Guys this isnt an agency thing. I dont think none of you have had or can have a n experiance such as this cause you see the Japanees do things different! I've see Jp DM's drag unwilling students U/W (student was crying). Its how they do things here.
Discover scuba from hell
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MikeFerrara:
I'm sorry, why do you think this?
That was crazy.........
I did a Discover Scuba in St. Maarten with Dive Safaris. While it did seem like a cattle boat me and 2 other divers got lucky and got one instructor for the 3 of us. He was very thorough. Explained most of the basic stuff, the balloon demo etc. After that we geared up and learned hand signals, mask clearing, switching regs etc. in the center of a "pontoon boat" thing in several feet of water. After that we swam out to the line, some hand signals etc. and he led us on a nice, slow 35 ft. dive.
Had a blast
I did a Discover Scuba in St. Maarten with Dive Safaris. While it did seem like a cattle boat me and 2 other divers got lucky and got one instructor for the 3 of us. He was very thorough. Explained most of the basic stuff, the balloon demo etc. After that we geared up and learned hand signals, mask clearing, switching regs etc. in the center of a "pontoon boat" thing in several feet of water. After that we swam out to the line, some hand signals etc. and he led us on a nice, slow 35 ft. dive.
Had a blast
May as well add this.
Although id always wanted to scuba dive id never got round to trying it here. Went to Greece and there was a place nearby offering "try dives".
Signed up for one and we got a 45 minute brief of a baking hot beach that was very thorough but due to bad weather the week before they had 80 (no typo) people to take in that day. It was "come back at this time for your dives".
We turned up at the beach, issued shorties and weights, taken into the sea where we were fitted with the kit, made to swim 10-20 meters of so just submerged and prove mask clearing was OK etc. After everyone was happy we went out to a rocky reef to a max depth of roughly 7m.
There was a diver leader, a cameraman along with 1 other supervisor for our group of 6 and at all times 5 snorkel users on the surface.
These snorklerers would dive down and adjust the bouyancy of us and generally keeping an eye out for any problems. The whole thing lasted about 30 mins underwater and was well worth it.
They also offered a re-dive where youd have 35-40 mins, slightly deeper (10m) and without the long brief beforehand. This was in groups of 4 and again well worth it.
Out of the 80 people that one day we saw 1 woman who paniced when putting her head underwater - she didnt continue to the actual dive and stopped in the shallow "tests".
All in all very safe and good introduction to diving and unfortunately for my wallet i went straight home, signed up with my local club and havent looked back since.
In other words, try dives/discover/call it what you want - these things can be done properly.
Although id always wanted to scuba dive id never got round to trying it here. Went to Greece and there was a place nearby offering "try dives".
Signed up for one and we got a 45 minute brief of a baking hot beach that was very thorough but due to bad weather the week before they had 80 (no typo) people to take in that day. It was "come back at this time for your dives".
We turned up at the beach, issued shorties and weights, taken into the sea where we were fitted with the kit, made to swim 10-20 meters of so just submerged and prove mask clearing was OK etc. After everyone was happy we went out to a rocky reef to a max depth of roughly 7m.
There was a diver leader, a cameraman along with 1 other supervisor for our group of 6 and at all times 5 snorkel users on the surface.
These snorklerers would dive down and adjust the bouyancy of us and generally keeping an eye out for any problems. The whole thing lasted about 30 mins underwater and was well worth it.
They also offered a re-dive where youd have 35-40 mins, slightly deeper (10m) and without the long brief beforehand. This was in groups of 4 and again well worth it.
Out of the 80 people that one day we saw 1 woman who paniced when putting her head underwater - she didnt continue to the actual dive and stopped in the shallow "tests".
All in all very safe and good introduction to diving and unfortunately for my wallet i went straight home, signed up with my local club and havent looked back since.
In other words, try dives/discover/call it what you want - these things can be done properly.
