3-Day Open Water Certification?

[flots am]

Hi there,
I'm brand new to diving and signed up for a PADI Open Water Certification course a few days ago.
The itinerary was given to me recently and is as follows:

Day 1: 1 introductory confined water dive
Day 2: Open water dives 1 and 2
Day 3: Open water dives 3 and 4

So, my question is, is it normal to do two dives in a day? Is it acceptable to do this certification in 3 days?
I'm fine with 3-days, but I just want to make sure that this sounds alright to do.

I'm a newbie, so sorry for my ignorance.:blush:
Any insight would be much appreciated. Thanks!

So you're getting one day in the pool? Regardless of standards, that isn't enough.

There's a big difference between 8 hours in a pool as "8AM to 5PM with an hour lunch" and "Every Saturday for the next 8 weeks. You get a lot more setup/teardown practice, stay warmer and happier and have a chance to digest and remember what you did.

As for "2 dives a day", that's normal. You probably don't want to do more than that for your class, since students aren't generally up for a third dive (usually some combination of cold, tired and/or hungry)

flots.

edit: I just wanted to mention that there's a huge difference between "Here's your C-Card" and "Can dive safely"

You can get the first one in very little time if the instructor is "flexible" enough with the intent of the standards, however only you can decide when the second one has occurred.

A month after you get your card, if you run out of air, will your response be "Hey, I know what to do!" or "Oh Shi*!!!! I'm out of air!!!!!" or better yet, will you know how to "not run out of air"?

There is nothing less than your safety and possibly your life on the line, so it's in your best interest to get the best class you can, not the fastest.

 

[aeweems12]

As a diver that did a three day OW certification, I highly recommend against it. I did my certification while on vacation in Belize. Beforehand, I had been on several snorkeling trips, did a DSD in St. Thomas, and was very comfortable in the water.

On Day 1 I did all of my book work. I spent the entire day at the dive shop going through the book and dvds. At the end of the day I took the test and passed. The next day I did several (really don't remember) open water dives where we worked on my skills. All of my OW cert dives were done in the ocean, none in a pool. The last day I finished up with the rest of my OW dives.

Did I get my certification, yes. Did I feel comfortable diving when I got done? No. When I returned to the States I did some remedial work at a local quarry to do some skills that were skipped in my OW course. Took a year off from diving due to a knee injury. When I finally got back into diving, I did two refresher courses, a buoyancy workshop with NetDoc, and a lot of dives before feeling comfortable enough to move forward with my training and get my AOW.

My inital OW course felt rushed, I did not learn many of the skills to the point where I now know I should have, and several skills were skipped in the interest of getting me certified in such a short period of time. Can OW be done in three days? Sure, but you have to already be comfortable in the water and you have to have a competent instructor that doesn't just teach the minimum to get you certified. So, I recommend you learn what you can from this course, since you can't get your money back, and then take up DogDiver on his offer.


**Notice that no agencies were named in my post, as it is the instructor, not the agency, that makes the course experience good or bad.**

 

[Pupsocket]

I went through a resort PADI OW certification on vacation in the Caribbean this spring. I was concerned about the rushed pace, but knew in advance what I was getting for my money (and time). In a free pool demo early in the week, I spent over an hour one-on-one with the instructor, and was able to establish a good teacher-student relationship, where we were both able to control the rate of learning. This convinced me that, while I wouldn't be able to get as much skills practice time as I would in a less rushed course, that I would receive a foundation of learning to build on when I returned home.

I spent 6 hours the night before class going through half of the book. It turned out I was the only one who read the book in advance - hey, this isn't something to be endured, it's a skills investment that I'm making in myself! There were 4 other students, two Scuba-Diver and two Discover Scuba students. For classroom, pool and OW dives, I was eventually one-on-one with the instructor as the others finished their more limited training.

Since returning to the upper midwest, I've connected with my LDS, and have begun attending shop-sponsored fun dives at the local lake. I've been very open about my minimal (but growing!) experience, and the shop owner is good about helping me find experienced buddies willing to team up with me. Dives #7-8 were a big step for me, a wreck dive in Lake Superior. While the 35°F bottom temp was not quite as warm as the 82° Caribbean, the 25-30' visibility was a nice step up from the 5' pea soup in the local lake.

If you know what you don't know, you're one step closer to learning what you will need to know to make you a better diver. Good luck with your training!

Karl

 

[Ken T]

I took my resort course in Hawaii...it was 4 days.

While it met the minimum standards for certification, I would say that it certainly did not make me a self-sufficient, buddy aware diver.

