| You can learn
to scuba-dive in three or four days.
The basic qualification is an Open Water certificate. The exact timetable
appears to vary a bit from course to course, but essentially you start
with about a day-and-a-bit of theory - primarily concerned with understanding
the effects of compression and decompression, and using dive tables to
plan safe dives. Then a pool session to carry out various exercises, most
of them concerned with coping with emergencies (failed air supply, entanglement,
etc). Finally, four dives (over two days) in open water, repeating some
of the exercises in the real environment. Pass both theory and practical
exercises, and you're then a qualified open water diver, able to dive
to 18 metres.
If you learn to dive somewhere like Egypt, you will generally dive from a boat. Here is the 'giant stride' entry. You hold your mask and regulator against your face, take a big step off the boat and then do an impression of a teapot to signal to the boat that everything is ok:
Most courses will include someone with an underwater camcorder, so you can do a gratuitous somersault if you spot them filming you:
Although 18m
is deep enough for many dives, and most of the interesting coral
is found above this depth, you'll usually need to go deeper than this
if you want to explore wrecks. The maximum depth recommended for sports
diving is 30 metres, and to qualify for this depth you need to do the
Advanced Open Water training. This course comprises five dives over two
days.
While the
AOW training also has a theoretical side, there are no classroom
sessions: you just have to read the manual and do some 'knowledge reviews'
(informal tests). Most people read the manual on the plane on the way
over, or just read the relevant chapters the night before. The knowledge
reviews are generally carried out on the boat on the way to the dive site.
The descent rope to the Thistlegorme, a famous WW2 wreck at 30m
The site of the
explosion that sank her
There are
16 advanced dive modules available, and you have to do five of
them to qualify. Two are compulsory, and in theory you choose the other
three. However, the reality is that you'll usually be doing the qualification
as part of a group, so the decision will come down to what the instructor
proposes and what consensus is reached by the group. The modules are as
follows (blue = compulsory, green
= my other modules):
- Deep
(30m)
- Underwater
navigation
- Wreck
(explore a shipwreck)
- Drift
(drift in a current, while the boat follows above)
- Night
- Peak
performance bouyancy
- Altitude
(diving in a mountain lake)
- Fish
identification
- Boat
diving
- Diver
propulsion vehicles (Mmmm - gadgets!)
- Dry
suit
- Multi-level & Computer
- Search
and recovery
- Underwater
naturalist
- Underwater photography
- Underwater
videography
There are two bodies
who can provide training and accreditation for recreational diving:
PADI (the Professional Association of Diving Instructors) and BSAC (the
British Sub-Aqua Club). The syllabus appears to be virtually identical,
the main difference being that PADI makes some use of videos to cover
material which BSAC has the instructors cover. However, the real difference
is in the value of the qualification: some overseas diving centres don't
recognise BSAC, so PADI is the one to go for if you want to be able to
dive anywhere in the world.
You can do a PADI
course in the UK, but a more civilised way to do it is to make a holiday
of it and go somewhere warm. By opting for Egypt and the delightful Red
Sea, I was able to enjoy 28-degree water temperatures in November for
my first course and 22-degree temperatures in February for my second.
:-)
The 5m safety stop
on the way back up from the Thistlegorme
The main downside
of PADI is that it is horribly American. The whole notion of
being called an 'advanced' diver after potentially as few as nine dives,
all of them under instruction, is absurd. Some of the questions are at
moron-level, and the tone of the manuals is enormously patronising.
To find out
whether you can cope with PADI training,
here is a PADI Question Acclimatisation Test. This test determines your
ability to answer some of the more, uh, American questions in the manual.
Answer all ten questions, then check your rating below.
- Diving is usually
carried out in (a) water (b) treacle or (c) molten lead?
- Is a successful
dive one where you (a) survive or (b) die? (Choose one option only)
- It is a good idea
to slash other divers with your dive knife: True or False?
- If you are getting
low on air, should you signal your buddy or just ignore it?
- This is question
5: True or False?
- Bubbles flow (a)
up towards the surface or (b) down towards the bottom?
- A 'Buddy Check'
is a form of payment: True or False?
- In an emergency
situation, is it better to (a) stay calm or (b) panic wildly?
- 30m is deeper than
18m: True or False?
- If you have no
idea where you are, where the rest of your group is, where the boat
might be or even whose territorial waters you may be in, are you lost?
How did you
do?
Merely sighed heavily:
Top marks, you are model PADI student
Hit your desk once: Good work, you'll do fine
Smashed your keyboard with your head: Some preparatory work is
recommended
You can't see this as you smashed your monitor: Sign up for the
PADI Patronising Prep Course
However, the
upside of PADI is that there are endless courses to choose from.
You can do more detailed specialist courses in all of the above subjects,
and there are also many other courses available.
Self-portrait ...
you too can look as silly as this
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