to those of you who have an open water PADI scuba certification...

[spidey07]

That's where lots of pool time helps a ton. Very controlled environment, low stress, no currents or anything to worry about. I actually did my checkout dives in a rock quarry that had platforms setup for drivers underwater. You get better and better every dive.

The biggest thing beginners struggle with is ears and buoyancy. Oh, and they tend to exhale through their nose fogging up their mask.

 

[boomerang]

I have big problems with my ears. Got a shitty instructor story related to that when doing my open water portion. I'll leave it for another thread.

 

[spidey07]

A good portion of people can't equalize their ears and it prevents them from diving. It's a physiology thing.

 

[iamwiz82]

A good portion of people can't equalize their ears and it prevents them from diving. It's a physiology thing.

My ears equalize using different techniques. It's a PITA but that's just the way it is.

 

[purbeast0]

yeah i shouldn't have a problem with the ear pressure thing since i didn't have an issue when doing it previously. only went to 30ft deep but it was still fine. it was crazy how when i was 30 feet deep it looked like i was like 15 feet deep. i didn't realize how deep we were until after and i asked the instructor.

i also equalize my ears all the time when diving down when snorkeling. i just wish i could hold my breath longer though than i can, because i have to basically go down and come right back up when snorkeling. i just blame it on my asthma lol.

 

[Paladin3]

yeah i shouldn't have a problem with the ear pressure thing since i didn't have an issue when doing it previously. only went to 30ft deep but it was still fine. it was crazy how when i was 30 feet deep it looked like i was like 15 feet deep. i didn't realize how deep we were until after and i asked the instructor.

i also equalize my ears all the time when diving down when snorkeling. i just wish i could hold my breath longer though than i can, because i have to basically go down and come right back up when snorkeling. i just blame it on my asthma lol.

Do you wear a weight belt of any kind? I wear weights when I freedive, just enough so when my lungs full I'm positive buoyant and when my lungs are empty I'm slightly negative buoyant.

Once you dive down a bit your wetsuit will compress and make you even less buoyant. Then you glide down easier, spending less energy and conserving your breath. It makes staying at depth easier, but you do have to kick a bit to get back up to the surface.

But don't go wearing too much weight, and learn how to ditch the belt quickly if you need to in an emergency.

 

[purbeast0]

I know this thread is old as shit, but I finally am signed up for an OW certification class. I'm taking the class over the weekend of November 10th/11th and it's from 9am-9 or 10pm, depending how much time is needed in the pool. 9-5 is class work with an hour for lunch, and then 5:30 until 9 or 10 is the pool work. It's going to be a busy 2 days.

Then the class is taking a trip to Grand Cayman in mid-December that I'm most likely going on to do the checkout dives. My wife is going to tag along and maybe some friends too. So even though I didn't do it back in May 2014, I'm finally doing it lol.

And getting medically cleared was a pain in the ass since I have asthma. I had to go to like 5 different places and do multiple different tests. But my asthma is so mild that the guy who gave me the most intense tests at the hospital said had I not told him I had asthma, he never would have never guessed. I didn't mention it to him until I was done since he was confused as to why I was doing these tests just to get SCUBA medical waiver signed, but then I told him I had asthma and he almost looked dumbfounded lol.

 

[Exterous]

I know this thread is old as shit, but I finally am signed up for an OW certification class. I'm taking the class over the weekend of November 10th/11th and it's from 9am-9 or 10pm, depending how much time is needed in the pool. 9-5 is class work with an hour for lunch, and then 5:30 until 9 or 10 is the pool work. It's going to be a busy 2 days.

Then the class is taking a trip to Grand Cayman in mid-December that I'm most likely going on to do the checkout dives. My wife is going to tag along and maybe some friends too. So even though I didn't do it back in May 2014, I'm finally doing it lol.

