Cert Dive Questions

[fins]

I am in the process of taking the PADI OW course and am considering a trip to Florida for my two days of cert dives.

I was wondering what to expect during those two days:
Will this be two full days?
Will it be two have days (doing two morning dives each day)?
etc.

Thanks

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

I am in the process of taking the PADI OW course and am considering a trip to Florida for my two days of cert dives.

I was wondering what to expect during those two days:
Will this be two full days?
Will it be two have days (doing two morning dives each day)?
etc.

Thanks

We do the cert dives over 2 days. 2 Half days on the boat.

You will re-do most of the skills you did in the pool as well as getting buoyancy more under control.

 

[Scottri]

I would plan on spending the entire day. It may not take the whole day but you never know. Some instructors take 8 students down at a time and some only take 2. It will depend on the number of students doing their checkout dives and the number of staff. Where I DM it takes the better part of the day to do 2 dives will 8 students. We take them down 2 at a time so that is 8 dives in the day for the staff. We usually take a long surface interval between dives 1 and 2 on Saturday and 3 and 4 on Sunday. I would ask the instructor.


Scott

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

I would plan on spending the entire day. It may not take the whole day but you never know. Scott

Budgeting the entire day for 2 dives indicates lack of good time management for the shop/instructors. Make phone calls & find some operator who can do it in a half day. No need to spend a full day making 2 dives.

 

[DiveTyme]

My OW dives take two half days with my students. It sometimes takes longer with refferal students, I like Capt. Jim, run through the skills in the pool first.
Tim
PADI OWSI #163017

 

[Ron Brandt]

Should be no longer that 2 half days even with full load.

Ron

 

[Genesis]

Two half-days.

However, find a shop that will do whatever you need to remediate anything you don't have nailed. PLEASE. You'll enjoy diving a lot more if you can actually dive, instead of just breathe underwater.

Specifically, this means having both trim and buoyancy under control.

It is not just (or even really much at all) about getting the card.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Doesn't anyone else do a confined water evaluation for referral students?

Morning day one: Pool evaluation skills circuit
Afternoon day one: OW dives 1 & 2
Morning day two: OW dives 3 & 4

The skills circuit is for the student to show me that they are ready for OW. Minor remediation, as needed, can stretch this out for a bit of time. Since the morning boat is doing 60ft (or deeper) dives for our operation, there's no point in trying to cram this in before the boat goes. We wait for the afternoon.

The skills circuit is doubly important for those students coming on a Universal Referral. Though the same topics are tested, the exact exercises are often new for the student.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Standards allow more than two dives in a day. 4 dives is the minimum and at this stage you need experience in the water.

I keep students in the water as long as useable gas holds out and on shallow OW dives this can be a very long time. Between skills and touring it's common for us to be in the water for an hour or more.

Before the first dive we spend time making sure students are not only weighted right but are trimmed right. We stay in a confined are until that's done because nobody can do a good jog of diving if those things aren't squared away.

I tell students to plan on two full days. I can get 2 dives done in half a day but students often need more time than theat before I'll certify them.

 

[Snowbear]

I am in the process of taking the PADI OW course and am considering a trip to Florida for my two days of cert dives.

Have you considered doing your certification dives locally, then spend your FL time fun diving?