Getting In Over Your Head
Dec 19 '99
When I was a kid, I lived in rural upstate New York far from any beach. There was a community swimming pool. It was popular, of course, and often crowded and I've never like crowds so, after struggling to learn to swim at all, I learned to swim underwater where I could get away from the crowd. I often thought I would enjoy scuba diving but never got the chance to try until I was much much older. A few months ago, I was certified as a recreational diver at the age of 50.
I started classes last year. Why did it take me so long? It may be an interesting story to some of you who are thinking of taking diving lessons.
I hadn't been swimming in about 30 years. Why? Just circumstances. Too busy getting my degrees, climbing through my profession to the career goal I had aimed for. Having a child. Many things. Now I swim laps as often as I can get to the club pool. It's one of the best exercises there is and one of the best stress reducers. But back to choosing a diving program.
When I decided to finally take diving lessons, I checked the yellow pages and called a few nearby dive shops. Most have diving lessons. You can check with your local YMCA or YMHA too. The 2 major certification organizations, NAUI and PADI, each have websites: http://www.naui.com and http://www.padi.com with descriptions of various diving courses. The NAUI site also has a directory of dive shops. These certification organizations have outlined course requirements, certify instructors, provide course manuals and dive tables and provide the certification documents to the shops who teach the courses. They certify that you have taken a course teaching you the safety methods recommended by these organizations which will keep you safe underwater.
Each time I called a dive shop about their dive classes, I asked how much the courses cost, what I skills I had to have to take the course and what equipment, if any, I had to have. There is quite a variation of responses. I understand that you can also take diving lessons at resorts that will take you down with scuba equipment within hours. This is my recommendation: DON'T!
I was told that I didn't even have to know how to swim that well; that by the end of the course I had to be able to swim 7 laps of the pool. I can tell you from experience that this is not good advice. Remember it had been years since I had been swimming. The night of the first class I couldn't swim 2 lengths of the pool. I recommend that you be able to swim, preferably be able to swim 10 laps of a standard pool, that's 20 lengths, nonstop.
There were choices of courses: a weekend intensive or a much more lengthy course of several weeks. I chose the PADI weekend course because of my work schedule and the lower cost. This was a mistake for me. If you're a strong swimmer, live in the water, skin dive, snorkel, go ahead and take the weekend intensive. Everything is covered, it's covered quickly and you have to be able to learn everything quickly. It wasn't for me. I dropped out of the weekend course; panic-stricken. Some of the safety skills you have to learn can be a little traumatizing for even the most experienced swimmer. You have to take your mask off underwater, put it back on and clear the water out of it. You also have to take off your tank and BC (the dive jacket) and put them back on, underwater. These skills are for your safety but they're not easy, especially at first. I couldn't take off my mask during the weekend intensive;it terrified me. I quit.
But, I'm not a quitter. I wanted to be able to dive. I had also invested a chunk of money for the course so months later I signed up for the longer course. I was also able to swim more laps by then, now I can swim more than the required laps. The longer course was a NAUI course. I didn't buy a new manual, I continued to use my PADI manual but purchased a NAUI dive table which I find easier to use than PADI's tables. I see little difference in the courses, the order that information is given is a little different and the tables are different. The skills learned are the same. Some of the differences in tricks in handling various things underwater come from differences in instructors. The purpose of the courses are just give you skills to ensure that you will be able safe underwater.
I was more comfortable with my second instructor. You won't know until you take the course how the instructor will be unless you happen to know them already. Some people are better teachers than others, you connect with some people better than with others. You might want to meet the dive instructors ahead of time to see how you feel about each one and choose a course based on the availability of a particular instructor.
There were several people in each course, some of us were taking the course alone, some had a partner, boyfriend, girlfriend, relative, in the course. I would have been more comfortable if I had a partner.
Part of the expense of the course is the use of the dive shop's equipment: the jackets, tanks, regulators, etc. Check out the shop's equipment. We had some some problems with fit, condition. It sometimes slowed down the class.
If you're in a cold climate area, find out where and when you'll be taking the open water certification. Most of the course is taught in a pool somewhere, a controlled environment. Then you take the open water tests after they are sure that you can perform all the safety skills. Schedule your training so that you're taking the open water tests when it's still warm enough. I just made it. If I had to wait until the following spring, I would have had to take a refresher class again before I could take the open water. This just adds to the expense. Always take a refresher class before diving if you haven't been diving for months.
Scuba diving takes you into an alien and dangerous environment. But, it's fun, great exercise and worth the time and expense to learn to take care of yourself underwater. I figure, come spring, when I can dive again, to get my own BC, octopus (regulator, hoses, gauges, etc.), skin, etc. it'll cost about $1,000 to be properly equipped.
I recommend:
- check out as many dive shops as you can before signing up for a course.
- talk to other divers nearby. Many, many people dive. There are lot of people online you can meet and talk to.
- take the classes with a friend.
- meet and talk to dive instructors ahead of time. As a woman, I found it helped to talk to female divers; we're built differently, have a few different issues with our bodies.
- check out the diving equipment you will be using in the course.
- check out the facilities you'll be taking the course in and the location where you'll be taking the open water tests.
You want to be as comfortable as you can so you can focus on learning the skills you will need to dive safely and happily. I'm satisfied with the training I received, with the pool used, with the last course and instructor I had. If I'd known more about the courses and the facilities beforehand, I might have done some things differently, been a little happier throughout the process. That's why I'm writing this article. So that you can be.
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Epinions.com ID:
lio51
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Member: Lorraine
Location: NJ
Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 1 member
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