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Learning to dive isn’t difficult, but like
any activity worth doing, it requires some time and effort. While taking
the dive courses, you’ll enjoy three phases: Knowledge Development,
Confined Water Dives and Open Water Dives
Our Open Water Diver course is incredibly flexible and
performance based, which means that we can offer the program
on a wide variety of schedules, and paced according to how fast you
progress. It’s possible to complete your confined and open water dives
in as few as three or four days (provided you take care of reading the
manual and watching the video ahead of time).
However, many people prefer a more leisurely schedule. Check out class
schedule to find out the schedules or ask about a private or semiprivate
course.
1. Knowledge Development
– This develops your familiarity with basic principles and procedures.
You learn things like how pressure affects your body, how to choose the
best gear and what to consider when planning dives.
You complete Knowledge Development on your own, reading each of five
sections of the PADI Open Water
Diver Manual and watching the corresponding section of the
PADI Open Water Diver Video (which also previews skills you’ll
learn). If you like learning with a personal computer, you can also get
the Open Water Diver Manual
and Video together as a
CD-ROM. You briefly review what you studied in each section with your
instructor and take a short quiz to be sure you’re getting it. At the
end of the course, you take an exam that makes sure you’ve got all the
key concepts and ideas down.
2. Confined Water Dives
– This is what it’s all about – diving. You develop basic scuba skills
in a pool or in a body of water with pool-like conditions. Here you’ll
learn everything from setting up your gear to how to easily get water
out of your mask without surfacing. You’ll also practice some emergency
skills, like sharing air – just in case. Plus, you may play some games,
make new friends and have a great time.
There are five confined water dives, with each building upon the
previous. Over the course of these five dives, you attain the skills you
need to dive in open water.
3. Open Water Dives
– After your confined water dives, you and the new friends
you’ve made continue learning during four open water dives with your
PADI Instructor at a dive site. This is where you have fun putting it
all together and fully experience the underwater adventure – at the
beginner level, of course. You may make these dives near where you live
or at a more exotic destination on holiday. |