Four days and 160 minutes: Following a new diver’s experiences.

Joe Plazyk, the newest certified diver at The Warrior Scuba Project lets us in on what his experience has been like getting certified. After four days and 160 minutes at the bottom, Joe Plazyk became a certified scuba diver. How? You ask…I’ll tell you.

The first round of training began like most activities, in the classroom. The first day of coursework lasted about ten hours and covered the basics, fundamental skills of scuba, safety and being in the water.

The next day in the course was focused on getting in the water and training for confined water skills in a pool. Joe told us “I was able to take the skills I learned in the classroom, and apply it in the confined water training”.

Finally, the last and most exciting two days were all about the open water skills assessment. Joe utilized the skills he learned in the confined water training and was able to practice it in open water. This training was done in Gilboa Quarry located in Northwest Ohio. Open water, fish, training platforms and more, this place has it all and is key for scuba certification.

Wanting to know more about his experiences, I pried further. Joe gave us the cliff notes, so to speak on diving. Although the pool for the confined training is cozy and warm, open water is a much more fulfilling experience. With its positives, open water has its setbacks, explained Joe. “The water is cold and there is more going on around you, which was a bit nerve wracking “, Joe states. According to Joe, the mask was the trickiest part of the dive.  “Taking the mask fully off and putting it back on while in the water was the hardest part. Getting used to breathing with the mask on and then without it was an unsettling feeling”

So why is a discovery dive important? Joe explained “discovery dives are key in becoming certified, and you can’t do one without the other”, referencing the in class training and the confined water skills training. You can practice your skills in a safe environment at only 9 ft of water, while getting used to breathing with the mask on, and wearing all of the equipment.

After 160 minutes at the bottom, 4 days of training, and throw in a 7mm wetsuit for good measure, there you have it folks, a certified scuba diver.

I hope you got a good feel of what becoming certified is like from behind the mask of a new diver.

Feel free to comment below. Thanks for reading.

Until next time