limbo Posted January 5, 2003 Report Share Posted January 5, 2003 DISCOVER SCUBA DIVING If you?re interested in diving, but have no experience with it, here?s a short introduction on what?s available in the PADI (Professianal Assocation of Dive Instructors) system for entry level diving. First off there?s the DISCOVER SCUBA DIVING experience. Also known as Introductory diving. With this experience you don?t get a certification but enjoy the experience. This experience is conducted under direct supervision of an instructor and it includes at least one dive to a maximum depth of 12 meters with a maximum of 4 participants. Your instructor will inform you of the basic academics of diving by means of a flip chart. After this bit is out of the way, you need to perform 3 skills before you can start the dive. These 3 skills are conducted in water shallow enough to stand up in (a beach or swimming pool) or if you?re on a boat trip, on a bouy line, one on one with an instructor at approx 1 meter depth. The first skill is to clear a partially flooded mask. You fill a mask partially with water and by blowing air out of your nose, whilst lifting the skirt of the mask, you can clear the mask of water. Second skill is to remove, replace and clear a regulator whilst under water. First you take a deep breath and than you take your regulator (the piece of equipment from which you breath) out of your mouth whilst continously blowing bubbles. You drop the regulator behind your shoulder and by making a sweeping movement (you first touch your knee, than your tank and than sweep your arm, away from your body in a forward movement) you?ll recover the regulator. Still blowing bubbles you replace the regulator in your mouth and clear the regulator by either blowing air into the regulator or by pushing on the purge valve in front of your regulator. The third skill is to locate and secure an Alternate Air Source from you instructor, place it in your mouth and clear it. The Alternate Air Source (aka as Octopus) is to be found in a triangle in front of your instructors chest. This skill is conducted by locating the octopus in the triangle on your instructors chest, than take the octopus out of it?s holder, swap your regulator with the octopus (blowing bubbles when there?s no regulator or octopus in your mouth) and clear the octopus the same way as you did with the regulator. Replace the octopus with the regulator and you?re ready for a dive. Your instructor will demonststate these skills for you, before he asks you to perform them. So, after you conducted these 3 skills you?re off for your first dive. Pending on your breath consumption, this will last anywhere between 20 and 50 minutes. Before you can start this experience, you?ll need to fill out a short questionnaire about your medical health. Make sure you do this before you?re out on the boat, since most dive schools will charge you the full amount of the days diving trip, wether you dive or don?t. If in doubt about your medical status, you need to see a doctor who can certify that he sees no problems with you being able to dive. This statement you can show your instructor before the dive. Included in the questionaire are also a Liability Release and a Statement of Understanding and express assumption of risk which you?ll have to sign before you can participate. The Discover Scuba Diving pamphlet which you receive at the end of the experience, is valid for one year. Although it technically means that you don?t have to repeat the 3 skills anymore, if you wan to repeat the experience within a year, almost every instructor will assess your capability of being able to demonstrate these 3 skills. Which IMO is a safe conduct of the experience. Another interesting part of the Discover Scuba Diving experience is that it links into the Scuba Diver and/or Open Water Diver courses. After you?ve conducted the Discover Scuba Diving experience and you received your pamphlet of recognition, you already have completed the first Confined Water Dive and Open Water Dive # 1 from your Scuba Diver and/or Open Water Diver course. As already mentioned, this pamphlet is valid for one year. You can participate as many times as you like in the Discover Scuba Diver experience, there?s no limit on how many times you want to do it. More on the Scuba Diver and Open Water Diver courses to follow soon. Have fun and get wet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racha Posted January 5, 2003 Report Share Posted January 5, 2003 Limbo; Nice report very clear and also you made it easy to understand for anyone that may have an interest to try scuba diving for the first time, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limbo Posted January 5, 2003 Report Share Posted January 5, 2003 SCUBA DIVER This is the first course that will give you a certification and is mainly used in resort settings, like in Thailand. The course normally lasts only 2 days, but as in every PADI course, all courses are performance based and not time based. This means that if you have a problem with one or more parts of your course, wether it be academics, confined or open water, you can spend all the time needed to master this specific part of the course without being hassled for staying within a certain time frame (at least this is how it should be!). This course allows you