New Scuba Diver in Cape Verde but soon to the world

[Dody]

[QUOTE="Maxwelll, post:
But it does open up a larger conversation about how OW courses should be taught - should students even be passed without having a fundamental grasp of buoyancy? You'd think not. Yes it takes time and practice to get it down just right, but you'd think they could equip you with all the necessary fundamentals during OW training.
.[/QUOTE]
Not all instructors are trained in Physics which is a pity. For example, an instructor told me that once at depth, if you have good buoyancy control, you don't touch your LPI no more. That buoyancy does not depend on depth. Well, first part is true ... and second is wrong. If you are neutrally buyoant at 15 ft, you will be negative at 100ft so you will have to adjust. Simple physics. All it took for me to get it was the formula B=Vo*Dl-Wo. Another example is that CESA really freaked me out even though my instructor kept on telling me that it was easier done than thought. Had he re explained to me the principle that the more you ascend, the more air will be in my lungs and that continue to exhale would not be an issue, I would have understood that even from 60 ft (100, 130???) , it is possible to do a smooth CESA.
Same principle applies to the cylinder. Empty at 30 meters does not mean empty at 10 meters. In fact, even empty at the surface is not really empty.
There are people who are not comfortable when they are taught things they don't understand.
But we can't ask from instructors to be physicists, shrinks in addition to their teaching and diving skills

 

[bmorescuba]

Very nice pics. Can I ask you what kind of material you have?

I shoot an Olympus OM-D EM1mkII camera in a Nauticam housing with Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobes. The pictures from Cape Verde were almost all using the Olympus 60mm macro lens with one strobe. Cheers!

 

[adiverslife]

No, the agencies that did require quarterly system tests...

• Never enforced those requirements;
• Now no longer even give lip serviced to checking systems;
• And hardly any fill stations have and run inline CO monitors with automatic shutoffs.

Any busy compressor can overheat and produce CO internally, and no one is doing much.


I doubt that it has inline CO monitors with automatic shutoff. Does it? If so, please post photos including auto-shutoff.


And that is not at all true.

The best we can do is carry, maintain, and use tank testers.

Fair assessment - my buoyancy was also rough immediately after my OW course. I wonder if how useful a buoyancy course is is largely determined by how good your OW course was to begin with. My OW course consisted of maybe four pool sessions, then the checkout dives in the ocean. During these we'd descend, and smash into the bottom at 30 ft. Not sure anyone even bothered letting me know that's now how you do that. Where I train now, they say they don't even let anyone into open water with fewer than NINE pool sessions - yet both schools are SSI-affiliated. I did end up taking the buoyancy course and it wasn't exactly exhaustive - one pool session, basically. I will say my buoyancy now is much better, but I think that's largely from just getting more time in the water. I'm guessing the real value, from any course, is what your instructor puts into it.

But it does open up a larger conversation about how OW courses should be taught - should students even be passed without having a fundamental grasp of buoyancy? You'd think not. Yes it takes time and practice to get it down just right, but you'd think they could equip you with all the necessary fundamentals during OW training.



Couldn't agree more about it buoyancy being a core skill - along with breathing, trim, and propulsion. I'm a perfectionist in these areas (as in I strive for perfection, not that I've attained it) so I understand the desire to learn the skill regardless of how often you'll be flashing your buoyancy cert. I think James' point on the video is that that offering and charging students for buoyancy lessons is inherently sketchy in his opinion, since he thinks an instructor should teach buoyancy as part of the OW course, not as an optional add-on.

Although I have never spoken to a dive shop about this, the challenge a dive shop has is that people are down here on vacation and 2 days doing a referral is pushing the amount of time people are willing to spend on their vacation to doing work. I have seen that some US instructors skipped some of the necessary training and dive instructors here, in Bonaire, have had to cram a lot more work in the 2 days to finish the open water referral portion. I agree that the buoyancy education in, at least PADI, could be better developed. For example, I don't like the fin pivot because you don't want students doing fin pivots in a marine reserve area and I don't think it is all that effective.

