Student Divers

Open Water Scuba Divers. These people come into the shop with little to no experience in diving. They want to check it out, see what it’s all about. They’re the most exhausting students to teach, and the most rewarding. As a DMT all I can do is assist the course, helping out the trained and qualified instructors as they see fit.

Day 1: Theory, Videos, Quizzes, Theory, Video Quizzes. Nothing to do but make sure they’re in the classroom and watching, and go over the questions with them.

Day 2: Confined skills 1-5. These are skills done, underwater and on the surface, in 2 meters of water. It’s to train them how to use scuba in a controlled environment, with no risk of danger.

Day 3: Open water dives 1 and 2. These take you deeper, 10-12 meters, continuing education on skills, problem solving and technique.

Day 4: Dives 3 and 4. These continue to develop skills, techniques and problems, go deeper to 18 meters, and also let you enjoy the fun of being underwater, checking out fish and looking for some interesting marine life.

Within 4 days you can be certified to dive anywhere in the world up to 18 meters. Not a bad course, and it’s fun. For the students, many are thrilled just to be in the water. They don’t care about anything else. Breathing underwater is cool, no matter where you do it. For the instructors, you get to see people really grow and develop their skills. For a trainee, you get to spend hours sitting in sand, holding people down, babysitting, chasing after people who sink or float, grabbing lost equipment, helping people in and out of the boat, carrying anything needed, giving proper examples of how to do underwater and surface skills, and more sitting in the sand, holding people down, pushing them up, dragging them left and right, trying your best not to let them devastate the coral around them, as they try desperately to perfect their buoyancy…

My first course was three Danish guys, about 20 years old. The first challenge came in fitting gear to them. None of them were under 6’3’’. They had huge feet, and were too tall for our wetsuits. We did out best to give them gear that fit, and convinced them it’s much cooler to dive in shorts. We briefed them on all the videos, they took their quizzes and passed all tests. Then it was to the water. Keeping them in the confined area was hard enough, because on their knees they pretty much broke the surface of the water, yet we can’t take them any deeper. Learning how to hover and swim in water they can stand up in isn’t the easiest task, but it’s manageable.

During the open water dives it was easier, more room to swim around. Easier for them. As a DMT I am told to stay behind, watching for possible problems. And yes, there can be MANY problems. One starts to get too buoyant and is drifting up to the surface. This is dangerous if they ascend too fast, and can cause serious medical issues. Dart up, grab his BCD (vest to help you control buoyancy). Deflate and push him down, while telling him to equalize. Then you see on sinking fast. Dart down as fast as you can to grab his tank and pull him up, before he crushes the small table coral formations below him. Crisis averted… for now. One more goes up, one goes down, one tries doing a backflip and ends up sinking upside down, one gets too close to dangerous (mainly painful) corals and you have to grab and spin him out of the way, then one is missing. Where is he? At the surface, he shot up when no one was looking. It’s like babysitting a bunch of 5 year old giants.

But soon they get better. There is lest drifting up and down, more stability, better control of buoyancy and demonstration of skills. Then they can enjoy seeing the schools of snapper, or giant pufferfish. A blue-spotted stingray tries to hide from them, but they are learning to find signs of life. They even get to see huge bumphead parrotfish and a small turtle. They realize with control, confidence and staying relaxed they can enjoy the dive and natural life. You realize, that all the help you have been giving, and the instructor teaching them, that they are becoming capable divers. It’s rewarding to know that you helped them out, and when you surface from the final dive, they’re excited and ready to go out and celebrate. It’s a fun feeling, helping people control and perfect a new set of skills and knowledge new to them. Also, you get to live on the beach.

I have also helped during the Advanced Open Water course, where the divers are already certified and learning to fine-tune their skills. They can choose from deep dives, wreck dives, drift dives, night dives, multi-level dives, learning about underwater photography, or videography, and more. It’s a great way for a diver to start getting into a specialty that he or she really likes. And gives you much more variety on where you can dive, and what you can do. Helping on those is easy, because the divers are more confident and have already gone open water training and some even have had some extra fun diving experience. What’s great is now they can go deeper, see more things, and they are just as excited as the new open water students.

Soon I’ll get to help out on a refresher course (dad) and maybe even a discover scuba (mom) which is for people who have never been diving in their lives, and learn the theory and skill they need for one single dive, all in one day.

The school part for me is fun also. I have learned about the equipment, dive theory, recreational dive planning, advanced dives and specialty dives, programs through PADI and what I can and cannot do. One great thing I was able to be a part of was the Stress Dive for the DMT who is about to finish his course. This is a dive, like any other, but where anything, and everything go wrong. It’s a group of instructors, DM’s and experienced divers. They are briefed on what to do underwater, and the DMT has to handle all situations as best he can. Dave is the DMT about to finish, and the divers were Taz, his instructor, Brian and Kan, a DM and experienced diver from the US/Thailand, his girlfriend Sue (Advanced). From a lost diver, to panic, to losing equipment, getting stuck in rope, trying to pick up dangerous things, not listening, running out of air, running into each other, going too fast or too slow, staying too close or too far away… Dave had to deal with all the problems at once. It was stressful, but he did a great job controlling us, and tonight we celebrate his success as a DMT and his debut into the world of a diving professional. Should be fun!