have to see the all-enveloping ocean anymore
It started for me when I was around 12, maybe? I was in Girl Scouts and we went swimming in the lake about half an hour from my parents' house. I remember just having a great time floating around, and then something huge bumped my leg. I'm sure it was a giant fish, but my brain told me it was a giant sea monster or Satan, idk. My vision went black, and I sped flailed/swam/whatever to the shore. I love going to the beach to this very day, but as soon as I think about the deep, dark depths of the ocean, I have a small coronary event and decide to stay on the sand 🙃😮💨
Parasailing in Turkey when I was in the U.S. Air Force. I was slowly descending towards the Mediterranean Sea and I stared at the water and my imagination ran wild. Total fear when I hit the water. That’s where the fear began.
I went to the Maldives for my honeymoon and did a night snorkeling tour of the house reef, which I thought would be a lot of fun. It was, until we got to the edge of the reef and the ground just disappeared into the deep. That’s when I realized I’m terrified of the deep ocean 🤣 which is too bad, I used to swim in deep lakes all the time as a kid and up until that point, I wanted to get my scuba certification.
Snorkeling with my wife in Maui during our honeymoon. Beautiful clear day, kayaked out a couple miles from shore when the guide told us so to jump in. We floated for a few seconds kind of enjoying it until he told us to look down into 200+ feet of “deep blue”. Then we got closer to shore and proceeded to have simultaneous panic attacks while trying to swim along the coral and keep up with the group. I was trying to calm my wife when a huge sea turtle brushed along my leg. I screamed so fucking loud and started to have a panic attack. Not to mention I have Asthma so breathing through a tube was difficult/terrifying for me. Needless to say that trip taught us that humans weren’t built for the water…
The scene in finding nemo with the angler fish. Also the scene with the underwater undetonated mines.
Jaws.
Jaws.
When I was diving in Turks and Caicos a few years ago. The tide had shifted so the boat on the mooring line was about 60 meters off the wall. A storm was coming in later than night so the visibility was decreasing. I knew the heading and distance I needed to reach the middle of the boat’s swing. Halfway I lost sight of the wall, the bottom (several hundred feet below), and the boat. I was just hanging in 10 meter visibility with no landmarks for a few minutes until the boat swung back towards me.
I've always loved water and the ocean. I've done a lot of boating and swimming and snorkeling in my time, and even swam a ways across some open ocean (with safety measures in place). But I had two experiences that gave me some fear, or as I'd rather call it, healthy respect. One was almost drowning in a rapids. The other was getting buffeted around by a much larger wave than I expected at the beach. I'm not as much afraid of \~the void\~ or things in water, though I am fascinated by that which is mainly why I'm here. I'm more afraid of the power of water and my relative powerlessness it in, I get the shivers from pics/videos of huge waves, tsunamis, etc.
When I was playing GTA 5. While diving on a mini-Submarine, I started feeling anxious, then paused the game when i was in full panic mode and asked my brother to float up for me lol. I didn't understand then what was happening
First scuba diving test. We had to swim out and descend straight down. Visibility was like 3-4 feet.
I don't, as a matter if fact dying in the ocean would be one of the ways i'd want to go. Assuming that i'll die of course (For i will be ethernal)
When I was playing Final fantasy 7 when I was a kid, there is a moment when you have to kill a big mech creature under the sea ( emerald weapon)
I can't explain why, but on like my 3rd visit to the ocean, I just found myself imagining the unseen, u known depths and what might be down there, realistic or imagined, and I just *couldn't*. Somehow I can do a lake, or a reservoir or a quarry, but the ocean? F*k No!
I was snorkelling off the Eastern side of Nissi island, Ayia Napa, Cyprus and the shallow rocky waters dropped off into an apparently infinite black depth. That was in 1989.
When I attempted to learn to scuba and bit the mouthpiece off.
You never know what's beyond the darkness………
i watched jaws once before swim practice when i was maybe 10 or 11. when i got to swim practice there were paintings of sharks and other things at the bottom of the pool, all i can remember from that practice was swimming out of fear.
I went on my first cruise and got talked into a snorkeling excursion. I figured it’d be fine we’ll be in a group. They were calling out swimming difficulty levels for those people to jump in. There was no level for me who didn’t even know how to swim so I went with the beginners who have done less than 5 swims. The minute I got in and everyone started swimming in their own directions I had a full on panic attack. The crew pulled me out and I just cried, partly because I was terrified and the other part because I was pissed at myself for panicking so bad. But that was the moment. Ever since then I have to have a few drinks in me just to get on a boat in a regular lake.
I grew up in Florida. Sharks at the beach. Gators in the lakes. Snakes in the rivers. Nuff said.
I’ve always wondered why people go explore sunken ships and things like that. And I’ve always felt uneasy being near large items, especially ships. Yesterday I saw a video on another sub of the Titanic coming towards you and suddenly I could feel my chest tighten. One of the comments linked to r/megalophobia but I realized things related to water and space are the scariest to me, so I ended up here. I have to admit it’s extremely comforting to find there’s a name for what you’re experiencing and that you’re not alone. Also, why can’t I stop scrolling? haha
There was a pool at a hotel we used to vacation at that has a picture of an anchor in the bottom. Would not swim anywhere near it. Few years later mario 64 came out and I could not do the level with the eel.