What's training like?

[GatorKev]

Welcome to the site and to diving. As you have already seen there is a ton of info on this site. To give you another view of training. I took my open water class back in 1990 in South Florida. My instructor was awesome. Please remember that this was almost 18 years ago and things have changed a bit.. Our class consisted of a few classroom sessions where we went over the book and video portions of the class (didn't give us DVDs back then). There we actually learned about the aspects of diving, basic signals, about the equipment, how things work (equipment and diving) and the possible dangers associated with diving. They also went over how to handle situations that might come up and how to use the all mighty dive table... We also had a few pool sessions. First session was more of becoming familar with the equipment and becoming comfortable in the water with equipment and getting our weight set (fresh and salt are different though). Other sessions we learned our boyancy, breathing skills, how to take equipment off and put back on (underwater) including regulator & mask removal. We also did hands on for emergency situations like releasing your buddys weights/weight belt, buddy breathing and emergency assent. Then we did 2 open water dives from a boat. First dive our instructor went over the plan and we set our weight boyancy then slowly went to the bottom while the instructor watched us to make sure we were comfortable. When we got to the bottom we one by one practiced the skills that we did in the pool (gear removal, buddy breathing, signals etc). After everyone was done we had a slow group swim the back on the boat. While waiting for our second dive our instructor went over the dive table and made sure we understood how to figure our suface inteval time and answered any questions that we had. Our second dive was more of our "first real dive" where we were able to enjoy ourselves. The instructor just keept us together, made us keep checking our air gauge and showed us the beauty... Man, the breakers reef in West Palm beach is nice... Well that is my answer to your question. Like said before, don't rush it. Good luck and be safe.

 

[divingdog5]

great post i will say however that the ssi system allows the student to pay and down load course material and carry out most of the tests on line which means the student if travling light would not have to carry a padi work course book around

im a basc and padi instructor uk based but feel the best training comes from a paient instructor with some time and a smile ...

 

[dhenke]

Thanks guys! You guys are a big help. I cant wait to get back from Florida to start taking the course. I think I will be taking it in May or early June just before summer or going into summer. My uncle has a cabin in Redgranite, Wi. They have a deep quarry there and i'll probably be able to go diving in there quite a few times. Can't wait till I'm certified! Thanks for the help so far guys! Keep it coming if anybody else has any more info!

 

[2905luvsbubbles]

Hello and welcome to the board. As has been said there are several different certification agencies, each of which will teach you to safely dive. An instructor who is willing to work with you and make if fun is important. Some of that will also depend upon what affiliation your local dive shop has, or if you have several local dive shops. I would also support doing your check out dives locally as it is much easier to dive in warm water than cold water. Depending upon when and where you dive in northern waters you will require a much heavier wet suit or a dry suit.

Enjoy your new found endeaver.

 

[CamG]

Hello fellow future diver! It is great to hear of your upcoming training. I was in your shoes about a year ago. I wish I had found scuba at your age instead of 38 but as you will learn it is a blast! I would encourage you and your father to under take this as a team. It would allow review for him and awesome dive buddy for you. My family all have taken up diving except for my son age 9 is still waiting till 10 for JOW. It can be a great family activity. It is not cheap but probably the coolest experience in the world short of space travel! A few bits of advice; find a local dive shop that has a good reputation and good customer service, find out about local dive clubs, and find a instructor that makes you feel comfortable and safe, practice the 18 basic skills all the time no matter what! Never feel foolish to ask questions or ask for another demonstration in whatever environment you are training in. Study, live eat and breath diving, your age will allow you to have a unimaginable future in diving. Every year there are new improvements to gear as well as opportunities for divers. You are ready to begin on a awesome journey with tons of great dive locations in the Great Lakes and local quarrys. Wish you the best and keep us posted on your training! CamG keep diving....keep traing....keep learning!

 

[dhenke]

Hey thanks for the advice! Yea i'm gonna try and get my dad through a refresher course or just retake the course with me again since he has not dived for a long time. I swim a lot in Lake Superior. Hope to maybe get up there sometime and dive to. We have a cabin 10 miles from Lake Superior. Thanks!

 

[CamG]

Dhenke that sounds cool. I will be doing wreck dives up in that area this summer. Last time I was there the water was very chillllllly! I will bring my dry suit this time! Ha! When I was in college I spent a summer in East Troy Wis. at a camp there. I did some really cool stuff; rock climbing at Devils Lake, white water canoe trip, and some camping in the U.P. Michigan. There is a lot of awesome things in your area besides deer hunting. Which is my old hobby that diving pretty much swallowed! I started my diving thinking it would be fun while on vacation. What happened to me was that diving transformed my life. Crazy as it sounds there is something about the diving life style that does it for me. I lost 25 pounds, started to exercise regularly, began reading and researching dive related material, and fell in love with water! Under water that is. I would encourage you to begin with Open Water and possibly Advanced OW due to the local conditions in a cold water environment. Pinnacle aquatics make a really warm wet suit that has merino wool in it. A hooded vest with a 7mm has worked well for me. If diving in water below 50 degrees a dry suit is always nice! But I am getting ahead of you, just dive as much as you can and learn constantly. The rest will come in time, patience is a virtue and remember never hold your breath when diving! Good luck CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!

 

[dhenke]

Thanks for all the info CamG! Huge help. Im planning on doing Advanced OW and wreck diving and all of that. Possible one of the Rescue courses or something. Just to get into the water. I will probably be doing a lot of diving in the Redgranite quarry. So I plan on taking the Advanced OW course to! I think diving will be right up there with hunting and everything! I dont think diving will overtake hunting because I am a huge hunter! I plan on being a huge diver to! No one else scuba dives at my school either. I plan on being the first and get to brag to my friends and tell them what there missing! Possible get some to take a class and get certified too!

 

[Belle67]

Ron I am in process of certification through an ssi shop. All I have left to do is my ow. From what you have described, SSI is similar to the NAUI... I had a private instructor and we were able to go over as much information and skills training as we could in our alotted time, given my comfort level.... We did do some basic rescue ie: air sharing, emergency ascends and also removal of gear underwater.

Just a bit more info from another.