Cold-water vs warm-water training

[DivemasterDennis]

Moving outside of personal preference for one's own training circumstances, which pervades everyone's view, I would like to suggest, as one who has trained and who regularly dives in cold and warm conditions, that the exposure to each kind of conditions will make you a better diver. I don't think the difference is so much between warm and cold as between lakes and quarries vs open ocean. I have encountered instructors here in Colorado who have never dove in a body of water larger than a local reservoir. Accordingly, when they go to Florida or elsewhere for the first time, they have no experience with current, surge, waves bigger than 18 inches affecting entry and exit, and their navigation skills are often very cursory. Dive leaders in dive destinations should have a knowledge of local wildlife and where to find it, and will likely do some limited swim throughs or short "tunnels" with divers. It come back to knowing the area where you will be working, but being competent and equipped to dive in a variety of conditions is a big plus for competent dive pros. As I noted on another forum, competence comes from proper training PLUS experience.
DivemasterDennis

 

[oreocookie]

thanks for those details Andy. Looks like I've got a lot of researching and interviewing ahead of me, but that's fine; just part of the process, I guess.

 

[CanBritGirl]

Lots of great discussion here! I have to jump in and add my 2 cents as someone who is an avid cold water diver but also has lots of warm water experience. I did most of my training in cold water, from OW through to OWSI. But I also dive at least 50-80 dives per year down south, so I know that there are challenges to warm water diving as well.

Here`s my view: I wholeheartedly believe that when starting out as a diver, one should learn to dive in cold water if they plan on diving under those conditions at a later point because it is a lot easier to learn in warm water and a lot harder to adapt to cold later on.

Having said that... no, I don`t agree that as a dive professional you are necessarily better off doing your training in cold water, especially if you are already an accomplished cold water diver. I believe you need to be well-rounded. So, if you plan on teaching and think it is likely you may end up in cold water areas, you had better get some cold water experience as a diver before you take your first students out on a course. Conversely, if you are a cold water diver but plan on teaching down south, you will need some warm water experience as a diver.

I for one would have a hard time having a DM on my boat who I knew was not comfortable in cold water. But they don`t have to have gained this experience in their professional course.

What is more important when selecting a dive professional training program are the following (at least in my books):
- The quality of instruction and the reputation of the dive centre. Ask around. Find out what people are saying that about that dive centre. Find out how their students are perceived and find out how their dive professionals are perceived.
- The amount of hands-on experience with real students and customers you will get during your training. My personal view is that the minimum requirements set out by PADI are just that - minimums. The more experience you get, the better DM you`ll be in the end.
-Don`t try to cram it all into a week or two!

My issue typically with warm water professional development centres is the duration of their programs, not the temperature of the water. This is often out of necessity because people drop in on their vacation to complete the course, but I think we sometimes get confused by the issues with DMs and instructors who learned in just 1 week as opposed the fact that they did it in warm water.

I realise that as someone from a cold water centre, this may seem to be the wrong answer. But in truth we believe the DMs and Instructors who learn with us come for the quality of the teaching, not the temperature of the water. I would encourage you not to let that be your deciding factor.

Best of luck to you wherever you end up! The very fact that you are putting so much thought in to your selection of a dive centre to learn with bodes well for your success.

 

[Ste Wart]

Warm water.

Your female students wear less on the surface intervals!

 

[j yaeger]

the op is a female,wart.....

...but then,she is from montreal!!!!!!!!lol

 

[Ste Wart]

the op is a female,wart.....

...but then,she is from montreal!!!!!!!!lol

oops bad avatar!

Reminds me of an Adam Hills joke:

Did you know Canadian money has braille on it? What a country. Where else could a blind french lesbian get married and pay for it in cash!

 

[oreocookie]

Warm water.

Your female students wear less on the surface intervals!

Point taken, I'll just substitute those female students for male ones... lol

...but then,she is from montreal!!!!!!!!lol

do i even want to know?

 

[oreocookie]

... I realise that as someone from a cold water centre, this may seem to be the wrong answer. But in truth we believe the DMs and Instructors who learn with us come for the quality of the teaching, not the temperature of the water. I would encourage you not to let that be your deciding factor.

Best of luck to you wherever you end up! The very fact that you are putting so much thought in to your selection of a dive centre to learn with bodes well for your success.

