How soon after your cert did you go on your own dive without any DM?

[captain]

Even if you memory is a little flawed, I can add an analogy.

Private Pilot Aeronautical Experience (Yes, you must pass the written tests too)

Sec. 61.109 Aeronautical experience
"(a) ... a person who applies for a private pilot certificate with an airplane category and single-engine class rating must log at least 40 hours of flight time that includes at least 20 hours of flight training from an authorized instructor and 10 hours of solo flight training..."

There are specific parts of training that need to be included just like scuba training, but the fact is: If you can pass the tests, the government will give you a license to fly that plane with or without a "buddy"... AND, you are required to fly solo BEFORE you can get your certificate.

Is this example off the beaten path? Not so much...

My daughter flew solo after 8 hours of dual instruction and her first dives were before certification.

 

[Gary D.]

I think there is a "Holier-Than-Thou" attitude in some after they cross over from true NOOB to somewhat experienced. They seem to forget just how exhilerating but intimidating the first couple of dives are immediately after certification. They make blanket statements that you are ill-trained if you want to dive with DM for your first post cert dive....whatever. I am comfortable diving in almost any condition with just my dive buddy (of any experience level)...but I am also intelligent enough to admit when having a DM around for a dive or two would make it safer for one reason or another. And this was the case when I certified....I would gladly have asked for a "DM led dive" without fear of bruising my ego if I felt it would be the smart thing to do.

There is a lot of truth to your post. This activity has gone from tough training with a good percentage failing to much easier initial training, with optional courses and not enough failing. It has gone from being self sufficient to gear dependant. So diving with a DM after certification is a very good idea as long as that DM has the experience they need to do the job properly.

Gary D.

 

[Scubasteve1982]

My first dive after completing my last open water check out! Key Largo!

 

[tc]

First dive w/o a DM? About an hour after I got certified, would have been quicker but we decided to get the tanks refilled first.

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

If you you don't feel capable of being an independent diver upon certification, then your instructor did you a disservice by certifying you.

I'm guessing your experience with instructors is weighted heavily towards to high-quality, dedicated individuals, and that you avoid like the plague the "certificate mills" you will find in any big city.

When I took my OW, there was a written test after the classroom portion. You needed 80% to pass. I think I got one question wrong because I misunderstood how they worded something.

Anyhow, several people failed to get 80%. The instructor asked them to state which questions they got wrong. He then walked them through the correct answer and asked them to write the correct answer on the back of their test paper. he then graded them again, and this time they got 100%, beating my score.

The pool sessions went much the same way. I did not do my OW checkout dives with that institution, however I was not left with a lot of confidence that the people being certified were qualified to dive independently.

The vast majority will take their card and go dive with a DM at a resort or on a cruise. They are getting exactly what they bargained for. None of them seemed to be the type to grab some fills and go shore diving the next day.

the more I've dived since then, the more I realize how unprepared I was for diving without an experienced mentor. Did my instructor do me a disservice? That's a matter of opinion. As it was, I took my certification to a dedicated dive resort and dived with DMs for a straight week. I think I learned an awful lot in that week, and i was just the beginning.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Well lets see, I started diving in 1957, got certified in 1970, not exactly sure how to answer the OP question. I guess it would be first dive before certification and first dive after certification.

Um... about eight years before I got certified. Heck, I didn't even know what a DM was for decades after I got certified. I'm not sure they even existed in the "dark ages."

My first dives were a few days after my 7th B-day; couldn't start before that because my competitive swimming schedule was too demanding. I was certified at age 33 and my next 3 dives were 90', cavern, night; all with my OW class-mates.

On my 8th B-day I did my first solo dive, to test out the vest my mom made for me;

Is a snorkeling father a dive buddy?​

 

[kmmkiwi]

I felt completely confident directly after getting OW certified. Me and my buddy I cert'd with dove in the same conditions and probably didn't have anymore than the expected amount of anxiety about it. If someone doesn't feel competent to dive on their own with a buddy without a DM after their OW cert class, then one of two things happened. 1) that person wasn't mentally prepared to become a scuba diver and thats now manifesting itself or 2) the instructor did a poor job.

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

If someone doesn't feel competent to dive on their own with a buddy without a DM after their OW cert class, then one of two things happened. 1) that person wasn't mentally prepared to become a scuba diver and thats now manifesting itself or 2) the instructor did a poor job.

Asking someone whether they feel competent to dive on their own after an OW course means asking the person with the least experience in the whole wide world of Scuba to judge their own competence.

It's great that you have that confidence and I trust that you are an excellent and safe diver. But sitting at my computer terminal right now, I am aware that when I completed my OW course, amongst other things I had no rescue diver training, I was aware of the AOW course but I hadn't taken it yet, I was aware of the DIR programs having met a DIR diver, and he assured me that there was an awful lot to learn about buoyancy and trim and finning and situational awareness and a bunch of other stuff my instructor hadn't mentioned in OW.

I bought several books on Scuba and with every page I was learning stuff that wasn't in my OW class. It was painfully obvious to me how little I knew about Scuba and how little experience I had. On my first dive I met someone with hundreds of dives!

Now, we obviously have different personalities. I think about all the stuff I don't know and I am eager to learn it, I am eager to find out what's going on. I don't hold back and stay out of the water. But I don't assume I know enough to stay out of trouble, either.

It could be that you're naturally a much better diver than I am, so I am not going to project my own conservatism onto you. But I feel very suspecious of the proposition that I am not mentally prepared to become a Scuba diver just because I'm aware that I know very little about diving even today. And while the instructor could have done a better job, IMO he did exactly waht was required to get me into a position to contunue my learning outside of the classroom.

 

[drdaddy]

Soon after my OW I was diving with others (not Divemasters), but was cautious/careful knowing I was a beginner.

The only time I have gone diving with a Divemaster was when Divemaster was the required rating for a dive tour guide in the Red Sea of Israel. I really appreciated her expertise, confidence, and her ability to quickly evaluate members in her group and chose the difficulty of the dive accordingly. She went on to become a PADI Instructor.

The above said, I really like diving with professionals. I learn something every time and I come back with more questions. My son is a PADI Instructor and sometimes he tires of my questions, but I am amazed at how much there is to learn. I do not plan on becoming a professional myself, but I did find the Rescue Diver to be one of the most valuable courses.

 

[FrankPro1]

My buddy and I took our OW certification together this summer. We ended up diving by ourselves @ Marineland a couple weeks later, haven't stopped since. If we weren't both experienced free divers before getting our certifications, I think we would have had second guesses about going out alone.