Beach Cities Scuba - Open Water Classes 1/13/2016

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TheHuth

Contributor
Messages
334
Reaction score
86
Location
Long Beach, CA
# of dives
50 - 99
Damn, I just wrote out a long thread. Took me about a half hour. I went to submit it, and they literally just pulled the trigger on changing the style of the board. It wouldnt save, and I have to start all over. I should have copied it to my clipboard before hitting submit. So here is the second round of the same post.

Before I write my post, I wanted to thank the members of this board. It is surprising to see such a high level of activity on a niche topic. The responses I have gotten have been really good and helpful. I'm glad I found this forum.

My wife got me a groupon for Christmas to Beach Cities Scuba. It is something I had been asking for, but didnt expect her to get it for me. I have lots of wild ideas, and I figured she would put SCUBA in that category. To my surprise she thought it was a great idea. I think its because we went to Catalina over the summer and did some snorkeling. Its something I've wanted to do forever. When I was young, I had a close friend whos father was a navy seal. He let us gear up and scuba in his pool. I loved it ever since, but never was able to do it (mostly because of finances).

Christmas day I got on their website and signed up for classes. I read that they expected you to have had your study materials at least 2 weeks prior to the start of class. I picked the first date that would meet that criteria, and that date was last night. In hindsight I wonder if they would have let me pick a sooner date, but I'll never know.

They called me the next day, and I drove down to Huntington Beach to pick up my books. I filled out the medical form, and knew that I was going to have to visit my doctor. I developed severe Ulcerative Colitis in my early 20's that ended with me getting a total colectomy at 31. I'm 37 now, so I've had it for a very long time. I had done my homework, and I knew that this wouldnt be a problem. But I wasnt sure if my doctor would feel otherwise.

I met with my doctor and he was totally cool with it. I had brought lots of documentation to show that ostomies were not an issue, but he didnt need to review any of it. He had zero issues with me training. He knows very well that I live an active life. He had his nurse fill the forms out. When I got home, I noticed that instead of a signature, they had rubber stamped it. I wanted to make sure this wouldnt be a problem, so I reached out to Beach Cities Scuba. I wont name names, because it would be inappropriate. But the person I talked to said it was fine. I had scanned and emailed it over so he could see it, and he said the way it was signed was fine. Later that day I drove down to Huntington Beach to discuss the upcoming class, and I again showed him the form. He said it was fine as is, and I needed nothing more. I took his word for it, and didnt think about it again.

Within 5 days of picking up my study materials, I was finished. I read the book cover to cover, watched both dvd's, and read the RDP table book. For good measure I paid for a months membership to scubaexams.com. My first practice test was 96%. So it was probably overkill to pay for the membership. But I have done about 10 practice tests. It has helped me identify some questions that you have to pay attention to. One example is whether you are low on air, or out of air. The answer is different depending on which of those two it is. So I have honed my test skills.

Having been pretty thorough in reading all the paperwork I noticed that there are 2 water skills tests that are needed. The 200 meter swim and 10 minute water tread. I decided to spend some time at my local LA Fitness to do this. I know I am a very good swimmer (Spent every summer on a lake as a kid), but wanted to make sure I was in proper shape. Everything in life is preparation, and I wanted to be well prepared.

I got fantastically lucky. I found a person online who was going to take classes at Beach Cities Scuba, but dropped his course before starting. He had purchased all of his gear from them. He got the exact package I wanted, in the exact size I needed. All of the equipment was unused with the tags still on. The only difference was the color I would have chosen. But these were Blue which is pretty masculine. So I was happy to buy it and save $150. And in the end Beach Cities made the sale, just not directly to me.

Okay, so all of the preparations were made, and the waiting commenced. I'm not a patient person, so it was a long 19 days. Last night was my first class. I met with the instructor Lisa. The first thing she did was go through all of our paperwork (Log books, study guides, legal forms, and medical). Right away she saw the rubber stamp signature in my medical form and said it was not sufficient. I didnt tell her that it was twice confirmed by her peer and fellow instructor. I knew it would be mostly a waste of breath, and I'd be starting a pointless argument. But basically I had 2 days to stop back in to my doctors office and shove a pen in his hand. This is so far the only frustration I have with Beach Cities. Had the other person told me it wasnt sufficient, I would have resolved it well in advance of my first class. But it is what it is.

This first night the schedule was laid out for us. This coming Saturday would be an all book day at the Huntington location. Sunday will be the 5 confined water dives at Cypress. Then we were able to pick the date of our 4 ocean dives. I knew they would offer both beach and boat dives to cover this portion. I was planning to pick beach for two reasons a) it would be a bigger accomplishment, and b) it was cheaper. But after listening to Lisa spell out what the beach dives entailed, I opted for Boat. It just sounded way more fun, which is what SCUBA is all about. I chose the following weekend to do that so I could wrap my training quickly. Unless plans change, I should be complete on the 24th.

