Open Water Dives

[MC88]

I have previously done intro to scuba courses and have done 2 dives in Roatan and one in Bahamas.
Decided to go ahead and get certified, and have now completed my classroom and pool dives here at home and am travelling back to Roatan in a couple of weeks to complete the 4 open water dives.
I am travelling with another family member who is certified and was just wondering about the process for the open water dives...

I'm assuming majority of the time spent on the four dives will be concentrated on skills etc.
Is it normal for my dive buddy to be on the same dive with me or is something completely different because i am trying to get certified and should he wait until i finish my dives so we can go together.

I guess what I'm asking is that is it 100% skills on these dives or is there a bit of time for recreation which is what i was used to on the first three dives i have done.

Thanks!

 

[abnfrog]

I have previously done intro to scuba courses and have done 2 dives in Roatan and one in Bahamas.
Decided to go ahead and get certified, and have now completed my classroom and pool dives here at home and am travelling back to Roatan in a couple of weeks to complete the 4 open water dives.
I am travelling with another family member who is certified and was just wondering about the process for the open water dives...

I'm assuming majority of the time spent on the four dives will be concentrated on skills etc.
Is it normal for my dive buddy to be on the same dive with me or is something completely different because i am trying to get certified and should he wait until i finish my dives so we can go together.

I guess what I'm asking is that is it 100% skills on these dives or is there a bit of time for recreation which is what i was used to on the first three dives i have done.

Thanks!

can do

 

[scottwilson1]

well I just got back from a dive trip, a couple people got certified while i was there, the way it worked was we all went out on the same boat first stop was for C-divers , once we finished the first dive then the seconded group went out to do there class, then break/lunch then we did our second dive and after that they finished there's. they keep the trainees with the dive guide so i don't think your buddy would be on your dive prolly on the same boat tho, when your certified then i think you two can dive together as a buddy pair I'm also just basing this off what i saw on my trip FWIW

 

[MC88]

Thanks Scott,

just curious what company did you go with ?

 

[knotical]

Will depend on the instructor, circumstances, and perhaps certifying agency.

For example, if you are the only student or one of only a few, many instructors would permit your certified family member to come along as your buddy. But your instructor will be bound by the certifying agency’s criteria for instructor-student ratios. If the agency allows a maximum of eight students and he already has eight, your buddy would not be allowed to join you since dive-alongs count as students for this purpose, even though certified.

Typically, there is plenty of time left in a dive after skills are accomplished to permit sight-seeing. But if there are a lot of students there will be more time spent on skills and less for fun.

 

[tbone1004]

depends on the Agency, but if it's PADI which it likely is, your class should have covered what the OW dives are going to be like.... I don't have any PADI books on me otherwise I'd look it up for you, but they should have disclosed all of this.

 

[MC88]

yes it's PADI, they do show what needs to be accomplished in the open water dives i have all the material. was just curious about how the dive shops operate it with other people, groups etc.

 

[scottwilson1]

Thanks Scott,

just curious what company did you go with ?

I was certified by Groundhog divers in Kitchener Ontario, ( SSI and NAUI ) open water was done in Wiraton ont

I did my dive trip with Pattaya Dive centre ( Thailand) there a 5star Padi centre

 

[TMHeimer]

The PADI OW dives include some but not all of the pool-learned skills. I guess you can check with the instructors re which ones, but it's stuff you know anyway. The "new" PADI course allows for a "mini dive" on the 4th & final dive. This is where you and buddy/team plan the dive yourselves with an instructor or assistant along just to be safe. But other than that dive, you are pretty much doing skills on the other 3, which is why I always recommend doing the OW dives locally first if possible. At any rate enjoy yourself down there.

 

[diversteve]

Where are you staying in Roatan? One of the AI resorts or the West End/West Bay?

At places like AKR you'll probably be by yourself with other cert/discover divers since they have the boats/staff to do that - at some of the smaller single boat shops I can't see anything but you and your buddy on the same boat - but it's not likely the instructor will want the distraction of your buddy hovering nearby till you've completed "class". Probably by the 2nd day you'll be diving with your buddy and be certified - only a few shops do 4 dives/day and I don't know if PADI standards allow you to do them all the same day.

It's pretty casual there though so IDK...

Here's an example from a shop we used of what you can expect - I don't remember there being any cert divers on the boat all week but it was a slow week so we were most of their business except for a couple cruise divers: PADI Open Water Diver | Scuba Diving | Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras | PADI