And getting medically cleared was a pain in the ass since I have asthma. I had to go to like 5 different places and do multiple different tests. But my asthma is so mild that the guy who gave me the most intense tests at the hospital said had I not told him I had asthma, he never would have never guessed. I didn't mention it to him until I was done since he was confused as to why I was doing these tests just to get SCUBA medical waiver signed, but then I told him I had asthma and he almost looked dumbfounded lol.

Good luck - have fun and for the love of god pay attention. My first true OW dive was at the Great Barrier Reef so I was put in the noob group. Those people were a fucking mess. Damn near a danger to those around them as they had no regard for where their fins were or how to properly maintain buoyancy. (I was just floating there and one of them landed on my head)

 

[FirNaTine]

I know this thread is old as shit, but I finally am signed up for an OW certification class. I'm taking the class over the weekend of November 10th/11th and it's from 9am-9 or 10pm, depending how much time is needed in the pool. 9-5 is class work with an hour for lunch, and then 5:30 until 9 or 10 is the pool work. It's going to be a busy 2 days.

Then the class is taking a trip to Grand Cayman in mid-December that I'm most likely going on to do the checkout dives. My wife is going to tag along and maybe some friends too. So even though I didn't do it back in May 2014, I'm finally doing it lol.

And getting medically cleared was a pain in the ass since I have asthma. I had to go to like 5 different places and do multiple different tests. But my asthma is so mild that the guy who gave me the most intense tests at the hospital said had I not told him I had asthma, he never would have never guessed. I didn't mention it to him until I was done since he was confused as to why I was doing these tests just to get SCUBA medical waiver signed, but then I told him I had asthma and he almost looked dumbfounded lol.

Good luck. I had fun getting certified many years ago not too far from you. I did check out dives in Mt Storm lake in WV, because it's also a cooling reservoir for a local power plant, so it was quite warm, but not much to look at.

But clear water diving on a trip to Negril was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, my spare money goes to married life/kid/pets etc now, so I haven't dove in quite a while.

As far as the asthma thing, it sounds like you did a pulmonary function test, and showed no evidence of obstruction that would be common with asthma. So, I'm guessing you're well controlled. I'd still talk to your pulmonologist anyway to make sure everything is good. The issue with asthma is actually more of getting air out, as opposed to in (air trapping). That's why they measure peak expiratory flow (how fast you can breathe out)

If you are at depth, and were to ascend quickly, not being able to quickly get the higher pressure air out of your lungs as you ascend could be a bad thing, but definitely not the only thing to worry about. The other issue is potentially reduced lung capacity, which can make you less effective at using your air, and less tolerant of exertion.

 

[olds]

Thought this was a new thread till I saw that DrPizza had posted...

 

[purbeast0]

Good luck. I had fun getting certified many years ago not too far from you. I did check out dives in Mt Storm lake in WV, because it's also a cooling reservoir for a local power plant, so it was quite warm, but not much to look at.

But clear water diving on a trip to Negril was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, my spare money goes to married life/kid/pets etc now, so I haven't dove in quite a while.

As far as the asthma thing, it sounds like you did a pulmonary function test, and showed no evidence of obstruction that would be common with asthma. So, I'm guessing you're well controlled. I'd still talk to your pulmonologist anyway to make sure everything is good. The issue with asthma is actually more of getting air out, as opposed to in (air trapping). That's why they measure peak expiratory flow (how fast you can breathe out)

If you are at depth, and were to ascend quickly, not being able to quickly get the higher pressure air out of your lungs as you ascend could be a bad thing, but definitely not the only thing to worry about. The other issue is potentially reduced lung capacity, which can make you less effective at using your air, and less tolerant of exertion.

I did speak to a pulmonologist when I did all of my tests. I am not really worried because my asthma is so well controlled at this point and I hardly even have asthma. I use advair like 3-4 times a week and primarily I take it before I work out, kind of just because it's in my gym bag and you're supposed to take it 2x a day. I haven't used my rescue inhaler in over a decade.

