lavachickie
Contributor
I signed up with a local dive shop for PADI OWC in November. My husband was certified at the same shop, but by different instructors. My experience was a little different than his; I think there are some significant deficiencies, but wanted to lay it out there and get some feedback. I can be a real Type A person and as I have designed and implement training for a living, I can also have strong opinions about methods. 
Okay, enough disclaimers.
Classroom and pool time went went. No sig problems.
A pet peeve was that often serious basic questions by students were answered in a round about way with a long and dramatic dive story from the instructors... and one of the experienced divers hanging around would actually provide the factual answer a factual instructional style answer. :blinking: But hey, it's a laid back group, the shop is like a clubhouse, etc.
My instructor told me from early on that he was going to put me into a dry suit for the certification dives (which occur off the Pacific Northwest coast... cold in November/December!). I didn't ask why -- it sounded like a great opportunity to learn something new! I'm a big girl, hardy and not afraid of a little cold.
I was given the dry suit when I came in to gear up for the open water dive weekend. I assumed I'd get a primer; had been expecting a pool session, but started to get the hint I might not get anything. So I boned up on my own by reading all I could on the web the night before. (They require you take a one session course before renting them, I think, so I assumed I'd get the equivalent.)
The weekend of the certification dives, it was COLD (air temps in the high 20's, low 30's), the water was COLD (high 30's to mid 40's) and the visibility was very limited (1ft to zero at one site, 3ft at another for most of the drives). I gave it a go. Liked the dry suit, but had an issue with the constriction (suit wasn't a good fit, the hood I had was too tight around the neck--another thing I'd mentioned but was told, "No, it's fine."). As you can imagine, buoyancy was a challange.
Adding up the lack of visibility, the constriction of the suit which contributed to lack of mobility, the inability to feel my gear through thick gloves, coupled with the inability to comfortably control trim/buoyancy left me feeling REALLY inadequate, unsure of my abilities beyond what I felt was usual--and even unsure if I'd be able to see my DM if I had trouble! That felt like one too many issues to me. I think one or two of those things together I could have handled, but with all of them in play... I gave it a go, and did have one nice exploration dive. But I had some problems, too, including a loss of air at 25 ft on a subsequent dive (probably my fault, but I had been doing surface skills and breathing fine, and was breathing fine on descent, then... regulator cut down to the flow of a coffee straw at best, and upon surfacing [after I semi-freaked out] we found the valve on the tank was almost closed).
I fell a dive and a skill or two short of getting the OWC, but will finish that up on my tropical trip next month before a week of diving in crystal clear water with a few things on as possible. And I'll return to the cold waters of the PNW in good time as well. My goal is to become a skilled diver... regardless of how long that takes me. =-)
On the one hand, I learned A LOT due to the challenges; but on the other I have a nagging feeling that the instruction was significant lacking. It nags at me to the point that I wonder if I should say something and, if I do, what is the best way to do so? My goal would be to constructively contribute to an improvement so as to save future students from worry, trouble or even outright danger, but who am I to go up to an instructor who has thousands of dives and hundreds of classes under his belt and say he's not god?
Does this experience sound normal, or usual, or out of whack?
Okay, enough disclaimers. Classroom and pool time went went. No sig problems.
A pet peeve was that often serious basic questions by students were answered in a round about way with a long and dramatic dive story from the instructors... and one of the experienced divers hanging around would actually provide the factual answer a factual instructional style answer. :blinking: But hey, it's a laid back group, the shop is like a clubhouse, etc.
My instructor told me from early on that he was going to put me into a dry suit for the certification dives (which occur off the Pacific Northwest coast... cold in November/December!). I didn't ask why -- it sounded like a great opportunity to learn something new! I'm a big girl, hardy and not afraid of a little cold.
I was given the dry suit when I came in to gear up for the open water dive weekend. I assumed I'd get a primer; had been expecting a pool session, but started to get the hint I might not get anything. So I boned up on my own by reading all I could on the web the night before. (They require you take a one session course before renting them, I think, so I assumed I'd get the equivalent.)
The weekend of the certification dives, it was COLD (air temps in the high 20's, low 30's), the water was COLD (high 30's to mid 40's) and the visibility was very limited (1ft to zero at one site, 3ft at another for most of the drives). I gave it a go. Liked the dry suit, but had an issue with the constriction (suit wasn't a good fit, the hood I had was too tight around the neck--another thing I'd mentioned but was told, "No, it's fine."). As you can imagine, buoyancy was a challange.
Adding up the lack of visibility, the constriction of the suit which contributed to lack of mobility, the inability to feel my gear through thick gloves, coupled with the inability to comfortably control trim/buoyancy left me feeling REALLY inadequate, unsure of my abilities beyond what I felt was usual--and even unsure if I'd be able to see my DM if I had trouble! That felt like one too many issues to me. I think one or two of those things together I could have handled, but with all of them in play... I gave it a go, and did have one nice exploration dive. But I had some problems, too, including a loss of air at 25 ft on a subsequent dive (probably my fault, but I had been doing surface skills and breathing fine, and was breathing fine on descent, then... regulator cut down to the flow of a coffee straw at best, and upon surfacing [after I semi-freaked out] we found the valve on the tank was almost closed).
I fell a dive and a skill or two short of getting the OWC, but will finish that up on my tropical trip next month before a week of diving in crystal clear water with a few things on as possible.
And I'll return to the cold waters of the PNW in good time as well. My goal is to become a skilled diver... regardless of how long that takes me. =-) On the one hand, I learned A LOT due to the challenges; but on the other I have a nagging feeling that the instruction was significant lacking. It nags at me to the point that I wonder if I should say something and, if I do, what is the best way to do so? My goal would be to constructively contribute to an improvement so as to save future students from worry, trouble or even outright danger, but who am I to go up to an instructor who has thousands of dives and hundreds of classes under his belt and say he's not god?
Does this experience sound normal, or usual, or out of whack?
On day 2, another instructor diving at that same hole came over, asked me how I was, and very demurely said he wouldn't have put me into the drysuit w/o a pool class; he didn't trash talk the other instructor, just was checking on me and sort of patted me on the back and said if I could even attempt to dive with all those things going on, I would be fine. So it's all good. =-) 
