This February I started my journey to become a diver, something that never would have crossed my mind a year ago. After being given an opportunity to join the university expedition to Indonesia to learn open water diving I decided to take a preparation referral PADI course with Scuba Diving Scotland.
The course consisted of independent study of the 250 page manual and watching online videos, followed by 2 theory classes, an exam and 3 pool sessions to learn all the essential skills.
As is it February and I’m guessing not many people currently fancy diving in Scotland, the class ended up being just 4 students. This was fantastic as there was plenty of space for 1-2-1 tutoring if anybody struggled with any of the skills. At the first theory session, we covered the first 3 chapters of the open water manual and completed mini quizzes for each of them.
The first pool session followed later the same week. Before putting the scuba kit on, all of us had to pass a 200m swim (without touching any of the walls mind you) and a 10 minute float. My plan to just float on my back was ruined by having to keep a conversation but surprisingly treading water for that long wasn’t too hard. After that we were finally ready to get to the skills. First task: replacing the regulator – easy enough. Second task: the dreaded mask clearing. Surprisingly this went all fine, mainly because I have been taking improver swimming lessons for the last few months and got very familiar with having my nose full of water. From then on, we blasted through the skills so quickly even the instructors were impressed. We learned a bit about buoyancy control, how to fix loose band on the air tank, how it feels if the air supply is shut off and how to share air. The nearly perfect session was only spoiled by my ear not equalising past 2m. Out of stubbornness I decided to keep trying which really was a very bad idea so should this ever happen to you, please don’t be like me. Other than that, all of us successfully completed confined water dives 1 and 2 ✅
During the second theory class we finished the remaining chapters 4 and 5 and then moved onto the kit assembly. There was a short moment of fear opening the air tank for the first time, hoping the kit wouldn’t go flying but all was well and since then I’ve been setting my kit up on my own (backed by the fact that it stayed together in the pool). The class finished by sitting a theory exam which I can proudly say I passed with flying colours and 48/50 points 😎
Confined water dives 3 and 4 opened by putting our kits together and then entering the pool with giant stride – an extremely weird feeling the first time you do this. I spent the week obsessively researching ear equalisation and in the end and I was able to dive to the bottom of the pool this session! Pinching nose and swallowing truly was a game changer. Other skills we went through this week included hovering, belt and kit replacement on the surface, free flowing regulator breathing and swimming without a mask. I accidentally committed the highest scuba crime: placing the mask on my forehead when on the surface and promptly got water splashed in my face. We then had to swim along the bottom of the pool without touching anything at the threat of having to buy McDonald’s for the instructors if we do. This week also included CESA technique which did take me about 3 attempts but I got there eventually. Finished early we were given about 30 minutes to try whatever skill we please: the whole group proceeded to stay in the same spot practising (and mostly failing) buoyancy control.
Confined water dive 5 turned out to be just 2 skills: replacing kit and belt underwater. Not overly difficult but extremely awkward if you, like me, float too well. To finish off, I had plenty of time to practice whatever skills I wanted so naturally I continued to fail in buoyancy some more. Did a few more rounds of mask clearing, had a go at CESA again for a good measure and then I discovered my snorkel sucks as water kept going in through the purge valve.
With the course finished and I am now ready to take on the open water dives in Indonesia!