Thanks, I had hoped this thread would give me a clear cut answer of one being better than the other, but as I suspected, the result is "it's a toss-up". I'm leaning toward the warm-water route, mainly because that's where I'd prefer to work and because I'm somewhat of a beach-bum at heart, I guess. I enjoy diving around here, though I haven't done it as much or as frequently as I would like (going to change that when the water warms up a bit), but I'm not sure I can see myself working here. Still, I haven't totally investigated my local options, so that possibility is not ruled out. Wherever I decide I'm going to get the best training and value for my money is where I'm going to do it, i think.

 

[mrdohc]

IMO, a cold water trained "diver" usually is a better diver if the diver keep diving frequently. And a cold water trained "new diver" usually is better skilled diver in the beginning. A warm water trained diver doesn't mean he/she will not be a good skilled diver however if the diver is diving frequently.
Dive pro might be a little bit different. Training in the warm water and training in cold water has their advantage and disadvantage respectively. I believe it depends on where you want to start off your first diving job. After working a while as a DM or instructor, it will be easy for you to adapt. If you want to work as a DM or instructor locally, definitely train locally. If you prefer to start your diving career down south, then go south to do your DM and IDC training. IMO, if you have the opportunity, get your DM training locally. This way, you will learn how to supervise student diver in bad visibility, cold water, bulky gear configuration. Yes, absolutely you will have less training in boat dive mastering, or coral reef conservation and in general, you training will take longer to complete. After your DM, then go down south and work for a couple months as DM, or even volunteer at a dive resort and work as a DM. (as far as I know, a lot of dive operator will take volunteer DM to do "internship", and it is no different than a DMC internship. You work for free except you don't pay them a course fee)
IDC as far as I am concern, it doesn't matter. In fact if time and money is not a concern for you, doing your IDC in the warm weather is better. If you do your IDC locally, it usually will be a weekend IDC. If you have a full time job, that is great because you do not need to take time off from work while you are completing your IDC. However a weekend IDC doesn't give you the continuously learning opportunity. What I mean by that is because it is weekend format, you have 2 days of academic, confined water or open water, you then have a long break (5 days) to move on to the next session. also if you are doing the IDC in warm water, better visibility and less bulky equipment configuration and warm water only make your IDC and IE experience better and easier. Remember the IDC and IE is not there to train you to be a better diver but introduce you to the agency philosophy, teaching methodology and standard. The evaluation is there to make sure you know what to present and how to present in order not to break the standard. so warmer water and less gear configuration will lower your stress level. Same as wearing gear that you are comfortable in will make life a lot easier. Side note, I have seen IE candidate being trained in warm water (Caribbean) and come up to Toronto to do her IE. The result is, redo open water in the next IE.
In short, my suggestion is, get your DM trained locally, then go down South to work for a couple of months then consider an IDC down south if time is permitted. Or do both your DM taining and IDC locally then go down south to have more practice. (As an instructor, usually it is easily to get a job, whether is DM job or an instructor job) If you don't want your IDC in French, you may consider coming to Toronto or going to Ottawa. PM me if you want to discuss more upon this opportunity.

 

[oreocookie]

Dive pro might be a little bit different. Training in the warm water and training in cold water has their advantage and disadvantage respectively.

This is really what I'm struggling with. I can see pros and cons to both. I feel like I'm currently leaning towards doing the training in warm water but for reasons that don't specifically involve water temperature (though that is a bonus).
-The immersion in diving is one of my main reasons for considering going down south. I can't spend a month or 2 here where every day I'm diving or helping with classes or working in the shop. As far as I can find, it just doesn't exist here, whereas it's common down south.
-Spending several weeks away from home seems like valuable life experience. I can't really get that if I do my training here.
-I would prefer to work in a similar type of environment (down south), so the internship experience seems like it would be more immediately relevant that the experience I would get here. Sure, I could adapt, but adapting immediately after training seems slightly odd to me.
-If I stayed here, I would need to have a job on the side, because I'm going to be doing the training for at least 6 months. I want to leave the crummy part-time job I have as soon as possible, which I would if I go down south (and not have to immediately look for a replacement).
-I want to... maybe this is the best reason. Doing the course(s) down south just seems a whole lot more appealing to me than doing it locally.

Still, locally is not ruled out, but... the grass is really looking greener to me on the other side of the fence right now.
-bulkier equipment, hood, gloves, etc
-lower viz
-possibly keeping a closer eye on students because of the above...

Down south really just seems more appealing to me right now.