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Thanks for considering CRC Diving for your SCUBA training needs. We provide a complete package for diving education. We provide many types of scuba diving classes. That range from our basis discover scuba, open water diver all the way up to PADI professional divers like dive master and assistant instructors.

We offer the following PADI scuba classes: Ice Diving, wreck diving, deep diving, dry suit diving, nitrox, night diving, boat diving, open water diving, advanced open water diving, rescue diver, and our professional levels of dive master, and assistant instructor.

Our instructors are Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI) certified, HSA (Handicapped SCUBA Association) Instructors,and Divers Alert Network (DAN) members. Check out our site to learn more about us, or visit diver education page for information on available classes. In addition, if you have any questions or concerns about the sport of SCUBA please feel free to contact us via this site. We have staff on site to assist you with your diving needs. Our dive lessons will get you prepared for any warm water or cool water diving.

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COMMON NEW DIVER QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS

Some issues of special concern to new divers are more thoroughly addressed in other sections of the site, and some concern divers in general. Please consult the directory for more information on these and other topics.

Being Nervous

It is natural, normal, and even expected for you to be nervous at the beginning. After all, these are your first ventures into another world, one filled with strange and amazing creatures. You are surrounded by water, taking your own air supply with you, and wearing equipment you may be unaccustomed to. You may be a bit apprehensive, and certainly excited about your first dives. Understand that after you get used to this new world, you will relax a bit. You will likely be filled with more excitement than fear and start to feel more at home in the water. It comes with time, experience, and more dives.

A heightened sense of nervousness is typical, even expected, of beginning divers. After all, most everything about diving is new to you at this point. You'll find your air consumption is much greater initially as you venture into a strange, though inviting, environment and encounter "alien" life forms for the first time. That nervousness will diminish as you learn more, dive more, and increase your comfort level. Don't expect it to disappear just because you get certified. Panic is caused by not knowing what to do in stressful situations and too many certification classes fail to prepare you for those instances. They don't want you to be scared off by things that could happen to you, which leaves you unprepared to handle them when they do arise.

"Too nervous" is when you panic, or near panic, when your face is submerged, you are extremely uncomfortable in the water or breathing through your mouth. For many people, there are exercises to help you overcome that fear, though you will probably have to practice on your own. Unfortunately, too many classes skim over the water skills and confidence building skills, even though these are probably most important to student divers. They represent the foundation of skill upon which everything else is built. There are things you can to prepare for taking your certification class.

Seasickness

See our Avoiding Seasickness page for information on avoiding this malady, including what to eat when going diving (and what not to eat). You may not need any medication to stave off mal de mer if you avoid any of the other conditions that contribute to it.

Air Consumption

At the beginning, that apprehension will make you suck the air out of your tank at a rapid rate. Novices breathe faster and consume more air than more experienced divers. Be aware of this and keep your eyes on your pressure gauge. This too, will pass in time. As you become less nervous, you will find your respiration rate slows down, your air lasts longer, and you won't necessarily be one of the first to have to surface for lack of air.

Difficulty In Breathing Through Mouth While Underwater

Are you having a difficult time learning to breathe through your mouth? Does having your face surrounded by water make you extremely nervous? here is something you can do to get over your fear and learn this skill. In a swimming pool, kneel down in shallow water, wearing your mask and snorkel. The controlled conditions should help your peace of mind, the surface will be mere inches or centimeters above your head. At the same time, you can practice breathing through your snorkel or regulator. If a swimming pool, or shallow body of water is not accessible to you, this skill can even be practiced in a bath tub with modifications. You will be face down and a snorkel is much easier to use than a regulator. However, you can still practice this skill and conquer your fear. A hot tub (don't turn up the heat, though), can also work.

Equalizing

The equalization of pressure in our ears is accomplished more easily by some than others. Never descend faster than you are able to equalize. To do so can rupture your ear drum and cause damage, even hearing loss. Make sure you and your buddy understand that you will descend together, waiting for whichever of you may need more time to equalize, or more frequent equalization.

Different things work for different people. Some can simply swallow. others hold their noses and blow gently. Here is how to equalize as told by a diving doctor.

Obviously, one should never dive with any congestion, as from a recent cold, as it may not be possible to equalize, which can cause great pain and possible damage. Many people, including doctors, advise against using medications to clear up congestion temporarily and then diving. You may end up with a reverse block, you can equalize to descend, and then have problems when the dive is over and you ascend. Again, rupturing your ear drum is possible. The pain and disorientation that causes could have even more severe circumstances, especially if you are diving in limited visibility waters and are separated from your buddy. Disorientation could lead to drowning. There are no shortcuts to clearing up congestion from colds.

Buoyancy

As a beginning diver, you will likely have more buoyancy, thus requiring more lead weight in order to descend. The reasons for this are many - your breathing, as mentioned above, resulting in a greater residual volume of air in your lungs, the fact that you will probably have more air trapped in your BC, wet suit, and other gear than more experienced divers, the fact that many instructors will not spend much time on teaching this skill in an entry level class, and the fact that some instructors would rather have new students a bit too buoyant than negative, while some others prefer them more negative so as to get down easier. Relatively few teach optimal buoyancy.

Unlike air consumption, which drops naturally as you become more relaxed in the water, buoyancy skills require practice and diligence in order to refine. This is one of the reasons not much time is spent on this skill by many instructors. Many experienced divers are still clumsy when it comes to their buoyancy. When you feel ready to develop this skill, see our page on buoyancy. There are many benefits to it, both to you and to the environment.

Do I Have To Get Certified?

Not unless you plan to continue diving, and to do it without supervision. Most certification agencies have something called an ESE (Entry SCUBA Experience), or the equivalent, which is where you receive some simple training and are then taken on a shallow dive under the direct supervision of a diving instructor. It is meant to give you an introduction to diving, to see if it is something you wish to learn and do more of. This is the type of course given at many resorts and is sometimes referred to as a resort course. It does not result in certification of any type.

If you decide to continue diving, then you should take a full course resulting in certification. There is much you will and should learn.

Do I Have to Buy Diving Equipment?

Not for the ESE above. Resorts and shops will provide or rent you the gear for that experience. For a regular certification course, many shops will expect you to provide your own mask, fins, and snorkel, boots (often called booties) and possibly a weight belt and weights as well.

The economics of the diving business are such that some shops will load you up with as much gear as they can sell you, even if you are not sure you wish to continue diving. Equipment sales pays for a lot of expenses and many dive instructors are equipment sales people first and instruction is a means to that end. Those cheap certification classes are surely not profit makers.

Diving has a big drop out rate and many shops will get as much money as they can from newly certified divers before they drop out of diving. This is one of the many reasons some instructors teach independently of a dive shop, they can emphasize quality of instruction rather than equipment sales.

Be aware that you may be pressured into buying gear during or immediately after your course. You may wish to consider this in choosing where you take your classes. See our Gear Guide and How To Choose A Diving Instructor for more details on this.

Not all shops do this, some will tell you to try different items, learn about them, and buy when you are ready and if you continue diving. It is good advice.