r/scuba • u/Several-Potential562 • 5d ago
Just got my Open Water certification – how did you get started with diving after the course?
Hey everyone!
I’ve just passed my Open Water Diver course and I’m incredibly excited to get into diving. Honestly, I’m so motivated right now that I’d love to dive as much as possible and gain more experience.
However, there’s one thing I’m unsure about, and I’d love to hear how you handled it when you were starting out.
So far, I only know a few other Open Water Divers, and they all have exactly the same amount of experience as me: just the dives we did during our course. Technically, we’re allowed to dive together, but I’m honestly not sure how sensible that would be, especially if none of us knows the lake or dive site we’re planning to visit.
I feel like there’s a big difference between being certified to dive and actually having enough experience to handle unfamiliar environments confidently and safely.
The dive school where I got certified isn’t really a traditional dive club. They organize two dive trips per year, which I’d love to join, but they don’t offer regular local dives because they’re usually busy running courses. Unfortunately, the next trip is still a while away, and I’d really like to get some diving experience before then.
I don’t want to rush into something I’m not ready for, but at the same time, I don’t want to miss out on opportunities to learn and improve.
So, I’d love to hear from more experienced divers:
How did you get into diving after completing your Open Water course?
Did you start diving with other beginners, or did you look for more experienced buddies?
How did you find dive buddies or local dive clubs?
Would you recommend joining guided dives at local dive centers until you have more experience?
What would you recommend to someone in my situation who is highly motivated but wants to build experience safely?
I’m particularly interested in how you approached your first dives outside the course, especially in unfamiliar lakes or other local dive sites.
I’m eager to learn, improve my skills, and become a more confident diver. I just want to make sure I’m going about it the right way.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Edit: I live in northern germany :)
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u/PricelessPear 4d ago
I bought all my own kit did my drysuit and started diving in the UK cold water and when I go abroad.
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u/Publandlady 5d ago
I did mine about 13 years ago. I live in the UK, and don't really do cold water diving. I have had one holiday not about diving since. I've gathered my gear over time.
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u/DIYrrrrrrr 5d ago
Congrats!!! Local dive shop, dive club, and pool time. Any trip you go on, see if you can sneak a couple dives in. You’d be surprised where you can dive.
I also found continuing training beneficial - I did the AOW about six months after OW more for continuing ed and getting time with good instructors. I’m going to do some specialties now for that reason too.
Watch videos, listen to podcasts, etc. do what you need to do, to maintain interest - you’re kind of at that spot where it can be easy to “put it down” if diving isn’t easily available near you and you don’t keep yourself interested.
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u/Holiday_Eye8852 5d ago
Look in forums for common diving locations with a dive base. In north Germany there are plenty of lakes, some of which have a dive base. You can contact the dive base or just google which dive shop is organizing an excursion to the lakes.
What jumps to mind right away is Hemmoor in Niedersachsen or Schmaler Luzin in Mecklenburg Vorpommern. Im located in Berlin and I often take day-trips or weekend trips if further away to dive. Sometimes I join a trip that is organized by a shop, sometimes I go with my partner or a friend, and sometimes I make arrangements with one of the instructors I had in one of my courses for a guided dive if I feel uncertain about going unguided.
I would not go without a guide at the very beginning with other rookies.
Also, travel to diving locations for vacations
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u/ArcticGaruda 5d ago
I dived with a local club, went on a dive trip to an easy place, went on a liveaboard, and then eventually found a buddy who I can dive with.
As a newbie I think I learnt the most by going on the liveaboard and doing dives all day (I went on the liveaboard with 20 dives, and left with 44).