Perhaps what is needed is for PADI to offer a half day specialty for open water students who wish to improve their buoyancy. ... Essentially, make it optional and make it so that it can be taught by DMs and not just instructors. Instructors, often have quite a load they are dealing with. The motivator would be to help newly certified divers extend their dive time or simply to refresh the skill after being out of the water for extended periods. Usually, a diver with poor buoyancy can easily cut their dive in half. So, give them their open water, certify them to dive and then give them the option - maybe call it the OW+ course. I would limit class sizes to give people individual attention. I think it would work on Bonaire but I don't know about other places. Bruce Bowker, used to have a widely popular buoyancy class that people used to line up for when they came down. He did it for free for guests but it did not include an in-water assessment. So, the class should involve in-water assessment and correction of buoyancy. If you charge people, say $100 for it I think it would be a no brainer. I don't think it would be enough time for dry suit divers but perhaps others who do a lot of dry suit diving could weigh in.

What do others think about this approach?

 

[Dody]

I got caught for the first time in a strong current on my 12th dive 30 meters deep. Impressive. Didn’t see it coming. And did not understand at first, I thought I was not moving forward because my finning technique was poor. The DM who was 10 meters away did not understand either as he was out of the current. He kept waving me to go to him and was puzzled that I kept looking at my SPG (went from 120 to 100 bars in a few minutes fighting the current to comply with DM instructions and I had forgotten the signs to let him know what the problem was). Then I went up and diagonally avoiding it and used the reef to escalade and escape.
I liked the experience. At least, now I know. On the other hand, the DM was really moved. He aborted the dive and we slowly surfaced. Said it was very dangerous. I still had 100 bar in my tank. I wanted to return but he was fearful for my safety and refused.

 

[Dody]

Although I have never spoken to a dive shop about this, the challenge a dive shop has is that people are down here on vacation and 2 days doing a referral is pushing the amount of time people are willing to spend on their vacation to doing work. I have seen that some US instructors skipped some of the necessary training and dive instructors here, in Bonaire, have had to cram a lot more work in the 2 days to finish the open water referral portion. I agree that the buoyancy education in, at least PADI, could be better developed. For example, I don't like the fin pivot because you don't want students doing fin pivots in a marine reserve area and I don't think it is all that effective.

Perhaps what is needed is for PADI to offer a half day specialty for open water students who wish to improve their buoyancy. ... Essentially, make it optional and make it so that it can be taught by DMs and not just instructors. Instructors, often have quite a load they are dealing with. The motivator would be to help newly certified divers extend their dive time or simply to refresh the skill after being out of the water for extended periods. Usually, a diver with poor buoyancy can easily cut their dive in half. So, give them their open water, certify them to dive and then give them the option - maybe call it the OW+ course. I would limit class sizes to give people individual attention. I think it would work on Bonaire but I don't know about other places. Bruce Bowker, used to have a widely popular buoyancy class that people used to line up for when they came down. He did it for free for guests but it did not include an in-water assessment. So, the class should involve in-water assessment and correction of buoyancy. If you charge people, say $100 for it I think it would be a no brainer. I don't think it would be enough time for dry suit divers but perhaps others who do a lot of dry suit diving could weigh in.

What do others think about this approach?

Hello. In essence, what woud be the difference with taking a buoyancy specialty course? The duration? The price?

 

[Dody]

I shoot an Olympus OM-D EM1mkII camera in a Nauticam housing with Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobes. The pictures from Cape Verde were almost all using the Olympus 60mm macro lens with one strobe. Cheers!

I plan to spend the next week-end in Tarrafal with my wife. Mostly for diving. Any advice?

 

[DandyDon]

I plan to spend the next week-end in Tarrafal with my wife. Mostly for diving. Any advice?

Advic on cameras? Don't carry one for the first hundred dives.