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OPEN WATER DIVER

This is where your adventure begins!

When you enrol you get a “crew pack”. Essentially this is a high quality boxed set containing:

• the manual you will use to study from to complete 5 academic sessions referred to as “knowledge reviews”
• Dive tables called the Repetitive Dive Planner which your instructor will show you how to use when you do your open water dives.
• A PADI diving log book that you will record your training and open water dives in.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

When you get your crew pack you will also be given a date when the next course is beginning. Using your manual you will study in your own time in preparation for the beginning of your course. You will need to complete the five knowledge reviews and bring them with you at the beginning of the course. Your instructor will review with you any areas that you may have had difficulty with though there is nothing too difficult to understand; it’s mostly common sense! It is important though that you do the studying and complete all the knowledge reviews before you start as there will be no time to catch up in class and this will hold up your fellow students. If you do not have time to finish the studying before you turn up let us know and we’ll simply give you another course date. We are very flexible and can usually arrange things to suite most people’s schedule.

WHEN DO I GET IN THE WATER?

Usually as soon as possible!

Once you have completed the knowledge development sessions and completed a final written exam you’re ready for the pool training. You have to complete five “confined” water dives. What this means is swimming pool dives. We do this in a local pool over two sessions that will total about five hours in the water. You don’t need to bring anything apart from your swimsuit, and old T-shirt and a towel, we supply the rest. (Some people prefer to use their own mask and snorkel for hygiene reasons, ask us about this.)

Five hours is usually enough for the majority of people to complete the five confined water dives, however if you don’t catch on as quickly as the rest of the class and require more pool time we can arrange this. There may be an additional charge for this to cover pool hire and instruction though as we only run small courses you will get plenty of attention from your instructor and this rarely happens.

NOW YOU’RE DIVING!

To complete the course all there is left to do is four open water dives. This is done on two consecutive days, often at a weekend in fresh water quarries. The first dive is pure fun where you will see the wild life up close and swimming right in front of you. You will also get used to the equipment and the underwater environment all guided by your instructors. Dives two, three and four will require you to complete some of the skills you learned in the pool. Depending on where you live we can do the open water dives at Capernwray in Lancashire or Stoney Cove in Leicestershire (check the links page).

These are relaxed and enjoyable weekends and most people choose to stay over (which we recommend) on the Saturday night for a social get together. Most people have many questions about their diving which the instructors will be on hand to discuss. We can supply details of accommodation but this is not included in the price of your course. Entrance to the sites is payable by you on a daily basis. We can give details of current charges when you enrol on your course but should be no more than £20 for both days. As with the confined water dives, if you require further tuition to complete the skills required to complete the course we will arrange this for you at a later date. This is not a common occurrence as our instructor to student ratio is such that you will be getting plenty of guidance, help and attention. Again there may be a nominal charge for any additional instruction.

You are now qualified to dive with another diver of the same rating or above to a maximum depth of 18 Metres! CONGRATULATIONS!

By the time you have finished the open water course we know from past experience most people just want to go diving. We thoroughly recommend the Advanced Open Water course or we can also arrange guided dives with qualified professional staff to show you around and point out things of interest. Also check out the speciality courses we offer.