I just returned from the first lesson in my PADI Open Water class. The class met at Equinox Dive, the local dive shop, and spent the first half hour or so taking care of paperwork. There are a total of four students in the class which is great from an individual attention point of view. Tom, our instructor, said that during the summer they had eight people in the classes. Taking the class later in the year may mean cooler weather for our open water, but the small class size more than makes up for it.
After the paperwork was complete, we reviewed the quiz from the end of chapter one of “Go Dive”, the PADI Open Water book. We took turns answering the questions and Tom explained the theory behind. Tom walked us through the concepts which were presented in chapter one and made sure that we all understood the material. When we were done we took a closed-book quiz over the chapter one material. I answered all of the questions correctly which I attribute entirely to my fascination with the subject matter and my consequent in-depth study. Tom told us that for next week we should read chapter two and complete the quiz at the end of the chapter. I’ve actually already completed the book but I think I’ll review the chapter the day before our next class… I want to make sure I have a good solid understanding of everything.
Since there are a number of other people doing their open water certification this week there wasn’t enough equipment at the store for us to do scuba this week. I was a bit bummed that we wouldn’t be doing scuba this week; however, Tom told us that we had quite a bit to do between snorkeling and basic skills assessment. We gathered up our stuff and followed Tom over to Bronson Athletic Center which houses the pool we’re using for our confined water dives. The facility is fantastic and the people there are quite helpful.
Once in the pool we donned our fins, masks, and snorkels. Tom demonstrated how to swim with fins and snorkel and how to blast clear the snorkel. We all demonstrated blast clearing our snorkel (mine wasn’t terribly difficult since I have a dry snorkel and it’s hard to get a whole lot of water in it). Then we all swam 300 yards with all our snorkeling gear on. This is a requirement for PADI certification and we all completed it satisfactorily but wow, my feet were killing me by the time we were done. Swimming with fins uses entirely different muscles than I’m used to.
We swam over to the deep end and practiced making breath-hold skin dives and the displacement method for snorkel clearing. Then we had to remove our gear and tread water for ten minutes. This was by far the most physically challenging portion of the whole class. Since I’m in decent shape and have relatively low body fat, I sink like a stone unless I’m holding a very deep breath. Ten minutes wasn’t terribly difficult but it was certainly a workout. Fortunately you can stay afloat using whatever method you wish which meant that I could float on my back for part of the time with minimal effort.
At that point we had finished what we had to do for the first day. We all climbed out of the pool and went to Bronson’s separate heated pool (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit) to warm up and debrief. Tom told us what to expect next week and we chatted among ourselves for awhile. Next week I’m planning on bringing my 7/5 wetsuit to the pool as it got a bit chilly after we were in there awhile. It’ll probably be overkill but I can always pull on the neck to let cool water in if I get overheated. I’d much rather be warm than cold.
Overall the first class was a lot of fun. It’d been awhile since I’d been in a pool and I realized how much I missed it. The feeling of weightlessness and easy relaxed movement is great. Now the only hard part is waiting for next week’s class and the introduction to the rest of the scuba gear!