H2Andy
Contributor
i was lucky. my resort dive course was me and another diver and we had an instructor
and a DM-in-training with us. very professional, loved every minute of it. this was a PADI class (still have my bent,
water-stained "Resort" paper card)
and a DM-in-training with us. very professional, loved every minute of it. this was a PADI class (still have my bent,
water-stained "Resort" paper card)
billtodive
Contributor
Took my 3 teens for PADI discover scuba with Conch Republic Divers Tavernier Fla Keys in 1999. They spent 4 hours in class, 1 hour in the pool, and then dove. Since I daughter was having trouble with gear, a second DM went with.
2 dm's...3 students......
The one who had the trouble is OW now and we are going diving this weekend in . Son is taking open water course in May. Youngest says she doesn't have time yet (med school).
Instructors made all the difference! I cannot emphasize this enough......they followed the standards, and then added another DM to take care of someone who needed extra help!
2 dm's...3 students......
The one who had the trouble is OW now and we are going diving this weekend in . Son is taking open water course in May. Youngest says she doesn't have time yet (med school).
Instructors made all the difference! I cannot emphasize this enough......they followed the standards, and then added another DM to take care of someone who needed extra help!
yak
Contributor
I too "discovered" scuba at a resort. I was in Aruba. Our student group was was myself, a young lady from New York, and 2 cousins from Venezuela. We were given about an hour of poolside instruction, then got in the the pool to practice. After that the instructor told us to meet in a half hour on the dock, at which point the lady from New York freaked out. Seems she had strolled into the dive shop looking for sunscreen, and was "talked into" a discover scuba class. She thought the entire class was in the pool.
The instructor talked with here alone for a few minutes, and she showed up on the dock with the rest of us, apprehensive as hell.
We dove on the "wreck" of a barge in about 30 feet of water.
The instructor took me down first, got me situated on a sandy spot on the bottom, and went back up for cousin number 1, who seemed to be underweighted and kept rising as she tried to descend.
I remember kneeling on the bottom with about 15 feet of viz, kind of apprehensive at being alone. A few minutes later, cousin 1 was down and next to me. We spent some more time waiting for cousin 2, who we found out at the end of the dive had problems equalizing and did not complete the dive. The the lady from NY came down, with a death grip on her regulator hose which she maintained the entire dive!
Later in the week, I dove the Antilla wreck with the instructor as my buddy. Viz was about 60 feet, I was in total awe, and a humongous grouper (aka jewfish) brushed my fins from behind, scaring the bejesus out of me for a sec. :gulp18: Can you say, "hyperventilate"?
After Aruba, I started doing discover dives on more vacations in Bermuda, Turks & Caicos, and PDC until I admitted that I was hooked on scuba and finally got certified last year.
Looking back on my discover experiences, I was totally naive to the potential dangers of diving, and had a false sense of security of diving with my instructors (aka babysitter). I thought I had demontrated good buoyancy (even though I didn't even notice my weight belt slip off on ascending during my first dive). I don't know what my first instructor said to Ms. NY, but in retrospect, I don't think it was a great idea to talk someone into diving if they had no intention of doing it.
Since getting my OW, I have a healthy sense of respect for the potential dangers of diving, and continue to learn from diving with others (both what to do and what not to do) and reading everything I can on this board.
But if it weren't for the opportunity to discover scuba, I might be sitting at the pool bar at 10 am each morning.
The instructor talked with here alone for a few minutes, and she showed up on the dock with the rest of us, apprehensive as hell.
We dove on the "wreck" of a barge in about 30 feet of water.
The instructor took me down first, got me situated on a sandy spot on the bottom, and went back up for cousin number 1, who seemed to be underweighted and kept rising as she tried to descend.
I remember kneeling on the bottom with about 15 feet of viz, kind of apprehensive at being alone. A few minutes later, cousin 1 was down and next to me. We spent some more time waiting for cousin 2, who we found out at the end of the dive had problems equalizing and did not complete the dive. The the lady from NY came down, with a death grip on her regulator hose which she maintained the entire dive!
