Metro Divers Open Water Certification Program

Lately I’ve been itching to try something new. When COVID hit, it kind of felt like life ground to a standstill. So many activities I used to do or wanted to do, I suddenly couldn’t do anymore. Of course I’m saying this from a place of privilege – and I’m not complaining. Very grateful to be alive, healthy and not worrying about anything beyond what new hobby to pick up.

Now, diving – suddenly diving seems to be the “in” thing. Lots of friends have picked up this hobby during the pandemic because it’s relatively “safe.” My family decided to try it out and we did an Intro Dive while at Puerto Galera over Holy Week and we really loved it!

So tada, looks like this is the new thing for us. But first, we needed to get Open Water Certified so that we could dive in more places, plus just be more knowledgeable and equipped with the proper skills to dive safely.

A friend referred Metro Divers to us – and so last June 19, 2022, my sister and I were finally certified! Wooohoooo! Hello diving and being exposed to the majesty of the world’s oceans and water bodies, and goodbye money (wow diving is an expensive hobby…)

Anyway, for today, I wanted to walk you through what to expect if you plan to get your Open Water Certification with SSI as well.

All-in-all, to get certified, you need to do the following:

• Complete the digital learning materials (around 6 hours worth of videos and written materials)
• Two half-day pool training
• Four open water dives (although we did five)
• Passing grade in the open water certification written exam

We were really lucky because when we booked with Metro Divers, they had an ongoing promo so we just paid PHP 12,600 (excluding the Anilao accommodations and the cost of air tanks used during the open water dives). It includes everything else though, including diving insurance coverage for the duration of the course, and all the equipment you’d need. This is such a steal! Most other programs we inquired at were charging around PHP 16-20k, so we were pretty happy with this one.

Registration onto the Open Water Diver Certification Course

Upon registration and 50% downpayment, we were enrolled onto the SSI Open Water Diver Certification Course, and could now access all the digital learning materials (available both on the web and on mobile).

The expectation here is you should go through ALL the materials prior to the pool training sessions, but I really didn’t have the time. Thankfully, the key points were covered during the pool training sessions, so I found I had a much clearer understanding AFTERWARDS once I went through the materials. But anyway, this did mean that every time our instructor (shout out to Third Garcia who was so immensely patient with us) asked us a question, none of could answer him. Oops, sorry coach.

Pool Training

The pool trainings are split up into 2 days (half day each), and was held at Scuba Studio (308 P. Guevarra St., San Juan). Again, super helpful, because this is the pool session nearest to us – most other studios were located in Makati or further south.

On the first pool training, we did the following:

• Mini-lecture where Third walked us through the different systems that comprise our SCUBA apparatus (most importance of which is the Delivery System (aka what allows you to breathe underwater!), as well as safety guidelines to remember (e.g. can’t ascent faster than 9m/minute or else your lung will go kapoot!)
• Fitting for the different SCUBA exposure system – e.g. the wet suit, shoes and fins; as well as the snorkel system – e.g. mask, snorkel, etc
• Practicing how to assemble all the SCUBA apparatus and how to put it on and take it off in and out of water
• Skills training on how to breathe underwater, handle a loose mask, the two ways to retrieve a lost regulator, breathing properly despite having a free flowing regulator (OMG this actually happened to one of our fellow divers during the open water dive. Scary!)
• Short segment on practicing equalizing as we descend underwater. A critical skill as this ensures you don’t experience pain in your ear and head as you dive

For the second day of pool training, we mainly focused on:

• Buoyancy – super critical, this is essentially your ability to manage your position through your breathing along (breathe in = lung expanding with air = ascend, breathe out = lung being depleted of air = descend)
• Emergency skills such as sharing air underwater (in case you or your dive buddy runs out of air), going up together with your dive buddy, taking off and adjusting weight belt underwater
• Practicing entering the water using the stepping method (hmm can’t remember if this is what it’s called exactly, but yeah, you essentially step into the water)

So these pool trainings are SUPER tiring. I have no idea why, but after each session, I am SO ravenous and ready to eat anything and everything. Then I just go home and sleep. Really good sleep too! Gosh, diving as a sport apparently uses up a lot of calories, but then I eat its equivalent after so I guess it will all balance out.

Open Water Dives at Anilao

Anyway, after this, we were headed to Anilao woohoo! We were booked at Casa Escondida, which is roughly ~3hours from Manila.

