O/W Cert Achieved

[Zen1300]

Today I completed my O/W cert and though I had some concerns initially, overall it was an amazing experience.

I was surprised to find out how comfortable I was in the open water. I didn't want to come up. I still sucked the air down more than my compatriots, but was told that some just do that and it gets better. Since we logged our starting and ending pressure, I was able to see that by my fourth dive I was staying down longer, being more active in the water, and using less air than my first dive.

I'm so looking to getting out there more and can't wait to take other courses to continue to learn.

I have to say that ScubaBoard has been very helpful. Thanks to all you scuba vets out there.

 

[a22shady]

Congratulations

 

[pir8]

Congratulations, now get out there ans dive dive dive

 

[Dragon Eye]

Congratulations!!!

Something I used initially to get breathing under control is to descend and hover or rest on a platform. Consciously pay attention to your breathing- you'll notice that you will be sucking air, and once you notice you are, you'll change your breathing. After your settled move on with your dive.

your SAC rate will definitely improve over time... dive, be safe, and have fun!

 

[Zen1300]

Congratulations!!!

Something I used initially to get breathing under control is to descend and hover or rest on a platform. Consciously pay attention to your breathing- you'll notice that you will be sucking air, and once you notice you are, you'll change your breathing. After your settled move on with your dive.

I did that today during our dives. When not performing a skill and not actively having fun, I spent a lot of time just hovering and getting a feeling of breath control and buoyancy. I think the two go hand-in-hand. A lot of the students were still using their BCs for buoyancy, which made it difficult for me to keep track of them as my buddy since they would go up and down like yo-yo.

I made it a point to try to get my BC as dialed in as possible so that I could rise and fall with my breath control. It definitely made the hover skill a lot simpler.

Now to just get my body attitude right for swimming - still angled and kicking myself up. More practice and looking forward to it.

 

[udtfire]

welcome to the wet side and dive dive dive pool openwater couch dive dive dive

 

[Ghanguss]

Glad to here your getting the hang of it, and more importantly thinking about how to better control your bouyancy and breathing.
Congratulations.

 

[stakanak]

Sweet. It just gets better!

 

[nielsent]

Congrats on your new Cert! I can personally vouch for the whole air consumption gets better, it took me about 20 dives before i could get more than 25 minutes out of a AL80. I switched to my portable cascade (LP120) pretty quickly.

 

[JerseyMike]

Today I completed my O/W cert and though I had some concerns initially, overall it was an amazing experience.

I was surprised to find out how comfortable I was in the open water. I didn't want to come up. I still sucked the air down more than my compatriots, but was told that some just do that and it gets better. Since we logged our starting and ending pressure, I was able to see that by my fourth dive I was staying down longer, being more active in the water, and using less air than my first dive.

I'm so looking to getting out there more and can't wait to take other courses to continue to learn.

I have to say that ScubaBoard has been very helpful. Thanks to all you scuba vets out there.

Congrats and welcome to becoming addicted to diving