You'll be learning many skills during your pool and open water sessions. Many of these skills are used routinely during every dive, while others are used only for special situations or emergencies. Regardless of how often you'll need to use a skill, they are all important for your safety and enjoyment of the sport.

At first, many of the skills you'll be practicing may seem like complicated solutions to simple problems. But students who ignore these procedures quickly learn that the techniques demonstrated by their instructor are effective, timesaving, and require minimal effort.

This chapter is for preview and review purposes only. Under no circumstances should you attempt these skills until your instructor has personally demonstrated them for you. Additionally, your instructor may teach you variations of these skills that are more suitable for local conditions, so be sure to follow your instructor's examples when appropriate.