Ginger
Guest
Hi tyki,
Like you are doing, I completed my certification in stages and in several different places.
I started off in Hawaii, trying to finish it all in a 4 day class. Well, I got through the class/book work. I got through the first pool dive but it was not a good experience... equipment problems, an instructor that I didn't click with and trouble equalizing (yeah, in 4 ft of water!!) and on the second morning I was scheduled for confined water, I woke up with a fever and earache (guess that explains the equalization problem, eh?). Canceled the dive and experienced a miserable trip by air back to the Mainland.
Months pass and my partner has been quietly encouraging me to not let the bad experience completely ruin diving for me... I'm willing to give it another try... and I receive word that I've been awarded a trip to Puerto Rico through my job.
I contact a local dive shop in California to see if I can do my confined water dives before the trip. They were wonderfully accommodating and let me join in the sessions that very weekend. (Like your experience, it was very strenuous but I was able to get all the confined water stuff was done in 2 days). I fought badly fitted equipment and some residual fear from the 'not great' experience from my limited pool exposure in Hawaii, but prevailed with the help of some truly terrific instructors with the patience of Job.
Off to Puerto Rico with (my own properly fitted) gear in the bag and my nerves singing in anticipation...
Our first and second dives on day 1 were *glorious*. Vis was 60+ feet. The water about 80 degrees. Loads of bright fish and coral to look at... and the Divemaster was very relaxed and having a blast showing me all this great stuff for the first time. The feeling was just beyond words.
The only low point was right after we descended and I had a real problem with bouyancy... as it turns out, I hadn't secured my weight properly and one of the holders had slipped out of my BC... lose half your weight and you do tend to make like a cork<G>. My partner spotted it on the bottom and with the instructor looking on, we slipped it into the pocket of my BC and got on with the fun!
The skills in OW didn't feel any different to me from what I'd done in the pool so we would cruise a bit... then do a skill or two and cruise some more.
Back in the boat and I was just in a world of wonder! The things I'd seen... the fact that I DID IT
What a feeling!
Day two and vis is not as good as the day before, 20-30 feet and it's raining off and on. It's kinda neat to look UP and see rain on the surface of the water above you. Different instructor. He's good but in a hurry. Still amazing stuff to see on the dives but I wasn't nearly as relaxed. It took me three tries to master the last skill (the CESA) but I got it. When I returned to the boat, it was as the newest PADI OW diver.
I can hardly wait to get back in the ocean next month. It'll be purely for pleasure, although I know I'll learn a bit more and polish my skills on every dive.
Good luck to you and your husband. Maybe someday we'll see you 'down there'.
Ginger
Like you are doing, I completed my certification in stages and in several different places.
I started off in Hawaii, trying to finish it all in a 4 day class. Well, I got through the class/book work. I got through the first pool dive but it was not a good experience... equipment problems, an instructor that I didn't click with and trouble equalizing (yeah, in 4 ft of water!!) and on the second morning I was scheduled for confined water, I woke up with a fever and earache (guess that explains the equalization problem, eh?). Canceled the dive and experienced a miserable trip by air back to the Mainland.
Months pass and my partner has been quietly encouraging me to not let the bad experience completely ruin diving for me... I'm willing to give it another try... and I receive word that I've been awarded a trip to Puerto Rico through my job.
I contact a local dive shop in California to see if I can do my confined water dives before the trip. They were wonderfully accommodating and let me join in the sessions that very weekend. (Like your experience, it was very strenuous but I was able to get all the confined water stuff was done in 2 days). I fought badly fitted equipment and some residual fear from the 'not great' experience from my limited pool exposure in Hawaii, but prevailed with the help of some truly terrific instructors with the patience of Job.
Off to Puerto Rico with (my own properly fitted) gear in the bag and my nerves singing in anticipation...
Our first and second dives on day 1 were *glorious*. Vis was 60+ feet. The water about 80 degrees. Loads of bright fish and coral to look at... and the Divemaster was very relaxed and having a blast showing me all this great stuff for the first time. The feeling was just beyond words.
The only low point was right after we descended and I had a real problem with bouyancy... as it turns out, I hadn't secured my weight properly and one of the holders had slipped out of my BC... lose half your weight and you do tend to make like a cork<G>. My partner spotted it on the bottom and with the instructor looking on, we slipped it into the pocket of my BC and got on with the fun!
The skills in OW didn't feel any different to me from what I'd done in the pool so we would cruise a bit... then do a skill or two and cruise some more.
Back in the boat and I was just in a world of wonder! The things I'd seen... the fact that I DID IT
What a feeling!Day two and vis is not as good as the day before, 20-30 feet and it's raining off and on. It's kinda neat to look UP and see rain on the surface of the water above you. Different instructor. He's good but in a hurry. Still amazing stuff to see on the dives but I wasn't nearly as relaxed. It took me three tries to master the last skill (the CESA) but I got it. When I returned to the boat, it was as the newest PADI OW diver.
I can hardly wait to get back in the ocean next month. It'll be purely for pleasure, although I know I'll learn a bit more and polish my skills on every dive.
Good luck to you and your husband. Maybe someday we'll see you 'down there'.
Ginger
