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DD,
Welcome to Diving and welcome to the board!

As a rule, if you got it right in the pool, it will present no problems in open water. You will be a bit deeper than you were in the pool ( 30ft range), which actually makes bouyancy control easier. You'll do the same skills (except Free flowing regulator and don/doff bcd/weightbelt underwater), in a different environment. A way cooler environment if you ask me.

The first checkout dive is mainly just a dive so you can get comfortable in your gear and the new environment. Dives 2-4, you start the dive with the skills, then go for a dive on the Fla reefs. Way Cool.

If there are specific skills that have you concerned, or you want to know more about Key Largo diving, feel free to PM me, or post it here so everybody can kick it around.

BTW, If you are as comfortable in the water as your profile pic indicates, you will have no trouble at all!!

Key Largo is my personal favorite spot for diving and teaching. The boats are top notch and the crews will give you lots of help.
pat another question have you ever gone out with silent world in key largo? thats where im doing my dives. also i have a 5 mil suit and am always cold LOL think it will be ok at that time of year? the last thing i want is to be cold. i think that would make it that much harder on me
 
I recently got certified (October) and honestly I was not really concerend about any of the skills. For some silly reason I was more concerned about how I looked in the 7 mil black (form fitting/form smashing) wetsuit than I was about the diving. I guess I figured that there has to be somebody that mastered this skill who was worse off than me at some point. :rofl3: Plus I knew that my dive instructor was going to make sure that I did not die so I was ok with that. Once I got to the dive site and in the suit, I realized that all of the other divers and class mates were not paying any attention to how I looked as they only wanted to talk about visability and water temp.

Once I got in the water I was rather giddy and ended up having a great time. The only thing that I struggled with was remembering not to hold my breath (it is underwater afterall). :no: Making the ZZZ (or AHH) sound took a few reminders from the instructor but I caught on. :D

Just remember that you did all of the skills in the pool and you can do it in the water. Wherever you are doing the checkout dives is really just one big pool and there will be so many people there keeping an eye on you that there is no need to be nervous or concerned. :wink:
LOL I thought i was going to be the onlyone concerned how i looked in a wet suit. My fiance keeps telling me no one cares LOL. thanks for the insight. everything you say makes sense and I will carry everyones words with me when i do my dives:D
 
There is nothing to worry about in your check out dives. If you can do the skills in the pool you should be fine in the water. Remember also just to sit back and enjoy it also as they are time spent under the waves.

Good luck on your check outs and enjoy the diving!
 
welcome to :sblogo: and remember dont :panicbutton:
 
Thanks. You are going to do great. The free flowing reg was not a big deal. It was just like sipping from a drinking fountain. I think I got it wrong the first time. My instructor showed me again and I got it right. No big deal. We had a guy that had a hard time with a few things but the instructors were very patient and he figured it out.

Dont sweat the wetsuit issue. Really, nobody cared. I dont think they even noticed anything but the water and and how fast their fins could get in it. Afterward, I was so warmly welcomed by the group that I was surprised. Everybody remembered my name (even if I could not remember theirs) and wanted to know what I thought about the diving. I have been in the military and have been working as a lawyer for 5 years but never in my life have I felt so comfortable with a group of people as I did and do with divers. I am not sure why but I think it has something to do with the common goal and genuine desire to have fun and be helpful.

Enjoy your dives and dive as often as possible. I am trying to follow that mantra myself. I plan on diving often so I can improve my skills and learn more. I have two trips planned for the winter and once the weather gets warm again, I imagine, I will see much of Lake Michigan and other local dive spots.

Again, good luck to you and post back how your dives went.
 
Hi everyone,
I am scheduled for my checkout dives for late december and have some general questions. I was hoping some of you could share with me how you felt during your certification dives, what skills were a challenge for you, and also what skills you were dreading but maybe turned out to be a cinch (LOL) i am very excited but also very nervous about "the unknown"
thanks in advance for all your help:D

Hey, hope your certification goes really well :)

I did mine fairly recently too (well Feb this year) and I found it quite hard, but I think I was the only one in the class who struggled :wink: But I got through and still diving, and now very comfortable in the water so I am sure if I can make it anybody can :)

The main skill I found hard was mask clearing and mask removal and replacement as I kept breathing water in my nose and then choking. However I just practiced a lot and eventually got the hang of it by my final checkout dive (I now no longer breathe in through my nose and mouth at the same time :p). I think if there is anything you are having trouble with, just make sure you bring it up with your instructor and s/he can help you out. Also never feel bad about taking things slow, even if everyone else looks like they are doing fine! You might want to mention how you are nervous about the freeflowing regulator to your instructor? They'll know to spend more time on it then.

Good luck!

P.S. Yes no one will care what you look like in a wetsuit :p Diving is not a glamorous sport so no one really judges how others look :rofl3: At least, no one I've met!
 
Silent World is a great op...I dove with them last December. I wore my new (thank you Santa) 3/4/5 wetsuit and was nice and toasty. My biggest fear on checkout dives was saltwater. (I know, weird) but getting saltwater in my eyes and mouth terrified me. Now I am so used to it that last time I dove freshwater I kept thinking something was missing. It took a little while for me to figure out it was the saltwater taste. And of course the mask off/on was tough, but with time I mastered it. Just take your time and go slow. Just a warning though, scuba diving is HIGHLY addictive. :D
 
Thanks to all for their input!!
pat I have a specific question for you since you are an instructor(right in my own neighborhood no less LOL I am in suffolk county BTW) anyway, I was under the impression that part of the skills tested would be the free flowing regulator (this is the one I am most nervous about). Am I reading your post wrong or is this something I will NOT have to do?:nervous:



I do try to be a good neighbor, LOL
I was speaking about PADI standards, but I don't believe that any agency requires free flow regulator in open water. The Board has a Q & A for certification agencies, and you can get it answered by your agency quicker than I can.

Even if it's not a required skill, it is one you want to be comfortable with. The key seems to be having around half the mouthpiece in your mouth, and never turning the airstream so far away that you're trying to breathe water. Try this with your instructor: Push down the purge button slowly, and SLOWLY adjust the reg as you increase the pressure. Once you're up to full free flow, and comfortable, you've found the zone. Now start over, but come up to full free flow faster. After a few tries, you'll be up to full speed. Yahtzee! Oh, If you tilt your head to the side, you don't have the airstream in your face.
 
pat another question have you ever gone out with silent world in key largo? thats where im doing my dives. also i have a 5 mil suit and am always cold LOL think it will be ok at that time of year? the last thing i want is to be cold. i think that would make it that much harder on me

I've been out with Silent world a couple of times, and I really like the op they run, particularly for new divers: Great crews, very safety concious and friendly. The boats they use are big enough not to get tossed around in little waves, and they only carry 10-12 divers. I do remember that getting into and out of the water was pretty easy.

I dive a 3mil in the Keys in December, with a 5mil, you should be warm and toasty. Enjoy the trip!
 

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