I did multiple breathing tests at the docs, then I did a PFT at the hospital which was actually 3 tests. They then did a blood test to check the oxygen level in my blood. After that they put me on pure oxygen for 30 minutes and ran that test again. Both the PFT and the first blood test results were higher than average for non-asthmatics, and after I was on oxygen, the test result was exactly what they expected, where the oxygen level in my blood went up to 100%. So I definitely took all the precautions and now have a medical waiver signed off, so I can check YES to the asthma question on the form and not lie about anything.

I also did SCUBA last year down in the Keys. I did like 2 hours in the pool then 2 1-tank dives and loved every second of it. I am very comfortable in the water for the most part so I think I will be fine doing SCUBA. I actually answered NO to all questions on the form that time since obviously I wouldn't have been able to do it without a waiver signed.

And I've heard about the quarries around here and yeah, I have no desire to do any SCUBA there. I saw videos of people doing SCUBA in the Chesapeake Bay on youtube and was like WTF how is this fun? You see like 3-4 feet in front of you and just see crabs and rocks. Oh and they saw a frog fish too I think. I go to warm tropical water like 3-4 times a year so I plan on doing SCUBA somewhat often once I'm certified. The only thing that sucks is I couldn't find anyone to do this class with, which would have made it more fun just having a dive buddy to go through it all with.

 

[FirNaTine]

I did speak to a pulmonologist when I did all of my tests. I am not really worried because my asthma is so well controlled at this point and I hardly even have asthma. I use advair like 3-4 times a week and primarily I take it before I work out, kind of just because it's in my gym bag and you're supposed to take it 2x a day. I haven't used my rescue inhaler in over a decade.

I did multiple breathing tests at the docs, then I did a PFT at the hospital which was actually 3 tests. They then did a blood test to check the oxygen level in my blood. After that they put me on pure oxygen for 30 minutes and ran that test again. Both the PFT and the first blood test results were higher than average for non-asthmatics, and after I was on oxygen, the test result was exactly what they expected, where the oxygen level in my blood went up to 100%. So I definitely took all the precautions and now have a medical waiver signed off, so I can check YES to the asthma question on the form and not lie about anything.

I also did SCUBA last year down in the Keys. I did like 2 hours in the pool then 2 1-tank dives and loved every second of it. I am very comfortable in the water for the most part so I think I will be fine doing SCUBA. I actually answered NO to all questions on the form that time since obviously I wouldn't have been able to do it without a waiver signed.

And I've heard about the quarries around here and yeah, I have no desire to do any SCUBA there. I saw videos of people doing SCUBA in the Chesapeake Bay on youtube and was like WTF how is this fun? You see like 3-4 feet in front of you and just see crabs and rocks. Oh and they saw a frog fish too I think. I go to warm tropical water like 3-4 times a year so I plan on doing SCUBA somewhat often once I'm certified. The only thing that sucks is I couldn't find anyone to do this class with, which would have made it more fun just having a dive buddy to go through it all with.

Ah, good on all the medical precautions. Sorry, hadn't realized you'd done all that work up already.

The only folks I know that dive in the Chesapeake Bay are doing recovery (body, evidence, valuable equipment) or repair work (inspecting or defouling props on commercial vessels). At best you only have a few feet of visibility due to the water.

The rescue divers I work with (who cover a significant chunk of the Bay) train to do everything by feel. Large area searches are done via SONAR, or grid search with rope, but once the divers are in water, thereth virtually blind.

Quarries are another option, and can be relatively clear, but the lake I mentioned was 85ish degree water surface temp on a cool day (power plant waste heat). There was a (30? foot) and 60 foot platform in place for certifying dives. Visibility was ok at 60', but definitely cooler. You just had to watch getting within a few feet of the bottom and stirring up silt with your fins, obscuring your vision.

 

[SearchMaster]

I saw videos of people doing SCUBA in the Chesapeake Bay on youtube and was like WTF how is this fun? You see like 3-4 feet in front of you and just see crabs and rocks.

