Was not thrilled with how the AOW course went this weekend...
"Deep" dive was only to 70 feet and did not include a timed test above water and then at depth.
Underwater Navigation was good in that I actually learned something, but my buddy and I did the dive alone without even the presence of the DM candidate. Instructor watched our bubbles from shore to make sure we did our shapes correctly.
Night dive was a disappointment as well. Visibility was only about 4-6 feet. My buddy got a cramp and went for the surface after 14 minutes. When I realized he was gone I signalled to the instructor he was gone. Instructor didn't understand what I was signaling and continued the dive for another 6 minutes before the DM candidate noticed he was missing. Instructor then signalled for us to go up. Total dive length... 20 minutes. I realize I showed bad judgment in this situation. I should have immediately gone up with my buddy. I assumed the instructor's lack of concern that he was missing was an indication my buddy had let him know he was going up. Unacceptable assumption. I was completely in the wrong.
Next day...
Instead of doing Peak Performance Buoyancy (which was what I wanted to take but would have necessitated him getting wet so he could watch us), our instructor decided to instead do a "mock altitude dive." So... that specialty consisted of him spending 5 minutes going over the effects of altitude on diving and then sending us out for a casual dive with the DM candidate.
Search and recovery was fun and a good learning experience. Instructor didn't join us for the dive, but the DM candidate did a good job of leading the dive and exercises.
Maybe I was expecting too much, but I was extremely disappointed with the course. It was enough to cause me to consider dropping the Rescue Diver course I have scheduled with the same instructor and shop next weekend. I definitely won't be doing my DM and Instructor courses with this shop.
I'll be the first to admit I don't have a lot of course experience so maybe my expectations were too high and the way things were handled was acceptable and normal. Still... I'd hoped for more.
- DM candidate, who did most of the supervision, only had around 35 logged dives... same number I have logged.
- Instructor only joined us for 2 out of the 5 dives.
- Briefings were good, but debriefings were virtually nonexistent.
- Deep dive was only to 70 feet and didn't include the necessary timed tests.
- Instructor didn't force us to retake the night dive despite the fact that my buddy only spent 14 minutes underwater, and I showed poor buddy judgment.
- "Altitude Dive" was a joke.
I can easily beat you on advanced open water class nightmare stories, though it sounds like my instructor put a LITTLE more into it than yours.
The weekend I did it was right at the opening of the "season" and the water was miserably cold. Beneath the second thermocline, 39 degrees. It rained all weekend. visibility was terrible on all dives. At times the surface temp, at 60 degrees, was warmer than the air.
I put up with all of it because I wanted to go wreck diving two weeks after, and the boat required at least advanced open water certification.
That said, the instructor supervised our nav and search and recover from the surface. He said the same thing someone else in the thread posted. We were certified divers and did not need him below. He was also without help for the weekend and going with each buddy group through all of it would have resulted in a lot of time in cold water.
My night dive was also very very short. The vis was worse than yours and my buddy kept floating to the top, which I was able to fix. we had decided to hold hands during the dive so we didn't lose each other, so I knew immediately when she started having issues. but because there was virtually nothing to see and we were all freezing cold and it was our third dive of the day, I believe we ended the dive after about 15 minutes.
My deep dive we also went to 70 feet. However, at that temperature you're still dealing with possible narcosis because your circulation is slowed and you're losing a ton of body heat. Depending on the conditions you dove in, 70 feet could have been good enough. I know at 70 feet for me, I suddenly found I had no idea what six times nine was for a good 5-10 seconds - and I'm an accountant!!
I'm not defending your instructor, because it sounds like you definitely got shortchanged (mock altitude dive??? good grief), but mine emphasized that they were "experience" dives, rather than strict skill tests, so I don't know why he'd want you to "retake" a night dive. You dove, at night. On the other hand, after I was uncomfortable still with a compass, my instructor actually invited me to come up with another open water class and did a one on one navigation dive with me (free). I would encourage you to seek further experience on anything you feel you are not prepared for - from someone else.
I actually enjoyed the challenges I faced that weekend between the cold and visibility and topside weather in the sense that it made me appreciate good and easy conditions that much more. My next night dive was a BREEZE compared to that crap at the quarry. Atlantic coast wreck diving was small potatoes compared to 70ft and 39 degrees in a 5mm semi dry.
In any case I hope you didn't completely feel like you got nothing out of it. If nothing else, you learned that this is NOT the guy to take the rescue class with. I hope you have some more local options.
(ps - I thought you had to have the logged dive prereq BEFORE starting the DM class? wow)
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