Did your OW course prepare you to dive?

[stretchthepenn]

I had a non-standard experience -- my buddies and I went straight from OW to AOW -- so my answers are colored by having five supervised dives immediately after completing OW.

1. Did your OW course prepare you to dive?

Yes, my OW class prepared me to dive, but within strict limits. After completing the course, I possessed the minimum competencies required to hook up my gear correctly, go underwater in a relatively benign location (e.g., Casino Point at Catalina on a calm day), make my way along the wall at a moderate depth, and not die.

2. At the end of the class did you feel like you had the knowledge, skills and abilities to safely complete a dive with a equally skilled buddy?

Yes, my OW class gave me the knowledge, skills, and abilities to dive safely with an equally skilled buddy -- but again, within limits. I and my buddies knew that we had a lot to learn, so we intentionally dived non-challenging locations.

Mostly.

Our night dive for the AOW required a lot of hanging onto rocks in washing-machine conditions; it was a good example of Type 2 fun...and on the surface-swim back to the beach, one of my buddies needed a tow from the assistant instructor.

And on lifetime dives #16 and 17, my newly-certified buddies and I dived an oil rig off the CA coast down to 100'. Water conditions that day were excellent, but that dive for-sure required following a divemaster.

I moved shortly after that and lost my buddies, so I hooked up with a dive club and went on trips with people who were more experienced, meaning although I never was actually supervised on subsequent dives, I always had someone to watch out for me and to imitate.

3. For this question, lets say you were going to basically repeat your last training dive, but with an equally skilled buddy instead of an instructor. Did you feel like you needed a Dive master or similar person with advanced training in order to get in the water?

No, I wouldn't have needed direct supervision to to re-create my last training dive (a 30-feet for 30-minutes splash at Casino Point) after completing OW. I would've felt a tad nervous about doing so...but I could've done it.

4. What would have made a difference in this perception for you (i.e. more or different skills, more training time in the water, just more dives, etc?).

The thing that would've best improved my confidence after completing OW? More dives. That's really it. I logged 1:57 in the ocean, and although that amount was sufficient to get me started, another dive or two of the "Go on, now... Paddle around and check in with me once you're done," variety would've been welcome.

5. Do you feel that with your current knowledge, skills and abilities you could conduct a dive equivalent to your training dives with an equally skilled buddy?

Since I've moved on into tec diving and just finished a rebreather class...I'll say yes.

 

[GDHLEWIS]

After my OW course I did a number of guided dives, after a few of those I was comfortable enough to dive with my buddy on our own (wife is the buddy). The guide for out dives gave us the standard tips and tricks and boosted our confidence. Stayed OW for years and only just got my AOW. In my view the OW is enough if taught by a decent instructor, but guided dives afterwards I would say is needed afterwards to boost confidence and practice the skills just learned. OW straight to AOW in my opinion is not the best idea (but understand why people do it).

 

[Belzelbub]

In my view the OW is enough if taught by a decent instructor, but guided dives afterwards I would say is needed afterwards to boost confidence and practice the skills just learned. OW straight to AOW in my opinion is not the best idea (but understand why people do it).

Completely agree on not doing AOW immediately after OW, if at all. Dive experience after OW will help to lock in a lot of those skills and help you figure out what you want to learn next. I'm not really a fan of the sampler platter AOW. I think in most cases, the diver is better suited to taking the full specialties that interest them and the type of diving that they want to do.

Guided dives shouldn't be needed after OW in general. Afterall, this is the main difference between the Scuba Diver Cert and the Open Water Cert. The OW course should produce an autonomous diver. By definition, that diver should not need a guide/DM. That said, nothing at all wrong with using a guide to gain more experience outside of an instruction setting.

 

[GDHLEWIS]

Completely agree on not doing AOW immediately after OW, if at all. Dive experience after OW will help to lock in a lot of those skills and help you figure out what you want to learn next. I'm not really a fan of the sampler platter AOW. I think in most cases, the diver is better suited to taking the full specialties that interest them and the type of diving that they want to do.