My certification dive was in Panama City and it was HORRIBLE. Visibility was horrible and the currents were incredibly strong (go down for 2 minutes and come back up 300 yards from the boat). I guess it's good to show poor conditions so you have experience for the future but nobody in their right mind would intentionally dive in those conditions.

But you should have a blast in the future. It's been a few years for me but it's nice to have the certification for when the opportunity arises. I know you go to the Caribbean fairly often and there's some great diving there.

 

[Midwayman]

Good luck! Scuba is a ton of fun, and I'm happy I got certified long ago. Just make sure you keep diving after your first trip. Most people seem to do the class, do one trip and quit. Being comfortable in the water is a huge plus. I think the #1 issue with new divers is just people panicking. I've had my reg kicked out more times than I can count. I've had my wife go out of air and have to buddy breathe to the surface. I lost both my fins at 140fsw in the great blue hole. You just have to keep calm and deal with it. Follow the plan and that sort of stuff is all recoverable.

 

[purbeast0]

I will definitely SCUBA fairly often. As you can see from this thread that I started in May 2014, I've been wanting to do it for over 4 years (even longer and I did it before I created this thread) but I just really never decided to take it too serious, and I was fairly okay with just snorkeling. But the more and more I've snorkeled and since I go on more vacations now, it's made me want to just do it that much more. Last year was pretty much the icing on the cake when I went to the Keys for a guys trip and we went just to primarily snorkel, fish, and do a discover SCUBA course. After that I decided that I am going to just do it.

Then this past year when I went to the Keys in July I was unable to even snorkel just due to weather and stuff, and I told my wife fuck it, I'm going to do my certification. She knows I've always talked about it and this time I decided to just do it. So I went to a local classes orientation to get a feel for what it would entail and I really liked the instructor so that is who I am going with.

My plan was to do the classes in August and do my checkout dives in Grand Cayman when I was there in September for our 10 year anniversary. However at the orientation, he told me that for the dives you would need to have a medical waiver signed regardless of answering YES to any questions on the form. Initially I was going to answer NO to them all since that is what I did in the Keys and was fine, and I had talked to a doctor prior and I knew I'd be fine, but once he told me that, I knew I had to get medically cleared. And that just took way longer than I anticipated, and I wasn't cleared before the class I could take prior to my trip happened.

So now I'm doing this class and like 90% going to Grand Cayman again in December to do the checkout dives. And after that, my wife and I typically hit up tropical waters 3-5 times a year. We have typically been going to the Keys at least once a year too and the reefs down there are some of the best I've ever seen, as is the sea life, so I'd definitely do it a bit down there. But we also want to go to Roatan, Belize, Bonaire, and other places where SCUBA is supposed to be really good so having this prior to going to those places will be great too. We are also trying to conceive right now so we're avoiding places with Zika, which limited us to Grand Cayman and Bahamas this year as far as out of the country goes.

 

[Midwayman]

But we also want to go to Roatan, Belize, Bonaire, and other places where SCUBA is supposed to be really good so having this prior to going to those places will be great too. .

Roatan had great healthy reefs, but not a ton of large sealife. Belize was pretty nice all around. We were on ambergis cay which had good local diving, but make sure you take a day trip out when you go. The blue hole I could skip doing again, but the other dives in the area like lighthouse reef, etc are amazing. Even if you don't want to do the hole, there are trips that just goto the outer islands.The bahamas I thought the shark dives I did were the most interesting thing. The water is a LOT colder than anywhere else I dove in the Caribbean.
Bonaire is on my list. I've done Curacao right next door and it had good diving, but not the shore diving of bonaire. Cozumel is always high on my list too with the drift diving. Palancar gardens is pretty amazing there as well. Lots of sharks and turtles and 'bigger' stuff on the drift. Less lush reefs.

