Hi! My Name is Megan! I am doing my scuba diving training in Baja Sur, Mexico. Follow my journey of becoming a scuba diver (and possibly becoming a dive professional!) in this multi-part blog feature. In this series I’ll share details of my scuba diving adventures to help you plan your next scuba diving trip to Mexico.
Open Water Course in Cabo San Lucas
After my life-changing Discover Scuba Diving experience, I was amped to continue on my path towards becoming a scuba diver. It was finally time to get scuba certified.
The course materials were all online, and even though the Open Water Course is full of important information, it felt fun and easy to work through everything. The course videos were helpful, and each knowledge review showed proof of how much I was learning. My favorite part of the theory was learning about pressure and air spaces. Putting science to what I experienced underwater makes the sensations even more fascinating.
Scuba diving is for the nerds
As a scuba diver, you have air spaces in your mask, sinuses and ears, lungs, and buoyancy control device (otherwise known as a BCD). When you descend, you have to equalize these spaces in different ways, like blowing air into the mask and eustachian tubes to relieve the squeeze of the increasing pressure. As you go down, you must slow your descent by adding air to your BCD until you reach that sweet spot of neutral buoyancy–or zero gravity–basically the best feeling ever.
Increasing pressure shrinks the air space volumes, which means the opposite is true for the ascent. As you go up, you must slowly release the air you added to the BCD during the dive. It may be a nerdy thing to get excited about, but science has always been a favorite subject of mine.
Learning dive theory is accessible
While studying the theory online, I kept getting flashes of the encounters on my first dives. I couldn’t wait to get through everything and hop back in the water. However, before I could get to the ocean again, I needed time in the pool to learn the crucial skills every scuba diver must know before receiving the Open Water Diver certification.
A 75% score or above is required for all PADI scuba diving theory in order to move on. Honestly, as long as you work through everything at your own pace and pay attention, it would be pretty hard to get anything below a 75%.
First stop: Confined water practice in the pool
After finishing my theory, I went to the pool with my instructor from Dive Ninja Expeditions. Grabbing my gear, I felt like I was embarking on a whole new phase of my life. Getting certified (and possibly becoming a scuba diving professional) has been a goal of mine for years.
I put my gear together and got into the pool. The skills started out simple with a quick review of what I had done during my Discover Scuba Diving experience. Then, each skill seemed to build on the previous one. Flood the mask and clear it. Remove and replace the mask. Get neutrally buoyant. Swim without a mask on. I loved every second, and felt great about being in the pool instead of laying around the edges, getting a tan on an all-inclusive Mexican holiday.
The first dive of my Open Water Course in Cabo San Lucas
Once we were finished, we took a break to grab some food before hopping on the afternoon boat for two dives. I could hardly contain my excitement. My instructor led me to my tanks on the boat–aptly named The Blessing. I put together my gear, checked the SPG (submersible pressure gauge), my regulators, and inflator hose.
I hadn’t realized how many details of my Discover Scuba Diving experience had left my mind due to the newness of it all. This time, I noticed everything about the quick boat ride to our first dive site, North Wall. There were loads of boats transporting other divers, snorkelers, and sight seers all around the rocks in the marina. It was a busy afternoon, but I knew the crowds would ween out by going underwater.
We kitted up and sat on the edge of the boat before dropping backwards into the water with a big splash. It was a small group–just me, my instructor, and the Divemaster Candidate (DMC) who had been with us in the pool. Looking at the DMC, I couldn’t help but hope that I would be in their position in a few months.
The beginning of the dive consisted of skills in the shallow, sandy part of the reef. I thought it would take a while to get through everything, but we were off swimming to explore the dive site in no time. Right off the bat, there were schools of goatfish and burrfish. I don’t know much about the ocean, but I do know that I love burrfish and every other species in the puffer family. Their faces naturally draw you in with their endearing, buggy eyes and smiling mouth. At the end of our dive, we did a safety stop where you stay at five meters for three minutes. I struggled to do this particular skill, but my instructor reassured me that everything was normal. Apparently, it’s harder to control your buoyancy that close to the surface, but I was assured I would get the hang of it with practice. Safety stops give our bodies time to release nitrogen we accumulate during dives, and we must ascend slowly to avoid decompression sickness.
A training dive at Pelican Rock
After an hour at the surface, we prepared for the last dive of the day at Pelican Rock. Once again, we started with skills, and even as we did the skills, there was life all around us. A sea lion swam around the rock, and burrfish came up to see what we were doing in the shallows. When we moved out to the deeper part of the reef, we were greeted by a group of cow nose rays swimming in the marina channel. The rays took my breath away as they slid past, graceful and quick. I noticed my instructor next to me indicating to descend to his level–I hadn’t realized I was slowly going up as I took in the sight! The rest of the dive was just as delightful–bannerfish, trumpet fish, angel fish, and another favorite of mine, the parrotfish. Everything was so colorful. I didn’t want to go up, but we finished the dive right back where we started and began the short process of de-kitting to head back to the harbor.
Safety skills and navigation are key for passing the Open Water Course
My final day in the course was fascinating because I finally started feeling like a diver. I learned how to use a surface marker buoy (SMB) and a compass. My instructor told me that by the end of the course, I would have the skills to plan and go for a dive with a buddy, which seems unreal. However, all of the safety skills made me believe it. I practiced sharing air with a buddy and surfacing using only my lungs in an exercise called the CESA (Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent). Although I plan to never use these skills in real life, it felt good to go through them and gain confidence in the steps.
Upon surfacing from my last dive, my instructor and the DMC congratulated me for completing the course. The rest of the boat even clapped and hollered for my success and welcomed me to the scuba diving club. It felt surreal to be done. I was so proud of myself and how much my diving had developed since that first day as a Discover Scuba Diver.
It’s time to go deeper…
Now, if you know anything about me from this mini-series so far, you must’ve already guessed that I was itching to continue with the courses. Next stop: Advanced Open Water Diver.
See you in the water!
Megs
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