MY ADVANCED DIVERS CERTIFICATION WITH HAWAII ECO DIVERS

February 3, 2021

What it takes to be an Advanced Diver

The first necessary certification needed to receive a Divemasters with Hawaii Eco Divers after open water is your advanced. As soon as I arrived in Haleiwa I started my e-learning and subsequent dives.

I was required to study deep diving and underwater navigation. I additionally chose to study wreck diving, being an underwater naturalist, photography, night diving and fish identification.

Some of the most important lessons I learned online were how to keep gas in my tank. It’s essential to keep in mind my outbound gas, return gas, ascent gas and my spare reserve gas. I also learned good habits such as pre-dive safety checks. Remember– Bruce Willis Ruins All Films (BCD, Weights, Releases, Air, Final Check). I also learned to note where the shadows fall for navigation (sun on left or right?) and how to calculate air consumption (psi used/actual bottom time x conversion factor = surface air consumption rate).

Skills in Real Time with Hawaii Eco Divers

Putting these skills into practice was the most fun! I was able to navigate a perfect triangle underwater. Turning twice at 60’ with 20 fin kicks in between I returned my group back to exactly where we started, spotting lots of fish along the way. Each dive offered something different. On my second we saw a Hawaiian Monk Seal, the next one had sharks at a turtle cleaning station. We saw glowing reefs with bright green, orange, red, purple and yellow corals. My deep dive was to the YO-257 wreck where we saw two white tipped reef sharks, lots of fish, turtles, an octopus, and even a ray! We swam around the sunken boat with smiles on our faces in amazement of the beauty.

My final dive for my advanced certification was complete with a free swimming octopus eyeing our scuba tanks and bizarre shapes. We even got to see another shark scaring away fish. It was surrounded by giant sea turtles. Hawaii has so much fantastic sea life to display. It truly is the most magnificent place to dive. Getting my advanced certification with Hawaii Eco Divers couldn’t have been more fun or easier.