after certification to dive to a depth of 12 meters maximum and you must be accompanied by a dive professional on each dive after certification. In a way it?s ?half? of the Open Water Diver course. You?ll find out why if you read on. Most schools offer the courses in various languages. In Thailand you should have no problem finding courses offered in English, German, French, Dutch, Italian and Thai. Spanish and Russian a.o. are also likely to be found in Thailand. The minimum age for participation is 10 years old. The Scuba Diver course consists of three parts, an academical part, confined water part (3 confined water dives) and an open water part (consisting of 2 open water dives). In the academical part, which normally will take part in a classroom setting, you?ll review 3 modules (out of 5 in total, needed in order to become an Open Water Diver) from your Open Water manual and answer various quick quizzes during each module. You?ll also have to answer Knowledge Reviews which you will overview with your instructor for each module. At the end of each module you?ll have to answer a quiz of 10 questions, multiple choice or true/false style. You?ll start each module in the classroom by watching a video, which includes a lot of information already compiled in your Open Water manual. If you missed any of the answers of either the quick quizzes, the Knowledge Reviews or the quiz, your instructor will elaborate on this. The basic idea with the academical teaching is that you prepare yourself before you meet your instructor, by reading the manual and answering the quick quizzes and the Knowledge Reviews. The more you prepare beforehand, the less time you spend in the classroom and the more time you can spend in the confined water. Out of 5 confined water dives which are needed for the Open Water Diver course, the Scuba Diver course only requires 3 confined water dives. Your instructor will explain and demonstrate to you how to set up and break down your Scuba equipment on a tank. After you?ve practiced this a few times, your instructor will explain to you which skills you?ll be asked to perform in the confined water. Your instructor will explain and demonstrate each skill before he?ll ask you to perform the skill in confined water. In case you have problems with a certain skill, your instructor will keep practicing, possibly by redemonstrating this skill untill he feels you can master the skill. No good instructor will take you out for the Open Water dives if he or she feels that you?re not ready for it. Some skills included during the confined water dives are already described in the Discover Scuba Diving post and other skills a.o. learn you how to deal with your bouyancy (the capability of staying at one depth, or change depths controlled by you). Youll be learning underwater skills but also a few surface skills are part of the course, like removing and replacing a weightbelt at the surface or how to tie a tired diver on the surface. The Open Water part of the Scuba Diver course will consist of 2 dives. Typically in Koh Samui where I live and teach, we?ll take you on a days boat trip, but this can vary from location to location. Some places may have ecxellent beach diving by means of local (house) reefs or if you?re on a budget, you may find on Koh Samui that beach dives are cheaper than the boat dives. The first dive is a dive where you get acquinted to be underwater for the first time. During this dive you won?t need to perform any skills, just relax and enjoy the environment and get used to your bouyancy and how to deal with this. The second dive will require a few skills. During your open water dives you will be asked to only perform skills that you already have learned and performed during your confined water dives. No new skills will be asked to perform, so everything should be familiar to you and lots of fun by then. Both dives will not exceed a maximum depth of 12 meters. During either the confined water dives or during the open water dives, your instructor will ask you to perform a 10 minute float. For the Scuba Diver course it?s not essential that you know how to swim. The red tape involved in this course includes a Medical Statement and questions about your Medical History (a bit more extensive as the Discover Scuba Diving one), a Standards Safe Diving Practices Statement of Understanding and a Liability Release and Express Assumption of Risk to be signed by you. You also need to hand over 2 passport size photos to your instructor upon completing the course. For your own safety, make sure that you?re insured for diving if you decide to go diving, check out www.daneurope.org which has links to all other affiliated DAN organisations on each continent or ask your local dive school if they carry the option to insure yourself. After completing the course, your instructor will ask you to fill out a so called PIC (Positive Identification Card) which should contain your personal information, like adress etc. Either your dive school or your self will have to send this PIC to PADI, and PADI will send you a certification card to the adress that you indicated. Your instructor will issue you with a temporary card, which is valid for 90 days and a referral form, which exactly states what parts of the Scuba Diver course you?ve completed. You?ll be asked to sign