My 11-year old daughter is working her way through the SDI Junior OW class. She excelled at the e-learning and has one more pool session before she does the open water dives. Are there other diver parents who have recently gone through this and have any advice? We will most likely dive Rail Road bridge, Lake Hydra, Round Valley in NJ, BHB in FL and some reef diving somewhere warm and clear like Bonaire, Roatan or elsewhere while she is learning. Some of the younger divers of the LDS have done the 5 specialties so they could get master diver cert after 50 dives which probably would be a nice accomplishment for her. I'm more interested in her becoming a good, safe diver and enjoying. I took NAUI courses for my rec certs so I'm not too familiar with options available for young divers. Any or all suggestions appreciated. Thank you!
Junior SDI OW
- Thread starter rvojr
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Belzelbub
Contributor
Not all that recently, but both of my daughters got certified young (10). only advice I really have is to go at their pace, within reason. That can be wildly different.
My oldest was all in and ready to go from 5 years old. Never wavered. Pretty much nothing scared her. She stayed near me, and didn't do anything stupid. She just was ready to go and nothing held her back. Executed an un-planned regulator retrieval/swap on her 3rd checkout dive. Zero panic at all. She was even confused when her instructor and I congratulated her after.
The youngest was a bit more timid. She wanted to learn how to dive, but was a bit more apprehensive. I figured out pretty quickly it was just the new situation. Pool dives were no trouble. Checkouts were a bit scarier as it was in Devil's Den. Open water, but kind of dark. Then, she had apprehension again on her first ocean dive. Once she got through that though, she was good to go.
My oldest was all in and ready to go from 5 years old. Never wavered. Pretty much nothing scared her. She stayed near me, and didn't do anything stupid. She just was ready to go and nothing held her back. Executed an un-planned regulator retrieval/swap on her 3rd checkout dive. Zero panic at all. She was even confused when her instructor and I congratulated her after.
The youngest was a bit more timid. She wanted to learn how to dive, but was a bit more apprehensive. I figured out pretty quickly it was just the new situation. Pool dives were no trouble. Checkouts were a bit scarier as it was in Devil's Den. Open water, but kind of dark. Then, she had apprehension again on her first ocean dive. Once she got through that though, she was good to go.
KDAD
Contributor
My now 16 yo daughter started at age 11 and we have dove Rail Road bridge, Round Valley in NJ, BHB in FL and reef diving in both Bonaire and Roatan. I would add in Maclearie Park/Shark River. RR bridge is good but make sure slack tide. Night dives at Maclearie or a house reef in Bonaire. All have advantages of shore entry and/or shallow water.
She didn't care for Cozumel drift diving but likes the cenotes...yours is too young for both of those.
I'm SDI, she is NAUI. It is more the instruction and reinforcement that matter.
She didn't care for Cozumel drift diving but likes the cenotes...yours is too young for both of those.
I'm SDI, she is NAUI. It is more the instruction and reinforcement that matter.
If you go to Become a Certified Scuba Diver - you can find a list of all the courses. Each course has its standards and procedures on the page.
I don't teach many kids, but I can't think of any rec certifications that kids can't take. . .
OP
My LDS explained it. There are some caveats like deep is 60' until a certain age. She finished her pool and now onto the check out dives. Not smooth sailing but she finished it.
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