PADI Confined Water Dive 3

You are half way through during PADI Confined Water Dive 3. On this confined dive you will on doing more advanced skills in deeper water and you will learn the famous PADI CESA skill.

Also during PADI Confined Water Dive 3 you will be practicing buoyancy skills like the Hover. Good buoyancy is one of the most skills in scuba diving. Buoyancy is like a feeling. In the beginning it will be weird but by the end of Confined Dive 3 you will be so much more comfortable with you buoyancy.

Tips for the PADI CESA Skill in Confined Water 3

The PADI CESA Skill is a famous skill that you learn in the PADI Open Water Diver Course. It is an important skill to learn for in the unlikely event you might run out of air then you can still safely reach the surface using this skill from 9 meter depth. before you learn this skill in open water you will first practice the CESA in Confined Water Dive 3.

The best tips we can give is to not overthink it. It is the same as a normal ascent just with a continuous sounds (exhalation) and in confined you swim diagonal as is not deep enough.

Tips for Buoyancy Skills in Confined Dive 3

In dive 1 and 2 you have already swim around and practiced some buoyancy, but in confined dive 3 you will fully focus on your buoyancy and using your lungs with the PADI Hover skill.

The trick to hover perfectly is to understand that there is a delay in inflating and deflating your lungs. It is true that when you inhale you should rise and when you exhale you should fall (descent). However, because of the delay in filling up your lungs you should almost do it the other way around. let me explain:

If needed add a bit of air into your BCD and slowly breath in. After a delay you should start to rise slowly. Then the moment you start to rise you start to exhale gently. This makes you slow down in your ascent and makes you fall. The moment you fall start to slowly inhale, this will slow down your descent and with make you go up again. Keep repeating this. I know it is not easy in the beginning, but trust me you will get it with some practice. Learning buoyancy is the same as learning how to ride a bicycle.

PADI Confined Water Dive 3 Skills in order

Dive Equipment Assembly
Giant Stride Entry
Buoyancy Check at the Surface (with a buddy)
Cramp Release at the Surface (with a buddy)
5 Point Descent Visual Reference (with a buddy)
Cramp Release Underwater (with a buddy)
Hover for 30 seconds
Swim Adjusting Trim & Buoyancy
Alternate Air Source Swim for 1 Minute (with a buddy)
CESA - Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent
Air Check
Dive Equipment Disassembly

Check out the PADI Confined Water Dive 3 Video 👇

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During confined dive 3 you are becoming a diver and almost ready for the real open water dives. An item that every scuba should have is a diving computer. We have selected 3 of the best dives computers you can get for all budgets here: