Your First Scuba Pool Session: A Step-by-Step Guide (No Surprises)

TL;DR

Your first scuba pool session is supervised, shallow, and a lot more fun than you're probably imagining. You'll practice breathing underwater, work through a handful of foundational skills, and very likely surface with a grin you won't be able to wipe off. Here's exactly what to expect, step by step.

Everyone has some version of this thought before their first pool session: What if I panic? What if I can't breathe? What if I'm the only one who struggles?

Our highly experienced staff with 25+ years of teaching will all tell you: we've heard it all before. A lot. The PADI Open Water Diver course is deliberately designed to start in a controlled, shallow-water environment for exactly this reason. The pool session isn't a test you can fail; it's an introduction. Think of it as a very well-supervised, very wet classroom.

We run pool sessions out of our Carrollton location year-round. This guide covers what happens during your first contained water dives (the pool session) as you begin your scuba certification journey.

 
What to Bring to Your First Pool Session


You bring:

•     Swimsuit (a rash guard or t-shirt is recommended for comfort)

•     Your mask, snorkel, boots, and fins

•     Towel

•     Refillable water bottle

We provide:

•     BCD (buoyancy compensating device)

•     Regulator set

•     Tank

•     Wetsuit, if needed for pool temperature (limited availability). Our indoor pool is heated to 90 degrees.

 No experience with any of that gear? Perfect. That's exactly the point.

 
Your First Scuba Pool Session: 10 Steps


PADI has basic swimming requirements to become an Open Water Diver. This consists of a 200-yard nonstop swim while only wearing your swim gear. No masks, goggles, fins, etc. You may use any stroke(s), and there is no time limit, but you can’t stop. Next is a 10-minute water tread or float. While these generally occur before you get in the pool with your scuba gear, some instructors may alter the order.


1. The Pre-Dive Briefing

Before anyone gets wet, your instructor runs a review of your eLearning and then gives a briefing covering what you'll practice throughout the day. This is the right time to ask every question you've been sitting on since you signed up. There are no dumb questions at this stage, and your instructor has probably heard yours before.

2. Gear Assembly

You'll learn to put together your own scuba kit -- BCD, regulator, and tank -- from scratch. This sounds more complicated than it is. The process is logical and repeatable, and by the end of the course, you'll do it from muscle memory without thinking twice.

3. The Pre-Dive Safety Check

PADI's five-point pre-dive check gets its own step because you'll use it throughout your diving life. The acronym is BWRAF: BCD, Weights, Releases, Air, Final OK. BWARF can be remembered by “Begins With Review and Friend” or “Babies With Rashes Are Fussy,” or any other countless combinations to help you remember the pre-dive check order.

4. Entering the Water

Your first pool entry will likely be with a giant stride, one of the most common ways scuba divers enter the water. You and your buddy will help each other don your gear, perform a pre-dive buddy check, and then take your giant stride into scuba diving!

5. Your First Breath from a Regulator

This is the moment almost every new diver is nervous about, and almost universally, the moment the anxiety disappears. Breathing from a regulator is slow and deliberate. The exhale creates bubbles. Those bubbles are oddly satisfying every single time.

You'll breathe at the surface first, then put your face in the water while continuing to breathe normally. The goal here is pure familiarity, nothing more.

6. Regulator Clearing

At some point, water will get into your regulator. You’ll practice recovering a dropped regulator, and anytime the regulator is not in your mouth while underwater, it will flood. There are two methods to clear it: exhaling through it or pressing the purge button.

7. Mask Clearing

This is one of the most useful skills and, after a few tries, divers do it without even realizing it to clear a fogged mask, or to remove water that slipped in after smiling too much underwater.

You'll deliberately flood your mask and then clear it by pressing the top frame to your forehead and exhaling through your nose. It might take a few tries, which is ok! You’ll become an expert in no time.

Pro tip from our instructors: the temptation is to hold your breath. Don't. Keep breathing through the regulator the whole time.

8. Regulator Recovery

If your regulator comes out of your mouth underwater, you need to find it put it back in your mouth. You'll practice two retrieval methods, the arm-sweep method and the reach-behind method.

