My Discover Scuba Diving Experience

[mi000ke]

I just accompanied two groups of friends who were visiting me on discovery dives. For each group, the first dive consisted of about 30 minutes of verbal instruction, boating to a shallow reef where they entered and did about 15 minutes of practice clearing masks and purging 2nd stages at the surface with inflated BCDs, then one by one the DM deflated the BCDs and took each diver down the line (pull, pull, clear...) going as slow as they needed (one of my friends needed about 10 min to get down with ears properly cleared). The DM got them neurally buoyant at the bottom (about 25') and led them on a 30 minute dive, making sure to closely monitor each diver. The second dive was similar, but without the instruction or practice of course. Every diver had a great time, felt safe, and were surprisingly good at managing buoyancy with breathing. And they got two great dives. All agree they are hooked.

 

[Joneill]

My DSD was in a pool locally. After all the stories I've read about the ones done at a resort, I would not recommend a resort one to anyone.

I did 4 of them over 2 trips to Grand Cayman (at Eden Rock Dive Center) several years ago and they were great - in fact, they were my incentive to get certified. It all depends on the shop/instructor and how comfortable the person diver is in the water - Resort dives are not a great idea for some people, but perfectly fine for many as an intro!

 

[Marie13]

Why would you do a DSD in The lakes? It's dark, you need a 7 mil or a drysuit, and most stuff to see is below the DSD depth limit anyway.

Bingo! That was in response to the person who thought DSDs shouldn't be done in a pool - pools are the ONLY place you'll be doing a DSD in the Great Lakes region.

And as for being dark, not really. Only at greater depths. I've seen lots of videos where there is a lot of light at shallower depths (perhaps up to 80' or so).

 

[dmaziuk]

Bingo! That was in response to the person who thought DSDs shouldn't be done in a pool - pools are the ONLY place you'll be doing a DSD in the Great Lakes region.

And as for being dark, not really. Only at greater depths. I've seen lots of videos where there is a lot of light at shallower depths (perhaps up to 80' or so).

I only swam in Milwaukee & Sheboygan & Green Bay, so I don't know what's under there. It certainly looked murkier than the Caribbean.

I too think DSD shouldn't be done in the pool. Well, in an aquarium -- maybe, but really: why? On a reef on vacation in a tropical paradise: that I can see. What's to "discover" in a pool?

 

[TMHeimer]

Pool vs. OW for fun and discovery is debatable. Hypothetically, if it were me I THINK I'd be doing DSD just to see if I could deal with equipment, equalisation (this was my big concern before OW course and it turned out I had no problems at all ever) and generally the whole process. I would think a lot of people considering scuba have seen many videos of it, so it's pretty easy to figure what a real OW dive may look like. But, maybe some would benefit from actually doing DSD in OW as incentive and to get excited. I snorkeled (well, now called shallow free diving, I guess) since a teenager, so I knew what it would look like down there except now I could breathe and didn't have to surface (well, not for a while anyway). To each his own about doing DSD in OW, but as pointed out, being comfortable in water first is a really good idea. For me, the pool would've been just as good to get a taste of scuba without any worries about ratios and resorts not doing it right. As long as you don't hold your breath and shoot up from the deep end of a pool, I can't figure what else could go wrong. Certainly no separation.

 

[GreggS]

In my experience, DSD should be done by everyone considering scuba diving certification. My first time was while on a cruise where one of our ports of call was Aruba and one of the excursions offered was DSD. There was only 2 of us that had signed up, me and a woman in her late 20's/early 30's who was doing it for her already certified boyfriend. Even I could tell from the start that she was apprehensive and not the least bit excited. She was very hesitant in the class part about even answering questions but she made it through. We then proceeded to the pool for basic skills. I had no trouble at all but she was struggling. Finally, the instructor went through the basic with me and told me to just swim around in the pool to get used to it while he worked with the woman. I swam around for around 15 minutes until he signaled me that she had finally gotten through the skills.

