Got my OW Certification

[southernblue]

Hello all, my brother and i finished our Open Water course yesterday, and had no problems in obtaining our certification.

We did 6 dives in 2 days, the deepest being our boat dive to 11m,
this was the highlight of the course, as we took bananas down with u to feed the fish, i didn't think that they would like the bananas as much as they did, but boy did they like them.

We stayed under for about 30 minutes, and when we surfaced, the whole class was stoked.

We finished the day with a shore dive at the local pier, and enjoyed the freedom of diving without having to do any skills tests.

Now i have to say that the class structure and teaching was great and very informative and helpful but, i think it was lacking in more time to master the skills needed to go under away from the instuctors eye.

So we are booking in to do the Advanced Open Water in a couple of weeks, not just to dive deeper, but to gain more knowledge and confidence in the water, and have more supervised dives and guidence from the teachers.

All said and done, it has been the most thrilling and exciting 4 days i have had for a very long time, the opportunity to feed fish bananas at 11m will be hard to beat for some time, and something i will never forget.

Cheers

Trevor.....

 

[mislav]

Congrats on your OW and welcome! :banana:

Not going to comment on your banana business... but you are very spot on when you say you haven't learned enough yet. I'm afraid, not even AOW class will help much. Keep learning from every source you can including one of the most informative - ScubaBoard! You'll meet some very friendly divers here and learn a lot.

 

[REII]

Congrats on your certification. Now enjoy diving (repeat as necessary).

TOM

 

[PePaw]

Congratulations !
Well done.

 

[sambookamax]

Congrats!

I will be getting mine soon...once I buy my gear...

 

[DivingCRNA]

Congrats.

Now dive. So you can really learn some things.

 

[Fastmarc]

Congrats.
Yep, nothing beats the learning you get from more dives, so dive away.

 

[huskychemist]

Hello all, my brother and i finished our Open Water course yesterday, and had no problems in obtaining our certification.

We did 6 dives in 2 days, the deepest being our boat dive to 11m,
this was the highlight of the course, as we took bananas down with u to feed the fish, i didn't think that they would like the bananas as much as they did, but boy did they like them.

We stayed under for about 30 minutes, and when we surfaced, the whole class was stoked.

We finished the day with a shore dive at the local pier, and enjoyed the freedom of diving without having to do any skills tests.

Now i have to say that the class structure and teaching was great and very informative and helpful but, i think it was lacking in more time to master the skills needed to go under away from the instuctors eye.

So we are booking in to do the Advanced Open Water in a couple of weeks, not just to dive deeper, but to gain more knowledge and confidence in the water, and have more supervised dives and guidence from the teachers.

All said and done, it has been the most thrilling and exciting 4 days i have had for a very long time, the opportunity to feed fish bananas at 11m will be hard to beat for some time, and something i will never forget.

Cheers

Trevor.....

Welcome to the addiction!!! And congratulations on your OW Certification!!

If I may offer some unsolicited advice that was given to me after my OW certification a year and a half ago:

1. Dive! Dive! Dive!
Find dive buddies and places where you can dive within your training, to get more comfortable with the gear, skills, etc. This will increase your safety and enjoyment dramatically.

2. And I was told early on to consider EVERY dive a "skills dive." It's paid off. Early on, after the safety stop of EVERY dive, I would spend time working on skills. (You mentioned you would have liked more time...me too...I felt we were rushed...) So I practiced mask removal and replacement, regulator retrieval, switching to my back-up regulator, ditching my weights (do carefully...don't drop the weights...just practice pulling them out), knife retrieval and replacement, etc. Any skill we learned in OW, I practiced. It really improved my confidence underwater. I thought this was important even BEFORE taking AOW, as I went into AOW more comfortable with my skills. I still practice these skills on almost every dive, to the point of it being rote.


Happy Diving!

Woohooo!

Lowell

 

[N692BC]

It's a fantastic feeling to complete the open water isn't it

Congrats

Ross

 

[mudhole]

Hello all, my brother and i finished our Open Water course yesterday, and had no problems in obtaining our certification.We did 6 dives in 2 days, the deepest being our boat dive to 11m, this was the highlight of the course, as we took bananas down with u to feed the fish, i didn't think that they would like the bananas as much as they did, but boy did they like them.
Now i have to say that the class structure and teaching was great and very informative and helpful but, i think it was lacking in more time to master the skills needed to go under away from the instuctors eye. All said and done, it has been the most thrilling and exciting 4 days i have had for a very long time, the opportunity to feed fish bananas at 11m will be hard to beat for some time, and something i will never forget.Cheers Trevor.....

Welcome to diving, now that you have that C-card. . . wear it out. Recruit others from your class, and your brother and dive often. Sounds like you had a good instructor, follow his advice on future training, but don't limit yourself to class dives. You are qualified to repeat those first open water dives, do that.

These first dives don't need to be any more complicated than what you've done. Go down and blow bubbles, learn your equipment, and learn what's around you. Fish feeding can be harmful, and illegal in some areas. If your instructor permits it where you dove it's OK. Try taking some bait that local fishermen use. Put out a little bait in front of you and let it attract the small fish. When your skills don't scare these small fish, you'll be able to see and dive with the bigger fish. Flashing your hands while trying to control position, or breathing too "jerky" or holding your breath will startle the fish, and they will react. Smooth out your motions with practice, and you will be able to move around the fish.

Another trick, when watching nervous fish, don't turn directly toward fish, you look like a threat. Move at an angle to the fish and look to the side, and the fish will feel less threatened. Blow lots of bubbles and visit with the people waiting for air fill, like you. They may make good dive partners.