Non-Injury Incident in Cancun

[ItsBruce]

I had the good fortune to go through a program that ran for something like 4 weeks. We met twice a week, once in the classroom and once in the pool. Then we did our ocean dives. Not only did we get a lot more practice, by getting it over a longer period of time, we retained more.

It is too bad training is not like this very often.

Going back to the original post, I, too, have criticisms of both of the buddies. One for letting his buddy surface alone, one for descending again.

That being said, I can see why the one diver descended again. If the diver did not live near a place to dive, he would not be able to dive unless he was on a vacation to a place where he could dive. But, if he was unsure whether he could bring himself to dive, he might not take a vacation to a dive destination.

I relate the following: A number of years ago, while on vacation, I did a dive on which I had problems. I am not positive about all that went wrong. I think one key problem was that it was the first time I used a hood and it was too tight across my throat. Another was that I think I was too buoyant and thought that I was being pulled by the current and that I had to pull myself down the anchor line. I burned a lot of air very quickly. I did not panic, but instead signaled the DM that something was wrong and we surfaced together.

I had decided to sit out the second dive. I was ok, but simply did not feel like diving. However, the skipper urged me to make the dive. (One might say she threw me into the water.) I had a great dive and really enjoyed it. In hindsight I realized that the DM probably had his hand on my tank for the first 5 or 10 minutes of the dive; just in case.

I am pretty sure that had the skipper not urged me to make the dive, I would never have dived again. It was one thing to make the dive while I was there on the boat and being urged to try. But, it is unlikely I would have gone out of my way to go on another dive trip/dive boat had I not known I could still dive and enjoy it.

Thus, I could see why the fellow discussed in the original post needed to see if he could still dive.

Note: It took 8 years before I wore a hood again ... and it was a different hood.

 

[stevejaz]

Agreed, some people just get it, some don't. Some think "hey, it would be cool to dive!" but have rarely taken a breath through a snorkel before or put a mask on. It's a different world when you can't just take a normal breath and some people don't understand it.

I think it's great you went through the elearning so well, the more successes the better. There are some people who need a slower pace and personally, having the instructor there to talk about different experiences he's had or seen was really helpful - just like this sub forum can be.

Can you imagine what your buddy's wife would be like if she did your two day course though?

You can't get too much slower, you can take up to a year to do the elearning

Personally, I think elearning is very good as it is interactive and forces the participant to engage. How many times have you read a page of a book, gotten to the end and thought "what did I just read" because you were mentally making a grocery list at the same time or whatever? I do it all the time but this program doesn't give you that lull with it's video based curriculum, frequent testing, and forced interaction. If you'd like to judge for yourself, PM me.

I'll admit, when I started the elearning, I was one of those people that thought I'll just buzz through this formality so I can get on with the good stuff but elearning actually made it interesting. Facing the prospect of reading a book with a bunch of dry facts and such was not a prospect that I looked forward to. I probably would have read the test questions and scanned the book for the answers, consequently not getting much out of it but enough to pass the tests. Now would be a different story because diving has obviously captured my interests, but it hadn't then, it was still a formality.

So, I don't think it should replace the interaction with an instructor as much as it should be used to supplement it.

BTW, I say all of this not so much to counter or agree with your points but for those that may read this looking for information about getting certified.

And, as for my friend's wife...it's like you say, "some people get it, some don't". She gets it and understands it...putting it to practice is often another story.

Steve

 

[Chris Tauzin]

At the very least - He should have told his buddy he was going up.

 

[mikerault]

Until there is accountability there is no responsibility, whether it is at the certification agency level or personal level. We all release the various agencies from accountability so therefore they have no responsibility.