Anilao itinerary

Our itinerary was as follows:

DAY 1

8:00am – Briefing and Setup

9:00am – Dive 1 (Shore Dive)

10:00am – Surface Interval / Debriefing / Dive Log

11:00am – Dive 2 (Shore Dive)

12:00pm – Surface Interval / Debriefing / Dive Log

1:00pm – Lunch

3:00pm – Dive 3 (Shore Dive)

4:00pm – Dive Log / REST

5:00pm – Reciprocal Compass Reading

6:00pm – Final Exams

7:00pm – Dinner

DAY 2

7:00am – Breakfast

8:00am – Briefing and Setup

9:00am – Boat Out (2 Boat Dives : Arthur’s Rock and Cathedral)

1:00pm – Lunch

2:00pm – Paper works

3:00pm – END

Shore Dive #1

• Depth: 12m
• Duration: 30 mins
• What I saw: Nothing but turbulence hahaha!

So the first shore dive we did was a disaster! First off, for shore dives, you carry your own equipment into the water, and wow, I am SO weak. I really struggled to carry my compressed air tank, phew. Second, I didn’t put soap on my mask beforehand, so my mask was super cloudy. I barely saw anything underwater. Third, it was a struggle in the beginning to descend (note: much easier to descend in the pool vs in ocean water), and once I was down, I spent most of my time just keeping track of my dive buddy. Hahaha, phew, adventure!!! Then when we went up, one of our fellow divers lost their fins, and I almost lost my snorkel. Kroo!

Shore Dive #2

• Depth: 12m
• Duration: 30 mins
• What I saw: Young hawksbill turtle and an assortment of fishes!

Afterwards, we had a short break where we did a powwow to discuss what went right and went wrong, then boom, we were off for shore dive #2. This one was much better because we all had a better sense of what to do, except one of our fellow diver’s regulator broke down (it was his own!). Thankfully, he’s pretty experienced so he remained calm and surfaced with his dive buddy. I didn’t even realize there was a problem until we ascended then they told us all about it. Freaky!

This time around I had placed soap on my mask, and wow! Super blessed because we saw a baby hawksbill turtle. Waah thank you Lord. What a blessing! We reached up to 12m for both shore dives, and really just so blessed because visibility was so good – you could see 12m ahead, behind and beside you. Beautiful fishes and corals all around. Plus, there was a submerged truck too (intentionally done)

Day 1 Lunch

Thankfully after that, it was time for lunch! Delicious buffet – super happy and also super hungry. We had fresh lumpia, beef (this was very tender) and lots of bananas. Omnomnom.

Shore Dive #3

• Depth: 16.6m
• Duration: 30 minutes
• What I saw: Not much, very focused on buoyancy and air consumption

After lunch, Third gave us an hour to take a nap etc, but I was still wet and dripping so ended up just chilling. Then we were off! This time, given we were pretty comfortable now in the open water, we focused more on buoyancy and air control. This was pretty cool actually. I didn’t notice the fishes much because I was way too focused on my breathing, but this was good practice.

Lecture & Exam

Once we ascended, Third taught us how to take care of our gear, which made me realize how stressful it is to own the gear because they are so expensive and yet so easy to damage and also my life will depend on this gear and what if I didn’t clean it properly…. #SpazzMoment

Afterwards, we went off to take a shower and reconvened at 6PM – just in time for the beautiful sunset and a snack (delicious cheese turon).

Just kidding, it was time for a mini-lecture on how to read the compass. I get it theoretically, but gosh, I get lost even with Waze and Google Maps, I feel like if I’m underwater, everything really just looks the same to me…

Anyway, after this, it was time for… dun dun dun… the EXAM. I was majorly stressing over the exam and had spent the entire car ride to Anilao reviewing for it!! It was easy in the end. Gah, too much stress over nothing pfft.

Day 1 Dinner

For our final reward, dinner was unli Korean bbq! Yum. Way too much food. Ughh.

And then it was time to sleep, because we were meeting up at 7AM the next day. But honestly, my body’s not used to sleeping at 9PM so I ended up sleeping at 10:30PM. Damnit.

Day 2 Breakfast & Briefing

Next day, first order of business was breakfast, and boy I had a very heavy breakfast. Good food. I really liked the banana balls, plus cereal is always a classic, and the beef tapa was tender and very flavorful.

And then finally, it was time for our BOAT DIVE! Woohooo!! But first, quick prep and briefing before we dive.