We reviewed the quizes at the end of the first two chapters. Then we did closed book quizes on the same. I got 100% on quiz 1. I missed one question on quiz 2. I read the question too quickly and didnt consider all of the answers. I should probably spend the rest of the class paying a bit more attention, as I should be able to ace every single test.

With that, last night's class was concluded. I actually really like the instructor. I'm hoping she is the instructor during at least some of my dives. I just felt very comfortable with her. It was pretty obvious that safety was her top priority. And since I'm now in my late 30's, safety is my top priority. It would be very different if I was younger; and I'm glad I didnt take this sport up then. I probably would have killed myself.

More to come as I progress. I look forward to sharing the remainder of this course with everyone, and eventually joining your ranks.
 
thanks for sharing and good luck with the rest of your class and instruction....keep us up to date.
 
Wrapped the knowledge portion of the OW course today. We met with Linda at Beach Cities Huntington location at 10am. Was done by 1pm. I felt very comfortable with this instructor. She is at the "Course Director" certification level, so clearly has dedicated her life to SCUBA. She was very patient, and really good at explaining things. I'm very much hoping to see her during my actual dives. At the end of the class I got a perfect score on the RDP Table exam, and a 94% on the final written exam. I missed 3 questions. One I knew the answer but marked it wrong. The other two I legitimately did not know. Still well within the margin of passing. I spent a few minutes with Linda going over the missed questions. After that, got my log booked signed, and headed out.

Tomorrow is the 5 confined dives. I'll keep updating as I progress.
 
Thanks for sharing. SoCal has beautiful diving. The boat trips are fun and great way to spend time getting to know other divers. Dont let the shore diving scare you off. There is a bit of technique to making those entries & exits that an instructor & or experienced mentor can show. SoCal has tons of great shore diving sites and many local dive clubs have group outings in placeslike Hiesler Park in Laguna & Vets Park in Redondo. And the shore diving is way cheaper so you'll be able to dive often.
Do check out the SoCal forum to meet up with lots of other Scubaboarders.
http://www.scubaboard.com/community/forums/socal.88/
 
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Good deal. Thanks for the info. I was initially planning to do all shore dives. But changed my mind when I had the situation explained to me. I figured lets have fun now, and get the certification out of the way. Then I'll have my whole life to do shore dives :)
 
Yes, do have someone with shore diving experience to show you how to enter and exit our SoCal beach diving sites. I highly recommend the 3R's classes which are held several time during the year (Free) conducted by Los Angeles County Scuba Instructors. I believe you can find information at lacscuba.com. Last year we had some of the best beach diving condition I've experienced in 20 years of diving local sites. Maybe this year will be slightly questionable due to El Nino, but there's always hope for the summer and fall.
 
Yes that 3Rs (Rocks, Rips, & Reefs) class is excellent. Lots of great info. They rotate which beaches they teach it at. I took it years ago at White's Point.
http://www.lacscuba.com/?page_id=17
 
Continuing my review/blog of my experience, I did my confined pool dives today. It was an interesting day to say the least. I'm sure the other students would prefer to remain anonymous, so I wont mention names. But my instructor today was Brian. To start the day there should have been 6 students including myself, but one did not show. That left one couple, and 3 individuals at the start of class.

We started right in to the swim skills assessment. This is where things went a bit sideways. Unfortunately one of the people from the couple didnt eat a very good breakfast, and wasnt very skilled at swimming. He was able to complete his tests, but must have swallowed allot of water. Within about 15 to 20 minutes of finishing those, he turned a bit white, and nearly passed out. Paramedics were called, and oxygen was provided. He threw up a bit, and then made as much of a recovery as possible. He did not need medical attention, but clearly that was the end of his day; as well as his wifes. So having witnessed the handling of the emergency, I'd say they got an A. Everything was handled very professionally. If you take nothing else away from this whole thread, you can know that Beach Cities Scuba provides a very safe learning environment.

So, before really getting under way, we were down to 3 students. Even though it was an unfortunate situation, it did allow for a much more quaint group, and more space to swim in the pool. Today was obviously lots of fun; but it is a skill building day. Most of the time is spent at the surface discussing what technique you will be doing, and then doing it. We spent a couple of hours in the water, then took a good half hour break. Then back to the pool for a couple more hours. I started with about 3100 PSI in the tank. By the end of the day I was at 500. That should give a pretty good idea of how long we spent in the water. When we did the free flow regulator, it only ate about 150 psi total. All in all I must have used about 2300 pounds of air.

I have to emphasize that I had a great day today. I was actually able to get to know my fellow students this time, as well as the instructor. I liked all of them, and would be stoked having any of them as a buddy on a real dive. I really enjoyed practicing with Brian. Lots of fun. Explained things well. and an all around cool guy.

With that, I've got a 6 day wait till Saturday. Looking forward to the open water dives.
 
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