It’s normal to feel as though your scuba skills could use a little polishing if you haven’t been in the water for some time. Certain dive centers can require you to complete one before diving. Learn more about it below.
Who Needs These Courses?
The kind of diver who is aware of their rustiness and wants to brush up on their diving knowledge and skills is a safe and courteous diver. These divers are concerned not just about themselves but also their dive teams, diving partners, and lessening the likelihood of accidents. It’s a mindset that every diver should have while scuba diving.
Since it’s not always simple to judge and general guidelines don’t apply to everyone, the diver is frequently left with the final say. Skilled divers should rely on their judgment to decide if it would be beneficial to get a comprehensive refresher course or if they only require a quick check-dive. Let’s take a look at what the refresher course entails.
What Is Meant by Refresher Course?
In a refresher program, divers revisit their fundamental scuba diving abilities under the guidance and supervision of a dive expert, either in pools or any shallow-water settings. A comprehensive examination of equipment utilization and a knowledge-development lesson, possibly with a quick test, may be included in such courses.
The most frequent issues divers face is poor buoyancy control, inability to inflate or deflate the BCD, and not doing a proper weight check. All of this is covered in the refresher course. You also receive proper knowledge of weighting, breath control, and mask clearing. Once you’re done with the basics, you move on to complex topics like SMB inflation and out-of-air drills.
This is different from a “check dive”, where divers are required to check their weights and exhibit a few skills to show that they are competent enough to dive before moving on or going deeper.
Every center has one, and despite possible differences in how it is carried out, they all comprise a recap of the fundamental diving abilities and information gained in scuba diving beginner courses. Some dive centers break it into two sessions (information refresher and pool time), while others combine the two.
When Is the Right Time To Take One?
The amount of experience a diver has and how long they have been out of the water will play a role in this. If a diver earned their Open Water certification but didn’t dive again after that, a refresher course is almost always recommended if their next scuba diving excursion is coming up.
A refresher of any kind is required for a diver who has been away from the water for six months to a year.
Deep Blue Dive Center is a diving center in Aqaba that offers PADI-certified beginner courses that consist of programs for kids, learners, and Open Water divers. We also offer daily diving in Aqaba and advanced, pro, and e-learning courses. Book your scuba diving excursion in Aqaba and contact us for further information.
