The Course Open Water Diver
Swimming pool and theoretical skills
On Sunday January 29, 2006 a completely new world opened to us at the 26th Vacation Saloon in Antwerp, totally new experiences or at least the first steps towards these experiences. We’re talking about learning to dive for years already and now we have made the first step in the good direction. We receive information from a new diving school in Walem (close to Mechelen). That’s not very far away and this is now the ideal moment to start. We receive beginning of February an e-mail to invite us for our first lesson to get acquainted to diving in the swimming pool in Sint-Katelijne-Waver. We can choose between 4 different dates to start the lesson. Then the package includes snorkel, mask, fins, 3 lessons of theory, 5 modules in the pool and 4 open water dives. At this moment we only have to bring our swimming suits and that’s it. We prefer Saturday March 11 to start the first lesson and then we’ll see, what we’re going to do. We; that is Mike, Eef and me; the rest of our friends are not joining us. They will regret that later. OK, first lesson then. It all seems so simple and once you under water you don’t even think about the fact, that there is no air, really strange actually. We immediately submerge in the pool to do some exercises under water. It advances pretty quickly, we hadn’t thought that. That soon, already doing exercises like retrieving the regulator clear water out of it and out of the mask. Then we immediately need to let the mask fill itself with water. Damn. Timo can’t do that from the first time, only from the second, but he must not worry because Mike and Eef are also having trouble with it. Each one of us needs to try for a few times before we can get it right or at least acceptable right. Also another strange thought is communication under water. The only communication methods are gestures with the hands and arms: sometimes they’re very clear, sometimes completely nuts. The first lesson is done by Dimi assisted by Rudy. Rudy is already trying to become an instructor. Very good. We stay in the water and they teach us to have a neutral floating capacity. It seems absurd that we’re going to manage this, but we’ll often do it and then learn doing it. We meet other divers after the lessons of the club and schedule directly the next pool and theoretical lessons. On March 25 the second lesson in the pool and then three weeks in the pool and theory in the afternoon. That’s going be something: that many years after our education still learning and reading books. So the second lesson is indeed on March 25th. They expect from us, that we can put all the gear together ourselves now (or at least partially). We make that part with a little help of our friends. Then we do a buddy check (BWARF – Begin With Review And Friend)
B(egin) BCD
W(ith) Weights
R(eview) Regulator
A(nd) Air
F(riend) Final Check
Then OK and we’re off. So far, so good. We can just go into the water. We practice to go into the water sideways from the side of the pool. Then the other exercises start. Fill the mask with water, no prob, but then comes the difficult part. Take off the mask and breathe like this without the mask. Eef and Mike have no trouble doing it, but Timo can’t make it apparently. In the end he works it out and we can continue with the other exercises. We need to use the alternate air source of our buddies. That is OK too and we need to make sure we never hold our breath during diving. If you loose the regulator, you need to exhale very slowly and then clear the regulator and start breathing normal again. I’m not going to describe all other exercise, because there are still other.
The third lesson takes place in the same pool in Sint-Katelijne-Waver on 01/04/06. The nicest exercises are: breathing out of a broken regulator (really cool!), again breathing without mask. Now all three of us are OK. That’s great news. A bit more difficult was the commando jump for Eef, but she was expecting it was worse as she thought. Again learning buddy breathing, learn how to use the buoyancy compensator. Everything goes (almost) perfect. Today also starts our first theoretical lesson. Polle, first instructor in the pool, now gives theory. Something seems to have gone wrong scheduling the lessons, so Polle needs to come to give this first lesson. Everything gets arranged properly in the end. Small remark: Timo had practiced during the week to breath without his mask under water. Luckily nobody was home at that moment, only Cartouche, so nobody could take pictures.
The fourth lesson takes place on April 08, 2006. Now it’s Danny who instructs us, in the pool and also the theoretical course. We learn how to swim without a mask. Again Timo has some trouble with it. A few times Danny needs to assist and without a warning then intervenes and takes off Timo’s mask and then everything is OK. The Timo is able to swim without his mask in the width and the length of the pool without problems. Well done, T! Timo needs a little bit encouragement. Well, in the end all is well. It seems he thinks too much instead of just do it. Then we need to float in the pool, always at the same altitude in the water without using the inflator. That is OK too. Then some more exercises with the snorkel, but actually that’s just for the record. But everything needs to be tested. And then to do it all completely: free diving, hyperventilate and clear everything (snorkel, mask, regulator). In the afternoon there is a lesson of theory; that is now a long time we’re away from home. We left at 10:30 and will only be back home a 19:00.
Then the last training is 15/04/2006 and then we have an exam. First we need take off the jacket, above and under water, remove the lead-belt and place it back. That all works out fine and we can fun-dive a little bit, swim in the pool well placed in the water and that way end the last session successfully. Then theory: we have a quick lesson of 30 minutes and then we need to take the exam. Almost everything is perfect. Mike and Timo have made one mistake, Eef two, but that does not really matter. The most important thing is the three of us passed the test.
