Open Water Diver Students Take Exam Underwater
No, those aren’t paid actors. What you see in the video above are Open Water Diver students taking their written exam while hovering.
The divers are finishing up their certification through East Coast Divers in a course at Boston University. East Coast Divers, an SSI shop based in Brookline, Massachusetts, says that taking the exam while neutrally buoyant is not a requirement for the program, but rather a challenge for the newly trained students.
“The thought process behind this is to create divers, not just people who want to get certified,” says Kim Malkoski, Training Director at East Coast Divers. “The benefits we have found is a lot of our students feel very comfortable diving in New England, and really stick with sport.”
The shop’s regular Open Water Diver course requires 14 total hours of pool work over seven sessions, two classroom sessions, an online component and checkout dives.
Watch the video above to see the new divers in action, and leave us a comment below: Is this a good idea? Do you think all courses should be taught this way?
