How much should Diver Training cost?

[Progen]

Most OW students do not continue diving beyond their first year. I don't think you would get many willing to spend a lot for training they would never use. ...

You know? That sounds like a good way to reduce the number of people going into the oceans to destroy them every single day.

 

[boulderjohn]

A couple of years ago, in a thread similar to this, someone described a pretty high cost PADI OW course. I figured he had to be misrepresenting the truth, and since he was an anonymous poster who was working very hard to conceal his or her actual identify, I had to do some detective work to figure out where he or she was from (south Florida). I was able to find a dive shop that really did charge about $1,000 for basic PADI OW instruction. (I wanted to link to it here, but I can't find it now.) In the explanation on the web site, they were right up front about the cost and why it was worth it. They listed what the course provided, and it sure looked like a thorough course that should produce excellent divers. (Boat fees were included in that total cost.) Their pitch was essentially, "Come to us if you really want to learn; go somewhere else if you don't." It was the same PADI course as everyone else teaches, with more time on task. It was an established shop, so I assume they were doing OK with that approach. I hope the fact that I could not find them today is a result of my less-than-stellar searching effort.

 

[AfterDark]

In 1968 I paid $125.00 for a 100 hour course that was very comprehensive. So, $125.00 in 1968 had the same buying power as $846.61 in 2013.

There's my answer for a comparable course.

 

[rhwestfall]

In 1968 I paid $125.00 for a 100 hour course that was very comprehensive. So, $125.00 in 1968 had the same buying power as $846.61 in 2013.

There's my answer for a comparable course.

what would it have cost then to get that darn AOW card?????

 

[drbill]

Once I finally got certified (late 60s), the Los Angeles County course did indeed prepare me far better than any standard OW course today offered by a "major" agency. Then the OW/AOW/Rescue sequence pretty well split up the material that was covered in my original course. I think it would be cost prohibitive for most agencies to run a basic certification course like LA County had back then. With the Groupon mentality entering the picture, OW classes are becoming even less respectable IMHO. Who wants the Walmart of SCUBA Training in an activity that can kill you if you aren't properly trained?

 

[AfterDark]

what would it have cost then to get that darn AOW card?????

There was no such thing as AOW that I'm aware of back then. To learn anymore in a formal setting one would have had to join the Navy or go the commercial diving route.

 

[vladimir]

Just to contribute a couple of data points, my six or eight (I have forgotten) week YMCA/PADI certification course cost me $150 in 1975. That's about $650 in 2013 money. There were eight to ten students, if I recall correctly.

My wife's two-week (four pool session) PADI/NAUI certification class, which I joined as a refresher and included just us, cost $1,000 in 1990, or about $1,800 today.

 

[boulderjohn]

There was no such thing as AOW that I'm aware of back then. To learn anymore in a formal setting one would have had to join the Navy or go the commercial diving route.

I was not a diver then, but my understanding was that there were essentially 2 certifications for what we now call recreational diving--diver and instructor.

Interestingly enough, an article I read some time ago said that in much early diver training, as long, expensive, and rigorous as it was, there was no requirement for OW dives. Once you finished your pool work, you were certified.

And on the other hand, what was true for some early training, as described by some who were certified back then, was not true of all experiences. As a boy, I was introduced to the world of scuba by watching my older cousin dive in New Jersey. I visited that family for a week at the Jersey shore every summer, and for a couple of years I watched him don his wet suit and get into the water with his tank and his spear gun. This was in the early 1960s. I recently visited him and asked him about his training. He said he bought his gear at a local sporting goods shop, the kind of general shop that sells baseball gloves, etc. As part of the package he purchased, the shop gave him a couple of lessons. That's it. He just kept returning to the shop every time he wanted a fill. He was never formally certified. He stopped diving shortly after that and never did it again.

 

[vladimir]

I was not a diver then, but my understanding was that there were essentially 2 certifications for what we now call recreational diving--diver and instructor.

Interestingly enough, an article I read some time ago said that in much early diver training, as long, expensive, and rigorous as it was, there was no requirement for OW dives. Once you finished your pool work, you were certified.

And on the other hand, what was true for some early training, as described by some who were certified back then, was not true of all experiences. As a boy, I was introduced to the world of scuba by watching my older cousin dive in New Jersey. I visited that family for a week at the Jersey shore every summer, and for a couple of years I watched him don his wet suit and get into the water with his tank and his spear gun. This was in the early 1960s. I recently visited him and asked him about his training. He said he bought his gear at a local sporting goods shop, the kind of general shop that sells baseball gloves, etc. As part of the package he purchased, the shop gave him a couple of lessons. That's it. He just kept returning to the shop every time he wanted a fill. He was never formally certified. He stopped diving shortly after that and never did it again.

By 1975, at least, YMCA and PADI both required 4 checkout dives, the same as today. I don't know about 1968, though. AfterDark must have been certified during kindergarten recesses.

 

[boulderjohn]

By 1975, at least, YMCA and PADI both required 4 checkout dives, the same as today. I don't know about 1968, though. AfterDark must have been certified during kindergarten recesses.

It is a long time since I read the article, but as I recall it was about the time of the founding of PADI, which was (I think) 1965. The article as talking about the person who decided that there should be OW checkout dives after seeing an accident to a new diver who had just graduated from a pool-only certification course.