Now the real stuff can start!
Dives in open water
Our first dive in open water is in Mechelen in De Nekker. On April 23, 2006 it’s finally there. To De Nekker! This year we almost never had any spring days; actually the weather hasn’t been good at all, except this week a few days. That’s god, because this week the temperature of the water rose from 4° to 10° Celsius. Especially for Eef that was something to consider. Eef often feels cold and certainly here in the cold water she would not feel OK. We leave at about 13:00 to Mechelen. We can freely enter Nekker and we need to go to the pavilion of water sport. There somebody from Scubacollege would be waiting for us and help us to do the dive. Everybody is on a parking spot a bit further than the pavilion and so we also go there. Flor is already there and waits for us with a van full of diving equipment. We choose out gear and go to the dressing rooms inside the pavilion. A suit of 7 mm, boots and we can get dressed in the dressing rooms and not outside. We also receive the rest of our equipment: jacket, fins, a bottle and all other necessary things, like a regulator and stuff. We prepare ourselves and then we’re ready to leave. It has almost taken more than an hour to get ready to go into the water. Then we first need to walk 500 meters with all gear on our back and that is a little bit labor, but the cold water will cool us down rather quickly. We go into the water, with some special tips from Flor and then we dive. Eef and Timo join Flor and Mike is accompanied from another diver (Filip). He is diving to reach the level of divemaster; already a little bit higher than ours. We are able to sink and to stay underwater, but it is not something easily done. We have also not the correct amount of lead. We receive another 2 kilo and can leave then. Through a thick fog of stirred mud and silt, we particularly see shells on the bottom and particles in the water. We stay close to our instructor; at a distance of about 20 to 50 centimeter to be sure we don’t loose him in the troubled water. We swim to a sunken boat and to many other things that were put or thrown into the water like a mirror, a window-figure (with swimming pants). All pretty funny. We realize that it is not that cold, or it doesn’t feel that cold at least. We don’t do a lot of things now, just some exploration and to get used to the open water – a bit deeper than the two meters from the pool. Everything is OK, but Flor congratulates us about five times that we stayed so calm in the dark water of the Nekker, because even for her the sight was bad. Then it’s time to get out of the water, take our gear off and put everything back at its place. Then we take a shower and there is everything available: well organized. In the large cafeteria there is the de-briefing with a Duvel.
We finished our first open water adventure well, with success. Well done.
On April 30 we enter the Nekker again for our second open water dive. This time the instructors are again Danny and Rudy. We already knew them from the pool adventure and that gives trust. Maurits and Betty are with us, so we have some pictures of our outfit and of the Nekker and other things. Today we dive to the pontoon at eight meters depth; there we need to perform some exercises and then we dive to the side for fun. But first we need to reach that. We need to tow our instructors a few meters, we need to make sure we the correct amount of lead. We now have a bit too much weight; next time it will be OK. We go down in two times, because Timo had to come back up; his weight belt was almost sliding over his hip. Danny can’t get it right underwater, so Timo needs to go up. Eef looses her snorkel like in the pool a few times, but now she can’t find it back. Bad luck, we need to buy a new one. For Mike everything seems to be OK; we’re only having problems. Eventually we reach the platform and there we need to perform some exercises: pivot, share air with Danny, fill the mask with water and then clear it. Then we dive further and suddenly Mike is gone; he had still too much air in his jacket and got a few meters from us, so we lost him. The sight is bad, so after a minute we go back up to pick up Mike. We dive and swim to the side. Eef had some air left and dives further along the side with Danny and we return on foot. The buoyancy is not really OK for us yet, we need some more experience for that. We have finished successfully our second open water, but we hope it will get better next week. We must keep a good heart. Everything will work out fine.
Our two last open water dives were scheduled for May 7 and May 14. Scubacollege has open house on 6 and 7 May and they don’t have any instructors. Therefore they postpone it to May 14. We will then do all exercises at once and that’s how it happens. This time Dimitri and Danny help us. We perform all exercises on the platform without problems, except 1. Timo off course has problems taking of his mask. Again the same issue. All other ones are OK. Dimi takes Timo away from the group and they dive for fun a little bit and then he suddenly needs to stop to take off the mask and now it goes well. He can do it even longer than he’s supposed to. Then they dive a few more minutes and Dimi and Timo spot two giant carps. Those are the fish that swim at the little bridge and you can spot them from that bridge. We were not diving very deep. We also need to pass through a big tube in the lake. We have received the certificate of PADI Open water. Congratulations Eef, Mike and Timo! We will drink one in the cafeteria and we are flooded with info over next courses and money for club-membership of Scubacollege. We’ll see about that when we’re back from the Cycladic islands, because it costs a lot of money.
Now we can finally dive on vacation and that is why we did this course.
