Started my PADI Open Water Certification today!!

[mfox007]

Hey Everyone,

Today officially started my Scuba journey. I had my first day of class towards getting my PADI OW certification. We had a 4 hour class today and I will have another class on Thursday. I am doing my certification with Scuba Magic in Tempe, AZ. The course layout is:

Monday September 3rd - Class Day 1
Wednesday September 5th - Class Day 2 (I rescheduled to Thursday the 6th with the second group that is doing Tuesday and Thursday)

Saturday September 8th - Confined Water Dive Day 1 (Pool for 4hrs)
Sunday September 9th - Confined Water Dive Day 2 (I had to reschedule this to Friday the 14th as I am leaving for a business trip to Orlando on the 9th and won't be back until the 13th. I had to pay an extra $100 to move it to the 14th, but it will be a private session so I feel it will be worth the extra cost)

Saturday September 15th - Open Water Day 1 (Lake Pleasant)
Sunday September 16th - Open Water Day 2 (Lake Pleasant)

If all goes as planned on the 16th, I will be a PADI Open Water Diver!!!

First day of class went very well. Including myself there were 9 students total. We went over the first three chapters of the PADI Open Water Manual. We took a short quiz after each section (Scored 90%-100%-100%). Got one question wrong on the first section because I marked the wrong box on my answer sheet when I knew the correct answer. The class was supposed to be from 6pm-10pm, but we ended up getting out at 9:30pm.

Our instructor (Gary - Owner of Scuba Magic) was great. Very knowledgeable, and very friendly. Made sure everything was stated so we can interpret the "to-do's" without actually being in the water yet. Had a couple laughs in class, and made sure we were focused on what were discussing. Make me feel a little more comfortable about the lake dives.

At the end of our review of Chapter 3, Gary brought out some gear and demonstrated a proper install of a first stage on to a tank, and how to attach the BCD (Just so we can visually see it).

I hope day 2 goes this smooth!!!



-Mike

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Enjoy every moment! Love your enthusiasm. If you think you are having fun now, just wait until you get in the water!

Dennis

 

[jar546]

Congratulations on your start! Keep up the great attitude and it will be an extremely enjoyable experience for you. Welcome to scuba diving!

 

[mfox007]

I thought PADI OW was certified to 100'. I guess we are only going to 60'.

 

[jar546]

40' for dives 1 & 2
60' for the balance of the OW dives

60' until you get some experience and do AOW or take a deep specialty. Then 100'

After that, with some experience and training behind you, 130 is the limit.

Take it slow and get comfortable first. Buoyancy, buoyancy, buoyancy!

Just enjoy yourself for now and take it all in, retaining as much as possible.

 

[tracydr]

I thought PADI OW was certified to 100'. I guess we are only going to 60'.

Really, depth doesn't make things that much more exciting. Andour or your first dives, you won't like going deep in Lake Pleasant. It's dark, murky and cold. As you'll learn, when you go deeper, it gets more complex and you can't stay down as long. But, you will probably take your Advanced class in no time, so don't worry about it!

 

[TMHeimer]

Enjoy the process. Looks like you have a good handle on what will happen--ei. you know your confined and OW dives and probably which skills will be taught. You'll probably be very good at dive planning. My OW class approach was "Uh, what do we do next"? Though I did study the book for 2 months ahead of time.

 

[mfox007]

Really, depth doesn't make things that much more exciting. Andour or your first dives, you won't like going deep in Lake Pleasant. It's dark, murky and cold. As you'll learn, when you go deeper, it gets more complex and you can't stay down as long. But, you will probably take your Advanced class in no time, so don't worry about it!

I guess your right! I really hope the conditions clear up a little at Pleasant. We are diving Vista Point, so hopefully all the muck turned up from Labor Day will settle a little to improve visibility.

If all goes as planned, I hope to dive a couple times a month to get some experience. Once my daughter is born (due in January) I will go for AOW.

---------- Post Merged at 08:40 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 07:56 AM ----------

Enjoy the process. Looks like you have a good handle on what will happen--ei. you know your confined and OW dives and probably which skills will be taught. You'll probably be very good at dive planning. My OW class approach was "Uh, what do we do next"? Though I did study the book for 2 months ahead of time.

Thanks! I'm kind of like a sponge. When I get involved in something that excites I want to know everything I can about it. I try to learn as much as possible from reading so that when I am with someone visually learning I have a better understanding of what I am doing.

I always try to become that "go-to" guy for answers.

 

[Tyger]

I thought PADI OW was certified to 100'. I guess we are only going to 60'.

As others have already pointed out the actual depth limits (I thought that was covered by the end of chapter 3 in the OW manual anyway?) I'll just add my own personal experience as having recently completed AOW and gone past 60' for the first time...

For the most part, there isn't some magical change at 60' that the stuff beyond is just so much better. One thing you learn in AOW is there is no point in going deeper just for the sake of going deeper. Some sites do require deeper dives just to get to them, but there is so much to do without going beyond 60'.

And going deeper comes with many downsides, not the least of which is that you suck through your air so much quicker, and your NDL tends to be very short. And the consequences tend to be more severe if you lose control of buoyancy. Far better, especially when you are new, just to spend more time at shallower sites, getting used to being in the water and your gear. Most likely your first few dives past OW, you'll still be so focused on learning proper buoyancy, trim, breathing, and technique, that you won't even notice half the stuff around you there is to see.

 

[mfox007]

As others have already pointed out the actual depth limits (I thought that was covered by the end of chapter 3 in the OW manual anyway?) I'll just add my own personal experience as having recently completed AOW and gone past 60' for the first time...

For the most part, there isn't some magical change at 60' that the stuff beyond is just so much better. One thing you learn in AOW is there is no point in going deeper just for the sake of going deeper. Some sites do require deeper dives just to get to them, but there is so much to do without going beyond 60'.

And going deeper comes with many downsides, not the least of which is that you suck through your air so much quicker, and your NDL tends to be very short. And the consequences tend to be more severe if you lose control of buoyancy. Far better, especially when you are new, just to spend more time at shallower sites, getting used to being in the water and your gear. Most likely your first few dives past OW, you'll still be so focused on learning proper buoyancy, trim, breathing, and technique, that you won't even notice half the stuff around you there is to see.

Thanks for the info Tyger!

I guess I am more of the person that doesn't need to, but wants to be able too.