Is the PADI Underwater Naturalist specialty worth a damn?

[spectrum]

Are we talking about the difference between a single wreck adventure dive in pursuit of AOW compared to a the actual wreck specialty?

I am not suggesting that the wreck specialty is a full blown wreck course but guided penetration would seem to within scope. How many dives can they spend teaching you to stay out and not get fouled?

 

[pir8]

There is definitely more involved in the specialty than in asingle Adventure Dive

 

[cappyjon431]

I think in order to be fair, the U/W naturalist can be an awesome class, depending on the instructor and his methods of instruction. I was never a big fan of teaching specialties, but one of the things I noticed over the years was that too many divers came to the surface after their dives saying silly things like "there's nuttin down there," or "I didn't see anything interesting." I didn't get it--I had done thousands of dives and had NEVER been on a dive where I didn't see something interesting. I came up with a hypothesis that many divers just didn't know WHAT they were looking at, which made their dive uninteresting or boring.

I decided to test my hypothesis and for a few weeks I followed along groups of divers. One of the things I noticed was that it was often the divers who covered the most ground (distance) that often complained about "not seeing anything." It became clear to me that often divers cover a lot of space to find "big" critters--rays, sharks, eels, turtles--often at the expense of missing a whole world of beautiful sea life.

I took this lesson to develop a strategy for teaching U/W naturalist. On two of the dives for this class I bring down a 4' x 4' PVC square with holes drilled into it (so it will be negatively bouyant) and gently place it on the reef. I have my students sketch ALL the life forms in the square, then come to the surface and identify the different life forms. Many of my students were shocked to learn that corals and sponges were not plants. I've had literally dozens of students (many with hundreds of dives under their weightbelts) thank me for drawing attention to the frequently overlooked beauty of the reef. They learned that instead of covering vast distances and burning tons of air to see "cool stuff" that they could slow down, observe the macro life, and still have an incredible dive. I honestly believe that my U/W naturalist classes made better divers out of most of my students.

Just my $.02

 

[matts1w]

I took this lesson to develop a strategy for teaching U/W naturalist. On two of the dives for this class I bring down a 4' x 4' PVC square with holes drilled into it (so it will be negatively bouyant) and gently place it on the reef. I have my students sketch ALL the life forms in the square, then come to the surface and identify the different life forms. Many of my students were shocked to learn that corals and sponges were not plants. I've had literally dozens of students (many with hundreds of dives under their weightbelts) thank me for drawing attention to the frequently overlooked beauty of the reef. They learned that instead of covering vast distances and burning tons of air to see "cool stuff" that they could slow down, observe the macro life, and still have an incredible dive. I honestly believe that my U/W naturalist classes made better divers out of most of my students.

Just my $.02

very cool idea.....

 

[Damselfish]

I don't think UW Naturalist should even be allowed as one of the dives for AOW. I would try and do something that will actually improve your diving skills for that. If you still want to take UW Naturalist separately later and find a class you think would be worthwhile, then go for it. But good chance you would do as well buying a book.

 

[cappyjon431]

I don't think UW Naturalist should even be allowed as one of the dives for AOW. I would try and do something that will actually improve your diving skills for that. If you still want to take UW Naturalist separately later and find a class you think would be worthwhile, then go for it. But good chance you would do as well buying a book.

Damselfish--your point is well taken that the AOW class should be used to improve diver skills. I think we differ on what constitutes "diver skills." Any decent U/W naturalist class should emphasize protecting the marine environment with a strong emphasis on a diver's impact (buoyancy skills) on the reef. By understanding the delicate nature of corals and sponges (often thought of as "rocks" by some boneheaded divers) divers become more skilled and are less apt to damage the reef. The proof is in the pudding. I've had dozens of students thank me for making them better divers (at the conclusion of my U/W naturalist class).

I think that saying "you would do as well buying a book," is an unfair generalization. What "book" would that be? The Reef Set would certainly be helpful, and I feel all divers could benefit from becoming familiar with all the volumes, but which book would you be speaking about? Some instructors (myself included) pride themselves on a vast knowledge of the U/W world, and feel that they can pass this knowledge on to their students, making them better (and more appreciative) divers. Aside from a bachelors degree in biology with a concentration in marine biology I have done thousands of dives where I've learned quite a bit about the natural world. I don't know of any book that can pass on this type of knowledge and provide the experiential learning that the U/W naturalist class can provide.

All that being said, there are instructors out there who read & teach straight from a teaching outline and view the class as a way to line their pockets. Any student would be wise in questioning their instructor's credentials for teaching this course.

 

[Jim Kerr]

I decided to test my hypothesis and for a few weeks I followed along groups of divers. One of the things I noticed was that it was often the divers who covered the most ground (distance) that often complained about "not seeing anything." It became clear to me that often divers cover a lot of space to find "big" critters--rays, sharks, eels, turtles--often at the expense of missing a whole world of beautiful sea life.

You are soooo right. I was in Key West a few years back and got buddied up with an insta buddy. We were at a dive site called "9 ft Pole Reef". It was a finger groove type reef (I think that's what it's called) and we were suppose to make are way in and out from side to side.

This reef is "loaded" with life everywhere you look, big and small. My "buddy", decides to swim over the grooves like he's going for a distance record or something. I'm stopped looking at this "HUGE" Nurse Shark when he swims by me without so much as a glance in my direction. I grab his leg and gave a little tug to get his attention and he looked very "annoyed" when he looked back. I pointed to the Nurse Shark but he had this what am I suppose to be seeing look in his eyes. I had to point at it 3 times with the last attempt being more forceful as to say "are you blind or what"? He finally saw it but then proceeded on not really looking at anything until he looked back and saw I was not following him.

 

[cappyjon431]

You are soooo right. I was in Key West a few years back and got buddied up with an insta buddy. We were at a dive site called "9 ft Pole Reef". It was a finger groove type reef (I think that's what it's called) and we were suppose to make are way in and out from side to side. This reef is "loaded" with life everywhere you look, big and small. My "buddy", decides to swim over the grooves like he's going for a distance record or something. I'm stoped looking at this "HUGE" Nurse Shark when he swims by me without so much as a glance in my direction. I grab his leg and gave a little tug to get his attention and he looked very "annoyed" when he looked back. I pointed to the Nurse Shark but he had that what am I suppose to be seeig look in his eyes. I had to point at it 3 times with the last attempt being more forceful as to say "are you blind or what"? He finaly saw it but then proceeded on not really looking at anything until he looked back and saw I was not following him.

Jim, that is exactly what I'm talking about, and unfortunately this happens on a regular basis. I think one of the reasons so many people drop out of scuba as a recreational activity is that they become jaded and need to see the next "big thing." Once the adrenelin rush is over (and they learn to "survive" in the U/W world) they take the beauty of the realm for granted and unless it is turtles, sharks, eels and rays, they claim that "there is nothing down there." It's frustrating, but I believe that instructors can change this attitude a little bit at a time.

 

[Damselfish]

Damselfish--your point is well taken that the AOW class should be used to improve diver skills. I think we differ on what constitutes "diver skills." Any decent U/W naturalist class should emphasize protecting the marine environment with a strong emphasis on a diver's impact (buoyancy skills) on the reef. By understanding the delicate nature of corals and sponges (often thought of as "rocks" by some boneheaded divers) divers become more skilled and are less apt to damage the reef. The proof is in the pudding. I've had dozens of students thank me for making them better divers (at the conclusion of my U/W naturalist class).

I think that saying "you would do as well buying a book," is an unfair generalization. What "book" would that be? The Reef Set would certainly be helpful, and I feel all divers could benefit from becoming familiar with all the volumes, but which book would you be speaking about? Some instructors (myself included) pride themselves on a vast knowledge of the U/W world, and feel that they can pass this knowledge on to their students, making them better (and more appreciative) divers. Aside from a bachelors degree in biology with a concentration in marine biology I have done thousands of dives where I've learned quite a bit about the natural world. I don't know of any book that can pass on this type of knowledge and provide the experiential learning that the U/W naturalist class can provide.

All that being said, there are instructors out there who read & teach straight from a teaching outline and view the class as a way to line their pockets. Any student would be wise in questioning their instructor's credentials for teaching this course.

It's a generalization, sure. And while I don't disagree that this is another sort of "skill", we're getting into semantics there - I'm sure you know what I meant when I said skill. Thing is, while you may teach a great class that happens to improve skills and provides great info I don't think that (or getting an instructor with a degree in marine biology) is something that can be relied on as a general rule. I would hazard that quite often UWN (or similar) in AOW is more of a filler. (If someone needs to improve their buoyancy skills, I think it would usually be better to at least do PPB which focuses on the skill rather than a class that may hit this some as an aside.)

"Buy a book" is a generalization too, but again I'm just expressing a general idea. Sure they're not going to buy a book and get all the knowledge of a marine biologist. But it doesn't take much reading to learn that corals are delicate and not rocks, and the other basic stuff people should know before diving in that environment. If someone has any interest or cares at all they're going to pick this up reading some dive magazine, from a couple good dive briefings, or maybe because they go to someplace like Bonaire and the basic idea will hopefully get stuck in their face before they get in the water. And I do think someone can learn quite a bit reviewing fish books for the area they're diving.

 

[The Kraken]

I've always felt the the Underwater Naturalist "specialty" was akin to me paying someone to teach me how to enjoy a beautiful sunset or sunrise.

the K