School Me on SCUBA- Getting Open Water Cert

[Cono Este]

I suck at the scuba, IMHO deep dives are overrated, and the sport is pretty fucking boring overall. It seems to attract Fat people, cops and generally a nerdy crowd.

For me, Freediving/snorkling is way more fun.

Ditto on the fee diving. and ditto on getting the pool work done stateside, it will save you a week.

I had a big knife when I was ten and got certified, now I just hide behind others when the big fish show up.

[uglymoney]

I think a knife is primarily for cutting yourself free if you get caught in fishing line or a rope or something but I don't have one. Like a fool I'm not afraid of sharks or fish when underwater. I worry more about jellyfish and other stingers. I've had great fun doing deep ship dives on Lake Michigan and off the coast in Lauderdale. The coolest shallow water diving was drift diving off Ft. Lauderdale.

The coolest fish encounter I have had was a giant Barracuda hanging out in a cave like passage in shallow water off St. John. He stared me down till I was inches from his face then swam off.

Agree do your training in your home town in a pool. I did my open water and aow in quarries. Vacations aren't for classes.

[JAREDS]

My wife got PADI certified in Malaysia. It was like $200 and the reef look like freaking little mermaid w the craziest plants and fish

[Jethro]

50 feet? Pussy.

...JK

I will state the obvious, and say that is beyond me. But I don't get the weighted sled descent and rope pull ascent. I'd be more impressed by a 50m swim descent and ascent, but that is probably too shallow to be challenging at that level. The last time I was diving was June 2001 of the coast of Zanzibar. On the day we flew out, I went snorkeling with the dive crew (on scuba), and I could repeatedly dive to them at 20m

[Crass3000]

Why not just get full certification in the US? Why waste time (and more money - it's gonna cost more money to do your open water there). If you are going to dive later in conditions like mucky lakes back in the US at any time you are better off getting certified there. You always want to get certified in the worst conditions you are going to be diving in (at least water clarity). You will be a better diver than those who were certified in EASY, clear water. Not sure how far you want to take SCUBA. I dive as much as I can and am not sure why I haven't got my decompression and advanced nitrox. Definitely get DAN insurance - it's a total no brainer for the price. But I wouldn't bother wasting any vacation time on check out dives but that's just me. I've been to Bonaire and should be going there again in the next couple months. I wouldn't waste any time there learning skills or doing check out dives. The only exception for me would be for higher level certifications like decompression and advanced nitrox or higher classes as around here the deep water under the 2nd thermocline is 38F so they want me to have a drysuit and I don't want to buy one.

Scuba is a fun way to spend A LOT of time. It's basically like flying once you get your buoyancy down.

A LOT of what has been said in here is slight misinformation. Read the books and you'll learn to clear your ears. You most likely won't be puking out your regulator but it can and is done but I would imagine one shouldn't be diving that day if they feel that way. I'm sure it comes up every now and then with no signs beforehand but it's not common. For reference I have about 200 dives in so I'm no fish but I know how to take care of myself. I typically dive solo with a 40cf pony bottle. Diving without a knife or two is dumb. They are not to scare away fish. There are special knives to cut certain things and as has been mentioned you can get caught on fishing line or worse fishing nets when diving around wrecks. I could go on as SCUBA is my favorite thing to do now but you're just talking about Open Water. Just do it all where you live. Don't waste your time doing anything but fun dives at a dive destination. You will be a better diver for it.

As for the person who mentioned holding your breath being natural when you're coming up from 50ft, I would call bullshit. The gas expands and will want to come out but if you do hold your breath when ascending as the gas expands you WILL pop your lungs and be in a deadly situation. However I find it very unnatural. One of the first rules of SCUBA at your level is NEVER hold your breath.

Just take care to learn how not to do uncontrolled ascents. I typically let most of my air out of my BCD until I need to fin up with just a little effort and as it becomes easier to fin up make sure you let gas out of you BCD. Uncontrolled ascents are no good VERY hard to stop once you get going too fast (gotta watch your depth guage).

