Skills tested on OW cert dive?

[tparrent]

I am headed to Ft Lauderdale in two weeks for my open water certification with some instructors from my local dive shop. I did my pool work last January but did a refresher two weeks ago and will do one more next week in order to get comfortable with my new gear.

What specific skills do they test on the OW dives and how are the dives set up? I've looked through the books but all I can see is that there are four dives over two days. What depths can I expect? Do they test taking all the gear off and on at depth and surface? Is the general set up one dive in the morning and one in the afternoon or two on the same trip out with surface time in between?

Also, reading through these threads I noticed that many people seem to take their confined dives over several days. I wish I had done that. On my pool day we spent four hours in the water and I was dead tired at the end. I'm not that strong a swimmer (ok, I'm a weak swimmer) so the swim test at the beginning took my breath away to begin with (I wonder if anyone else has completed their swim test on their back? Treading water seemed way too strenuous after the swim so I just short of laid back and took a snooze. They woke me up after the requisite ten minutes and told me I passed. Cool.

I thought the swim test and treading water would be with wetsuits and fins so I was a bit surprised when we went in with just swimsuits. I have since improved my swimming (some) and will swim 5 or 6 times before open water.

In any case, after four hours in the water, the last skill was doffing and donning the BCD at the surface. Wonderful. My tank was empty so I had to keep my mouth out of the water. My arms and legs were dead tired and I was having a real problem.

And that was BEFORE my weight belt slipped over my manly hips and down my legs. Fortunately, I caught it with my feet. Unfortunately, it is really difficult to tread water with weights around your ankles. While doffing a BCD. Got it done, got the signature.

In the refresher session everything went fine. I had purchased a prescription mask which made ALL THE DIFFERENCE! I could actually SEE signals. What a concept.

Long story, no point. Except, of course, to ask again what I can expect on the OW cert dive. Been on lots of resort course dives (all of them hideously unsafe!) so I am comfortable with being down there, just wondering what I will be called upon to do.

Thanks!

 

[halocline]

Are you joking about the "snooze"? I assume you mean you floated while resting, not got out the water, right?

Let's see if I can remember...mask flooding, reg recovery, fin pivot, sharing air, I think we had to don/doff the BC in the water, other than that I can't remember. If I'm not mistaken, your PADI OW book should list the skills.

Not to sound too preachy, but you might consider some lap swimming to build up your endurance; I guess we all should! The better physical shape you're in, the less air you'll consume while diving and the more likely you are to enjoy your dives. Have fun with your certification dives.

 

[tparrent]

Joking about the snooze? Nope but it's worse than you think - I fell asleep IN THE WATER! Floating peacefully on my back until the instructor nudged me awake and told me the ten minutes were up.

I am swimming laps every other day until the trip. Not a lot of laps but every bit helps.

 

[devolution365]

I just got done doing a refresher with a class doing their OW dives. It seemed like they did pretty much everything that they did in the pool except the swim test and float.

 

[scubajcf]

You'll do four open water dives.
For a preview of dives 1 and 2, turn to page 176 in your Open Water Diver Manual.
For a preview of dives 3 and 4, turn to page 244 in your Open Water Diver Manual.

Don't sweat it too much. Just relax, breath deeply and break your skills down step by step.

jcf

 

[TSandM]

A description of my four open water dives is in my journal.

You will do all the skills you learned --- mask flood & clear, remove & replace, air share, descent on a line, with visual reference to a line, and without visual reference; navigate a straight line out and back; tired diver tow. I think I had to take my BC off at the surface and put it back on . . . I don't remember them all, but they're all recorded for posterity in the journal.

We did two dives a day on two separate days (I don't know if that's pretty standard or not) with an hour and a half or so surface interval. The depth on the first dives was about 40'; on the second two, I got to 60. You also get to do some touring about, depending on how much time it takes to get through the skills.

 

[tparrent]

Thanks scubajcf - that's just what I was looking for and I don't know why I couldn't find it.

Looks like the weight and bcd dof/don occurs at the surface. As long as waves are not an issue that should make it easy. I am always afraid that I will float up when I do it on the bottom. Will have to try it again in the pool next week and then with an instructor in open but easy water.

 

[TheRedHead]

I did BC doff and don at depth. Simulated OOA/share air and CESA are two that haven't been mentioned yet. I had to do the CESA with my air turned off and my BC hose disconnected from 40 feet. Not being PADI, we also did a skin dive to about 15 or 20 feet.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

You are also required to doff and don at depth. cesa is usually from between 25 and 35 ft and does not require air be turned off and hose disconnected. If fact PADI teaches it as right hand up to guard for objects on the surface and left hand up holding inflator to vent air as necessary to control the ascent although this is not usually necessary as the instructor is to maintain firm contact with the student to assist in ascent control and make sure nothing goes wrong.

 

[TheRedHead]

My OW checkout instructor was NAUI and my classroom was SSI. I had a universal referral. He told me that if I didn't breathe all the up on the CESA, he would punch me in the stomach. For any of you southerner's out there, it was Earl Lindsey at Rockdivers in Madison AL. This guy is HUGE and it scared the bejeebers out of me. The hardest part was towing him across the quarry.

We were on a platform at about 15 or 20 feet when I did the BC removal. I had practiced the same on the bottom of the pool in class.

I really liked Earl as a person and an instructor and felt better prepared than you PADI sissies. :05: