LEARN TO SCUBA DIVE
Phone: 330-544-6230
PADI Open Water Certification Course
The areas only 5 Star Instructor Training Facility
Copyright 2007 Ski Chalet and Treasure Cove Scuba
All Rights Reserved
PADI's newest certification level is called Adventure Diver and the name says it all! You now have the option of doing only three dives from the Advanced Open Water class in areas like night, deep, wreck, navigation, photography, videography, search & recovery, and still receive another certification! It's an ideal way to get more experience with an instructor under a wide range of environments and skills. The course is normally conducted in one day, but with the flexibility of this course, you can almost set your own schedule! Later, if you elect to complete two more dives, you'll be awarded the PADI Advanced Open Water certification.
The PADI Advanced Open Water Diver
course is meant to develop your skills underwater while giving you a taste of some of the most popular specialty diver courses. In the course, you will make a total of five dives. Two of the dives are "core" or required dives. These consist of a navigation dive where you will gain more experience in the use of the compass, and a deep dive, which is conducted at depths over 60 feet. To round out the five dives, the last three are considered "elective" dives, and may include: underwater photography, drysuit dive, boat dive, drift dive, search and recovery dive, or even a wreck dive!
The Advanced class is meant for those divers recently certified as Open Water Divers, in that you will gain more experience in a variety of environments under the direction of a PADI Instructor. Many folks say ". . . I'll
get Open Water certified, then when I get real good, I'll come back for Advanced. . .". Not the case! We conduct lots of Advanced classes for experienced divers, but the class is meant for you who just recently got certified!
There is very little classroom time during the course; in fact, most of the discussion is done right at the divesite! The whole course is concentrated on diving instead of classroom.
The Advanced Open Water class is also a prerequisite for some of the specialty courses like wreck diver, ice diver, and search & recovery diver.
The PADI Rescue Diver
course is divided into two components: knowledge development and open water training. The knowledge development portion develops the principles and information you will need for preventing and handling diving emergencies, with topics such as self-rescue, diver stress, diving first aid, emergency management, equipment problems and rescue and assistance procedures for both conscious and unconscious victims on the surface and underwater.
During the open water phase of the course, you will apply the knowledge you've learned as you develop rescue skills. Just as a mechanic has tools to complete his work, this class will give you the tools from which to draw in
the case of a diving emergency. The class starts with some classroom sessions to cover the knowledge needed to safely practice the skills in the pool or confined water. Each of the rescue techniques is presented in the pool so
that you will gain confidence with each. Once that's finished, we move on to the open water to practice each of the skills individually as well as conducting a number of mock emergency scenarios to really sharpen your skill level. After the
open water has been completed successfully, there is a brief written quiz. The best part of the class is that the confidence you will gain in your own abilities will make your diving a lot safer. The Rescue Diver course is a
prerequisite for moving on to either Master Scuba Diver or to any of the professional ranks like Divemaster or Instructor. The only prerequisites for the Rescue Diver course are Advanced Open Water or equivalent, and proof of 20
logged dives. You will also need to be CPR/First Aid certified within the past three years. We can accomplish the latter of these with the PADI Medic First Aid Course.
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The first step in the professional ranks of diving is Divemaster. This level of diver certification is very hard to describe, since it takes into account a variety of skills, abilities, and knowledge. The single most used term when speaking of the Divemaster is
responsibility. The Divemaster is responsible for people, planning, orienting, and of course, safe diving. In other diver certifying agencies, the divemaster course consists of a heavy emphasis on diver rescue training.
PADI's philosophy is to make rescue training a prerequisite to becoming a Divemaster. Therefore, in order to qualify for the PADI Divemaster program, you must be certified as a PADI Rescue Diver and have at least 20 logged dives. In addition,
all Divemaster candidates must be eighteen years of age. The course consists of three distinct modules. Module One assesses, and if necessary, remediates the candidates watermanship and general diving skill level. Module Two is
designed to increase the candidates's diving theory knowledge to a higher level through the use of independent study and written exams. Module Three involves the Divemaster candidate in actual training and supervisory situations under the
direction of PADI instructor. There are lots of coaching and feedback given during these sessions, with the intent of making the candidate a more informed and better dive leader. Because of the nature of the Divemaster program,
it is generally conducted with the utmost in flexibility for the candidate. Particular sessions will be dependent on certain considerations, such as weather, availability of facilities, etc. and these would be discussed with the candidate as
needed. The Divemaster course is hard work, studying, and sometimes frustrating, but ask those who have this rating and they will tell you it's definitely worth the time!
