Is the PADI "Drift Diving" course worth it?

[HowardE]

If any of you divers have a "to do" list, consider drift diving a reef at night. We do that at Jupiter, FL. I believe Pompano Beach has it too. It is a step up in complexity from your basic boat dives, but won't leave you pooped, either. Night is the time to observe nature, and the lobsters are out.

many dive ops will do a night drift dive. If you have enough people for them to do it. Yeah... they are fun.

 

[kneptoon]

Here you go.

http://www.tabula-international.com/DIV/SMB4i.pdf

That will be $250, please. I will send you a Peleliu Pack certification card after I receive your payment.

This is a very informative link, thanks. Drift diving is deceptively easy, unless something goes wrong.

 

[jpcpat]

Thanks, all posters. The debate is itself a learning experience for me!

 

[Jeff Toorish]

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=75035&highlight=Fiji+Dan+Danielle

I agree with Doc.

The simple fact is, any training can be useful. Can you do a drift dive without any training? of course. Can you benefit from the training...you already know the answer.

Jeff

 

[stever2002]

Thanks, all posters. The debate is itself a learning experience for me!

Agreed - I really hesitated about posting this question in the first place. But the conversation did give me lots of food for thought.

Dive Safe,
...steve...

 

[Bismark]

Take some training, any training and you may learn things you don't know. Learning how to deploy a SMB from your reel and doing it the first time on your first cold water drift dive where it might really matter......... everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I would not want any one who matters to me to do that without some practise in a non-current environment first. I honestly can't believe that an instructor would claim that dive briefings are a substitute for training, but to each his own.

 

[Bismark]

Don't remember how to edit my reply here, but I meant to type that "I can't believe that an instructor would claim that dive briefings are "a" substitute for training...."

 

[Wantstadive]

When I began reading this thread yesterday I wasn't expecting that much interesting would come out of it.

Boy was I wrong!! This has turned out to be a really useful thread for me to follow, because it has provided me with a lot of points directly related to my personal safety. Most of which up to now I've been taking for granted..

Here in Hawaii, we drift dive in the open ocean regularly, and frequently there are "brisk" currents that contribute to the fun of the dive since it lends to the excitement of entry and propels us along so effortlessly.

The fact that things could go wrong is largely taken for granted and many of the tourist divers have little open ocean experience. I guess to minimize problems
the responsibility of shooting a line with the SMB falls to the Divemaster who seems to have well mastered that skill and the boat captains here seem to be on top of picking us up quickly, (a good thing since sometimes the waves are way tall enough to make it a bear for the captain to see us in the water and making being on the surface a bit of an adventure).

After reading all this, I see that I really need to take more responsibility for my own safety.

I think I'll start practicing shooting an SMB on my non-drift dives, carry a jon line, and think more about what I need to do to be better prepared for the possibility that the pick up just isn't there. Thanks to all for the insight, this is why I love this board.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

... Have you taken a drift diving course? Have you looked at a syllabus for a drift diving course? My guess is NO, and you're just blowing smoke, because you think that String's post was negative...

[SARCASM_ON]...the reason I hang around on ScubaBoard is so I can blow smoke up people's rear ends and bend over and talk out my butt about things I know nothing of. I do this primarily because I enjoy misleading the gullible as a recreational activity. I was never a Marine Corps officer stationed in the South Pacific, I am not PADI instructor #19309, and I've never done any drift diving in Palau and the Western Carolines, Okinawa, the Philippines, nor Micronesia. Mostly I just make all this up as I go along.

Your guess is correct, classes are insidious things designed to separate fools from their hard-earned dollars. Classes to teach people how to do simple and obvious tasks, moreover, are farm animal stupid and would only appeal to certifiable Jerry Lewis Telethonites.[/SARCASM]

... Drift diving is almost as easy as falling off of a boat... (with maybe a few exceptions that could easily be covered by a good dive briefing)... ...a good dive briefing from the DM and/or Boat Captain simply stating - "don't fight the current... just go with it" would probably suffice. You drift... you dive... it's not hard...

...Your course in surface survival is not specific to a drift dive, but "things that could go wrong, but are highly unlikely to go wrong so you should be prepared for this boat dive" course.

It is quite true that very few divers would need to know about satellite telephones if drift diving where you do, off the coast from Fort Lauderdale. It's likely rare that your charter boat trips last longer than an hour to 90% of the locations where you'd be drift diving. You may even still have cell phone service while anchored at the dive site.

The 'drift diving' I've done in the Columbia River and the St. Lawrence Seaway could likewise not be considered "remote". A GPS-enabled EPIRB would quite likely be overkill, as you can see the shore on both sides in most locations where you're drifting. I agree that one of the risks you face is a potential fine for being a navigational hazard, but this consequence is rarely fatal - even in Canada.

The environment I was referring to is nothing like drift diving along the coast of Florida nor along a defined route like a river. It's true that you're drifting along with the current in both cases, however, the consequences for any sort of failure, oversight, or omission in the more remote regions of the South Pacific are significantly more problematic than for coastal North America. I'm willing to bet that the family of Dan Grenier, who went on a drift dive in Fiji one day and drifted off to oblivion while his wife, who was driving the boat, frantically searched for him, wishes like hell that Dan had taken an EPIRB with him that day.

To each their own opinions.

To Stever2002 and anyone else contemplating this or any course, courses can be a waste of your time or can be very valuable. The only way to know for sure in any case is to meet with the instructor before you sign up for it and ask questions about the course. Ultimately the instructor and their experience (and willingness to ensure the course meets your needs) will determine whether a Drift Diving course, or indeed any course, will satisfy your requirements.

Regards,

Doc

 

[Bismark]

Like Doc Said. Nothing more to say here.

Semper fi doc,
Per ardua ad astra