Ry_in_spain
Guest
Hi,
I´m requesting the advice of the more experienced divers. I have wanted to SCUBA dive and become certified for a long time. I have tried to enlist in the class at my University back home, but it´s always been full. Currently, I´m spending a year abroad in Granada, Spain. I was walking by and saw a sign advertising the scuba classes. Before this point, my experience with SCUBA was nonexistent.
I knew about the bends and the buddy system and that´s about it. So, I signed up for the classes because it´s something I´ve always wanted to do and what better place to learn than in the Mediterranean. The instructor speaks limited English and I speak pretty good Spanish(but not fluent). I started on Monday and will have my first confined dive tomorrow. I have read the entire dive manual and watched all the videos.
I am the only one at the moment who is being instructed by him. After the videos, he goes through his instructor manual and tells me the same things I´ve read. I honestly feel comftorable with everything I´ve read and if not, he can explain it well enough so I understand. Now I´m wading through here, and reading the post about the different certs. I happen to be doing the PADI cert but I was unaware there were different ones.
The general thought from everyone seems to be that the instructor is the most important part of the certification process. What if your instructor has taken a very passive role in the learning process? Should I worry about my safety underwater?
I feel he is a good instructor but the language is a little bit of a barrier and he seems to be pretty busy outside of the classroom setting. I´ve had about two hours with him over this last week and we´ll be doing all our dives over the weekend. We´ll see how the first two dives go tomorrow, but I´d be interested to know your input on my situation.
One other question I have is that I´m learning everything in metric(depth, temp, etc). I´m going to be here a little while and the calculations aren´t that difficult, but what about when I return to the states? Does most equipment have both metric/imperial formats? You all seem like a friendly bunch and I look forward to your responses.
Ryan
I´m requesting the advice of the more experienced divers. I have wanted to SCUBA dive and become certified for a long time. I have tried to enlist in the class at my University back home, but it´s always been full. Currently, I´m spending a year abroad in Granada, Spain. I was walking by and saw a sign advertising the scuba classes. Before this point, my experience with SCUBA was nonexistent.
I knew about the bends and the buddy system and that´s about it. So, I signed up for the classes because it´s something I´ve always wanted to do and what better place to learn than in the Mediterranean. The instructor speaks limited English and I speak pretty good Spanish(but not fluent). I started on Monday and will have my first confined dive tomorrow. I have read the entire dive manual and watched all the videos.
I am the only one at the moment who is being instructed by him. After the videos, he goes through his instructor manual and tells me the same things I´ve read. I honestly feel comftorable with everything I´ve read and if not, he can explain it well enough so I understand. Now I´m wading through here, and reading the post about the different certs. I happen to be doing the PADI cert but I was unaware there were different ones.
The general thought from everyone seems to be that the instructor is the most important part of the certification process. What if your instructor has taken a very passive role in the learning process? Should I worry about my safety underwater?
I feel he is a good instructor but the language is a little bit of a barrier and he seems to be pretty busy outside of the classroom setting. I´ve had about two hours with him over this last week and we´ll be doing all our dives over the weekend. We´ll see how the first two dives go tomorrow, but I´d be interested to know your input on my situation.
One other question I have is that I´m learning everything in metric(depth, temp, etc). I´m going to be here a little while and the calculations aren´t that difficult, but what about when I return to the states? Does most equipment have both metric/imperial formats? You all seem like a friendly bunch and I look forward to your responses.
Ryan