You strip down to your jocks and then put on a white boiler suit, on top of that you put a life jacket which you inflate.
When told to do so you jump in the deeper end, easy, hold your nose between your fingers and you will come to the surface very quickly, swim to the other end, on your back or on your front, it doesn't matter, you can't sink!!!
You will probably be asked to swim a full length, (with a fully supporting life jacket), dragging a mate by the neck of his life jacket, then he will drag you back to the other end the same way, no drama, no head under water.
After that, still wearing your life jacket, you will jump back into the water, (you can even sit on the side and slide in!), and then swim to a life raft where you can demonstrate your ability to help others in before climbing in yourself.
I had a phobia about head under water myself, tell the instructors and they will watch you but it is very satisfying to complete the whole, (very easy and safe), procedure without any help and it can be done, in fact it happens every day down at the SIA Training Centre, treat it like a day at the beach!
