1st day of ow done.

[JessicaDodge]

I finished the first day of my OW. We did the book work and went to the pool to begin some of the pool work. Got done with the swimming tests and the treding water test. Practiced equalizing with snorkleing gear. All was great. I had no problems. We got out to put on our scuba stuff and the great florida weather began to go away. Within 10 min it went from perfactly sunny, beautiful skies, to a complete downpore. An hour later we decied to head back to the shop to work on some more of the book work so we could make up the pool time tomarrow. Anyway, the first day is over and we didn't get too far behind so everything is good.


Jessica

 

[mtdivegirl]

Congrats Jessica
The first day is a blast and it gets better after that.

 

[Dee]

You've just finished the first day of you new scuba life! Let the adventure begin

 

[JessicaDodge]

Thanks, I am so excited I can hardly wait. I am already planning time off work so I can go diving.

Jessica

 

[Bishop]

Yeah, we just finished the course today. Had the first OW yesterday followed by the second day today at the springs (Crystal River). The second day was a lot more fun.

--Tampa

 

[JessicaDodge]

I am taking the short class that's only 2 weekends long. We finished our pool stuff today and took the test.. I made a 100%. I was the only one in the class to do that. I was sooo worried that I was going to fail but everything turned out great. I did real well in the pool stuff but couldn't get the part where we have to inflate the BC on the surface manually. I kept going under when I was trying to breath. Then my instructer pointed out that it might be a little easier if I used my snorkle to breath in and breath out into the BC DUH!!!!! Once I did it that way it was a piece of cake but I felt like a moron. Anyway, next weekend it's off to Blue Grotto and Marine Land for the OW dives.... YEAH


Jessica

 

[art.chick]

Congratulation on your academic excellence. You're doing great so far!


My thoughts:

Since this is a short class, you are going to have to practice these skills (like oral inflation) on your own after the class until it's all 2nd nature. One reason people stop diving after those rapid-fire classes is that there is no way they can reacte fast enough to the unexpected with the practice they have, and they know it. Book an easy dive with a classmate before you are even finished, so you have a guaranteed practice session scheduled. Don't lose the amazing momentum you have going!

 

[JessicaDodge]

Thanks for the advice.. That was one thing that the instructor stressed.. That just because we will have our certification doesn't mean we are ready to dive all types of dives right away, He is the divemaster on a boat that goes out regularly and said that after the class was over if we wanted to sign up he would buddy with us and continue to show us what we need to know. He also offered us time in his pool before the OW dives to work on anything we still feel we need before then. We could get all the equipment from the shop and wouldn't have to pay him or them any extra. I thought that was really good. I think I know enough to get through the OW but will probably go out with him on the boat several times. I will also be diving with a couple of friends who have a lot of experience. And I don't plan on going down very deep the first couple of dives. Probably only like 30 or 60. I know that right now I am not capable of doing it all and plan to practice in the springs over the winter... constant water temp in very calm conditions, great to practice.

Jessica