I thought I would take the time to share my personal experience doing the PADI Open water class. I will break it up a bit so it isn't just one big lump of text.
BEFORE THE CLASS
My journey started when my wife and I book our first trip out of the states for our 10th anniversary. We were not looking for a dive vacation, but after settling on a resort that included free scuba for certified divers, the spark was reignited in me to get certified. After reading these forums, I realized that finding the right dive shop to do our open water class would not be as simple as I thought. I went to several dive shops to talk to the shops about getting certified. While it is completely subjective, I ended up going with a dive shop where one of the instructors happened to be in. He showed me a photo book of his dive trips. HIs passion and excitement are what made this dive store stand out. In hindsight, I now realize that I only spoke to salespeople at the other dive shops and didn't give them a fair chance.
I paid for the full open water course at the dive shop and was handed the PADI plastic zipper folder with the manual, log book, PADI personnel folder, and several flyers about buying gear from the store, student discount, and I think something about used gear. I was also told there was a code in the folder to play with a dive computer simulator.
I briefly looked at the items and then wrapped them up as a Christmas present to myself and wife.
When my wife and I finally pulled out the material for the class, we were both overwhelmed with the amount of content. The dive shop instructed us to read the entire manual and answer all of the section quizzes before the Friday night class. We were also instructed to watch all of the section video content which was also provided.
As my wife and I went through all of the material, we felt that it would have been much better to take a class that covered a section at a time. We found it strange that we not only read about theory but also watched videos about the water skills we would need to complete. We found it even stranger that the manual and videos build off of each other. It seemed to us that the class was meant to be completed over several weekends instead of one.
Since I was curious, I also used the dive computer simulator which was completely pointless. I thought I would be able to play with the computer, but instead, it was all scripted. Not much of a simulator and in my opinion a missed opportunity.
BUYING PERSONAL ITEMS
This dive shop required us to buy our personal items for the class. My dad left me some old scuba pro jet fins. We also found some never used rocket fins for my wife for $10.00. My wife already had a dive mask and I bought a prescription dive mask with a snorkel from SeaVision. That just left buying booties for myself and a snorkel for my wife.
I was underwhelmed by this shopping trip. Maybe it has to do with the lack of choices. I ended up with the manta boots by Aqualung and my wife bought an echozip ergo boot. A lot of this had to do with the sizes that were available. Hard to compare boots in sizes that don't fit.
THE CLASSROOM
I am not sure what we were expecting for the classroom section. Maybe our expectations were too high. The instructor I talked with originally was not the instructor for the class. In fact, this was the first class our instructor was teaching as the lead instructor. You could tell. He got off topic easily and even got some of the questions wrong when going over our book quiz answers.
In the end, the classroom work seemed completely pointless to us. Nothing fun about going through each section quiz question one answer at a time. While a few of our fellow students had some questions, in the end, I am not sure the point of it was besides taking the quizzes and final exam, both of which were easy. That said, I must admit I got one wrong on the exam. I put a diver must be within 100 feet of a dive flag when it is 50. Boaters need to stay at least 100 feet away from dive flag. Oh well. My wife was happy since she also got one wrong. Everything is a competition with her.
To Be Continued.....
BEFORE THE CLASS
My journey started when my wife and I book our first trip out of the states for our 10th anniversary. We were not looking for a dive vacation, but after settling on a resort that included free scuba for certified divers, the spark was reignited in me to get certified. After reading these forums, I realized that finding the right dive shop to do our open water class would not be as simple as I thought. I went to several dive shops to talk to the shops about getting certified. While it is completely subjective, I ended up going with a dive shop where one of the instructors happened to be in. He showed me a photo book of his dive trips. HIs passion and excitement are what made this dive store stand out. In hindsight, I now realize that I only spoke to salespeople at the other dive shops and didn't give them a fair chance.
I paid for the full open water course at the dive shop and was handed the PADI plastic zipper folder with the manual, log book, PADI personnel folder, and several flyers about buying gear from the store, student discount, and I think something about used gear. I was also told there was a code in the folder to play with a dive computer simulator.
I briefly looked at the items and then wrapped them up as a Christmas present to myself and wife.
When my wife and I finally pulled out the material for the class, we were both overwhelmed with the amount of content. The dive shop instructed us to read the entire manual and answer all of the section quizzes before the Friday night class. We were also instructed to watch all of the section video content which was also provided.
As my wife and I went through all of the material, we felt that it would have been much better to take a class that covered a section at a time. We found it strange that we not only read about theory but also watched videos about the water skills we would need to complete. We found it even stranger that the manual and videos build off of each other. It seemed to us that the class was meant to be completed over several weekends instead of one.
Since I was curious, I also used the dive computer simulator which was completely pointless. I thought I would be able to play with the computer, but instead, it was all scripted. Not much of a simulator and in my opinion a missed opportunity.
BUYING PERSONAL ITEMS
This dive shop required us to buy our personal items for the class. My dad left me some old scuba pro jet fins. We also found some never used rocket fins for my wife for $10.00. My wife already had a dive mask and I bought a prescription dive mask with a snorkel from SeaVision. That just left buying booties for myself and a snorkel for my wife.
I was underwhelmed by this shopping trip. Maybe it has to do with the lack of choices. I ended up with the manta boots by Aqualung and my wife bought an echozip ergo boot. A lot of this had to do with the sizes that were available. Hard to compare boots in sizes that don't fit.
THE CLASSROOM
I am not sure what we were expecting for the classroom section. Maybe our expectations were too high. The instructor I talked with originally was not the instructor for the class. In fact, this was the first class our instructor was teaching as the lead instructor. You could tell. He got off topic easily and even got some of the questions wrong when going over our book quiz answers.
In the end, the classroom work seemed completely pointless to us. Nothing fun about going through each section quiz question one answer at a time. While a few of our fellow students had some questions, in the end, I am not sure the point of it was besides taking the quizzes and final exam, both of which were easy. That said, I must admit I got one wrong on the exam. I put a diver must be within 100 feet of a dive flag when it is 50. Boaters need to stay at least 100 feet away from dive flag. Oh well. My wife was happy since she also got one wrong. Everything is a competition with her.
To Be Continued.....