Later in the week, I dove the Antilla wreck with the instructor as my buddy. Viz was about 60 feet, I was in total awe, and a humongous grouper (aka jewfish) brushed my fins from behind, scaring the bejesus out of me for a sec. :gulp18: Can you say, "hyperventilate"?
After Aruba, I started doing discover dives on more vacations in Bermuda, Turks & Caicos, and PDC until I admitted that I was hooked on scuba and finally got certified last year.
Looking back on my discover experiences, I was totally naive to the potential dangers of diving, and had a false sense of security of diving with my instructors (aka babysitter). I thought I had demontrated good buoyancy (even though I didn't even notice my weight belt slip off on ascending during my first dive). I don't know what my first instructor said to Ms. NY, but in retrospect, I don't think it was a great idea to talk someone into diving if they had no intention of doing it.
Since getting my OW, I have a healthy sense of respect for the potential dangers of diving, and continue to learn from diving with others (both what to do and what not to do) and reading everything I can on this board.
But if it weren't for the opportunity to discover scuba, I might be sitting at the pool bar at 10 am each morning.
CuriousMe
Guest
I also did my first dive as a Discover SCUBA dive. I was in the Philippines on the island of Boracay. I was just there for the weekend (I was in Manila on business) my colleague had taken certification classes....but hadn't finished his OW dives.....I had always wanted to dive and had practically grown up in the water, but had never had any SCUBA training.
We had an instructor between the two of us....we watched a PADI video for about 20ish minutes...they got us fitted and geared up, then we trekked off to the boat. The boat took us to a calm piece of beach....they beached the boat and we got off, they handed the gear down to us and we got geared up in waist high water....we went over some skills for a bout 20 minutes, then went into about 10 feet of water and worked on the skills again. We then got onto the boat and headed out to a reef. We did a 30 foot dive, with the instructor literally holding my hand and taking care of everything for me.
That day, I didn't feel unsafe at all....I don't think I could feel anything but amazed and astounded. Looking back, I don't think I was any more unsafe than I was when I was certifying.
My friend did a Discover SCUBA in the Bahamas, she had a very different experience....they got a lecture on the boat, then they got in the water in a shallow area learned how to clear their mask and retrieve their reg....and they were off....there were 6 or so of them with one instructor.
I think as with OW class.....it depends on the instructor.
Peace,
Cathie
We had an instructor between the two of us....we watched a PADI video for about 20ish minutes...they got us fitted and geared up, then we trekked off to the boat. The boat took us to a calm piece of beach....they beached the boat and we got off, they handed the gear down to us and we got geared up in waist high water....we went over some skills for a bout 20 minutes, then went into about 10 feet of water and worked on the skills again. We then got onto the boat and headed out to a reef. We did a 30 foot dive, with the instructor literally holding my hand and taking care of everything for me.
That day, I didn't feel unsafe at all....I don't think I could feel anything but amazed and astounded. Looking back, I don't think I was any more unsafe than I was when I was certifying.
My friend did a Discover SCUBA in the Bahamas, she had a very different experience....they got a lecture on the boat, then they got in the water in a shallow area learned how to clear their mask and retrieve their reg....and they were off....there were 6 or so of them with one instructor.
I think as with OW class.....it depends on the instructor.
Peace,
Cathie
Im going to agree with WaterDawg. Japanees for the most part are not going to Call the dive off. (its a cultural thing) Now a panicked diver culture or no culture is going to shoot for the surface while holding breath. If a student would shoot up next to me, I'll bearhug him hold a leg, fin or whatever to slow him down and force him to take a breath.
Scubakevdm:
Well, I had to go back and read my post and all the ones leading up to it since it was posted in September of last year.
After all that, I thought my post explained pretty well why I think that. In short it's because I view what they were doing as dangerous. In fact, with at least 2 agencies that I know of it's a blatant standards violation. And it probably is with the other also it's just that I don't know their standards.
Do you have a more specific question?
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