My Non-Certification Experience

[tddfleming]

Matt:
I will guess you did your dives at Rawlings during the DUI Dog Days. The sloping hill is much better going down than up with all the gear on. A busy weekend for sure. We did our check-out dives there as well as year ago. Like you, my daughter and I had issues with telling people from our class from others. My daughter had troubles equalizing also. We were there on Sunday for this event and I believe that I heard someone from the DUI tent say they had more people there on Sunday than Sat. It did not help that the water was getting chilly and the weather outside, while comfortable with a jacket and dry, was less than that when wet. I more just wanted to let you know that you are not the only one that has these same issues out there when new. Been there and done that! With everyone going in and out of the water at the same place does get confusing and tends to overload the mind. More than likely by your description, where you guys were set up was in the shade, which also adds to the cold.

 

[Tjack]

Hey Matt, Welcome to the board and thanks for sharing. Your experience should prove informative for many dive instructors. If an instructor is becoming annoyed it is a failure on their part to teach effectively.

I wonder how many prospective divers are put off for good by their local quarry experience? To me a hood is a technical device, talk about task loading.

Some people can not clear, period. Can you clear easily sitting at your desk?

So what was the name of the dive shop you went out with? You might provide a public service by warning others of their 'special' teaching style.

 

[Wolfie]

Matt,
keep it up. I've only done Sunset house for shore dives yet have discussed additional classes there. Although very well qualified they seem a little busy to me and it sounds like you need a little less busy. Cayman is my all time favorite place. If you are heading there you may also want to discuss your training with Jim soda of seasports which would set you up with private or semi private lessons and or the referral dives. He is very patient and just a pleasure to be around.

Please correct me if I am wrong. It sounds like you passed the classroom and pool work so technically can you just go with referral dives? This would mean no more formal instruction just the open water dives?

 

[FPDocMatt]

Matt,
keep it up. I've only done Sunset house for shore dives yet have discussed additional classes there. Although very well qualified they seem a little busy to me and it sounds like you need a little less busy.

Yes, I'm talking with them now about possibly doing a private class. Although they have a limit of 6 people on their certification dives anyway.

Cayman is my all time favorite place. If you are heading there you may also want to discuss your training with Jim soda of seasports which would set you up with private or semi private lessons and or the referral dives. He is very patient and just a pleasure to be around.

Thanks, I'll get in touch with him!

Please correct me if I am wrong. It sounds like you passed the classroom and pool work so technically can you just go with referral dives? This would mean no more formal instruction just the open water dives?

Exactly. And I already did the first 2, just had trouble equalizing. Since then I've been practicing equalizing using various techniques suggested by people here. The valsalva with swallow seems to be the most effective for me.
Cheers!
Matt

 

[FPDocMatt]

Matt:
I will guess you did your dives at Rawlings during the DUI Dog Days. The sloping hill is much better going down than up with all the gear on. A busy weekend for sure. We did our check-out dives there as well as year ago.

Yep, I was the guy stopping to rest every 5 minutes on the walk down.

Like you, my daughter and I had issues with telling people from our class from others.

Tell me about it!

My daughter had troubles equalizing also.

I'm having so much success equalizing now while not in the water (thanks to some helpful hints from people in Scubaboard), I bet I'll be okay during my next dive.

We were there on Sunday for this event and I believe that I heard someone from the DUI tent say they had more people there on Sunday than Sat. It did not help that the water was getting chilly and the weather outside, while comfortable with a jacket and dry, was less than that when wet. I more just wanted to let you know that you are not the only one that has these same issues out there when new. Been there and done that! With everyone going in and out of the water at the same place does get confusing and tends to overload the mind. More than likely by your description, where you guys were set up was in the shade, which also adds to the cold.

Thanks for the encouraging words. Yes, that's enough cold for me, we're off to the Caymans this Christmas.

 

[masizemore]

I don't really want to do another cold-water dive, with the thick wet suit and extra weights. I'll talk with the instructors at the resorts we're looking at before we book to see if they are willing to be patient. Also, I'll inquire about private classes to see if they're available and how much they'll cost.

In retrospect, there were red flags with the people at the dive shop. If I had just paid attention to them, I would have gone somewhere else.

On the other hand, despite the fact that I didn't finish my open-water dive, I did learn a great deal, and most of the experience was positive. So it was time well spent.

Even if I had gotten certified, I would have wanted to do another class in the Caribbean, because there's no way I am ready to dive on my own.

I agree with TSandM. We started in May, didn't finish cert until October. Our first attempt was similar in that everything that could go wrong did, wife in tears, son not wanting to go back in, me with ear injury, the only difference were the people skills of most of the people we dealt with. Some people just don't do well in the "typical" courses, we didn't (same thing washed out in first OW dive). We found another outfit that we were completely honest with and they were willing to help, said it didn't matter how long it took for us to be comfortable. Well it took almost three months with our schedules, etc but we DID do it. It wasn't fun starting over but in some ways the initial experience actually been helpful now (I don't push ear pressure/pain like I did that one time before), that and we appreciate more the training we did get the second time. Yes, it cost more with the second group, but we have already had one dive day outside of instruction (oddly enough, at the quarry we had so many issues at before, and it was great!) and have another diving weekend planned for the very near future so it has been a good investment. We still discuss our plans with our instructors, things to watch for/consider and they have been fantastic.

Our first class style works for some people (it did for the other 5 in our class), it just didn't for us.

Good luck, as someone said, there are patient instructors out there that remember what it is like.

p.s. Lugging the gear DOES get easier lol

 

[FPDocMatt]

Okay, I'm posting from The Sunset House Bar in Grand Cayman. The weather is gorgeous. The water is 81 degrees. I've now completed my certification, and today did a shore dive to 44 feet. I've still been having a bit of trouble equalizing, but it's coming much easier now. Tomorrow we'll be doing a boat dive.

The scuba experience for me is more about being in the water than about looking at things. There's something totally meditative about it.

The people here are as nice as could be. My wife and I had a private set of certification dives, just the two of us. They were nice and leisurely. In fact, they weren't like, "You have to do this, you have to demonstrate that," etc. It was more like, "Hey, we're going on a nice dive, and during the dive we'll do some required stuff." A totally different attitude.

It's interesting that everybody we see down here is thin and attractive. I like being surrounded by happy, successful people. Of course, being a resort, you don't find a lot of people not intent on having a good time.

You know, people say that you should get certified before you go to the Caribbean, but these instructors here are actually better than the instructors in our home town (in my opinion). What they call "the e-learner" seems best, since you get the classroom stuff on-line, then the in-the-water stuff at the resort.

Anyway, just thought I'd let all the kind people who replied to my earlier post of discontent know that I'm finally certified, and doing fine.

Merry Christmas!

 

[fisheater]

Congrats!!!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mselenaous]

they weren't like, "You have to do this, you have to demonstrate that," etc. It was more like, "Hey, we're going on a nice dive, and during the dive we'll do some required stuff." A totally different attitude.

That's the way training should be. So glad you finally found an instructor whose teaching style met your learning needs.
:dancingsnoopy:
Congrats!

(so when are you coming down the FL Keys? )

 

[Wolfie]

Shore dives at Sunset house and conch fritters at my bar..... These are two of my favorite things