bbarnett51
Contributor
I was surprised at all of the negative responses about AOW and Master Diver designations. I have been diving for 20 years. I am fortunate to have a family lakehouse on a very nice diving lake. So I can dive pretty much whenever I want. This means I get to spend a lot of time underwater. I dont log most of my lake dives so I have no idea how many dives I actually have. Anyway, this winter I decided I wanted to get some training. I was mainly interested in a rescue course. After looking at several shops I decided on one that is SSI. I didn't care which agency I just wanted a good instructor. My OW is NAUI and there is no longer an instructor in my area so I went with SSI and was pleased.
So I decided to take a few courses that I thought might be beneficial and advance my skills as a diver. And also just to have fun! I signed up for Stress and Rescue, Navigation, night and Limited Vis, nitrox, and Deep. I found the SSI manuals and videos to be pretty good and easy to read. the study questions were worthless but the material was good. For each class we did class work(discussion and theory) and pool work then open water. We did not do pool work for nitrox and deep.
The dives were done in the lake and my instructor adapted her teaching to my level of experience. navigation was a lot of fun and I definitely increased my skills in this area! We did search patterns, navigate to underwater buoys, and worked in limited vis conditions. I liked the way she incorporated navigation into limited vis. Learning to trust your instruments takes on an entirely new meaning when the vis is zero in silt infested water.
limited Vis was worthless in the classroom but the open water portion will be worthwhile for many. There is a mental component that comes into play when your eyes ae taken away. Practicing basic diving skills without sight is much different and nerves come into play. Learning navigation, buddy skills, and solo skills in silt water is not easy.
The first deep was miserable for me. I experienced my first reverse block and had blood dripping down the back of my throat. I also forgot my hood and the temp really started to drop after 30ft. the surface was 74 but it was 58 degrees when we dropped down below around 60-65 feet. My face was numb and it was very dark. We continued down and did a few basic skills plus some light signals then headed for warmer water. My reverse block hit at around 40ft. I signaled to the instructor and we descended until the pressure let off then slowly ascended. I had to keep doing this so it took awhile to ascend. Finally we surfaced and my sinus my hurting pretty bad. I was hocking up blood and we called it a day! I have had several 100 plus dives so this was just a formality but it was good to review some info. And I will tell you one thing. 100plus in an ocean is nothing like 100ft in a lake. A lake is cold, dark, with limited vis.
Search and Rescue is a must have IMO. It was also exhausting. We had to work with entangled divers, unconsious underwater and on the surface, we had to do all of the tows, we had to work with a panicked diver that was quick to pull off your mask and go for your reg, we had to physically strip down a diver and pull them onto the shore for CPR and also cross their arms and hoist them into the boat for CPR and oxygen. We had hours and hours of intruction on recognizing symptoms and performing procedures for nearly every dive related injury. It also required me to renew my CPR and First Aid which was a nice reminder. We did all this in the pool first then repeated in the lake. We ran many scenarios and discussed how to handle each one at depth and on the surface. We worked on stripping our own gear and then putting it on at depth. We did some of this without our mask at depth. etc....
By the end of it all I can't imagine someone leaving this program without getting their money's worth. I am a better diver, more confident, more aware, and more prepared then before. Do I think the designation Master Diver means I am ready for more technical diving? Absolutely not! It means that I am safer at the same type of diving I have been doing for 20 years. It also means that if we get paired up on a boat YOU are safer as well! I am proud to have completed this course and I hope others will consider it bc it will make us all better and safer. Plus it was a hell of a lot of fun and that is why we do this!!!
Bob
So I decided to take a few courses that I thought might be beneficial and advance my skills as a diver. And also just to have fun! I signed up for Stress and Rescue, Navigation, night and Limited Vis, nitrox, and Deep. I found the SSI manuals and videos to be pretty good and easy to read. the study questions were worthless but the material was good. For each class we did class work(discussion and theory) and pool work then open water. We did not do pool work for nitrox and deep.
The dives were done in the lake and my instructor adapted her teaching to my level of experience. navigation was a lot of fun and I definitely increased my skills in this area! We did search patterns, navigate to underwater buoys, and worked in limited vis conditions. I liked the way she incorporated navigation into limited vis. Learning to trust your instruments takes on an entirely new meaning when the vis is zero in silt infested water.
limited Vis was worthless in the classroom but the open water portion will be worthwhile for many. There is a mental component that comes into play when your eyes ae taken away. Practicing basic diving skills without sight is much different and nerves come into play. Learning navigation, buddy skills, and solo skills in silt water is not easy.
The first deep was miserable for me. I experienced my first reverse block and had blood dripping down the back of my throat. I also forgot my hood and the temp really started to drop after 30ft. the surface was 74 but it was 58 degrees when we dropped down below around 60-65 feet. My face was numb and it was very dark. We continued down and did a few basic skills plus some light signals then headed for warmer water. My reverse block hit at around 40ft. I signaled to the instructor and we descended until the pressure let off then slowly ascended. I had to keep doing this so it took awhile to ascend. Finally we surfaced and my sinus my hurting pretty bad. I was hocking up blood and we called it a day! I have had several 100 plus dives so this was just a formality but it was good to review some info. And I will tell you one thing. 100plus in an ocean is nothing like 100ft in a lake. A lake is cold, dark, with limited vis.
Search and Rescue is a must have IMO. It was also exhausting. We had to work with entangled divers, unconsious underwater and on the surface, we had to do all of the tows, we had to work with a panicked diver that was quick to pull off your mask and go for your reg, we had to physically strip down a diver and pull them onto the shore for CPR and also cross their arms and hoist them into the boat for CPR and oxygen. We had hours and hours of intruction on recognizing symptoms and performing procedures for nearly every dive related injury. It also required me to renew my CPR and First Aid which was a nice reminder. We did all this in the pool first then repeated in the lake. We ran many scenarios and discussed how to handle each one at depth and on the surface. We worked on stripping our own gear and then putting it on at depth. We did some of this without our mask at depth. etc....
By the end of it all I can't imagine someone leaving this program without getting their money's worth. I am a better diver, more confident, more aware, and more prepared then before. Do I think the designation Master Diver means I am ready for more technical diving? Absolutely not! It means that I am safer at the same type of diving I have been doing for 20 years. It also means that if we get paired up on a boat YOU are safer as well! I am proud to have completed this course and I hope others will consider it bc it will make us all better and safer. Plus it was a hell of a lot of fun and that is why we do this!!!
Bob