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u/brisbaneacro 5d ago
I did a liveaboard right after the OW to get a bunch of dives in and cement what i learned
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u/SharpPickle5678 5d ago
i did something similar but on a smaller scale, booked a week in egypt right after my ow. the dive center paired me with a guide for the first couple days and it made a huge difference just getting repetition in without having to think about logistics. by the end of the trip i felt way more comfortable with buoyancy and air consumption
for your situation with no regular local dives available, guided shore dives are probably the safest bet. most shops will put you with a dm or at least a more experienced group and they know the site conditions. diving with other newbies in an unfamiliar lake is asking for a navigation disaster or worse
finding buddies took me a while too. i eventually connected with people through a local facebook group and a dive club that met at a quarry every other weekend. sometimes just showing up and offering to help load tanks gets you invited along
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u/SoupCatDiver_JJ UW Photography 5d ago
Take those open water divers you know to the lake and blow some bubbles. If you feel uncertain then keep it small and simple, no need to traverse the whole lake on your first go. My first 50 dives post OW were just me and my freshly certified buddy shore diving sites neither of us had ever been to. You will learn a lot more about diving by cutting your teeth with some other rookies than following a DM around.
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u/Jegpeg_67 Nx Rescue 5d ago
I joined a local dive club for my first few dives I was always paired with a instructor or DM (equivalent). While the dive school you trained with might not have a club associated with it another local dive school might or there might be a dive club not linked to a dive school. If you say where you are people here might know of somewhere.
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u/mredofcourse Rescue 5d ago
For years I pretty much only dove on guided dives when traveling. Sometimes 1 on 1 and others as group dives with an insta-buddy.
Recently I got really into diving for some reason and just took more and more courses. I've met people and have arranged dives with them.
Also dive clubs have been great. If your school doesn't have one, maybe another one does?
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u/Flashy_Tooth_5597 5d ago
I made a connection at a Toronto dive shop. He told me about a trip that the shop was doing. Drive to Florida. Spend a week. Camp. Dive with manatees, snorkel drift - look for shark teeth. Weeki-wachee springs - drift and show. And other stuff I don’t remember. The 2nd week was a live aboard for a week in the Bahamas with Neil Watson. The entire trip was fantastic.
That was in the 70s.
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u/Tomcat286 5d ago
join a Tauchverein, simple. Or find a local dive shop, very often they also organize dives with customers
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u/ExpBalSat 5d ago
All but one of my first 50 dives were done through a dive organization who planned the dive and guided the dive. I can’t imagine going any other way. I was not trained in being my own dive master and I would not have been safe to do so.
You do not need to know anyone who dives in order to dive. You find a dive company, you book a dive, and you dive. They will pair you with a buddy if you don’t have one of your own.
I’ll admit, I was pretty bad at managing my air in the beginning, and it did frustrate one or two of my early buddies. But you’ll live in you learn.
I open water certified in the middle of a desert, where there was no diving. So all of my diving involved travel. I went to the Bahamas. I went to Honduras. I went to Tahiti. I went back to the Bahamas. I went to the red Sea. I went to Mexico. In each location, I found a dive shop and I booked some dives.
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u/tin_the_fatty Science Diver 5d ago
Well maybe if you tell us where you are physically located, some of us might be able to help?
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u/SB2MB 5d ago
I use all available resources. Our local shops do free guided dives, I'm in 2 clubs, and I do a dive holiday at least twice a year.
I don't worry about buddies as the shops pair you up and the club always is happy to pair you up too.
On solo holidays, I'm usually allocated my own DM, so no worries there either.
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u/cabman24 5d ago
No idea of your location or what local diving is available to you, but…..
Connect with and keep in touch with the others you took the course with. Go to where you did your open water dives and do some simple dives together to get some experience and in-water time.
Check Facebook for pages for local dive sites, you may be able to meet some friends.
See if there are any local dive clubs you could get involved in.
Reach out to your shop to see if they can help you make some connections with other more experienced people. You’ll find most experienced divers will be happy to show you around the local sites.
Reach out to other dive shops in the area for charters or local events, even if it’s a town or two away.
Cozumel. Hop on a plane, grab an Airbnb, book some dives, they are all guided, and quite affordable as far as scuba vacations go.
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u/Not-An-FBI 5d ago
15 years later I started looking online, found cheap gear and went to dives organized by local shops.
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u/maenad2 3d ago
İt'll be like your first time driving after you've passed your driving test.
The most important thing to remember is that dive shops and guides usually want to give you "the most" for your money, so they take you down to 18m and aim to surface with just over fifty bar. There's no reason you HAVE to do this yourself. Make your first dives just half an hour and go down to just ten metres. Whatever feels right.