the Scuba Diver Statement, in which you state that you understand the limitations of the course that you conducted. After you finished your Scuba Diver course, you can continue your dive education and become an Open Water Diver. The only things you have to complete than are 2 more academical sessions (module 4 and 5), 2 more confined water dives, 2 more open water dives and either a 200 meter swim or a 300 meter snorkel. This certification level will allow you to go to a depth of 18 meters and dive independently, meaning, without a professional guiding you, although the latter is recommended for newly certified divers. It doesn't mean that you can dive alone, PADI teaches the buddy system, where you always dive with a partner (at least one). There is no time limit for when you can participate in the Open Water Diver course, the Scuba Diver certification will not expire and is valid for the rest of your live and recognised world wide. Have fun and get wet!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limbo Posted January 6, 2003 Report Share Posted January 6, 2003 PADI OPEN WATER DIVER This is the most popular entry level course in the world. As you will find out if you read on, this course has a lot of similarities with the Scuba Diver course, however it?s a bit more extensive. This course normally lasts 4 days in a resort setting like in Thailand, but as in every PADI course, all courses are performance based and not time based. This means that if you have a problem with one or more parts of your course, wether it be academics, confined or open water, you can spend all the time needed to master this specific part of the course without being hassled for staying within a certain time frame (at least this is how it should be!). This course allows you after certification to dive to a depth of 18 meters maximum and dive independently, meaning, without a professional guiding you, although the latter is recommended for newly certified divers. It doesn't mean that you can dive alone, PADI teaches the buddy system, where you always dive with a partner (at least one). Most schools offer the courses in various languages. In Thailand you should have no problem finding courses offered in English, German, French, Dutch, Italian and Thai. Spanish and Russian a.o. are also likely to be found in Thailand. The minimum age for participation is 10 years old. The Open Water Diver course consists of three parts, an academical part (5 modules), a confined water part (5 confined water dives) and an open water part (consisting of 4 open water dives). In the academical part, which normally will take part in a classroom setting, you?ll review 5 modules from your Open Water manual and answer various quick quizzes during each module. You?ll also have to answer Knowledge Reviews which you will overview with your instructor for each module. At the end of each module you?ll have to answer a quiz of 10 questions and after module 5 thre?s a final exam, multiple choice or true/false style. You?ll start each module in the classroom by watching a video, which includes a lot of information already compiled in your Open Water manual. If you missed any of the answers of either the quick quizzes, the Knowledge Reviews or the quiz, your instructor will elaborate on this. The basic idea with the academical teaching is that you prepare yourself before you meet your instructor, by reading the manual and answering the quick quizzes and the Knowledge Reviews. The more you prepare beforehand, the less time you spend in the classroom and the more time you can spend in the confined water. The Open Water Diver course has 5 confined water dives. Your instructor will explain and demonstrate to you how to set up and break down your Scuba equipment on a tank. After you?ve practiced this a few times, your instructor will explain to you which skills you?ll be asked to perform in the confined water. Your instructor will explain and demonstrate each skill before he?ll ask you to perform the skill in confined water. In case you have problems with a certain skill, your instructor will keep practicing, possibly by redemonstrating this skill untill he feels you can master the skill. No good instructor will take you out for the Open Water dives if he or she feels that you?re not ready for it. Some skills included during the confined water dives are already described in the Discover Scuba Diving post and other skills a.o. learn you how to deal with your bouyancy (the capability of staying at one depth, or change depths controlled by you) or how to remove and replace your BCD (bouyancy control device) underwater. Youll be learning underwater skills but also a few surface skills are part of the course, like removing and replacing a weightbelt at the surface or how to tie a tired diver on the surface. The Open Water part of the Scuba Diver course will consist of 4 dives. Typically in Koh Samui where I live and teach, we?ll take you on a days boat trip, but this can vary from location to location. Some places may have ecxellent beach diving by means of local (house) reefs or if you?re on a budget, you may find on Koh Samui that beach dives are cheaper than the boat dives. During the first 2 dives of your Open Water course you?ll reach a maximum depth of 12 meters and during the last 2 dives of the Open water course