Edit: Also DAN membership is different than DAN insurance. You want at least the Insurance and given how cheap it is get the best insurance. Also I don't know if you plan to SCUBA when you get back to where you live. If you do and might dive in water under 55F or so I would make sure you buy a cold water rig like APEX. You can definitely get away with more warm water rigs in temperatures under 55F but at some point your regulators will freeze up and you will get a free-flow. Little known fact is that if your secondary regulator (low pressure) freezes up as opposed to your primary (high pressure), you lose gas much quicker. It's counter-intuitive but true. You'll learn that free-flows are not really that big of a deal as long as you don't freek. If you are calm you can likely breath out of them until you get to the surface (I have when using a warm water reg in cold conditions) of course the better solution is to get your buddies secondary.

[Crass3000]

I will state the obvious, and say that is beyond me. But I don't get the weighted sled descent and rope pull ascent. I'd be more impressed by a 50m swim descent and ascent, but that is probably too shallow to be challenging at that level. The last time I was diving was June 2001 of the coast of Zanzibar. On the day we flew out, I went snorkeling with the dive crew (on scuba), and I could repeatedly dive to them at 20m

I would imagine if they didn't use a weighted sled they couldn't get down deep enough quick enough so that they could make it to the top without blacking out (passing out). Not 100% sure but I would imagine a rope pull on the ascent helps them get up quicker (and possibly to recover their body if they pass out). I think on a lot of these deep dives they have safety divers but not sure how deep they would be. At that depth a scuba diver would have to be on some very special gas mix as typical max tri-mix (helium, oxygen, and nitrogen) depth is roughly 350ft. There are classes to dive deeper than that but I've only seen them offered at one place and only to people who do dive around this boundary very often (almost daily). They called it expedition tri-mix but I have no idea what type of gas the people who work on the bottom around 1000ft using line fed gas use and that's a whole different kind of diving where they live at that pressure for possibly up to a month. Another prop to APEX regulators as the only person I have read about who did that type of diving used APEX although I'm sure other regulators would work. I'm sure it's pretty damn cold down there. A good salt-water regulator used for diving around glaciers, etc would be rated down to something like 28F before they might free-flow.

It's amazing that they are able to clear their ears as they go down on a weighted sled. When I went down to try a deep bounce dive (which is stupid and not something one should do unless you know more than I do) I had a hard time clearing my ears as I tried to go down quickly. I made it to 185ft but was hoping for 200ft. The quarry bottomed out at that spot but is 355ft. Still not going to try it again as it was pretty dumb and if you don't do it just right you will get the bends and/or run out of gas (I was only using an aluminum 80), nitrogen narcosis likely becomes a factor for most (people would say all), and roughly 210ft (from memory) is the typically quoted boundary for oxygen toxicity with regular air. This is a whole different animal than freediving though as they don't breath in extra air on the way down.

[My Pet Powder Goat]

Holy shit! Crass is out of the Pokey and sounding really fucking sober! Good for you Crass!

[hutash]

The weighted sled is just on category of free diving record. There are assisted down, free up, and free up and down records as well. Of coarse the deepest record is assisted up and down, which is just fucken crazy how deep they get. At some point your ribs just kind of collapse

[bodywhomper]

[Kevo]

Whoa! This thread blew up with a ton of great info. Thanks everyone.

I'm contemplating doing the cert locally. I'm in Colorado, so there at best I'd be able to do everything but the 4 dives before heading out.

I've got two weeks in Fiji and only one week to get the dive's taken care of locally, so I'm trying to figure out if it is worth it. It is $300 to do a class locally and then another $260 to do the open water referral dives in Fiji vs just doing the whole thing in Fiji for $450.

$110 difference isn't much, but more of a question of do I want to spend the next week getting certified here in Colorado or do I want to use this week for some climbing trips that I had planned.

The islands I'm going to in Fiji have literally nothing to do other than snorkel, dive and sea kayak. There are no stores or restaurants or anything else that I could be doing, other than just diving a bit more. I've got two whole weeks to get certified and dive once I'm there, so maybe that is enough time?

What do you think mags?

Also, meant to ask- is there a recommended number of days to take off between your last dive and when you get on a flight out? Is that even a factor?

