Just completed PADI Open Water but still don't feel ready?

[gopal77]

I just completed my PADI Open Water certification, which tells me I'm now allowed to go dive up to 18 meters anywhere, but I still don't feel remotely ready. In particular, I still struggle to control my position and the angle that I'm facing while underwater. I also don't feel like I'd have any ability to cope with any current at all. I feel like it would be dangerous for me to jump straight into actual diving without having someone quite senior very close by.

Is this normal to feel like this? What can I do to combat it? Am I ready and just need practice, and if so, what can I look for that would allow me to get this practice? Are there things such as 'beginner dive trips', where everyone is certified but noone is very good yet and an instructor hangs around and keeps a closer eye than usual?

Feeling quite conflicted about this. Thanks for you help!

 

[BikerBecca]

Your feelings are by no means abnormal. Some people need a little more time and experience and that is easy to get.

Does your dive shop have monthly "Fun Dives?" They are a great place to meet people with more experience to take you on a dive and they are a great way to meet a potential dive buddy. You can also consider getting some specialties. Get certified in night diving or navigation or something else that interests you. You'll learn more about diving, the aquatic world, and have more time with instructors. Also, hire a Divemaster for the day. Let them take you on a local dive. Watch what they do, follow their lead. They'll keep you safe and make sure you have fun while you gain more experience in the ocean.

Finally, just have fun. Diving should be relaxing and an amazing adventure. Use every dive to enjoy the wonders that are there beneath the waves and use every dive to improve your skills. I'm an SSI and PADI dive professional and I am still learning on every dive. I am still using each dive to get better at the things I do, and to learn as much as I can.

 

[Zef]

Your fear/insecurity about your skill level and comfort is well warranted, it should help keep you alive.

Your certification does not limit you to 18 meters. Your certification permits you to do recreational scuba diving, the depth limit for recreational diving (non-tech diving) is 40 meters. PADI asserts that you are encouraged to seek additional training and experience before diving below 18 meters and that you should limit your diving to conditions similar to that in which you conducted your training. There was a very thorough discussion on this on ScubaBoard recently:

Question for instructors re depth limits

With regards to struggling to control position and angle in the water: This requires time and experience in the water. There is not shortcut to this, however, if your equipment, such as your BCD, does not fit properly it will usually take longer to develop a good sense of body control in the water.

I am not trying to preach the use of back plates/wings (BP/W), but I have been using one for a few seasons and had the occasion a few months ago to use a vest/jacket style BCD for an evening....I could not believe the stark contrast to fit and function. Even though the BCD was sized appropriately for me, the way it held the tank, and the way the tank sat in relation to my body, made it very difficult to control my position in the water. I was happy to be back diving with my back plate the following week.

I recommend checking if there are local dive clubs in your area and if they hold pool sessions anywhere? Perhaps one of the universities local to you has a dive club? If you can find one, spend some time in a pool working on all the skills you did in your OW class but do them while hovering in a horizontal position. Learn to frog kick. Learn to maneuver without using your arms for balance/stability and propulsion.

The more time you spend in the water with your gear, the more experience you will gain, and the more comfortable you should become.

I hope that helps.

Good luck.

-Z

 

[Skulmoski]

Diving is a technical sport that has risks and associated impacts. Some students come to it quickly; others ease into the sport. I have had similar feelings; I was not a confident diver after my open water certification. So I did things to improve such as reading and re-reading theory and practice, as well as diving whenever I could. I progressed through the certifications and completed my Dive Master certification 3 years later.

Make sure that you feel really confident with just snorkelling gear in open water. If you are not, then adding scuba equipment will not make things easier! I was fortunate to be able to swim with snorkelling gear 3-5 times per week to ensure I was competent with this basic gear and to improve my fitness within a water environment. Some pools have open scuba hours so you might be able to get additional diving time.

