Continuing Ed. or just paying to dive..

[Twiddles]

I am a little confused by some of the course offering by PADI and presumably other programs. A few that come to mind would be boat diver, night diver, naturalist diver etc. The reason for my confusion is the cost to do these dives and the prerequisite of a certain number of "specialty" dives before you can move "up" the chain.

A number of these "specialty" dives are done during AOW or one of the other courses with PADI and yet you have to pay for that one extra dive that gets you the certification or that little bit of extra instruction that gets you the same.

Instructors on this board are always suggesting that this cert or that cert should be done to help improve on this or that and frankly it feels like the diver is being hustled. Several of these specialty courses could and SHOULD be combined into one educational dive program. The only real reason for not doing so is so that somebody (wether it be dive shop or dive instructor) wants to make more money...

The concept of to much information over to little time comes to mind but really for some of these specialty courses the majority of the requirement really falls on the student to learn the book work, the dives could easily be incorporated into say the AOW weekend.

It truly is my belief that this type of instruction endangers divers lives. You make people take courses seperately that should already be included in instruction already paid for, so you can make more money. If the student cant afford to pay for all these "specialties" they basically take their chances on there own because you didnt get your dollar. In addition it places rediculous course requirements on people who might want to become dive masters or asst instructors but dont have thousands of additional dollars to spend on superfulous class "specialties".

Diver cost to date:
My classes 0W $425, A0W $125.00, Altitude $125.00 Gear to do what I have been taught $2000 = $2675.00 for a total of 12 dives (not including CERT cards...)

Wifes Classes and gear same

Sons classes same x (2) gear basics $275.00 fins, mask, yada yada

Total to teach a family of four to dive and equip two of them with mid to low range gear $7000 Dollars yea um okay.....

You want more qualified divers?? Stop taking all your students to the bank at every opportunity.

 

[fisherdvm]

I think you can just get a tank, dive solo, make lots of mistakes, and learn just as much as taking classes. Probabilities are, you will survive, and experience is the best teacher.

I think my diving skills (safety aspects) are better than other divers, because I took formal classes.

 

[String]

Some courses are worthless. Other courses are worth their weight in gold. The key is deciding what type of diving you want to do then evaluate if you think you need further training to do it. If you do then the next task is to look around to see who offers that training and decide which is best suited to you.

This is a all-agency comment not restricted to one or two.

Doing specialities just for the sake of it is pointless, money is far better spent diving.
An example for me, there's no point in me doing a marine life ID course as ive got absolutely no interest in it so i'll spend my money diving instead. However i wanted to do accelerated decompression diving, decided i needed further training so spent money on a course to teach me to do that.
I've never spent money on a drysuit course despite using one as i decided that i didnt need to spend money on a rather simplistic extra course for that particular part.

In other words, everyone should decide what they want to do then how to do it, not blindly following a specific chain or rank.

 

[DeputyDan]

They ar just looking for ways to move dollars from your pocket to their pocket. IT's called capitalism. You have a choice on what to take or not take.

My boat diver class was pretty good (It was part of AOW and we did not have a choice of our classes). Went into a lot of emergency things if you are out in the ocean and the captain becomes incapaciated.

 

[fisherdvm]

My boat diver class was pretty good (It was part of AOW and we did not have a choice of our classes). Went into a lot of emergency things if you are out in the ocean and the captain becomes incapaciated.

I learned boat diving on my own, and certainly would be better prepared if I had a "class"....

ie. don't leave your tank unsecured, don't leave your weight on the bench (unless you like bruised toes), how dangerous topside can be in rough sea, staying with the group, need for good topside visibility (bright wetsuit), etc....

We were supposed to do a boat dive on AOW, but it was cancelled at the last minute... wished I had done it...

 

[Ben_ca]

Twiddles.... Come on down to Monterey and just dive..... Dive with people who have been doing it for a while... You'll be able to find competant buddies here on SB and also on BA_diving.

Don't listen to the LDS sales pitch... you have the basics now you just need a mentor to help you work on what you learned in class.

Oh and those classes? .... don't get me started....

 

[String]

ie. don't leave your tank unsecured, don't leave your weight on the bench (unless you like bruised toes), how dangerous topside can be in rough sea, staying with the group, need for good topside visibility (bright wetsuit), etc....

I cant believe anyone is vacant enough to not work those out for themselves. Basic common sense, certainly not something you need to pay someone to tell you.

There is no "boat speciality" here yet thousands of divers use boats every week in the main without incident. Cant see the need for that.

 

[The Chad]

Yeah, what String said

Amen

 

[TheWetRookie]

I hear and understand your frustration. Right now, the courses that I am taking are the ones that I will benifit the most from, the rest of them not thanks. Like as mentioned, the dry suit specialty. I have only dove wet once and the rest are dry. Won't need it. However I want to do boat diving. So I will get that and I had it incorporated into a shop trip that I am going on. All I need to pay for is the books and the ticket. So the cost is a lot less. You can do this with other tickets to.

When it comes to the cost of equipment, I figured out how much it would cost to rent, how much diving I would be doing and whether it would be worth buying or renting. I bought all my gear and it will be paid for in terms of what it would cost to rent by the end of Feb. Probably sooner. That's 4 months for me. So it was worth me buying things.

In this day and age, everyone wants your money. Every time I turn around someone has there hand out trying to take it. Yes diving is an expesive hobby but it is money that is spent on ME and not someone/soemthing else [bills and such]/(Other than family) so I take a lot of comfort in this thought.

Spend your money on yourself and dive lots to get your moneys worth.

 

[The Kraken]

One thing always to keep in mind, PADI doesn't set the course costs or dive costs for dives, the LDS does that.

PADI does set the pricing for the course materials to the LDS and the LDS does have a mark up on those materials.

So, you possibly could do a specialty for the cost of the course materials and say $25 for the dive . . .

the K