My first Open Water course (aka Baptism Of Fire!)
Well I’m over halfway through teaching my first PADI Open Water diving course, and I’ve not killed anyone as of yet! It has been pretty stressful though, both physically and mentally. You’ve got to be focused on the students constantly, whether you’re in confined water or doing the open water dives. My students for this first course were 5 people: 4 girls and 1 guy (the boyfriend of one of the girls).
We did the knowledge review sessions at the end of last week after work. The venue was the apartment of one of the dive student in Naha. It was a little more centrally located than my place, but in retrospect I’m gonna tell people to come to my place. Then all the equipment and training materials are on-hand and it’s just a little less stressful and time-consuming for me. I’ve really got to start making the students work for me rather than vice versa. I do what I can to try and help people but I’m sure a lot of the time I do too much. Otherwise I’m gonna drive myself to an early grave driiving around trying to please the world and his wife. But anyway… back to the plot. The Knowlegde Review sessions went pretty well, with only a few explanations and quick reviews of quizzes needed. The sessions were based over 2 nights but in the future I’d probably schedule it for a single full-day on a weekend, with the confined water dives on the next day.
Friday night was a day off but it was a day of organising equipment for me. I bought a 2nd hand BCD and reg (a Dacor Chameleon BCD and an Aqualung reg which looks as old as time itself, but seems like a workhorse) and went to the dive shop to tell them what I’d need on Saturday for confined water sessions. When they told me they’d have the gear it was a huge weight off my mind as I hate things being out of my hands. I’m going to get a few more sets of equipment ASAP just so I know that the gear I’m giving students is going to be available, and that it’s going to be reliable. Had a HP hose burst on Monday’s Open Water Dives on a rental reg. Luckily it was before we’d hit the water as it would have been quite scary for the student diver with the amount of bubbles coming out of the reg in that situation. If it had been my gear, something like that could still have happened, but it would be regularly serviced so the chances of it occuring would have been a lot lower.
So onto Saturday and the Confined Water sessions at Island Message’s pool. I arranged to meet at 10am at Ark Dive, and naturally everyone was at least a little late. Then it took an absolute age to get gear for everyone and we only actually hit the water at midday. The session went relatively smoothly, especially as it was pretty intense, doing all the confined water dives in one day. One of the students got cold a few times and had to get out of the water and warm up. She’s very thin though and needs a thick, good-fitting wetsuit. Again, one of the advantages of buying your own gear: it’s customised to you and your size & needs. The students’ buoyancy was all askewed though, which gave me a few worries about going into the OW dives. Looking back at it, they were probably overweighted for doing dive skills in freshwater, but I wanted to make sure they were going to stay on the bottom initially. The thing to remember is that this entire course, and the next few courses I teach will be learning experiences for both me and the students. There are quite a few things I would change in the next course to hopefully improve the efficiency and enjoyment level of the courses. There are no major issues in the course, but just some things I want to change to run things more smoothly.
Sunday was a rest day and it was well needed after confined water. But Monday was Health & Sports Day in Japan and what better way to celebrate than to do Open Water dives 1 & 2. So we rented equipment again from Ark Dive (once again they gave me a nice instructor’s price for my class). Students did the swim test at Kadena Marina and then we headed to Kadena North for the dives. Jenny joined us and helped me as my Divemaster for these 2 dives, and I couldn’t have wished for better company. She’s fun, professional and knows exactly what to do in each situation. The first dive was just plain exploration and I was really surprised at how well everyone controlled their buoyancy. There weren’t too many exciting fish out, but it was enough to keep everyone’s attention over the 36 minute dive. After a surface interval (and returning that reg to get the HP hose replaced) we headed into the water for Open Water dive 2, during which we’d do a few skills. The group went down together with me keeping an eye on one buddy pair and Jenny keeping an eye on the other. We got to the bottom and I was going around checking if everyone was ok when one diver just started coughing and was obviously having difficulty breathing. She spat her reg out and started looking up. I realised she was about to bolt to the surface and made lightning quick pace to get over to her and grab her. I gave her my alternate but she seemed to have trouble clearing that so I just gave her my primary second stage and I took the octopus. Deflated all of my air out of my BCD so that if she did start to swim up I would have some negative buoyancy to control her. Her eyes were wide as she was obviously panicking but I made sure she was looking directly at me and kept a cool head (on the outside at least). Got her focusing on me and starting to calm down slightly. I then left Jenny with the other divers as I made a slow ascent to the surface with this girl. When we got to the top she told me what had happened. Apparently her reg had taken in a little water and when she inhaled she inhaled some water. Then when she panicked a little her mask took in a little water. I left her on the float, swapped places with Jenny and then continued the dive with the students. The other guys performed the skills excellently, but my mind was still on the student and her problem. My main worry now was that she was going to be turned off diving, but it doesn’t seem like she is. The next dive I do with her will be 1-on-1 with my equipment, so I can be sure it’s not an equipment problems he has, plus she can be more confident the equipment will be 100% ok.
That was a scary experience and this course has been a baptism of fire so far. But it’s a steep learning curve, as my first English teaching courses were. But my ability increased very quickly when I was teaching in Maldives and I’m sure it’s going to do the same here. So the course will conclude next weekend, weather permitting, but there is a typhoon on the horizon and if it speeds up it could cause problems on Sunday for diving. But until then I’ll be preparing my dives and doing the Final Exam with some students. I’ll be in touch again soon. Take care and dive safely.
or Discuss this Article
Good stuff Dave.
Hope you enjoy teaching the courses and it’s a steep learning curve indeed. It will probably take a couple of courses before you’re happy on how to teach it, but once you got the hang, just remember to keep an open eye and mind on other ways of doing things possibly in different ways than you did before. Never stop learning!
A group of 5 students is pretty good to start off with, I’m sure you were happy to have a Divemaster with you. Did you pay her enough?
Good luck and stay wet.