Erich S
Contributor
I have some feedback on this topic.
I certified OW PADI in 1992. Excellent instructor, excellent environment and excellent everything. I couldn't have been happier back then. My last dive was in 1994 just before I got married. I probably had 30 dives total, mostly in local lakes in less than 40 feet.
Fast forward to a few months ago while I was fishing and accidentally went overboard when I mis-stepped and a wake from another boat caused me to go over. In the process, I lost a $500 rod and reel in about 30 feet of water because I was busy trying to save my life fighting against pants, long sleeve shirt and hiking boots.
I decided to look at diving to find my rig, so I did the $63 re-certify deal with PADI. The online education was underwhelming to say the least. It would have been nice to have a short video showing someone getting everything rigged up, proper weight balancing and whatnot, so I'm not wasting time at the pool session. Sure, I can google the prep, but it should be covered in the re-certification. Not everyone is re-certifying a year after initial certification and remembers all this crap. Some of us haven't been on a dive in 26 years....
I paid the $35 this week for my pool session in September and I hope the 4 hours in the pool are better than the online portion....
So did you re-certify or take a refresher course?