Do you think you were started off.....

[bgonderi]

My wife and I went to the weekend PADI class. Had we just attended the classroom portion itself without reading the books, watching the videos and doing the "homework," I don't think I'd have gotten a very good "education." At any rate, we were both really excited about the prospect of diving, and ate up all the materials before class. There was another couple in our class who seemed more interested in just getting their c-card rather than really understanding what was going on (our class consisted of two couples and a single guy and was taught by one instructor).

As I recall, the class mentioned that the basic OW certification really only OK'd you to dive under certain conditions, but they didn't really make a big deal out of it.

I feel that the education and experience I received with the class and the water sessions was sufficient to give me a start as a confident, safe diver. Of course, it's pretty easy to dive when everything goes right. It's when problems or emergencies happen that you find out if you're really prepared or not.

 

[ebbtide]

over all ide have to say that my OW instructor was very informative and there is only 1 thing i would have done different
that would be a bit more pool time b4 1st OW dive
i wasent pushed into anything rushed or any other thing but the extra pool time even 1 more enening b4 OW could have been used to more perfect the bouency controle more and perhaps some hands on nav skills on dryland so that every studient is knolagable in using a compass some were a little uneasy with it in the water .

 

[chepar]

My OW cert class was pretty small - a total of 5 people, with our instructor and his assistant. It was a relatively short course - a total of 1 week long, but the time spent each night in class was pretty long and intensive. I suppose that with the smaller group we were able to move along and cover quite a lot each day.
My instructor was great - very patient, very clear and concise, but also willing to spend the extra time with someone who needed additional help.
I left the class feeling pretty confident in my basic skills, but our instructor made clear to us that we had just started our learning and in no way by our being OW certified were we at the end of our education. That in itself instilled a healthy dose of caution in me that will aid me in remaining a safe diver.