Discover scuba from hell

[Ron Brandt]

I keep hearing stories of Discover Scuba where the instructor stays on the pool deck and teaches.

Could someone tell me how this is done?

Oh,and then they go out to sea for an afternoon dive.

From what I can tell this is a Mexico thing.

Ron

 

[scubasean]

ktarlecky once bubbled...
People should not be allowed to dive without certification under any circumstances. (obviously not including students completing OW checkout)

Hi Kadi:

I tend to believe that some folks can handle an early introduction to the water, while others should never be in the water no matter how many "dives" they have had, a slight variation on what you said.

As an example of the former, my 14 yr old son did a pair of intro dives off of a boat in Hawaii this past April, and he did just fine. The instructor had only my son as a student, since I'm certified. For $100, my son was loaned all the needed gear, given 15 min of "do" or don't do" things to pay attention to, and then 5-10 min or skills training (clear mask, find reg, etc.). Then he and I dived with the instructor around the rocks, reef, and turtles until surfacing 40 or so minutes later. (The grin on my son's face was priceless!)

After two of these dives, the second at a different location than the first, we were done.

I know many adults who could not have done as well as he did on his first...(and I am well aware that this might be the proud parent talking...heh)

He is now a certified diver, and we dive the chilly Monterey waters regularly...

Cheers,

Sean

 

[drbill]

Through the three primary operators here on Catalina I see a number of "resort" or "intro" divers in the Dive Park. Discover SCUBA is a common thing here. However the operators I'm familiar with go through a long checklist and discussion with the potential diver, then give an hour of land-based instruction before taking them to the water's edge.

Many of the intro divers are enthusiastic afterwards, and may go on to become certified. Some are "less enthusiastic" but have had the opportunity to see if diving is for them.

My nephew is of age but has not yet been certified. He "survives" on the intro dives he gets to do as his family travels to the Caribbean and elsewhere. He LOVES diving and will be certified as soon as their schedule permits.

While not for everyone, if done with proper pre-dive instruction and safety considerations, I think the intro dives are a good idea. Certainly much safer than the 6-7 years of "intro" diving I did before becoming certified.

Dr. Bill

 

[norcaldiver]

Eh, that's nothin! You should come to LA where all the tourists rent cars. Now THAT'S scarey. There's just something wrong about being able to take a drivers test in Armenian without even having to look at a book. At least in a discover scuba class they aren't holding up traffic.

 

[friscuba]

bmuise once bubbled...
Hello:

I had my first boat dive experience on Oahu last month. I am an OW diver and was getting used to 35' reef dives. (I learned more from four boat dives than 15 lake dives combined and felt lucky to have had the opportunity). However, I did see some very interesting events taking place. The boat would depart each morning with 15 young japanese tourists on board. These folks looked like they had never been in the ocean, never mind on a dive boat before. They signed up for "discover scuba." When we anchored, the two instructors politely showed them how to breath from a reg and equalize. After that it was mini tanks on and in the water. Each instructor took one on each arm and immediately took them down to 36' upon which they would tour the reef for 20min. Many times I saw the instructors bear hugging tourists on the three lines and thought nothing of it.
A few dives over the next few days and I realized these operators were supressing panicked tourists with no dive experience. I also reaized that they could not afford to lose one to the surface and scare the bejesus out of the others. As soon as one group finished, they took 1/2 of them back to the dock with the dingy. Can you imagine signing up without ever having dived before and immediately dropping to 36'??? I started questioning my buddy who is an instructor that merely rents the ride and he just said "well these guys are experts, they know how to handle em."
I felt bad for these japanese tourists....I called it "Discover scuba from hell"

It would be curious to know if they were taken through an actual Discover Scuba Diving program or just taken diving. The Discover Scuba program I am familiar with (PADI) requires at a minimum about 20-30 minutes of information followed by several skills on and under the surface prior to actual diving.

For them to do the dive they are required to be able to demonstrate equaliaztion techniques, reg clearing and retrieval, mask clearing and complete an out of air/reg sharing excercise in shallow water or on a line just below the surface. Some instructors skip these exercises and they are definitely breaking standards if they haven't done this prior to the dive. Did you observe any of these skill being done prior to descent, if not is is possible they may have done them in a pool prior tot the boat trip? It wouldn't surprise me if they were just dragged down without the appropriate requirements though.

A Discover Scuba Diving program run properly can indeed get a complete neophyte right down to 36' in short order. Personally, having done a couple hundred of these, I would never take anyone down that I'd have to bear hug. I think I've held someone's hand for a minute or two on an occasion or two. Most people make up their minds when their head are 6" underwater or less, no use pushing it. You watch the rest like a hawk to make sure they are not having equalization or bouyancy issues as they go down the line hand over hand, any troubles and you stop and either correct it or they will likely want to go back to the boat without additional encouragement anyway. Sounds as though the group you were with probably shouldn't have been in the water just yet.

Steve

 

[FFMDiver]

Well, I went on four boat dives over a week period. I noticed that each day students quickly came on board and lecturing began. During one day, three americans joined the tourists and I overheard one instructor intoducing a second stage and showing them how to equalize in english. It appeared they had never seen the thing before. No skills were practiced on the down lines. I would usually watch these bear hugs during my recommended 3min. safety stops. Now I could be wrong, and I hope they received some type of pre-ocean instruction - but these scenes was very bizzare...

 

[friscuba]

That sounds awful, not that it surprises me that somebody out there is ignoring standards, assuming they aren't working demonstration skills on the line or earlier in confined water. A few minutes worth of practice can make a world of difference in the saftey level of that type of dive. Glad I don't work for them.

Steve

 

[cstreu1026]

What operator did you dive with while in Hawaii. Thinking back to when I was there I saw some things that didn't make be feel all warm and fuzzy.

 

[geraldp]

People should not be allowed to dive without certification under any circumstances. (obviously not including students completing OW checkout)

Gotta disagree here... I did a resort course from a cruise in St. Thomas. We got about 20 minutes of lecture on the bus from the cruise boat out to the beach. We suited up and got another 20 minutes of lecture while standing waist deep in the water. Then we went down to about 25 feet with 1 instructor per 3 "tourists". I had the time of my life, and that experience convinced me to go get certified. Without that resort course experience I would have never gotten into scuba.

Jerry

 

[Former FLL Now MSP Diver]

Gotta disagree here... I did a resort course from a cruise in St. Thomas. We got about 20 minutes of lecture on the bus from the cruise boat out to the beach. We suited up and got another 20 minutes of lecture while standing waist deep in the water. Then we went down to about 25 feet with 1 instructor per 3 "tourists". I had the time of my life, and that experience convinced me to go get certified. Without that resort course experience I would have never gotten into scuba.

Jerry

I have to echo Jerry's comments. It was due to a resort course in Grand Cayman that hooked my daughter and myself and prompted us to get certified when we returned home.

We had an hours worth of verbal instruction, including a simple test on what we learned. We then geared up and knelt down in chest high water and knelt down to practice underwater skills like mask clearing, reg recovery, etc. Then we were off.

A couple of the students didn't like it or wouldn't submerge, they were ecsorted by a DM back to the beach. The rest of us had a blast for about 40 minutes to a max of 22 ft on a patchy reef - but it was heaven to me.

I'll never regret the experience and heartily recommend it to anyone who asks for what it is - an introduction to scuba.

Marc