[My Pet Powder Goat]

Can't dive before flight. I thing it depends on depth and time, but think it's 12hr? 24? Crass, halllp!

Sent from my SM-G900V using TGR Forums

[neufox47]

Can't dive before flight. I thing it depends on depth and time, but think it's 12hr? 24? Crass, halllp!

Sent from my SM-G900V using TGR Forums

Really depends on what you did. If you made a single shallow dove, probably no biggie. If you did two dives with safety stops, I'd not fly.

[XXX-er]

Whoa! This thread blew up with a ton of great info. Thanks everyone.

I'm contemplating doing the cert locally. I'm in Colorado, so there at best I'd be able to do everything but the 4 dives before heading out.

I've got two weeks in Fiji and only one week to get the dive's taken care of locally, so I'm trying to figure out if it is worth it. It is $300 to do a class locally and then another $260 to do the open water referral dives in Fiji vs just doing the whole thing in Fiji for $450.

$110 difference isn't much, but more of a question of do I want to spend the next week getting certified here in Colorado or do I want to use this week for some climbing trips that I had planned.

The islands I'm going to in Fiji have literally nothing to do other than snorkel, dive and sea kayak. There are no stores or restaurants or anything else that I could be doing, other than just diving a bit more. I've got two whole weeks to get certified and dive once I'm there, so maybe that is enough time?

What do you think mags?

Back in the day Utila was panned in a big dive magazine for not having "the facilities for the discerning US diver" which is code for nothing else to do, one short street in a very small town leading to an airstrip that wasn't paved, if the supply boat didn't get in on tues day due to rough weather the shops sold out so you couldn't even buy a bottle of rum

The routine was 2 dives a day, relax in the hammocks, go out for dinner/beer at one of 2 bars, score weed from a shack on the dock where buddy had a bale of the stuff, get loaded play drinking games with the other divers/instructors

you will not be in Colorado Toto so relax and frankly the locals don't dig the tourist who can not adj to the island vibe

[TBS]

All good advice. One thing to add, related to the blowing chunks underwater comments - if you are on a group dive with Asian tourists, make a big effort to buddy up with some one else early on.

I got stuck with a Japanese guy in Maui who was puking before we left the harbor in Kehei. Blowing chunks before we submerged, as well as on the way down...little fish trailing him. He lasted about five minutes underwater, panicked and headed for the surface. He couldn't swim for shit so I had to tow him to the boat. Kudos to Dive Maui for giving me a comp day (without asking)

On another in Lanai there were four Chinese tourists who turned a Cathedral dive into a clusterfuck with their lack of skills. Then in Baja we had one half of a Chinese pair get so interested in her camera viewfinder that she forgot where everyone else was and sorta wandered off. And her husband forget to keep an eye on her. Nothing like looking for a black/gray wetsuit in 4' seas on an overcast day.

[Crass3000]

. I'm in Colorado,Also, meant to ask- is there a recommended number of days to take off between your last dive and when you get on a flight out? Is that even a factor?

Conservative answer is almost always 24 hours if you ask anybody (especially if you have been diving lots of tanks each day for a week in a row) but it is true that it depends on your dives and their profiles. Most of the time I just watch my computer for the no fly time. My computer always starts out a 24 hours but 12 hours later it may say it is fine to fly. I typically don't fly 24 hours before just so I'm sure my equipment is fully dry so I don't have to pay over weight bag fees as I usually do anyway. Water weight is expensive to fly back. I also try to dive as many tanks as possible and only stop to eat. I usually try to get a night dive in every other day at least too.

It's fun down there but just keep your hands and body off most things. I've found that most poisonous things (fish, etc) don't really care if you are a few inches above them hovering to take a picture of something else (happened to me trying to take a picture of a moray). They know you are going to pay the price, likely not them. Plenty of poisonous things blend into the coral that you won't see them unless you are looking REALLY good. Really there are just a lot more poisonous things in the ocean than one would think.