you?ll reach a maximum depth of 18 meters. The first dive is a dive where you get acquinted to be underwater for the first time. During this dive you won?t need to perform any skills, just relax and enjoy the environment and get used to your bouyancy and how to deal with this The second, third and fourth dives will require a few skills. During your open water dives you will be asked to only perform skills that you already have learned and performed during your confined water dives. No new skills will be asked to perform, so everything should be familiar to you and lots of fun by then. During either the confined water dives or during the open water dives, your instructor will ask you to perform a 10 minute float and either a 200 meter swim or a 300 meter snorkel. The red tape involved in this course includes a Medical Statement and questions about your Medical History (a bit more extensive as the Discover Scuba Diving one), a Standards Safe Diving Practices Statement of Understanding and a Liability Release and Express Assumption of Risk to be signed by you. You also need to hand over 2 passport size photos to your instructor upon completing the course. For your own safety, make sure that you?re insured for diving if you decide to go diving, check out www.daneurope.org which has links to all other affiliated DAN organisations on each continent or ask your local dive school if they carry the option to insure yourself. After completing the course, your instructor will ask you to fill out a so called PIC (Positive Identification Card) which should contain your personal information, like adress etc. Either your dive school or your self will have to send this PIC to PADI, and PADI will send you a certification card to the adress that you indicated. Your instructor will issue you with a temporary card, which is valid for 90 days. After you have finished the Open Water Diver course you?ll be ready to continue your dive education with a lot of other continual educational courses. Not only will they teach you to become a better and more experienced diver, they?re also a lot of FUN. More on these soon to follow. Have fun and get wet!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brink15 Posted January 8, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2003 Limbo, Excellent explanations of the courses. Anyone interested in what it takes to get wet on scuba or get certified should read Limbo's above articles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limbo Posted January 8, 2003 Report Share Posted January 8, 2003 Hi Brink, had to get back to your fantastic report about hte seasnakes. Interesting thing about them is, that you can only spot them in the SE Asian waters or in Australia. The seasnakes originate from Australian land snakes, and somehow they never managed in all those evoluted years to get beyong SE Asia. There are no sea snakes in Europe, Red Sea, USA, Africa, Middle or South America. Amazing, isnt it. One small anekdote, when I started my DM training on Phi Phi Island, on my first dive, during descend, all of a sudden I see this seasnake gliding by my face and dissapearing in the deep water ends. Upon returning to the boat, some other divers who saw the snake also, said that it was trying to get into my snorkel tube!! Very strange. Cheers, Limbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limbo Posted January 12, 2003 Report Share Posted January 12, 2003 ADVANCED OPEN WATER Now you?ve finished your PADI Open Water Diver certification and now what? This is a good time to orientate yourself about what?s available in PADI?s Continual Education system. The next certification level will be the PADI Advanced Open Water course. In a resort setting like you?ll find in Thailand it?ll be most likely a 2 day course. The good part about it is that no classroom is involved, at least not to the extent of the Open Water Diver course. The only academical part of this course is to make sure that you fill out the Knowledge Reviews of your Adventures in Diving manual and hand them over to your instructor before the course finishes. He?ll review them with you and anythingthat you miss or answer incorrectly he?ll elaborate on. After this course you?ll be qualified to dive to a maximum depth of 30 meters. Most schools offer the courses in various languages. In Thailand you should have no problem finding courses offered in English, German, French, Dutch, Italian and Thai. Spanish and Russian a.o. are also likely to be found in Thailand. The minimum age for participation is 12 years. Divers aged between 12 and 14 will become a Jr. Advanced Open Water diver with a maximum depth limit of 21 meters. In order to be able to participate in the PADI Advanced Open Water course, your entry level certification does not necessarily have to be a PADI Open Water diver certification. PADI does recognise other organisations entry level courses, so with a BSAC, CMAS or similar Open Water certification you can participate in and earn your rating for the PADI Advanced Open Water diver course. An interesting aspect of the PADI Advance Open Water course is that any Adventure dive of this course will count as first dive towards your Specialty Diver rating in that field. I?ll discuss this lateron. Now let?s move on to the diving part. The PADI Advanced Open Water course