Disturbing trend in diving?

[Cthippo]

Do people here think that maybe if divers had to be more personally involved with diving, instead if just wanting to experience it without any of the annoying details, they might commit more to becoming more serious about the hobby in the long term?

No. I think you have to be pretty dedicated to spend the time / effort / money up front, especially if you know it is an activity you will only do once a year. Requiring tropical vacation divers to be as capable and independent as cold water local divers does not make more local divers, it just results in fewer divers overall.

 

[MacDuyver]

I think PADI or other agencies should offer an online 'quick refresher' type thing - and not charge $150. Either free or $10-20 and have it be a 15 min course, kind of a commonly forgot things... I mean things like "check your ndl time," and "Don't forget to do your checks before jumping in." None of it is rocket science, but I think even people who've gone a single year or less without diving could forget, yet not need a whole entire 're-activate' cash grab.

Absolutely this. NUAI gives you access to the materials, but a quick refresh that was cheap would greatly improve diving in general

 

[Leatherboot69]

Absolutely this. NUAI gives you access to the materials, but a quick refresh that was cheap would greatly improve diving in general

Isn’t this just going back over the OW e-learning?

Or for those members of the “PADI Club” the PADI Reactivate e-learning is included as part of the subscription

 

[Leatherboot69]

I think many casual divers who do OW only want to dive within Scuba Diver limits - ie supervised dives with a shallower depth limit. But the SD course isn’t that common and the OW course is only two more dives, so they do the OW course instead. So they are ending up with the level of training they need for the type of diving they want to do.

I’d also say that no course I’ve ever been on, diving or otherwise, has expected true mastery of a skill by the end of the course. By the end of my OW I had ‘mastered’ the 24 skills that my instructor taught me, but I hadn’t ‘mastered’ diving as a whole for another 40 dives or so, as I had to go off and practice on my own to build experience of applying those skills in real life diving. Same with driving-passing my driving test meant I had mastered the basics enough to go off and build real life experience outside of a training environment. Training courses are useful but it’s important to understand their role in the training process.

 

[DCN]

I had to go off and practice on my own to build experience of applying those skills in real life diving.

The multiple hurdles of actually doing "real life diving" can be too high, and many don't want to invest the time, effort or money, and are perfectly happy with their warm water holiday dives once a year in rental gear that doesn't require much of them. (some would disagree).

Autonomous dives with your own gear? We'd argue that is a different ballgame.

 

[Belzelbub]

There are limits, and then there are limits. Before OW, you're 'limited' to 60FSW. Hell, that's where most of the pretty fish live. Maybe these new divers are exceeding your limits of patience? You got yours, so be patient and compassionate as they dive into their new journey. It is the way.

I get that. I’ve taken novice divers off of my boat. It’s not really about patience. It’s more about getting what you paid for. If I’m a paying charter customer, I should not have to be inconvenienced in order to accommodate those less experienced. There are ways that a dive op can ensure both experienced and novice divers get what they paid for.

 

[MacDuyver]

Isn’t this just going back over the OW e-learning?

Or for those members of the “PADI Club” the PADI Reactivate e-learning is included as part of the subscription

Dunno I never got OW e learning.

I had a break of several years a while back and completely bypassed the refresher training and dives because it was going to be $150-$200, opting instead to just go with a pretty accomplished buddy. Not ideal and easily preventable. I would have payed $30-$50 for a 30-60min review session.

 

[The Chairman]

I get that.

Three words, which you then demonstrate that you really don't get it.

Find yourself a six pack and rent the whole boat. That way you won't get inconvenienced. If you're going to dive on a boat that takes more than 6, chances are there'll be some wildly inexperienced people on that boat. With a 56 year personal history of diving, I'm almost always the most experienced diver on the boat. I'm also almost always the one with the best trim and Buoyancy, too. Meh. I used to be the one with the least amount of experience and horrible trim/buoyancy. Don't ever take yourself too seriously: I certainly don't. Dive and let dive. Set the example in regard to boat etiquette, patience, and compassion. I also set an example underwater as well.

 

[boulderjohn]

There are ways that a dive op can ensure both experienced and novice divers get what they paid for.

In many cases, all it requires is a DM who cares. I related earlier a story about what has happened to me several times on a dive operation here in Florida. Solo diving is not allowed, and as a single diver I had to be assigned to someone else. In each case, the DM, knowing dull well that I am an advanced diver, asked an instructor and young (early teens) diver to take me as a buddy. What am I going to say? "I don't want to dive with them?" Any other group would have been perfectly fine with me, but in each of these cases, the dives were predictably short. In the last dive (last week), I reached the surface with about 2,000 PSI.

I would happily choose another operator, but there is little choice where I am presently.

 

[dmaziuk]

PADI + principles of mastery learning = laboratory-grade cognitive dissonance.

It would seem the marijuana botanists of Colorado have made some incredible breakthroughs in THC concentration.

Have you actually seen the PADI OW book?