My SCUBA Diary

Scuba Diving Lessons

So I’ve chosen my club and got ready for my first SCUBA diving lessons.

It’s important that your learning environment holds as few challenges as possible, learning to dive in open water could present many unnecessary dangers and so most SCUBA diving lessons are carried out in a nice, warm swimming pool!

This is the order of my 10 week course of scuba diving lessons and what skills we were being taught at each one:

Week 1:
Fitness test.

Week 2:
Simple finning and snorkeling skills.

Week 3:
Assembling your SCUBA gear and breathing underwater.

Week 4:
Buddy checks, mask clearing, demand valve clearing and buoyancy control.

Week 5:
Deep water entry and exit, more mask clearing, DV clearing and buoyancy control. Finning with blacked out mask to simulate very poor visibility.

Week 6:
Practice mask, DV clearing etc. while wearing hood and gloves. Remove SCUBA gear and refit. Manual inflation of buoyancy control jacket.

Week 7:
Air sharing with buddy while stationary, air sharing with buddy whilst finning.

Week 8:
Simulated rescue of unconscious diver.

Week 9:
Mock assessment of skills.

Week 10:
Final pool assessment.

Each pool session is followed by a lecture based on the content of the SAA elementary divers manual. These lectures are designed to prepare students for the SAA elementary divers exam.