Should I dive in shallow waters without a certification?

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Yeah i have quite an old compresser that most likely has water in the tank but I think for now I’m going to go to the dive shop to get it filled for safety
 
Hi
You seems to have a pool and no money and that is stange to me but what do I know?
Anyway, why don't you just barter your pool use for scuba insttuction? Everybody will be happy :)
 
I would say absolutely don't use your old compressor for fills, that could kill you quickly.
 
why not just freedive?
Freediving is much more dangerous for an untrained novice than scuba diving in a few meters of water..
and while you can get trained and certified as an OW diver in a weekend, for becoming a decent free diver you take months of training...
I suggest to the OP to go for scuba diving. a certification is not really mandatory in most countries, but it is highly recommended everywhere.
An OW course is not so expensive, in done not with commercial instructors, but with a diving club.
My first 10 years of career as instructor, before becoming a pro, were in a diving club (typically they work under CMAS certification). There instructors are not paid, and the students only pay for covering the cost of renting the pool and the scuba gear they do not own yet.
The other nice thing of a diving club is that you make friends, which will become your buddy during dives. They also often organize group diving activities or diving travels, again at much lower costs than the commercial activities.
In understand that this thing of clubs is mostly typical of Europe or UK, but I am sure that diving clubs exist also in the US and all around the world...
I also understand the reasons for which the activity of diving clubs is deprecated by the owners of commercial diving shops, who get their subsistence from this activity: a diving club is some sort of unfair competitor, providing much lower prices due to the fact the instructors and divemasters are not paid, and that often those diving clubs can buy equipment at reseller prices directly by the manufacturer, bypassing also the income coming from selling equipment.
 
OP...do you have anything hanging around that is not needed that you could sell to fund the course? Ex. Sporting goods, collectibles, etc.

I’ll periodically go through my stuff to cull out items that are just collecting dust and that I’m willing to part with. I need to do that again at some point. To fund something like this would be a great motivator to declutter.

How will you get fills with a cert?
Also 10 feet is plenty deep enough to drown!

The only time I’ve ever been asked for a cert card is when getting Nitrox fills. I don’t think he’ll have a problem getting regular air fills (in the US, at least). It’s fairy common for people to fill scuba cylinders to use for filling up paintball gun tanks. People just do that at dive shops.
 
Hello folks, I have a passion but don’t have the money to pay for PADI or ssi. I have scuba dived twice and the second time a PADI instructor showed me just about everything in a try scuba class, equalizing hand singles, pretty much a lot of things and even gave me a handbook. And it’s my second time diving and I have looked at online classes for scuba diving and spend almost till 3 am studying scuba and practiced it in my pool and to be honest I do not want to dive down 100 feet i feel comfortable doing it but I like staying in 10 feet water looking for treasure. I am thinking about picking up a used Zeagle ranger bcd. Love those things. But anyways I have been in my pool 2-4 times a day practicing these techniques that they show on the two hour video like clearing water out of the mask. Honestly I’d love to do it but don’t have the money for the class. I’m not sure it’s the best idea but im slowly saving money up for a PADI certification class. Let me know what your guys thoughts are!
As others pointed out (and you ended up agreeing), save up and get certified. Don't worry about which agency (PADI, SSI, etc.), but get recommendations to find the best instructor in your area... all agencies cover the same critical information/skills, but the instructor quality will determine the value of the course (are they rubber stamping cert cards for a paycheck? Or teaching to the best of their ability because it's a passion?). Then worry about gear. Depending on your skill set and willingness to learn, some of us can lead you down the DIY path (which can save money, but puts your life in your own hands), or others can help you source used but high quality gear on a budget. Don't be in to big of a rush, the water will still be there... so there is plenty of time to do it safely!
Respectfully,
James
 
Hello folks, I have a passion but don’t have the money to pay for PADI or ssi. I have scuba dived twice and the second time a PADI instructor showed me just about everything in a try scuba class, equalizing hand singles, pretty much a lot of things and even gave me a handbook. And it’s my second time diving and I have looked at online classes for scuba diving and spend almost till 3 am studying scuba and practiced it in my pool and to be honest I do not want to dive down 100 feet i feel comfortable doing it but I like staying in 10 feet water looking for treasure. I am thinking about picking up a used Zeagle ranger bcd. Love those things. But anyways I have been in my pool 2-4 times a day practicing these techniques that they show on the two hour video like clearing water out of the mask. Honestly I’d love to do it but don’t have the money for the class. I’m not sure it’s the best idea but im slowly saving money up for a PADI certification class. Let me know what your guys thoughts are!
There are a few places in the world where holding a diving certification is a legal requirement, that said I’ve never heard of anyone getting prosecuted.

You can learn from ‘experience’ and find out what works and what doesn’t yourself; or from ‘wisdom’ other peoples experience - that’s what you pay for on an elementary diving course.

I suggest using wisdom, it can be less painful.
 
I've gotten air fills without having to show my cert card, but recently I had to show it at a shop in San Diego. I've also heard on this board of people who learned to dive before PADI but got hassled trying to sign up for boat dives because they couldn't show an "advanced" card, never mind their skills. I wouldn't want the lack of any formal certification hanging over my head. OP, you may only want to do shallow treasure-hunting dives now, but diving has a way of sucking you in. When I first started thinking seriously about getting certified two years ago, I thought I'd only do a couple dives a year on vacation in the tropics. Turns out I like local diving enough to spend almost every weekend on it.

I don't know how many dive shops are in your area; I suspect not as many as in mine. But it's still worth shopping around to try to save money, as there's a lot of variation in pricing, and sometimes deals on Groupon.
 
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