That is –

If I had run into trouble underwater soon after, I would have had to depend on my buddy, or make a quick ascent.

If my buddy had run into trouble, then I’m not sure that I would have been a great help to him/her.


Four OW dives and minimum skill development is not enough to be comfortable in the water.

The minimum standard course maybe of use to you due to budget and time constraints, but I think afterwards you should recognize its limitations and self-impose some restrictions upon yourself.

Your next few dives (or even 10 dives) should be with someone who can mentor your diving. A local dive club or group is helpful with this.

The dives should be easy – shallow and limited current.

You will have to focus upon your own skill development and comfort in the water.

You will have to concentrate on your situational awareness to keep your buddy’s location and status in mind.


And of course - have fun....

 

[Like A Rock 1]

My wife and I and our adult kids just completed the 3 day OWD class in Key Largo. We are all decent swimmers and were required to study the current PADI OWD Manual and complete the Knowledge Review Quizzes before showing up on day 1. Day 1 started at 715am and all morning we reviewed video material and discussed the chapter material in classroom format. After a 30 minute lunch, we hit the pool with all equipment and were there until about 530pm.

Day 2 started at 730am with more book work and by 930 we hit the boat for our first two Open Water Dives at two different reef sites nearby, setting up our own gear and having the instructor inspect. 45 min lunch when we returned and then back in the pool until 430pm.


Day 3 started at 800am with class review and final exam until 10am and then hit the boat for the last two dives. Finished up by 400pm.


We appreciated having studied the manual for two weeks prior to sowing up in class and then reviewing the material again and felt pretty comfortable with the pool work and the OW dives. Every OW Dive had skill review and testing for something we had done in the pool at depth. My daughter couldn't equalize on the third dive and had to sit it out and then couldn't get through the mask removal and clearing at depth on the final dive. The end result was that she could not be qualified as OWD. Having completed the first two dives and all the pool and OW skills to that point, she got "Scuba Diver" as opposed our OWD. I was glad to see the adherence to standards and hope that she'll eventually get back in the water and finish up, but who knows? She may be one of the many that never dive again.


In any case, the 3 day worked for us. I did PADI OW 20 years ago but my paperwork never got turned in, so I kind of knew what to expect. Wife and I wanted to do it with the kids and we didn't think they would even try it alone.

 

[Simon-]

Possible-yes, meets standards-depends on what's actually covered, would I offer it-no.

I have seen a two day OW course, which I am strongly against. Compressing a course that much (2-3 days) might well tick the boxes that the requirements during the course were met, BUT, how much knowledge was retained?

Information overload is typically what will happen in a compressed course. The instructor needs to be aware of what is being absorbed and what is going in one ear and out of the other.

 

[charlier]

It's interesting to read about OW classes. My 22 yr old daughter was PADI certified in Singapore and Bali last spring. OW lectures, 8 hours, mostly using specific material from the instructor. Two 4 hour pool sessions. More pool practice in Bali and 5 or so OW dives. At this point, she used a BP/W, only a bottom timer. She learned about computers, but used dive planning and a bottom timer for the dives. Nitrox 32% was a required part of the class. I suspect that her class was not typical.

 

[rivers]

It's interesting to read about OW classes. My 22 yr old daughter was PADI certified in Singapore and Bali last spring. OW lectures, 8 hours, mostly using specific material from the instructor. Two 4 hour pool sessions. More pool practice in Bali and 5 or so OW dives. At this point, she used a BP/W, only a bottom timer. She learned about computers, but used dive planning and a bottom timer for the dives. Nitrox 32% was a required part of the class. I suspect that her class was not typical.

i suspect she was certified with Living Seas in Singapore, and both instructors are also GUE instructors

 

[Pixelator]

Very interesting thread/topic.

Seems that the "rush" through the course at minimum instruction or below may help explain so many new diver injuries and/or panic situations.

Sounds like a lot of places just want the quick money by being able to say a person is "certified" during their short vacation so they will make the money off dive charters?

 

[ScubaSteve1962]

When you finish your course, come up to North Florida and I will , for no charge, complete by NAUI standards everything your PADI zero to hero course has left out.

For me a three day course would work fine, If I had to do it in 8 weeks I wouldn't be diving now. What you have to understand that's it's not zero to hero! if you don't get out and dive use the things you have learned how long the courses are won't make a difference. It's all about how you learn an take in the information that is handed to you. But I do think you should have taken more time to learn the reading material, by taking the online course first.