You might also create a skills development plan to review the Performance Requirements you demonstrated during your Open Water course. (In my PADI Open Water Manual, these requirements are at the end of Chapter 3 in sections "Open Water Dive 1 Overview" and "Open Water Dive 2 Overview". The Dive Master Manual also includes a slightly different but useful perspective if you want more information about these critical skills. Or you might just focus on a few learning outcomes such as:
- set up and test the scuba gear as part of your pre-dive perparations
- set aside time before each dive to visualise the entire dive
- conduct a buoyancy check for each dive until no longer required
- complete 6 shallow water dives

One thing you might do is to join a dive club. I joined a great BSAC club (British Sub Aqua Club, Abu Dhabi) and made about 50 dives with them over 2 years. I really liked diving with this BSAC club. I learned a lot and further refined my skills!

Unfortunately, the Open Water course can have a bit of a rushed feeling to it since the new diver may be on sensory overload! And there are a lot of new skills to develop! Go slowly. Stay shallow. Go diving!

GJS

 

[Diver0001]

With regards to struggling to control position and angle in the water: This requires time and experience in the water. There is not shortcut to this, however, if your equipment, such as your BCD, does not fit properly it will usually take longer to develop a good sense of body control in the water.

There is definitely a learning curve. If the student has been well instructed then they will have the knowledge and skills to fine tune it by themselves given a bit of experience. If not, then the learning curve will be significantly extended because the student will not understand what they are doing wrong or how to fix it.

From the sounds of the OP he may fall into the second category. The only real solution at that point is to take remedial training, either a PPB specialty or to spend some time in the water with someone who can finish the job of skills/knowledge transfer properly.

Throwing gear at a skills problem is not something I would do, although I do agree that poorly fitting gear will exacerbate the problem.

R..

 

[Zef]

There is definitely a learning curve. If the student has been well instructed then they will have the knowledge and skills to fine tune it by themselves given a bit of experience. If not, then the learning curve will be significantly extended because the student will not understand what they are doing wrong or how to fix it.

From the sounds of the OP he may fall into the second category. The only real solution at that point is to take remedial training, either a PPB specialty or to spend some time in the water with someone who can finish the job of skills/knowledge transfer properly.

Throwing gear at a skills problem is not something I would do, although I do agree that poorly fitting gear will exacerbate the problem.

R..

Not in total agreement. Poor fitting/poor functioning gear can certainly hold people back. I understand that gear can be a crutch or an excuse, but lets look at the big picture...if you are overweighted you may indeed struggle to maintain proper position/trim in the water regardless of skill, especially if the weight is in all the wrong places.. The weight you wear while diving is part of your "gear"...by making a modification you may find that you can much more easily/readily apply your skill set or develop that skill set.

Its like playing tennis facing the sun...its not a lack of skill issue not being able to see the ball due to the brightness of the sun in your face....put some sunglasses on (gear) and you can now see and hit the ball (apply skill).

-Z

 

[Diver0001]

I think we basically agree but we're looking at it from two different angles.

To my way of thinking making changes to a configuration doesn't make sense until you understand how/why you are doing so. Your point that some changes to configuration may help and indeed may be necessary is certainly true as well.

I think where we differ in a approach is in the order in which it gets done. I would like to see the skills/knowledge transfer be completed first and foremost but obviously making some changes to the configuration may be necessary in order to achieve that.

So yeah, same coin, other side.

R..

 

[Zef]

I think we basically agree but we're looking at it from two different angles.

To my way of thinking making changes to a configuration doesn't make sense until you understand how/why you are doing so. Your point that some changes to configuration may help and indeed may be necessary is certainly true as well.

I think where we differ in a approach is in the order in which it gets done. I would like to see the skills/knowledge transfer be completed first and foremost but obviously making some changes to the configuration may be necessary in order to achieve that.

So yeah, same coin, other side.

R..

One of these days we should meet up....for a beer/coffee, or even a dive. Do you ever come west to Belgium?

-Z

 

[Searcaigh]

@gopal77

Welcome to SB.

I see the OP is from India, perhaps he / she can let us know where they were trained and in what conditions.

As the OP is a beginner post OW, and very inexperienced perhaps they need somebody from India to point them in the right direction for their local diving.

 

[divad]

Practice in a swimming pool.