3 day Scuba Certification: Hawaii

[jar546]

My sister and her husband went to Hawaii and were certified by PADI in 3 days just like your friend is scheduled to be. They have not dove since (5 years ago) but dove quite in the days following the class. I guess it works out for those who take it.

Here is an example of a recent class for SSI:

Fri night, 2 hours class
Sat 4 hours class, 3 hours pool
Sun 2 hours class, 2 hours pool, written test
1 week later:
Sat 3 open water dives
Sun 2-3 open water dives

Yeah, not sure how PADI fits that in within a 3 day period unless book work was done on their own before they got there.

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

My sister and her husband went to Hawaii and were certified by PADI in 3 days just like your friend is scheduled to be. They have not dove since (5 years ago) but dove quite in the days following the class. I guess it works out for those who take it.

Here is an example of a recent class for SSI:

Fri night, 2 hours class
Sat 4 hours class, 3 hours pool
Sun 2 hours class, 2 hours pool, written test
1 week later:
Sat 3 open water dives
Sun 2-3 open water dives

Yeah, not sure how PADI fits that in within a 3 day period unless book work was done on their own before they got there.

Can they run them through in 3 days. Yes. You Can do it. That was never in doubt. But they question was about how in depth and complete the course would be, and how good of a diver do we think the OP's friend is after that rush course. My opinion is that it can be done, but is certainly not preferable to a longer more intensive course.

Your sister and brother in law completed a quick course and dove for a bit just after. But haven't dived in the past 5 years....... Do you think they are still qualified? Quite often, those who take the quicky courses, continue to dive, improve and learn skills, and become solid divers. If they don't regularly dive, they are definitely lost.
But, those who take longer, comprehensive courses can certainly lose skills, if they lay off diving, also. I would rather they all just started off on a solid foot. And there is too much room for failure, both by instruction and student in the rush course.

 

[sled600]

I did mine in 4 days through my LDS...2 weekends. The first weekend was books and pool....split each day The second weekend was books and Puget Sound. It was a large (?) class - 12 people. An instructor helped by couple DM's in the water.

Frankly - I could have easily absorbed the materials and done the water work in 3 days had there been more "close time" with the instructor. There was a lot of waiting around in both the pool and the open water.

I left the class feeling confident enough to go diving. I have since enhanced my skills and I dive regularly...but always willing to learn more.

SO yes....I think 3 days is adequate..depending on the stucture of the class and the attitude of the student...

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

1 instructor, 2 dm's and 12 students? I wonder how many of the other 11, felt so confident? That is a lot of people and very little time for personal attention and practice.
I'm glad you did well, and continued to dive and learn. That is so important.

 

[BoltSnap]

3 Days for the full course covering classroom, confined water and open water perhaps would be sufficient to "cover" the knowledge and skills per the respective agency's minimum standards but I doubt very much that this time is enough for the student to gain the required skill and confidence levels to be in open water. Granted the range of scuba skills that need to be taught in the entry level course are not that extensive and can even be covered in few hours but this doesn't mean that the student is proficient in the skills covered and is able to be a safe diver who would continue to dive even after the first certification vacation.

In short, 3 days to "cover" skills and knowledge maybe. Enough to make a competent safe diver, most likely not.

 

[DevonDiver]

1 instructor, 2 dm's and 12 students? I wonder how many of the other 11, felt so confident? That is a lot of people and very little time for personal attention and practice.

For me, that is a much bigger issue than the duration of the course.

What really matters in a student's development is the amount of personal attention they get - especially in the water. I can't see how an instructor can even have a mindset to provide personal attention when their classes are so bulky.

This is especially true on the OW dives.... where the time is quite limited...and each student has to perform (and repeat, if reqd) the necessary skills. To get a group of 12 divers through a number of skills is going to take up most of the bottom time (if done correctly).

 

[pjhansman]

My wife and I did our Padi OW in 3 days on Maui. Loved it!

The big difference for us was doing all the class material in advance, and having just the 2 of us with the instructor for all 3 days. Semi-private instruction costs more, but well worth it.

We capped that off with several boat dives where the divemaster (by plan, not coincidence) was also our instructor.

 

[hypertech]

It would make sense to send the books and expect them to come ready to go. This would really help a shortened course.

 

[TMHeimer]

Given my limited experience, I will say the following. Assuming every part of the course is covered, I think the effectiveness of a 3 day course depends mostly on the individual taking it. Example: I took OW in 6 night sessions (some class, some pool each night) and the 4 checkout dives on one weekend. I felt I was competent to start diving after that. Then I interned a "weekend course" (one weekend class & pool, the next weekend checkout dives). as a DMC. For ME, taking that course definately would've been information overload. Something perhaps for Sheldon Cooper to consider, if you watch that show. 3 total days is even shorter than that.

 

[Garrobo]

I did mine in 4 days only because the YMCA where we did the pool stuff couldn't give us enough time in one Saturday to finish it. So we had to do some on Saturday and finish up on Sunday afternoon. Two full days at the quarry nearby finished us up. Since then I've done 200+ dives with No problemo. However............and that's a big however.......,,,I immediately hooked up with an instructor in Ft.Lauderdale and did four days olone with her, diving the local reefs since I knew right away that I would probably kill myself without some major instructions. Best money I ever spent.