consists of 5 dives. Out of these 5 dives, 2 dives are compulsary, the Deep dive and the Navigation dive. Than there?s 3 more Adventure dives you can choose from to get 5 Adventure dives together and be able to qualify for your Advanced Open Water certification. The basic idea about each dive during this course is that you?ll become a better and more experencied diver after each Adventure dive. Firstly because you?ll be diving with a PADI professional and get hands on experience and secondly because you?ll have to fullfill a small task during each of your Adventures dives. Let?s take a look at this. The Adventure Deep Dive, you will go to a maximum depth of 30 meters. Upon arrival at depth, your instructor can ask you to compare colours from various balloons (some colours will have faded) or the instructor might have taken an empty plastic bottle to depth and you compare the shape of the bottle compared to the surface or your instructor may put a bit of air in a condom at depth and upon surfacing you observe the volume changes in the condom. During the Adventure Navigation Dive there?s a few things that you have to do. First of all, before you enter the water, your instructor will do a dry run with you for all the necessary compass skills. He will explain to you what you?re expected to do and you will do such thing whilst walking on land with the compass simulating your underwater tasks. Under water, you?ll establish how many kick cycles (that is each time your foot is back into starting position) you?ll need over a distance of 30 meters and how much time you?ll need to cover a distance of 30 meters. The 30 meter distance is normally established with a premarked 30 meter or longer dive reel. This 2 skills will allow you to establish distances underwater. You?ll also swim a reciprocal heading on your compass underwater. Sure this sounds familiar to the PADI Open Water Divers. Last but not least you?ll be asked to swim a square pattern. This is a lot of fun and will make you familiar with your compass underwater. Now for the 3 Adventure dives left to fill up the course requirement of 5 Adventure dives. You can chose from a.o.: An Adventure Search and Recovery dive. Your instructor will show you how to tie and untie knotts and how to lift a subject from the bottom with a lift bag, and to move it around a bit and put it back on the bottom again. You?ll learn the basics of handling a lift bag a.o. Lots of fun this one and a bit more technically challenged. An Adventure Wreck Dive. You?ll dive on a wreck!! How much more excitement can you get during a dive. Mind, there?s no wreck penetration, not untill the last dive of your Wreck Diver Specialty training. An Adventure Boat dive. Your instructor will tell you the difference between the Starboard side and the Port side of the boat, what the Galley is about and what you can do in the Head, where the stern and bow are to be found and where the bridge is. Possibly he may go into the different anchors that can be used and show you some more knotts to untie. A good explanation of all necessary first aid kit and oxygen and where it can be found is part of the dive as well and you?re shown where the marine radio is located a.o. You?ll also learn about various lines used on a boat or during a dive and you practice various water entries. An Adventure Diver Propulsion Vehicle dive. Now your adrenaline must go up if I tell you it?s also known as an Underwater Scooter! Great fun, buzz around and learn how to tandem ride and park it!! An Adventure Drift dive. Great stuff drift diving. Jump in the water, get taken for a ride by the current and show up hundreds of meters away from where you entered the water. Your instructor will show you how to do this in a safe way and what to take into consideration. An Adventure Multilevel-Computer dive. You?ll extend your bottom time by using The Wheel, a device to calculate your bottom time and Pressure Group with. You?ll start out on a certain depth and after an x amount of minutes you?ll be in a certain Pressure Group. With this Pressure Group you enter the next shallower level of your dive and again stay an x amount of time. You?ll be in a new Pressure Group which you?ll take into the next shallower level of your dive where you can or will stay for an x amount of time. The Wheel will allow you to calculate how long you can stay at each level and how deep or shallow each level has to be. By using a computer you?ll have a very long multilevel dive where you can doublecheck with The Wheel if you stay within the limits. An Adventure Night dive. This used to be a compulsary dive but isn?t anymore. During this dive you dive between dawn and dusk and use at least one primary and one back up light during the dive. Really exciting and great fun. An Adventure Peak Performance Bouyancy dive. During this dive you?ll practice and learn more about how to be capable of obtaining and maintaining good bouyancy. A must for newly certified divers. An Adventure Underwater Naturalist dive. During this dive you?ll be asked to identify and observe aquatic invertebrates and vertebrates and to identify aquatic plants. An Adventure Underwater Photography dive. Here you?ll get to shoot a full roll of film and your instructor will explain to you how to get the best results. For dives with a DPV or an U/W photo camera