OW Cert. Questions

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b2gdBill

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I completed all of the confined water dives about 3 weeks ago and had no problems with anything. Due to a scheduling conflict I was unable to complete the Open Water dives right away. I will be completing the Open Water dives this coming weekend. I don't feel uncomfortable with this, except the fact that it is not fresh in my mind. I have been going back through the PADI book and reviewing everything from the class. What should I expect this weekend? Any heads-ups or "insider" tips that a novice might not think about?

THANKS!!
 
b2gdBill:
I completed all of the confined water dives about 3 weeks ago and had no problems with anything. Due to a scheduling conflict I was unable to complete the Open Water dives right away. I will be completing the Open Water dives this coming weekend. I don't feel uncomfortable with this, except the fact that it is not fresh in my mind. I have been going back through the PADI book and reviewing everything from the class. What should I expect this weekend? Any heads-ups or "insider" tips that a novice might not think about?
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Welcome to ScubaBoard!!

As you may have noticed, the PADI OWD book specifies the skills that are normally to be done on each OW dive. I think they're highlighted in yellow.

I believe your instructor is allowed to modify the order the skills are done in, but that should give you a very good idea as to what you'll be doing... and when.

Remember it's not a "test"... you'll be able to repeat the skills until you get them right.

Good luck, and have fun!

--Marek
 
Just the stuff you did in the pool, mask flood and removal, air exchange, CESA, weight belt and bc removal/replacement.. oh, and dont forget to have fun.
 
Don't sweat it. I had to wait almost 2 months before doing my checkout dives and they were still easy. Skills are the same as what you did in the pool, but way more cool stuff to look at...the dives are just fun. Where are you doing them?
 
IMO, it's better that you don't go in knowing exactly what is going to be thrown at you.

That way, you won't fall into habits.

These are skills that should become second nature. Treat them all as important.
 
i had almost five months between my classes and my cert dives and actually ended up doing my dives while on vacation in Texas. i was able to stay fresh by getting some pool time with my instructor during another class he was running which helped. you'll find that much of what you learned will come back to you with ease...kind of like riding a bike. my cert instructor in Texas took his time and explained each skill we would do while on the surface before each segment of the dives so that we knew what to expect. just relax and review the skills in your mind before you do them. you did them in the pool, now you'll just do them again. remember to never hold your breath and above all...HAVE FUN! it is supposed to be fun after all. good luck on your dives and don't forget to let us know when you're done!
 
b2gdBill:
I completed all of the confined water dives about 3 weeks ago and had no problems with anything. Due to a scheduling conflict I was unable to complete the Open Water dives right away. I will be completing the Open Water dives this coming weekend. I don't feel uncomfortable with this, except the fact that it is not fresh in my mind. I have been going back through the PADI book and reviewing everything from the class. What should I expect this weekend? Any heads-ups or "insider" tips that a novice might not think about?

THANKS!!
Click to expand...

Make sure you are comfortable with the basics. When i was certified, we did all these skills (mask/fin/bc removal and donning, etc) in a pool, at around 78-82 degrees. Then for our open water dives, we were in florida springs. 68-72 degrees. Not only was the wetsuit i had (and was fine in in the pool) not enough for me, the mask removal thing got to one of the gals in our class.

There was a fallen log, lying horizontally along the bottom. We were in about 30 ft of water, if i remember correctly (might have been less....). We had a tiny class, 4 of us plus instructor. We all sat on the log with the instructor ahead of us. One by one we'd go to him, he'd take hold of our BC, and we'd demonstrate the skills. This gal was 3rd or 4th in line. My turn came, reg purge and removal went fine. The water hitting my face during mask removal/clearing was COLD!!!, but i had no problems. Ditto everyone else, until we got to this lass. Reg purge went fine (and i think my instructor had gotten a little relaxed at this point (not sure). The minute she removed her mask, she hit her inflator and rocketed up to the surface. Apparently our instructor hadn't expected that little episode and lost his grip. 30 or less feet.....constant exhale (she'd learned that lesson well thankfully) no big deal. But he wouldn't pass her until she got it right, and rightfully so. Just imagine if she'd had her masked knocked off at 60 after about 45 minutes.

No big suprises in open water, just make sure you have your skills down...AND RELAX and enjoy the dive.....
 
Don't worry :D I had to do my check out dives a month and a half after my confined water skills because I got hypothermia then came down with mononucleosis (my confined water training was IN the lake just in case you're wondering about the hypothermia). While I didn't like the whole mask removal and clearing and that lovely controlled emergency ascent w/out mask in frigid lake water one bit, all went well after some coaching from my great DM Bill and my instructor Chris. Something that was good about waiting a bit to do the open water was that I had a different buddy than I had previously and that helped me to learn about adapting to different buddies and not getting set in a routine and getting sloppy. I bet you'll do great and I hope you have fun.
 
Hello,

I am doing the same thing, finished class about 3 weeks ago and doing my ow this sunday. My son got married and we were pretty busy with it for the last two weeks and so I hadn't even been in the pool. I went up the other night and hopped in and just went over all the basics and sat in the deep end for about an hour. - just to feel comfortable. Good Luck.
 
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