Then we went to the boat. Her boyfriend was also with us as he was going to dive as well. When we got to the dive site, the instructor was taking us down the anchor line. We only got down around 5-7 feet when she started freaking out. I think she was having trouble equalizing and was getting claustrophobic as well. After trying to work with her for a minute or so, the instructor decided she was better off being on the boat and, of course, she didn't object. It ended up with just the instructor and me on the dive and it was great. The boyfriend did dive solo while she sat on the boat.

The point of this is that she could have spent all that money to get certified and never gotten through the course. By doing DSD, she found out diving was not for her, at least not at that time, and at a much lower cost than certification.

 

[TMHeimer]

Disagree wit first sentence. May somewhat agree if DSD were deemed at least as "safe" as OW course, which we know is not always true. As well, if you know it's something you want to do and are 99% sure will be able to do, why even spend $20 for the "course" and gas money (for me at least $30 for the 100 mile round trip) to find out?
The low pay and gas cost are two reasons I never taught it at the pool we used.

 

[george_austin]

So you live in the Midwest and doubt anyone would be doing DSDs on any of the Great Lakes. Sounds great. I don't live in the tropics. My climate is not as cold as yours but I still have a lengthy "off season".

But I know for a fact that "People who have very little instruction have no business being in the ocean. Pool is the best place for a DSD." is an outlandish claim. DSD (in the right OW environment and under the right conditions) is safe and effective. DSD is not Russian Roulette. It is not even as dangerous as a tandem skydive. It allows people to enjoy the ocean, have fun, learn about their environment, and figure out whether scuba diving is something they want to pursue further.

Well, yes and no. Most things we learn in life are self taught. Diving can be self taught and was for a majority of divers before Los Angeles County Underwater Instructors came along in the 1950's and then a little later NAUI and then eventually PADI. Most guys and gals either hung out at dive shops and made friends with someone there that would show them the ropes or went to a library and studied the few books available, borrowed some gear and dove in. It's likely though that most of those people were already very comfortable around water - maybe they were surfers or fishermen, accomplished skin divers that loved to shoot fish and so on and so forth . . .
Even as young as I am, we taught ourselves how to do deco diving from the US Navy Dive Manual that we checked out from the library, then did simulated deco dives and then did the real thing after we thought we had it figured out. We all survived.

The issue now is, as I see it, people want to be "divers" but they're not even comfortable swimming in a pool or getting their face wet in a shower. "Well, my husband does it so even though I hate the water, I guess I better learn to do it as well" That mindset is going to get you seriously hurt in the worst case and in the best case, you're not going to enjoy it - so why do it?

There is a big difference between a "diver" and someone who breathes off a tank while underwater. I'm not saying one is necessarily better than the other but the personal limitations and boundaries are completely different for each - regardless of what the zero to hero vacation resort "instructor" may say. Buyer beware

 

[george_austin]

I only swam in Milwaukee & Sheboygan & Green Bay, so I don't know what's under there. It certainly looked murkier than the Caribbean.

I too think DSD shouldn't be done in the pool. Well, in an aquarium -- maybe, but really: why? On a reef on vacation in a tropical paradise: that I can see. What's to "discover" in a pool?

What's to "discover in a pool"? Maybe the instructor wants to find out if you can swim? If you're the type who has anxiety attacks or something else that might endanger him or her or anyone else? The pool is the ONLY place for DSD. If the prospect wants to graduate to someplace where there are actually people diving in open water, let him pay for it after he's proven a basic level of competency. Just my .02

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

I only swam in Milwaukee & Sheboygan & Green Bay, so I don't know what's under there. It certainly looked murkier than the Caribbean.

I too think DSD shouldn't be done in the pool. Well, in an aquarium -- maybe, but really: why? On a reef on vacation in a tropical paradise: that I can see. What's to "discover" in a pool?

The way I see it, a DSD isn't about seeing coral or fish....it isn't a Discover the Ocean experience. It is a Discover Scuba which to me means that you get a chance to feel what it is like to don a scuba kit and take that first breath underwater followed by a short swim.

DSD on a reef could lead to reef damage but I am not saying a DSD in a tropical local is terrible...just not my idea of what a DSD is supposed to be about.

I should state that I have never done a DSD. I have wanted to dive my entire life and finally pulled the trigger this past year getting my OW cert the day after Christmas so the only thing I know of DSDs is what I have seen in videos and on this board.