Question Anyone else get fully certified in a swimming pool?

[Doc]

Certifications completed in a pool, Anyone? Buehler?

[similar to the various threads out there asking for ‘roll calls’ of other holders of antique cert cards]

In 1969 i was 16, and after using primitive SCUBA-ish gear for a 10 years prior, my Mom noticed that a local guy from Lake Forest Illinois (guess who) was doing a thing called ”certifications”. I did not really want to bother because previously at age of 6, a guy named Bridges had already put a double hose mouthpiece in my maw and i put my face down and stared at his white Jantzen suit and Voit Duckfoot flippers. Then, after 10 more years of thrashing around in Northern Illinois lakes, why do I need a certification? Mom prevailed, I went to SCUBA school.

It was January and the lakes were a bit crusted over, so PADI rules of that era allowed for “exceptions due to local conditions”. That 8’ deep pool was going to be the accepted deviation.

In that day, we used the Joe Strykowski book as the (only) manual along with the standard Navy tables to predict our demise. No BCD, octopus, or SPG… just a J-Valve, luck and common sense. I still have a 3” thick copy of the USN Diving Manual. When it warmed up, we went to Racine Quarry and 3 Little Devils, Fontana, all in beautiful Wisconsin. Then Lake Michigan wreck diving. We survived.



This pool exception surely is not the currently accepted model for certification. It also included pretty serious UW harassment exercises, breathing straight off a tank nipple just to show mental/physical control, calisthenics in full rubber and tanks/lead. Dive in and find your full gear set. A small bit of BUDS type hilarity.



I finished my OW and since I’d been sucking compressed air since 1958 at age 6, the offer of AOW a week later caught my attention. They even turned off all the lights in the pool, I think for navigation skills?

Thus, I did my OW and AOW in a pool during a few ‘dives’ over a few weeks.



It worked in my case.



Anybody else?

 

[Belzelbub]

I have always considered my certification quite good based on my experiences and discussions with others who were certified elsewhere.

We have done two live aboard trips and my deepest dive was a planned wall dive to 213'. All on oxygen.

The above two quotes don’t go together. And the second one must be false or you wouldn’t be able to post this.

So, what would be everyone's suggestions going forward? I am strictly a recreational diver.

I’d start with Enriched Air Nitrox. It is really useful for recreational divers.

Then, it depends on what type of diving you want to do. A lot of operations require Advanced, or Deep depending on the site. I’m not a fan of the PADI sampler platter approach to AOW. I’d prefer taking the actual specialties.

 

[Fishdip]

What makes you say its a lie?

The above two quotes don’t go together. And the second one must be false or you wouldn’t be able to post this.

I’d start with Enriched Air Nitrox. It is really useful for recreational divers.

Then, it depends on what type of diving you want to do. A lot of operations require Advanced, or Deep depending on the site. I’m not a fan of the PADI sampler platter approach to AOW. I’d prefer taking the actual specialties.

 

[Belzelbub]

What makes you say its a lie?

I didn't say it was a lie. I said it was false. A lie is an intentional misstatement of fact. I don't know what the intent was.

I will answer why I say it's false. 213' max depth on oxygen. That would put the PP02 around 7.4. That is most definitely fatal. My initial OW course was extremely poor. However, even in that course I learned that we breathe a mix of mostly N2 and O2.

 

[Erich S]

Back in 1976 we did the same crazy pool drills as stated by the OP and I also used the same book for my BASIC Scuba course.
In 1976 our PADI C-cards were laminated cardboard but they did have our photo on them.

 

[Akimbo]

I didn't say it was a lie. I said it was false. A lie is an intentional misstatement of fact. I don't know what the intent was.

I will answer why I say it's false. 213' max depth on oxygen. That would put the PP02 around 7.4. That is most definitely fatal. My initial OW course was extremely poor. However, even in that course I learned that we breathe a mix of mostly N2 and O2.

True, but I would assume a typo. Either 113' instead of 213' or Air or Nitrox instead of Oxygen. Not many liveaboards offer pure Oxygen and I can't imagine any that would let you do more than decompress with it.

We have done two live aboard trips and my deepest dive was a planned wall dive to 213'. All on oxygen.

Of course I am so poirfect that tying mistooks like tis just nevr happin.

 

[Belzelbub]

True, but I would assume a typo. Either 113' instead of 213' or Air or Nitrox instead of Oxygen. Not many liveaboards offer pure Oxygen and I can't imagine any that would let you do more than decompress with it.

I certainly hope so. I'm definitely familiar with reporters using oxygen in place of air or other gas, so I usually just roll my eyes and move on. The general public usually doesn't know the composition of atmospheric air, so it's somewhat understandable. The vast majority of divers I've met or conversed with do understand the differences, so I saw this as a really strange typo for a diver to make.

 

[Angelo Farina]

I was certified in 1975 (FIPSAS-CMAS 2 stars). The course was 6 months long, and very demanding. Just 1/3 of initial students did pass. However, most of the time was in a deep, cold, open-air pool.
We did only TWO real dives in the sea, from a boat, using twin tanks, no SPG and no BCD. With some deco, of course, using the Navy tables.
Most of the training in the pool was free diving, or using a scuba system called ARO, which nowadays is classified as a pure-oxygen CC rebreather and is used only by Navy Seals.
So yes, I was certified as an "open water" diver after having being trained mostly in a pool, and having used an air tank in it for less than 10 hours, and less than 2 hours in the sea.

 

[dvcochran]

The above two quotes don’t go together. And the second one must be false or you wouldn’t be able to post this.

I’d start with Enriched Air Nitrox. It is really useful for recreational divers.

Then, it depends on what type of diving you want to do. A lot of operations require Advanced, or Deep depending on the site. I’m not a fan of the PADI sampler platter approach to AOW. I’d prefer taking the actual specialties.

To clarify, 213' is correct. I was on regular air, not oxygen so I mis-spoke there. Excuse my ignorance, but why must the two statements be a lie?

What are the advantages and inherent dangers of Air Nitrox? It is hard for me to wrap my head around putting anything in my lungs but regular air.

When I did my OW parallel the AOW person, I felt the navigation section was very thorough. I definitely do not consider it a sampler platter. We worked on gear, nav, boat departure, current, buoyancy, and one night dive. No structure or recovery, or dry suit, which I do see in some AOW listings. Again, it was 1992 so things like altitude, bottom time, and surface interval was done with pen/paper & charts.

I do not think there are any other options other than PADI near me. What other options would you recommend?

 

[dvcochran]

True, but I would assume a typo. Either 113' instead of 213' or Air or Nitrox instead of Oxygen. Not many liveaboards offer pure Oxygen and I can't imagine any that would let you do more than decompress with it.



Of course I am so poirfect that tying mistooks like tis just nevr happin.

213' is the correct depth but it was on Air, not Oxygen. I mis-spoke. Sorry.

 

[captain]

200 feet on air is fairly common for spearfishing on the Louisiana oil rigs, especially at rodeo time.