9. Buoyancy Control Basics

Buoyancy is the skill that separates comfortable divers from great ones, and the fundamentals start in the pool. You'll use your breathing to rise and fall, and practice adding and releasing air from your BCD to achieve neutral buoyancy (the state where you hover effortlessly without sinking or floating up). Mastering this can take some time, so don’t worry if you aren’t in perfect buoyancy for a while. You'll get additional instruction and dives around buoyancy if you've added the Peak Performance Buoyancy course to your class.

10. Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent (CESA)

As a safety skill, you'll practice a CESA on the surface of the water while swimming the length of the pool. It is a safe simulation of what you will practice in open water--an emergency ascent from a safe depth.

 
What Our Instructors Want You to Know


"The hardest part of the first pool session is getting in the car and showing up. After that, almost every student is surprised by how natural it feels. The gear does its job, the water is calm, and breathing underwater is genuinely something humans can do comfortably -- with the right training and the right instructor in the water next to you."
— International Scuba Instructor Team

 
What Comes After the Pool?


Once you complete all five confined water dives (PADI Open Water requires five confined water (pool) dives total), you move on to open water checkout dives at a local lake or quarry. Those checkout dives are where your certification is officially signed off. The pool is the bridge, not the destination.

Most International Scuba students complete the full Open Water certification over two weekends or across a few weekday evenings and a weekend. Pool sessions are held at our Carrollton location.

Ready to Get in the Water?


The fastest way to find out what your first pool session feels like is to book one. International Scuba's PADI Open Water Certification pool sessions run year-round at our Carrollton location.

Enroll in PADI Open Water Certification  »   |   internationalscuba.com

Published 22 Apr 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

PADI confined water sessions are typically conducted in 5 to 15 feet of water. All foundational skills are practiced at depths where you can stand up if needed. Our pool is 4 feet deep at both ends and 8 feet deep in the middle. This is deep enough to practice all the skills necessary in water that is too deep to stand, yet still provides a level of comfort for nervous divers. It’s also indoors and heated, allowing us to teach year-round.

We consider a “session” to be each time you arrive for class with confined water dives. The PADI Open Water course requires five confined water dives before you move on to open water checkout dives. Expect to spend 70-80% of the session time in the pool. The rest will be classroom time or putting together and disassembling gear, plus a lunch break. Weekend courses are 8 am-4 pm on Saturday and Sunday, and weeknight courses are 6 pm-10 pm over three weeknights.

You need basic swimming ability, and this is assessed before you get into the pool with scuba gear. PADI requires a 200-yard continuous swim (or 300 yards with mask, fins, and snorkel) plus a 10-minute tread or float. Both occur in a standard pool setting before confined-water training begins. You don't need competitive technique, just basic water comfort.

Tell your instructor. You can surface at any point while in the pool. Many students work through a skill more than once before they feel confident enough to complete it successfully. That's completely normal and expected.

Yes, and a well-fitting mask is your protection. You’ll be completing mask-clearing skills, which require flooding and removing/replacing your mask underwater. Simply keep your eyes closed during the skill. We can help you with proper mask fitting in the shop before your session.

Your instructor will stay with you until it clicks. It always does. 

No experience necessary. The PADI Open Water pool sessions are designed for complete beginners. If you've done a Discover Scuba Diving experience before, that's a bonus, but it's not required.

You will need your own mask, snorkel, boots, and fins for the entire class. If you purchase those from us, we will waive the rental fees (~$150) for the remainder of the equipment. If you get them elsewhere, we'll inspect the gear beforehand to ensure it is of proper quality and fit. After that, you’ll be responsible for the rental fees for the rest of the gear. International Scuba does not have rental masks, snorkels, boots, or fins.

PADI sets maximum student-to-instructor ratios for Open Water training of 8-10 with assistants, but at International Scuba, we have learned that more personal attention creates a better experience and safer divers. We never have more than 6 and even less in open water or with children. We have set the standard for training children by maximizing safety.

Contact us as soon as possible for options. Additional fees may apply.

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