 

[jlee]

I know this thread is old as shit, but I finally am signed up for an OW certification class. I'm taking the class over the weekend of November 10th/11th and it's from 9am-9 or 10pm, depending how much time is needed in the pool. 9-5 is class work with an hour for lunch, and then 5:30 until 9 or 10 is the pool work. It's going to be a busy 2 days.

Then the class is taking a trip to Grand Cayman in mid-December that I'm most likely going on to do the checkout dives. My wife is going to tag along and maybe some friends too. So even though I didn't do it back in May 2014, I'm finally doing it lol.

And getting medically cleared was a pain in the ass since I have asthma. I had to go to like 5 different places and do multiple different tests. But my asthma is so mild that the guy who gave me the most intense tests at the hospital said had I not told him I had asthma, he never would have never guessed. I didn't mention it to him until I was done since he was confused as to why I was doing these tests just to get SCUBA medical waiver signed, but then I told him I had asthma and he almost looked dumbfounded lol.

Have fun!! I got my OW last year - I've always been terrified of deep water and I absolutely suck at treading water, but I managed to do it for 10 minutes in order to pass the class. Ocean diving was incredible. Water got a bit less scary, so mission accomplished, haha.

 

[purbeast0]

Trip has been booked for Grand Cayman in December. I just need to book my flights, going to do that tomorrow. Going with the wife and son again and they will just hang at the beach while I do the dives. I may also do the Advanced OW certification while there, if I feel comfortable enough. That involves 5 more dives after the initial 4. I can get it all done in 3 days so that would be pretty awesome. As of now I plan on doing it, however I am going to just wait and see until I get there since there's no need to let them know this early.

I do wish my wife would do it with me, but she did the dive with me when I first did it in Cancun and she kind of panic'd and had to come back up without us. She did go back down with another group and had a great time, however she says she just doesn't want to do it now because she thinks she will be to paranoid. And the whole thing of clearing your mask underwater freaks her out. My son is 3 and already says he wants to SCUBA with me so when he turns 10 he's going to get certified lol.

 

[MixMasterTang]

I got certified 3 years ago in Indonesia, my oldest son 2 years ago in Thailand and my youngest this last year in Australia (all PADI, and my oldest I did our Advanced in Puerto Rico about 18 months ago). I think all 3 of us did different study types. I watched video's at the dive shop and completed the assessments in the book. My oldest did in class/book training and my youngest did all of the course material online prior to diving. The video / book course I did was 2.5 days and so was the classroom / book learning my oldest did. The youngest completed all of his online training a few days before he started his certification class which is probably what I would have done if I did it again. I say that because between the physical exertion of learning to dive coupled with studying from a book and watching videos all day was very exhausting for me!

Let me know if you have any other questions, I've dove in Thailand, Indonesia, Vanuatu, Puerto Rico, Grand Cayman, Roatan Honduras, the Great Barrier Reef and also in Sydney (where I live now and dive often).

 

[Midwayman]

I may also do the Advanced OW certification while there, if I feel comfortable enough. That involves 5 more dives after the initial 4. I can get it all done in 3 days so that would be pretty awesome. As of now I plan on doing it, however I am going to just wait and see until I get there since there's no need to let them know this early.

FWIW don't do Advanced unless you just want more time with the instructor. I did AOW. The classroom instruction wasn't super valuable to me. At least the dives were mostly normal dives. The money is better spent on just more time in the water. The one exception is if you dive in the US alot where they are more anal about certification limits. I've never been questioned about having an AOW in 13 years in the Caribbean. I did it mostly because its a step to rescue diver and that's a worthwhile cert once you've been diving a few years. If you really want to pick up another card, I'd get nitrox or drysuit (if you plan on diving back up north.)

 

[purbeast0]

FWIW don't do Advanced unless you just want more time with the instructor. I did AOW. The classroom instruction wasn't super valuable to me. At least the dives were mostly normal dives. The money is better spent on just more time in the water. The one exception is if you dive in the US alot where they are more anal about certification limits. I've never been questioned about having an AOW in 13 years in the Caribbean. I did it mostly because its a step to rescue diver and that's a worthwhile cert once you've been diving a few years. If you really want to pick up another card, I'd get nitrox or drysuit (if you plan on diving back up north.)

The AOW portion is just the 5 extra dives that I'd do and then I'd be advanced certified. It wouldn't require additional classroom time. I've scheduled my trip in GC long enough so that I could do the extra dives with enough time to not dive then get back on the airplane.

I'm not sure if no extra classroom work is needed because what we go over in the class also covers the classroom portion of it though. I had assumed that the AOW was just doing 5 additional dives though and not anymore classroom work. I'll find out more about it when I take the classes though.

 

[Midwayman]

The AOW portion is just the 5 extra dives that I'd do and then I'd be advanced certified. It wouldn't require additional classroom time. I've scheduled my trip in GC long enough so that I could do the extra dives with enough time to not dive then get back on the airplane.

I'm not sure if no extra classroom work is needed because what we go over in the class also covers the classroom portion of it though. I had assumed that the AOW was just doing 5 additional dives though and not anymore classroom work. I'll find out more about it when I take the classes though.

AOW does have some classroom work. Not much compared to your open water cert, but there is some reading, etc. Unless they're doing something special like BOW where you do classroom stuff back home and do the dives on site. I did mine in Cozumel. It was just a couple hours of reading really and then a short multiple choice quiz in the shop.

 

[purbeast0]

AOW does have some classroom work. Not much compared to your open water cert, but there is some reading, etc. Unless they're doing something special like BOW where you do classroom stuff back home and do the dives on site. I did mine in Cozumel. It was just a couple hours of reading really and then a short multiple choice quiz in the shop.

I'm guessing the required materials are covered in the classroom work I'm doing in 2 weeks then. Because the instructor has already told me that I can get AOW on the trip with him. I'll also be NAUI, PADI, and (i believe) SSI certified after the class and dives, although PADI is the main one I was going for. He said I'll have those 3 since I'm doing the checkout dives with him. I went to the orientation for this class like 2 months ago or so so I don't remember all of the details but I'll find out them all at the class.

 

[purbeast0]

Well day 1 of the classes is in the books. I really struggled with the swim and treading water. I had to do 100yds with fins/snorkel which was really easy then 200yds without it and that just killed me. I had to take a break before I could try treading for 10 minutes, and holy hell I didn't think I was going to make it. It sucks seeing everyone else doing the treading portion so easily and I simply am not bouyant at all. I have an athletic build and am muscular and I know muscle is more dense than fat so I think that works against me big time.

I also ended up buying new fins because the damn sales guy got me lol. I didn't "need" new fins as I had my old backup ones, but I wanted some new ones and wanted to try non-split fins. The ones they had were $150 and I looked em up online and they are like $170ish and had great reviews, so I said fuck it and got em. I also wanted new booties because mine were pretty beat up and I used them a lot to wade in the river while I go fishing, so they are just beat. So I splurged and got em.

And damn, they are NOTICEABLY easier to use than my other ones. The huge difference is how much lighter they are in all honesty. But I feel like they propel better with less effort, which is odd because that is what split fins are supposed to be for. But that's really all I know since that's all I have ever bought just because I thought they looked cool lol. But I'm glad with my purchase now and plan on using em for a long time.

Tomorrow is another long ass day like 9am to 9-10pm. I'm missing all football and going to DVR the Redskins game and just not pay attention to anything, which should be easy because today I didn't pay attention to anything other than SCUBA stuff.

 

[Midwayman]

I barely managed my 200 yard swim. Apparently you can do it will fins and a snorkel, but have to do 300yards. That would have been cake. FWIW fins you'll mostly care about their affect on your SAC later on. I feel like it keeps going back and forth on if split fins are best or not.