How many sessions did you take to pass OW certification

[Bubblewell]

So far I I've had five sessions (PADI OW)

1. Botched CW1 so just a trial dive effectively
2. A second 'trial' to get confidence up
3. CW1 passed easily
4. CW2 passed easily
5. CW3 passed but the instructors feel before I do OW1/2 or CW4 I would benefit from repeating or just a practice pool session due to lack of confidence. There was no lack of confidence, I just tried struggled to equalise correctly due to a mild congestion I thought was gone (didn't use any decongestants) which caused a little distraction from attention to detail so I had to do a couple of skills twice. After the skills I stayed shallow as it became apparent I could only equalise enough to stop pain rather than properly equalise my ears. This too was interpreted as lack of confidence. Since then I am congested again so don't know when I can resume.

Either way the outcome is I am going to have notched up around 8 hours of pool time by the time I get to start CW4, which is a good thing to me. Several others have picked up just as much time and some more to get to the same. Obviously some less depending on ability to replicate the skills. I think this is pretty good considering it is a flat cost no matter how long it takes.

Just wondering how long it has taken those qualifying and how long it took those who have qualified?

[drrich2]

I spent 6 OW cert. dives instead of 4. A complication for me was that when I weighed a lot more than I do now, in a wet suit at Vortex Spring & me being in a too-small BCD and wearing a weight belt while shaped like a bowling pin, I basically had the belt up high so it wouldn't fall off me, and I slowly spun like a top in the water. Made hovering for neutral buoyancy impractical. Bitterly disappointing at the time.

A weight-integrated BCD of the proper fit made life much better on subsequent dives.

Sounds like you're in an attentive course.

Richard.

P.S.: To this day I blanch at the prospect of wearing a weight belt.

[TMHeimer]

I did the course week nights (3 weeks of Tues. & Thurs., each night about 2 hours class, 1 1/2 hours pool). 6 in the class. 4 OW checkout dives. I've often said this was a good way for me to do it, as all of that class/pool time in one weekend would be a lot.

[TSandM]

I had six hour and a half pool sessions. I should have had more.

If you are having significant problems equalizing, you might want to talk to a physician. Ear injuries are probably the most common physical problem for diving students.

[Bubblewell]

I haven't had problems before equalising. It is just that one session and it feels like an exceptionally mild cold now. I won't dive till it's gone and if it recurs when I restart I will end the diving and see a doctor.

[drrich2]

Hopefully that cold will pass quickly. I've had reverse block twice, and being functionally 'trapped' underwater, in substantial pain every time you try to go up, and unable to equalize is bad, bad news.

Richard.

[Fdge]

I had 4 pool sessions of about 1 hour and 15 minutes each, and 4 open water dives 20 to 35 minutes each.
I also had two intro dives in the pool, one real one and one 'we don't have enough students yet but come on over if you want so you can have some extra pool time' dive

But, if I would have had any problems at all, mentally or physically, I would gladly have taken some more time safety first

[jbomb001]

ssi does 7 classes one day a week in class one hour and two hrs in the pool each class then as long as u are ready and pass the written test u can sign up for your ow dives we did 6 "check out dives" between 30 and 50 min. at a deapth of about 35 feet

[divinginn]

I had class or pool for 3 months, 2 days a week,then 2 ow checkout dives. This was 1980 YMCA

[emoreira]

I'm certified with SSI. We had 16 classroom sessions of 90 minutes and 16 pool sessions of 90 minutes, 1 theoretical + 1 pool session per week. After all this, we had a written test and a pool test. After all this, 5 check-out dives in open sea from a dive boat. As we were in the dive boat, we all had a 6th dive free. Also those dives counted for on-board specialty check-out dives.