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What You Need To Know If You Want To Be A Certified Diver
By Danielle Rose, Fri Dec 9th
If you have never dived before and aren't sure that you want tospend the money on the certification process, you can still godiving. There are popular diving locations in the Caribbean orthe Florida Keys where the resort may offer dives. These aretypically one day or weekend crash courses, and they don't allowyou the freedom you have with becoming certified, but they willgive you a chance to see what it's like. Getting certified in can be a lengthy process. Noteveryone is cut out to scuba dive. If you are thinking of beingcertified, there are a few things you should do before you goany further. One is to make sure you are a reasonable good swimmer. Part ofthe certification requires you to be able to swim 200 yards andbe able to float or tread water for roughly 10 minutes. Scubadiving can be very tiring, so making sure you are in good shapeis necessary.
Second, it is a good idea to get cleared from your doctor.Health issues can occur with scuba diving, and you want to makesure that you won't have any problems. You need to be able tobreath through your mouth instead of your nose and be able toequalize your ears. You don't want to rupture an ear drum whilescuba diving because you were unable to "pop" your ears. Heartconditions and obesity can also make you more susceptible toheath conditions that occur with diving. You also need to consider your mental health, meaning if you canmentally handle scuba diving. You are underwater and cannotpanic. If you are one to panic easily at the sight of somethingyou aren't familiar with, might not be for you.There is an abundant amount of sea life, and you need to be ableto deal with it whether it's a shark or a fish. After taking all of these things into consideration, and
you arestill ready to become certified there are quite a few places youcan go to do so. There are about 1,900 professional scuba divecenters in just North America, so you should be able to find onerelatively local. These centers should be listed in the yellowpages of the phonebook. You can also look online. You should find one where you are able to take it and getinformation on the course. Courses can range in price fromseveral hundred dollars to even several thousand dollars. Youmay also need to buy your own equipment, so talk to theinstructor and know what you will need to have for the class.You may also want to ask about the size of the class, and thelength. Some places offer the course in a weekend and othersover a few week period. If this particular class doesn't soundright for you, keep looking around. Lots of places offer theclass, so you should be able to find one that works for you andyour schedule. In order to become certified, there is a classroom portion, poolsessions, and open water dives. The classroom portion willrequire you to take a written test at the end that you need topass. The pool sessions also require you to pass a swim test astalked about earlier. In the open water dives (http://www.starscuba.com/openwatercertification) you will need to showyour skills such as setting up and check equipment, planning thedive, ascent and descent, clearing the mask, and more. All must be done before you are certified and able to venturethe waters alone. By alone of course I do mean using the buddysystem because you never want to dive by yourself. About the author:Danielle Rose is a featured writer at StarScuba. To read more ofher articles and to learn more about diver certification and scuba diving,visit our site.
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