Guided dives shouldn't be needed after OW in general. Afterall, this is the main difference between the Scuba Diver Cert and the Open Water Cert. The OW course should produce an autonomous diver. By definition, that diver should not need a guide/DM. That said, nothing at all wrong with using a guide to gain more experience outside of an instruction setting.

I agree the OW should create ready divers, but lets be honest half these dive centers around the world just spit divers out so fast, and half are not even close to being ready to dive on their own. For me 4 odd guided dives was needed and not afraid to admit it. These days people are want things instantly, such is the way of the world I suppose

 

[formernuke]

No, my open water was done overweight, on my knees etc. I had 44 pounds of lead on a belt. I was about 160 pounds at the time.

I learned to suck down tanks and destroy reefs.

It took a lot of time and money to learn proper diving after.

The only plus was I didn't flail around a lot.

I've never hired a DM though I have been on boats that had guides assigned to groups as part of boat policy

 

[Belzelbub]

I agree the OW should create ready divers, but lets be honest half these dive centers around the world just spit divers out so fast, and half are not even close to being ready to dive on their own. For me 4 odd guided dives was needed and not afraid to admit it.

I don't disagree with that at all. In many cases, guided dives may be necessary based on the level of training received. However, they shouldn't be necessary.

If guided dives are necessary, there is no shame in that. It's not the diver's fault. The diver should, however take steps to make sure they are not relying on the guide. They should set up their own gear, at the very minimum check it if the operation sets it up for the divers. They should use their own computer, and not rely on the guide to keep them safe. They should pay attention to the dive briefing and use the information to do some basic dive planning. This can be as simple as using the computer to enter the max depth and gas used to determine the NDL, but understanding that they may actually have more time if the entire dive is not spent at depth. Then, pay attention to the computer during the dive.

 

[parzdiver]

It isn't a simple answer. Did I know the basics of what to do? Yes. Could I plan and execute the most basic dive alone? Maybe. Would I have been able to handle anything complex? Probably not.

I was certified while on a cruise and did my checkout dives in St. Thomas and the Bahamas. For a few years after that I only participated in vacation dives, being led around the reefs. First time I went to the local quarry was not an overly successful trip - one dive, got lost, lots of surface swimming. It was only after a couple friends and I went with a local dive shop to the Florida Keys and we discovered there wasn't a guide in the water with us that I gained more confidence and independence and started to transform from an underwater tourist to a diver. After that trip, I went to a couple dive club meetings and someone convinced me to go back to the quarry, where I met a bunch of people from ScubaBoard / Dive NY who really made me think about being a diver.

 

[runsongas]

I was on the beachhopper the next week to dive hopkins. Most shops don't certify at monastery though.

 

[kaylee_ann]

I am curious about people's perception of their own skills and readiness to dive when they finished their open water course.

At the end of the class did you feel like you had the knowledge, skills and abilities to safely complete a dive with a equally skilled buddy? For this question, lets say you were going to basically repeat your last training dive, but with an equally skilled buddy instead of an instructor. Did you feel like you needed a Dive master or similar person with advanced training in order to get in the water? What would have made a difference in this perception for you (i.e. more or different skills, more training time in the water, just more dives, etc?).

Do you feel that with your current knowledge, skills and abilities you could conduct a dive equivalent to your training dives with an equally skilled buddy?

yes/no/nothing/yes

super nervous, but thats my own problem. as soon as I descend and go into trim, it all goes away and everything is relaxed. I’ll reach neutral buoyancy, and it all falls into place at that moment.

 

[Ana]

The reason I asked is because some people come on this board who clearly aren't comfortable diving without a DM or guide, in some cases even as they approach 100 dives. I'm curious how common this is and whether it is about poor instruction or students who are't as confident.

There's something I've noticed here in the board about people posting questions that make you wonder who tie their shoes. I'd like to believe they just want to start a conversation, stir the pot or something else besides actually waiting for an answer to actually follow that... I don't know, maybe I'm wrong and your impression is closer to the truth.

Other than that as it was mentioned above, the answers to your questions will depend on many personal factors. A person comfortable in the ocean, used to learn new things will take more out of an initial class, than someone that's never seen a body of water besides a pool and/or is typically insecure of its own abilities.