Participation in any dive to the Oriskany requires at a minimum, Advanced Open Water certification, and Emergency First Responder CPR & First Aid certification (or equivalent).
Enthusiasts of any certification & experience level are invited to take part, but expedition participation is conditioned on each participant attaining the minimum required certification level prior to the dive.
INDIVIDUAL COURSE DESCRIPTIONS:
*All divers of any certification level are required to own their own Mask, Fins, and Snorkel. These items are personal in nature, must be tailored to fit, and training and diving in the same personal gear will increase inwater comfort level, particularly when the diving environment becomes more challenging.
BASIC OPEN WATER CLASS AND POOL (Sessions A and B)
This is the first course for non-certified divers. The goal of this course is to teach the diver a comprehensive set of basic diving skills in a controlled pool environment. Students complete a self-paced theory development course through PADI eLearning, and then participate in a 5 segment experience in which 5 confined water dives are completed. During these dives, each student learns skills one at a time by watching step-by-step inwater demonstrations, followed by personally completing each skill under the direct supervision of their Instructor and Certified Assistant. This process continues until all students have mastered and grown comfortable with the skills needed to plan and complete open water dives independently.
**Completion of the Basic Open Water Class and Pool is a prerequisite to open water dives, but certification is not complete until all 4 open water training dives have been completed successfully.
OPEN WATER CERTIFICATION WEEKEND (Sessions A and B)
Divers who have completed the Knowledge Development (eLearning) and Basic Open Water Class & Pool, are eligible to complete their certification by participating in an Open Water Certification Weekend.
Student Divers will plan and execute 4 Open Water dives in one of three Open Water sites. These dives are learning experiences, but are evaluative in nature. Students will be asked to evaluate dive conditions, verify a safe dive plan, and then demonstrate their mastery of basic open water scuba skills in the open water environment. Each dive will begin with a controlled group descent to dive depth. Once dive depth is reached, students will be gathered in an evaluation area where they will be asked to take turns demonstrating a small set of the skills they developed in the confined water dive sessions. Weather and conditions allowing, each dive will conclude with a brief tour around the dive area designed to familiarize students with maneuvering in actual open water conditions, and providing students the ability to practice and improve their body awareness and control (buoyancy control).
Upon completing the 4th Open Water Certification Dive, each student is a Certified Diver, authorized to rent/purchase life support equipment, and qualified to safely plan and execute Open Water dives without supervision.
*Open water certification divers are not asked to do anything in Open Water that they have not successfully mastered in confined water first.
