Diving instructors - low standards debate

[AnaCat]

I wouldn't say standards had been cut on your friend’s training, as you describe a competent diver. I’ve had students complain that they hadn’t received certain aspects of the syllabus, either from me or another instructor. Its quite amusing when the bit they complain about it the instructor’s pet aspect of training. For me its planning the dive and diving the plan with proper gas management.

It’s down to each individual how they maintain a log; be it a book, separate sheets of paper, electronically on Word, Excel or an app, or even just rely on your computer’s memory.

As they’ve been diving with you, when they’ve seen logbook completion; from you.

Bear in mind a logbook can be fabricated, so reliance on one for experience can be misguided. Hence the importance of operator’s check out dives.

Well, for me it’s important as I save important info in it, technical or related to specific conditions or even what was there to see.
What he also missed are other very important things like what to do in an emergency, how to clean a mask and others that maybe we have not even discovered. He now does what we saw together in Egypt and our AOW instructor pointed out.

 

[AnaCat]

Has he been diving with a computer that would have logged dives?

Nope…

 

[AnaCat]

Exactly.

From a dive operator standpoint the question should be how many dives have you done. Write it down and "sign here" below the liability release. Not how many dives you wrote down in an unofficial book with no way to verify if the contents are legit or not.

Hands on check out dives will prove if the diver is competent or not.

While the diver may have got substandard training, we're also receiving this information from a third party lacking details.

If the customer didn't receive class materials that would be extremely rare as those materials are sold for profit by poor instructors eating Ramen and drinking Natty light who will work for fills.

He did not receive any training materials, just saw a 30 min video that he does not remember.
My logbook has all info about where and how and it’s signed and stamped at the diving center. There are probably cutting corner techniques about this as well, but that is not the point…

 

[BoltSnap]

I haven't used a paper based logbook in over two decades but I log dives religiously in my electronic/PC based dive log software. Most people I know do not log any dives on paper or electronically. Students should be taught what a dive log is, electronic or paper, and how to use it. I show my students the paper based one and add notations to all parts that may not be clear to them (logbooks are in English but my students speak Arabic) and also show them Subsurface pages of my log. It is up to them to decide on their own what they would use later. Same thing for dive tables.

 

[Searcaigh]

I have every recreational dive logged since I did my PADI OW 30 years ago

https://scubaboard.com/community/media/log-books-jpg.211725/

 

[BoltSnap]

I have every recreational dive logged since I did my PADI OW 30 years ago

https://scubaboard.com/community/media/log-books-jpg.211725/

You have consumed a whole forest for your logbook

 

[Searcaigh]

You have consumed a whole forest for your logbook

Only a branch

But my carbon footprint for diving is probably higher than my paper use.

 

[Marie13]

I wonder how much the location where the OP’s buddy did OW plays into the insufficient instruction.

 

[CuzzA]

He did not receive any training materials, just saw a 30 min video that he does not remember.
My logbook has all info about where and how and it’s signed and stamped at the diving center. There are probably cutting corner techniques about this as well, but that is not the point…

It sounds like his instructor wasn't really an instructor. If I were him I'd verify his certification is even legit and not a fake.

That said, your perception of diving is based on your experience. Your experience has been under the control of dive centers.

For many of us we just dive when and how we can. Be it a walk into the ocean or from our private boats. There's no instructors or dive masters or corporations controlling things.

Once you are certified you are free to purchase tank fills and do what you want. Hell, you are free to purchase everything including a compressor and never have to get certified or use a dive shop as there's no laws that a diver has to be certified in order to buy gear or go diving on their own. At least that's the way it is in the United States.

Of course doing this would exclude you from using dive shops and dive centers for dive trips and also be pretty stupid unless you actually got training.

 

[BoltSnap]

I wonder how much the location where the OP’s buddy did OW plays into the insufficient instruction.

Most likely it did play a big role. Probably "fake" instructor.