Make sure you wait an hour between surfacing and heading back down so that you get rid of more nitrogen. Otherwise your no decompression time on subsequent dives will be shorter. It's just a good habit. A lot is known about diving and decompression and how not to get yourself into a decompression situation but there are always people who take a decompression hit and get the bends even though they follow the rules. It's VERY unlikely that if you follow the rules you would find yourself in such a situation but statistically it has to happen to some unfortunate people.

Another thing you might want to think about is altitude diving since it says you live in Colorado. Some of the same issues apply if you dive at a lower altitude and then have to drive up thousands of vertical feet on the way home. I personally haven't ever had to deal with it but you can get the bends from that too. I'm not sure how sensitive your body is to that. Most good computers will adjust for altitude but I wouldn't count on it and I would make sure you know your stuff if that applies to you if you dive in Colorado.

[skieurmalade]

I"m diving about 20 times a week lately. For advanced divers there is the NOAA ascent to altitude table

http://www.ndc.noaa.gov/pdfs/AscentToAltitudeTable.pdf

disclaimer: This does not reflect PADI pressure groups and is only for experienced divers.

But, since I found it, I'm able to hike after work sometimes

[reganized]

I'm a joey when it comes to diving so when I did some knarly 100ft drift dives through fast moving channels I ponied up the extra $ for a 2-1 diver/dive master dive. Pretty nice to have that help in the event shit hit the fan. She carried a pony tank/ regulator etc too.

[hutash]

I hate being stressed try to get shit done before a trip, so with that tight a timetable I would just do the work in Fiji.

[Kevo]

Thanks again everyone. The trip went well and I got a lot of diving in. The water was warm enough that I never wore more than board shorts, even down to 70 feet.

Diving was really cool, and I wish I had done it earlier in my life. There is so much to see under the water- I saw some really amazing reef life including tons of fish, a turtle and lots of sharks. There were some reef sharks, a lemon shark and several large bull sharks at one of the dive sites. One of the employees at the second resort I stayed at lost his arm to a bull shark about two months before I got there. I found out it was at the dive site where I saw the bull sharks.

It was pretty crazy- they were getting within maybe 6 or 8 feet of us on the dive. I didn't feel threatened necessarily, but more amazed- probably because I have no feeling for how dangerous (or not) bull sharks are. Turns out the guy who lost an arm had been feeding raw meat to them...

I've just never spent much time in the ocean, but I really like it and now feel like I know a little more about it. Learning to dive made me feel extremely comfortable swimming in the open ocean. After my class, I spent a lot of time snorkeling and found myself going down to about 20 feet quite easily because of knowing how equalize my ears. I may get to do a bit more diving this December in central America.

All in all, I'm really glad that I learned how to dive!

Edit- Also meant to say- I'm really glad I learned in Fiji and just got everything done there. I finished the class in about 3 days, and my pool sessions were right there onsite by my bungalow. The class was one instructor, myself and a father/son from Melbourne. Everyone swam well and learned quickly, so on our open water dives we'd spend 15 minutes or so doing skills and then 30 minutes or more diving the reefs.

[MontuckyFried]

^^
Thanks for the update! Glad you had a great time. Diving is so surreal. Nothing quite like it.

Make sure and post some underwater pics if you have any! Would love to see some of the wildlife you saw.

[Tippster]

... on our open water dives we'd spend 15 minutes or so doing skills and then 30 minutes or more diving the reefs.

That was my point all along. Welcome to a new obsession!

[hutash]

One of the employees at the second resort I stayed at lost his arm to a bull shark about two months before I got there. I found out it was at the dive site where I saw the bull sharks.

Did you give it back to him?

[My Pet Powder Goat]

feeding bull sharks is pretty fucked up. they're one of he most aggressive sharks in the world. I'd never dive with an outfit that fed sharks, or any other animal for that matter.


awesome that you had such a good time.

always this song playing through my head when I dive

[Tye 1on]

Great thread. Heading down to Isla Mujeres for a week or so, the thought of doing a discovery dive popped into my head a couple of days ago. Or may just focus on the snorkeling...

[mud]

Finally got my open water cert, I don't know which is cooler the wildlife or floating around after I got neutral buoyancy right.
Going to dive USS Massachusetts on Wednesday then start advanced training next week.