By Nicholas Fagnano  September 07, 2022

Scuba diving is an amazing opportunity to discover more of what this world has to offer. Swimming with turtles, lionfish, and sharks truly is a unique and wonderful experience. After getting my open water certification just a year ago and gaining several more certifications, I realized there are a few things I wished I had known about getting into the hobby. I have created this article to help discuss some key points to think about when taking the Open Water Certification course.

What To Know Before You Start:

Research, Research, Research!

One thing I wish I had done was to research the instructor of the course. The dive shop itself had great reviews and I still go through them today. However, my experience in the open water course was less than optimal. I had a large class of twelve classmates and had to learn and demonstrate over 20 skills in a short period of time. This left me feeling rushed and “herded” through the motions without practicing the skills to a level that I understood the skill thoroughly. Before you start your open water course talk to the instructor and ask some questions:

• What value do you bring to the course?
• Why should I join your class instead of someone else’s class?
• How long have you taught this class?

Each question can reveal whether or not there is a problem area to be addressed.

After diving with various instructors it has become very apparent that it is the quality of the instructor that should drive your decision-making and not the price of the course.

Amazon Isn’t Always Your Friend.

Being a college student I am very aware of the fact that money can be tight. To supplement some of my costs I buy my diving gear through Amazon. But that can come back to bite you. I purchased a mask for my open water class. When I was in the pool my mask would constantly leak and would not seal around my face. It got bad enough to the point where I went into the dive shop and purchased a mask for three times what I paid on Amazon. Even highly-rated items can get you in trouble. I recently purchased a reel for my shipwreck diving class and both times I used it the reel rat nested. This became a safety issue. The reel had 1,200 reviews and 4.5 stars! But the product design allowed the line to jump out of the spool and around the inside of the handle causing entanglement. In wreck diving that is a big no-no. But these bad experiences do not always happen. I have two wetsuits, fins, and other gear from amazon that has performed very well. Just keep in mind that what you pay is what you get.

Don’t Buy All Your Gear!

If you are just beginning your scuba diving hobby, don’t buy all of your gear at once. Buy the bare essentials and take your time experimenting with different styles and models of gear. I highly recommend buying a dive computer that fits your preferences. From there you can immediately start logging dives. Rent your BCD, your regs, weights, tanks, and even a wetsuit if you want. I still have yet to purchase a BCD or regulator setup. These are the biggest investments and renting different models and styles of these pieces of gear will help point you toward where to invest your money. My open water course solely used life jacket-styled BCDs. But after being introduced to wing-style BCDs my perspective on BCDs changed. You float differently at the surface and have a better setup of D-rings. I am glad I waited instead of just buying what I knew right after my open water course. Take your time finding out what style fits you and where you want your scuba diving hobby to go.

What to Know After You Finish:

Join Diving Groups and Clubs.

My particular dive shop sponsors a Facebook group catering to surrounding states. Part of what they do is host dive trips to local shipwrecks, out-of-country locations, and other unique diving opportunities. Additionally, they participate in ocean clean up and the community loves giving advice to those who need it. Getting involved in such a group widens your diving possibilities and brings you the opportunity to make more friends. My college offers a student-led scuba diving group that I recently joined. Having a group of divers with a similar age range is a bonus for me since most people in the aforementioned Facebook group are a couple of decades older. Some benefits my scuba club brings are cheaper gear rentals and dive trips. They also provide a fun interactive environment for college divers.

Scuba Diving is Elusive.

After finishing my open water course I was dying to go out there and dive as much as I possibly could. However, unless you own all your gear and live near a scuba diving area, it is hard to get around to diving as much as you may like. My dive shop is forty minutes away which creates a time barrier for renting gear and getting to the beach. It is also hard to coordinate with my diving buddy because we have conflicting schedules. Because of reasons like these, I only dive every two or three months. It is okay to not dive every single week, but keep in mind that you need to dive at least once every six months to keep your skills sharp.

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