How To Get Scuba Certified So You Can Explore The Beautiful World Under The Water
If you love spending time in the water and often take vacations to the beach, then you should consider taking up scuba diving so you can explore the beauty under the waves. Scuba diving allows you to see much more than simple snorkeling does, and it can open the world to a new hobby that lasts a lifetime. In order to dive, you'll need to become certified. Here's how you get your scuba diving certification.
Learn About Practices And Safety Measures First
There are three parts to becoming certified. Classroom learning is first. Once that's complete, you can move on to controlled diving in a pool, and the final part is open diving in a large body of water. During classroom learning, you'll be taught the theories of diving and learn about the equipment and safety precautions. You'll learn important things like underwater hand signals so you can communicate. You can usually take the classroom training online at your own pace. However, if you prefer, you can find a certification program that offers classes that meet weekly.
Begin Controlled Diving
Once you've learned the basics from videos and books, it's time to get in the water. This is usually done in a swimming pool, but it can also be done in a body of water that is of suitable depth and that has calm water. In this phase, you'll put on the equipment and demonstrate that you can use it properly. You'll begin in fairly shallow water and work your way into the deeper end of the pool as your skills advance. You'll practice important safety maneuvers such as clearing water from your mask and dealing with air supply problems. You'll be taught how to compensate for buoyancy and how to navigate underwater. You'll have multiple dives in the pool to make sure you're ready for deep-water diving.
Advance To Open Water Diving
The open water diving part of your training is where the real fun begins. You'll get to explore deeper water and see fish and other natural creatures in ways you've never experienced before. These dives are supervised and give you the chance to practice all the skills you learned during controlled diving. After several dives, you'll be ready for certification once your instructor feels confident you've obtained the skills to dive safely and you pass the certification test.
If you attend weekly classes to get scuba certified, the whole process may take a few months to complete. However, you can speed things up by taking an accelerated course that you can complete in days instead of weeks. This could be a good option if you want to prepare for a tropical vacation that offers the chance for fantastic diving. Once you've been certified by an official scuba organization, you'll be given a card that's recognized worldwide so you can explore oceans in exotic locations as well as the waters off your local beach.