Big Blue's Open Water Course

So what is the Open Water Course, why do I need it & how long is it gonna take cos I really don’t want to spend my holiday sitting in a classroom!

That’s what we hear from most new arrivals when they rock up at Big Blue & realise we are a dive resort with accommodation for our divers. Its not that we want to bully anyone into diving far from it but guys if you just want a holiday & no diving then no probs let me refer you to a couple of very nice friends of ours who couldn’t give a monkeys if you go diving with them- Silver Sand Bungalows & Blue Wind Resort. If you want to pay a little extra then check out Sunset Buri cos they got a swimming pool!

Now this isn’t an article about our neighbours & friends. This is about the Open Water Course what it consists of & what you can expect while doing the course with us at Big Blue Diving Resort.

DAY ONE- ORIENTATION
When we start the first day of the course we start at 4pm. Reason for the late start is cos this bits easy. You can relax while you meet your Instructor & the other guys on the course & then together you’ll fill out some forms & have a chat about the next few days & the schedule so everyone knows what to expect. Then your Instructor will give you your manuals & will stick on a video we need you to watch. Not the most exciting movie you are ever going to watch but necessary & by 6pm its all over. Off to the Beach bar & grab a seat & a beer & hang out with your new mates while you watch the sun go down. As I said a very relaxed way to start your Open Water course.

DAY TWO- CONFINED
Next morning we are going to meet up in the restaurant. Everyone can order their own breakfast and then bring it into the classroom while we start the morning with another quick Video. Then we are going to come back to the restaurant grab one of those tables at the waters edge & your Instructor is now going to have a chat with you & explain what it was you have just watched, why you need to know it & what you are going to be doing in the afternoon. Your Instructor will introduce you to your equipment showing you hat everything does & how or why, & explain about certain physical aspects that concern the human body & diving- primarily air spaces- Ears, Sinuses & lungs! After a thoroughly detailed & entertaining morning trying on your equipment & discussing everything you need to know it’ll be lunch time!
A quick chow down of local or western cuisine later & its time to grab your prepared equipment bags & its off to the beach. Now we are going to grab an area in the shade your Instructor is going to give your scuba tank & ask you to stand behind it while they show you again, while you follow what they do this time, how to assemble your equipment together.
Having followed all the procedures needed to get the equipment assembled & assigning our buddies its time to check each other & finally & very excitedly get into to the water. We are looking for an area deep enough to comfortably stand up in, so around chest to neck height. Then its masks on & regs in then we submerge head below the surface breathing underwater for the first time!

Now of course this bit could be done in a swimming pool but the first thing you realise as you check out your alien surroundings is how much cooler it is to be diving in the sea rather than a pool. There are all these little fishies around you! At first you call them fishies but by the end of the day you will know them as Damsels, sergeant majors, or Mullets! In addition you'll see heaps of star fish or sea cucumbers. Having checked out your friends for a while you’ll suddenly realise how easy all this diving & breathing underwater thing actually is!

The Instructor is going to grab your attention now & demonstrate for you a skill that you have seen on the video, had explained in the classroom & been shown what to do before jumping in the water. Your Instructor will demonstrate it very slowly & clearly & then will come over to you all individually & ask you to repeat the skill. Once you have competently demonstrated complete mastery of this skill the instructor will then move on to the next student. The types of skills that you will need to demonstrate competency with include skills using your regulator, clearing your mask, achieving neutral buoyancy & removing & replacing parts of your equipment while underwater & also at the surface. Once the session has finished it is time to disassemble & clean our scuba gear & head straight to the bar for a debrief & another sunset beer!
It’s a great afternoon & one that has opened up a brand new world to you.

DAY THREE- OPEN WATER DIVES 1 & 2
Next morning its breakfast time again. Another TV brekkie & another beachside classroom session discussing what the plans are for the afternoon & next morning, & working out the times & depths that we can go diving for.
And before you know it we are back on the boat again having scoffed down another lunch & heading out to do our first proper Open Water Dive down to a maximum depth of 12 meters. Our preparation is faultless. Everyone knows what they are supposed to do & even if they do forget then they know the right people to ask for help. Its easy its fun its exciting & its about to be the highlight of your holiday.
When descending into this weird & wonderful world the first thing to remember is to equalise! Without squeezing & blowing out against a pinched nose you won’t be able to descend very far so don’t forget. And then once we are at the bottom its establish neutral buoyancy time & get with your buddy get horizontal & lets go for a cruise in this whacky underwater wonderland! You are gonna see Bannerfish, Angelfish, Parrot fishButterfly fish & loads of those we saw yesterday. If we get lucky we might get to see an eel or a stingray aswell! Keeping an eye on our air supply is a lot like keeping an eye on the petrol tank in your car! So once we get to a quarter full we are going to end the dive & slowly kick for the surface no faster than our Instructor before breaking the surface establishing positive buoyancy & then blabbing with your friends about this fish & that fish & how cute or ugly they were what it was like to do this or that & how much air have you got left & wasn’t that cool!!!
An hour long interlude at the surface while we change divesites drink tea or coffee, munch on cookies & discuss what we are going to do next then it’s in again for a second dive. Same as before but different! Different fish different corals different entry & this time we are going to do some of what we did yesterday but in slightly deeper water.
Day 3 finishes with stories around the beer bottles under a blood red sky!

DAY FOUR- CERTIFICATION DAY
The final day of our course starts early. The reason for this is because with over 45 dive shops on the island we want to get to the site before the other shops & the best site we can offer you now is Chumphon Pinnacle. A beautiful submerged series of pinnacles with its shallowest at about 12 meters & its deepest at 30 meters before the sands slope off to a maximum depth of 40 meters. We are even going to bring a videographer with us to record our fun & games. The maximum we’ll be diving to today is 18 meters. A very different dive to yesterday where the bottom was at 12 meters. The reason we choose to dive here on the Open Water Course is because we want to show you real diving & by introducing you to Chumphon you’ll completely see & understand the massive difference between this site and the other sites you dive on your course. Chumphon is famous for all the reef sharks that call this place home & if you are lucky & keep your fingers crossed then you might even experience the largest fish in the sea & the one creature all divers hope they will come across on their underwater travels, the magnificent Whaleshark.
Once this first dive is over we are off to our 4th & final divesite of the course where we have some more skills to do & more things to find. Mastering the art of buoyancy control is what we are striving for here.
Then its back to shore A quick recap on everything we have learnt & done & then its quiz time- 50 questions all multiple guess where you have to score a minimum of 75%. Bearing in mind you have seen everything on the video, have seen it in shallow water, & done it yourself in both shallow & deeper water this part is a breeze.
And all going according to plan you will now be certified as an Open Water diver. You will be given your license & will now be permitted to dive anywhere in the world down to a maximum depth of 18 meters! How easy was that & the fun is exemplified when we all get together in the evening to enjoy the movie of our mornings dives over a pizza & some beers!

And that my inquisitive friends is how we do it & why we do it!

The next thing we usually get asked is how long is the Advanced Course why should we do that over fundiving & when can I start!

To all the Open Water Divers we have certified this year, congratulations. We wish you many more years of future underwater happiness!