Boat Dive #1: Arthur’s Rock

• Depth: 18m
• Duration: 40 mins
• Start/End Bar: 200/80 Bar
• What I saw: Beautiful and new fishes such as needlefish, pufferfish

Our first boat dive was to Arthur’s Rock. To enter the water, we did the backroll method. I’ve done this before at Puerto Galera but I still felt butterflies in my stomach when I did it this time around.

Mygosh, Arthur’s Rock is my favorite (so named because it’s in front of Arthur’s Resort – lol, very creative I know). Super stunning and wide variety of fishes (colors were popping!), pretty corals, and swimming past this steep cliff rock really gives you a great vantage point of the different happenings within the ocean’s ecosystem. Simply stunning!

Boat Dive #2: Cathedral

• Depth: 18m
• Duration: 40 mins
• Start/End Bar: 205/80 Bar
• What I saw: Cathedral and cross, lots of fishes!!

After this, we ascended and had to rest for an hour so that our nitrogen levels wouldn’t go haywire, then it was time to go down to Cathedral. Super cool history here – so they intentionally placed a cross here to make this into an attraction, as well as a castle structure of sorts to act as a man-made coral structure. Guess who placed the cross down there? None other than Former President Fidel V. Ramos. Whoa, diver pala siya?!?! Anyway, this dive site is a rite of passage for all Anilao divers so I was super psyched to do it.

Anyway, this time around the current was crazy strong. I barely had to swim because the current was moving me along. At one point, I was being dragged to the deep abyss and I started swimming like crazy to the opposite direction. Mygosh, adrenaline inducing!!! Anyway, this was pretty cool because this area used to be a feeding site so the fishes here have no fear and would literally swim in front of me, were brushing against my hands etc. Wow, close up view. Beautiful!

Finally, we ascended. We reached up to 18+m on both open water boat dives, and it’s pretty amazing to think we were down that deep but tbh I barely felt it??? Crazy to think of the amazing intricate design God made in this world of ours. I am awed and just feeling so blessed to be a part of His chosen creation.

Day 2 Lunch and Certificate Awarding

Afterwards, shower time then lunch! Wooohooo. OMG Huge butter prawns for lunch and this was delicious. Icing on top was the ice cream cake for dessert which was just pitch perfect (except they wouldn’t give me seconds ZZzz).

After lunch, we were awarded our certificates, reminded to log all our dives on the SSI app (v cool app!), and it was finally time to check out. Actually, I took a mini-nap first because they allowed us to check out later hehe.

Casa Escondida Dive Resort Review

To be fair, I quite liked Casa Escondida – we paid PHP 4800 per person per night – comes with buffet lunch, snack and dinner for Day 1, and buffet breakfast and lunch for Day 2. There were water terminals across the resort, the rooms were small but clean and serviceable. Water pressure in the shower was good too, and service was great. Super important, WiFi signal was strong EVERYWHERE also. Very impressive. There was a quick power outage at one point, but the WiFi stayed on. Woohoo.

Rough Budget

Overall, super happy with this experience. Sharing my budget breakdown below in case helpful

• Toll (to and from Anilao, PHP 343 one-way, but there were 2 of us so we split it) = 343 per person
• Metro diving = 12600
• 350 tank x 5 tanks = 1750
• Boat fee = 600 per person
• Dive fee = 200 per person
• Mouthpiece = 250 per person
• Casa escondida = 4800 per person per night
• Antigen = 400 per person

Total: 20,943 per person

Where to buy equipment

We didn’t buy any equipment yet because it’s pretty pricey and we weren’t sure if we would do this full-time. I think we’ll probably dive a bit more using rented stuff, then when we’re convinced this is a hobby we’ll pursue full-time, I’ll invest in all the “personal” stuff such as mask with eye grade, wet suit, and booties + fins. The other equipment such as the regulator, buoyancy system, and dive watch are way too pricey, so I’ll probably keep renting those unless I become an expert diver LOL.

Anyway, if you do want to purchase equipment, you can check out the following stores for wetsuits:

Mares

Mayapis corner St. Paul Road,

Makati

09686595880

Aquaventure Whitetip

Kamagong St corner Dungon St. Makati

09399133605

Pacifica Dive

Chino Roces corner Don Bosco

Makati

63288464220

Nautilus Dive and Sports Center

Catleya Building 235 Salcedo, Legazpi Village, Makati

63288177293

Aquamundo Sports

Robelle Hotel, J.P. Rizal Street, Poblacion,

Makati

63288962285