you may want to consider that you may have additional rental costs. These are by no means all the possible Adventure dives you can choose from, they?re just a good indication of what?s possible and available. You can ask your instructor for more possibilities. The PADI Advanced Open Water course links in two ways into further Continual Education. Upon completing Adventure dive # 5, your instructor can complete Exercise # 1 Tired Diver (approach and deal with a tired diver at the surface) and Exercise # 2 Panicked Diver (approach and deal with a panicked diver at the surface) of the Rescue Diver course with you and give you credit for that by signing off a referral form for the Rescue Diver course. The other way is that your Adventure dive of your Advanced Open Water course counts as first dive towards your Specialty rating in that particular field. Specialties consist of 2, 3 or 4 dives per given Specialty. In order to obtain a rating as a Specialty Diver, with a Specialty that consists of 2 dives, it would be sufficient to complete the second required dive of that Specialty only if you completed an Adventure dive in this Specialty rating during your Advanced Open Water course. So, for the Navigation Specialty diver rating, you would need 3 Navigation dives. One you?ve done already during your Advance Open Water, so that leaves only 2 more Specialty Navigation dives to complete. Although the PADI Advanced Open Water course can be conducted over as little as 2 days, for the more time prone participants, there?s now also the possibility of obtaining the PADI Adventure Diver rating. For this rating you need to participate in 3 Adventure Dives of your choice and you will get the Adventure Diver rating. So no need to do a Deep or Navigation dive, although you can do either or both of them. The minimum age for the PADI Adventure Diver rating is 15 years, although pending on what dives you select, you can choose 3 Adventure dives that allow you to participate at the age of 10, as long as the choosen dives don?t exceed the age requirement. When you complete 2 more Adventure dives (and than you must have completed an Adventure Deep and an Adventure Navigation dive) you can apply for your upgrade to PADI Advanced Open Water diver. The red tape involved in this course includes a Medical Statement and questions about your Medical History, a Standards Safe Diving Practices Statement of Understanding and a Liability Release and Express Assumption of Risk for Adventures in Diving Program and Correlating Specialty Diver Programs to be signed by you. You also need to hand over 2 passport size photos to your instructor upon completing the course. For your own safety, make sure that you?re insured for diving if you decide to go diving, check out www.daneurope.org which has links to all other affiliated DAN organisations on each continent or ask your local dive school if they carry the option to insure yourself for your dive activities. After completing the course, your instructor will ask you to fill out a so called PIC (Positive Identification Card) which should contain your personal information, like adress etc. Either your dive school or your self will have to send this PIC to PADI, and PADI will send you a certification card to the adress that you indicated. Your instructor will issue you with a temporary card, which is valid for 90 days. Go dive and get wet!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxal Posted March 12, 2003 Report Share Posted March 12, 2003 Hi brink15, I have always wanted to scuba dive or at least become more "aquatic" but I haven't because of my poor swimming skills. Don't get me wrong, I can keep myself from drowning and I know a couple of strokes but I'd be a lot more aquatic now if I didn't see the movie,"JAWS" when I was a kid. Scared me right out of the ocean and the swimming pools too. I just got too busy doing other things in life before I came back to my aquatic lifestyle endeavors. On my first trip to LOS, I went snorkeling for the first time and I couldn't have picked a better place, the phi phi islands, without research and talking to guys like yourself. It changed me in a great way that's hard to describe- just an amazing experience. I'm sure I would've enjoyed it more if I swam better. Back to the poor swimming skills. I definitely want to be a better swimmer and get certified for scuba. Where do you suggest I go for swimming lessons if most of my time in LOS is in Bangkok? Also, how much would or should lessons cost for a Farang? If this is too specific, PM me. I'd appreciate it. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limbo Posted March 12, 2003 Report Share Posted March 12, 2003 Hi Maxal, a question related to BKK for swimming lessons might be best answered by Racha, who actually lives in BKK. I'm sure he can give you all the information you need on this subject. Good luck with the swimming and if you ever intend to dive in or around Koh Samui, feel free to get in touch with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxal Posted March 13, 2003 Report Share Posted March 13, 2003 Thanks Limbo, I'll PM him and see what he says. Next time I go to Koh Samui I plan to be diving so I'll touch base with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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