PADI AOW here I come

I've set a personal goal to complete my Advanced Open Water (AOW) certification before the end of the month. As a voracious reader, this means that I've officially put myself on restrictions from reading anything other than my AOW instruction book.

I only have to study through around 400 pages that cover knowledge development for the two required components - the Deep and Underwater Navigation Dives. Additional material covers Underwater Photography, Night Diver, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Wreck Diver, Boat Diver and Underwater Naturalist.

I've already accomplished the dives and boat training that goes along with this certification. So, once I finish reading, I'll take the test and be a PADI AOW certified diver. Wahoo!

It's official

My new PADI c-card (certification card) arrived yesterday. It's so "official" looking as it is similar to a credit card or a driver's license. And my picture is on the back with all my certification info.

I feel like Steve Martin in "The Jerk" when he said "The new phone book's here! The new phone book's here!...I'm in print! Things are going to start happening to me now."

Learning to dive...

I took the condensed training course for PADI Open Water through Charleston Scuba. (Basically this was comprised of a Thursday night, Friday night, all day Saturday and all day Sunday.) The classroom training, while good, was intense after working all day.

The pool sessions were exciting yet I did feel a bit awkward maneuvering with the gear. My first time in the pool with the regulator was interesting as I kept forgetting to breathe. But after a while, I got the hang of it and even learned how to buddy breathe.