# Open Water Course



## spearfisher (Oct 3, 2007)

I will be starting a NAUIOpen Water SCUBA course on January 23, 2008 at MBT if anyone is interested. We start the class Wednesday night at 5:30pm. We will do the academics on Wednesday and Thursday, Friday we will go to the pool, and Saturday and Sunday we dive. After the dives on Sunday we will come back to the shop and take the test. If you complete the academics, the pool session, and the dives, then you are certified by Sunday. The cost of the course is $159.00 for PFF members. If you are interested stop by the shop which is located at 3920 Barrancas Ave, or give us a call 455-7702.

Rich


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## 97ford150 (Oct 5, 2007)

Will u be having another class in a few weeks


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## Telum Pisces (Sep 27, 2007)

> *97ford150 (1/31/2008)*Will u be having another class in a few weeks


They start classes every week at MBT. Rich just might not be the instructor every week.


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## Gonnamissher (Oct 1, 2007)

Jon, if you complete this course what/when/how deep can you dive?? I'm trying to understand the different classifications.


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## Telum Pisces (Sep 27, 2007)

> *Gonnamissher (1/31/2008)*Jon, if you complete this course what/when/how deep can you dive?? I'm trying to understand the different classifications.


Technical answer is 60 feet. Now you tell me how many places to dive outside the pass are 60 feet and under, then you will have the non-technical answer. I'll let the dive shop gurus tell you more.


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## David Ridenour (Sep 28, 2007)

> *Knot a Yacht (1/31/2008)*
> 
> 
> > *Gonnamissher (1/31/2008)*Jon, if you complete this course what/when/how deep can you dive?? I'm trying to understand the different classifications.
> ...


I had forgotten that. When I was first certified, my first saltwater dive was out of Destin in 85 feet of water. I thought I'd never get to the bottom.


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## Gonnamissher (Oct 1, 2007)

So then thereareother course(s) that you have to take to get deeper/longer more sophisticated?? Is there a requirement for spearfishing as well, or is that bi-product of diving certification??


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## Telum Pisces (Sep 27, 2007)

> *Gonnamissher (1/31/2008)*So then thereareother course(s) that you have to take to get deeper/longer more sophisticated?? Is there a requirement for spearfishing as well, or is that bi-product of diving certification??


There is not a course for spearfishing. It's just a bi-product of diving. It's good to dive a little bit without a gun in your hand first though. There is a whole host of additional classes that you can take to further your knowledge and limits in diving.

Here is a chart showing the progression of education through Naui (which is what MBT uses).

http://www.nauiww.org/training_progression.php

If you like fishing then you might want to re-think getting certified. Because once you start diving and if and when you start spearfishing, you will not want to up on top any more going "Here fishy fishy" I like to look the fish in the eye and say, "Bam, your mine"


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## Gonnamissher (Oct 1, 2007)

Hahahaha... No seeing you guys post the other day got me thinking about what it would be like. I assumed it took more than a 4 day course to allow someone to go deep sea diving, but didn't know how involved it really was. I'm too chicken to get into the water with Jaws..The old thought for the day..."When you're in the boat you're on top of the food chain, when you're out of the boat, you're part of the food chain"...

I'll stick with snorkling when I go on vacation, at least I can see the T-Backs on the beach from where I'm snorkling.


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## Evensplit (Oct 2, 2007)

<U>Technically</U>, an open water diver is certified to dive to the recognized recreational depth limit of 130'. BUT...the deepest we can take openwater students is 60', and all of the agencies will <U>recommend </U>that you get additional training if you want to go beyond 60'.

We also strongly recommend that if you're wanting to do a lot of diving in the local area, that you complete the advanced class, in which you will get experience with an instructor in: deep dives, wreck dives, boat diving techniques, night/limited vis, navigation, and search and recovery. Most of the good diving and spearfishing here is in the 70-120' range.In theadvanced classwe usually try to get below 100' for the class.

There is a spearfishing specialty class that MBT offers - Rich is one of the instructors.

Please feel free to give us a call or post here if you need more info.

Jim

MBT Divers


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## Telum Pisces (Sep 27, 2007)

> *Evensplit (1/31/2008)*<U>Technically</U>, an open water diver is certified to dive to the recognized recreational depth limit of 130'. BUT...the deepest we can take openwater students is 60', and all of the agencies will <U>recommend </U>that you get additional training if you want to go beyond 60'.
> 
> We also strongly recommend that if you're wanting to do a lot of diving in the local area, that you complete the advanced class, in which you will get experience with an instructor in: deep dives, wreck dives, boat diving techniques, night/limited vis, navigation, and search and recovery. Most of the good diving and spearfishing here is in the 70-120' range.In theadvanced classwe usually try to get below 100' for the class.
> 
> ...


See I knew one of the gurus would come in a show that I had it all screwed up and didn't know what I was talking about and then give thelegal mumbo jumboanswer.:doh Oh well.:moon


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## Evensplit (Oct 2, 2007)

:doh..sorry man...wasn't trying to make ya look bad:grouphug


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## Telum Pisces (Sep 27, 2007)

> *Evensplit (1/31/2008)*:doh..sorry man...wasn't trying to make ya look bad:grouphug


No, I was actually waiting for one of you guys to jump in. Now ifyou want to talk about some electrons or Ohm's Lawand other good stuff like that, I'll make ya sound dumb.:grouphug

And now that I have completely derailed this thread: "Back to our regularly scheduled program of Rich's Open Water Course"

If your thinking about getting certified and be ready for the warm water this summer get up there to MBT and get certified. Rich and the other instructors there are great.


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## Gonnamissher (Oct 1, 2007)

So the first class is 4 days. Is the advanced class similar in length and cost?


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## Evensplit (Oct 2, 2007)

The openwater class is a minimum of 5 days, normally wednesday through sunday. The scheduling is pretty flexible, and you can stretch it out if you need to.

The advanced class runs a minimum of one evening and 3 dive days. The schedule is much less structured than the openwater class is, and you'll help set the schedule on the first night - usually a monday.

Rich does a great job of posting his schedules on here and on ourforum at mbtdivers.com. If you can't meet Rich's schedule, we have several other great instructors that are always running classes as well. They just aren't as forum savy as Rich is.


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