Open Water Certification
SDI e-learning logo.
So, you’ve found the instructor that you want to learn Open Water Scuba Diving from. What comes next? Well, back in the time before online learning took off, you’d go to a classroom every night after work/school or whatever occupied your day. There you’d sit for approximately 3 hours and learn all the course material. This would go on for about 2 weeks. Thankfully, that has become a thing of the past.
SUMMARY:
Much of your learning will take place online with e-learning. Scuba diving, like most other industries, has embraced the digital age. Most of the agencies now have all their course material on their website. Once you pay your course fees, you’ll be given a code to access the material. From there, you’ll begin proceeding through the content just like you would in a book. There are chapters, quizzes at the end and a final review. Now I can only speak for SDI (the only agency I have ever taught for), but if you don’t answer enough questions correctly, then you are given additional opportunities to review, go back over the material, and try again. Having been through the material, I don’t think these are particularly hard concepts to grasp (at this level), and I’ve never seen anyone drop out from the academic portion. So, no worries—read/comprehend the material, take the tests, and you should be fine.
After you pass the final exam, the results of your course are available. You’ll need to get them over to an instructor (email a PDF), along with your course certificate. Then the instructor will schedule a time for a review. They’ll go over and summarize key points and items you missed. Once this is done, you’ll move on to the pool session.
Open Water student practicing skills in the pool.
Now here comes the fun! In the pool is where you start learning skills and techniques and get a feel for yourself of how the gear is once you get it on and wet. This is what is called the “Fundamental Stage”. You're going to learn how to assemble the gear (This is important; if you can’t put the gear together, you can’t go diving). You’ll get experience in breathing off the 2nd stage regulator underwater, and my favorite thing—BUOYANCY! Everything you’re going to need to know you should get here because once we get to our next phase, it’s showtime.
The pool is where the instructor and class size are going to matter. If the instructor cannot teach you the skills properly, then you are set up to fail because it won’t end well. Also, class size factors in here. If you’re in the pool with a larger class size, then you’ve only got so much time with the instructor. If there’s a student who just can’t put it together, then they’re going to get more time with the instructor. That, unfortunately, takes their time away from you. This is why it’s best to go with a quality instructor who teaches smaller classes or offers a 1-to-1 ratio.
Open Water Scuba Divers looking at the coral reef and fish.
Open Water is where you show your instructor everything you learned from the classroom and the pool session. This is all about you, but it shouldn’t be a complete surprise designed to scare you and have you constantly worrying. A good instructor will go over everything in the dive brief. They should tell you where you are going to go and what skills they are going to have you do on each dive. It’s divided up into 4 dives to give you a breather, so it’s not information overload. If you relax, breathe easily, and focus on the task at hand, you’ll do fine. Remaining calm is the key point here. Some don’t respond well to pressure and can hyperventilate under stress. This could lead to disaster, especially underwater. Once you perform all your skills to a satisfactory level, that’s it. All your instructor must do is sign your logbook, submit your paperwork, and order your C-card.
I hope this has helped give you a better understanding of the process. If you learn anything from this post, I want you to focus on finding as small a class as possible with a quality instructor who wants to teach you and make you want to stay in the sport long-term. You should learn breathing, buoyancy, and trim at a sufficient level. You’ll know it was a good class if you can control your buoyancy at an efficient level.
Always Remember: Plan Your Dive, Dive Your Plan
