FFESSM N2 certification: going yo-yo

Shared by Pascal on August 04, 2011 in Technique

The French FFESSM N2 (equivalent to CMAS 2 Stars or PADI AOW) diver certification is not just about going deeper. It's definitely about autonomy. It allows the certified diver to go up to 40m accompanied by a N4 diver, but it also allows him to dive in autonomy with another N2 diver up to 20m.

I just passed the certification (already waited too long), and really the whole point of the whole training was about getting safely your buddy back to safety, i.e. on the surface. And I can assure you that the instructors from Easy Dive on the French Riviera really took this responsibility seriously. We had to bring up several times instructors who had "fainted" and were falling head first into the sand, another just decided to leave the party during the dive, while another freaked out when going under an arch (creeeeepy). And if our reaction was not reassuring enough, they started panicking and would try to grab our mask or second stage regulator ! (which obviously was the end/failure of the exercise).
As you can see in the profile below, we did lots of yo-yo during those dives !

Dive profile

On top of those yo-yos, some courses were organised on diving illness (aka "you don't want that"), decompression tables (aka "use computers !"), Oxygen/Nitrogen toxicity (aka "unfortunately, it happens").

After a full week of intense diving - 12 dives got me to graduation -, we finally got to do a single exploration dive in autonomy which really reminded us why we like so much diving : take your time and enjoy the scenery !

About the author:

#
  • fr Pascal

  • # CMAS 3 stars diver
  • Qualifications:

    IANTD Normoxic Trimix Diver, PADI Advanced Open Water, CMAS Nitrox

  • Dived in: Belgium, Japan, Egypt, United States, Cayman Islands, Malta, Australia, France

Share your experiences, thoughts, or ask a question

WRITE A POST
What's up on Diveboard