PADI Certification too quick?

[Scuba_John]

Hovering not on the list? I think you may want to update your PADI que cards. OW d4 Line items 9 Buoyancy control - hovering. This is something simple and used on every dive. IE safety stop Also a skill i was given in the IE and Im sure almost everyone remembers the skills they had to show and control in their IE.

 

[neil]

Which regs were those?

I've had one in my hand, can't remember the manufacturer. It was an upstream tilt-valve second stage which could fail in the closed postion. Sweet.

Neil

 

[DENNISDIVES]

As a Naui Instructor I partially agree. If the students are "water people" then they seem to do fine. However some students need that extra time that a longer course offers. Sadly because of comptetion in our area we have been forced to do weekend classes. Consisting of Friday night, Saturday and Sunday then open water the following weekend.

 

[The Fresh Prince]

Hovering not on the list? I think you may want to update your PADI que cards. OW d4 Line items 9 Buoyancy control - hovering. This is something simple and used on every dive. IE safety stop Also a skill i was given in the IE and Im sure almost everyone remembers the skills they had to show and control in their IE.

The only "hovering" we were taught was to sit vertical in a lotus position off of the bottom. Don't know if that counts for bouyancy. Same demonstration in my DM class. :06:

 

[diverbob]

Like someone said earlier...PADI teaches the basics for OW. I think it is up to the student to use some judgement on their own part. If they struggled during the OW checkout dives, they know they did. They should know they arent ready to go down and check out the wall dives in Cozumel. But is it any different from getting your drivers license? There, you take a written test, and drive for 10 minutes with someone in the car with you. Then you are on your own. That doesnt mean you are ready to hop in an 18-wheeler and drive across country. I know when I did my OW class, I knew I had a lot of work to do to get better. I asked my LDS if I could go with them on other OW classes, and hang out behind the platform working on hovering while they do checkouts with the rest of the class. The LDs saw I was commited to making my self a better, and safer diver, and never charged me for that, and always let me go. I didnt even have 30 dives in yet, and I had a reg free flow on me at Mermet. I didnt panic, I signaled to my buddy I was having problems and we aborted the dive. Sure, PADI OW class taught me what hand signals to use for that, but common sense taught me it was time to end the dive.

Now, for other PADI certs, I do think those come a little too quickly. I dont think you should be able to do AOW until you get some dives under your belt. SInce one of them is a deep dive, I think you better have the buoyancy thing figured out, otherwise you can get in trouble in a hurry. And it better be second nature when you try and do the Navigation class, otherwise you are going to either be at the surface before you know it, or going face first into the bottom while you are looking at your compass.

And as far as DMC, being able to get in with only 20 dives is crazy. I just talked to my LDS about this last week. I want to get into DMC, but wasnt sure if I was ready to start it yet, and I am at 76 dives right now. (72 of them this year alone.)

I guess what I am trying to say is PADI, or any other group can set whatever standards they want, but its common sense and up to the diver to decide what they can and can not handle.

 

[z969942]

What is wrong with doing 84 quarry dives and 16 ocean dives? Are you trying to imply that people who have more dives in the ocean are better divers or would make better instructors?

What's wrong?????? You aren't a well rounded diver/instructor. I'm sure your knowledge of wreck diving is vast, diving "The Flamingo" at Haigh. Pass that knowledge along to all your students.

The answer to your question, "Are you trying to imply that people who have more dives in the ocean are better divers or would make better instructors?", YES you'd probably be a much better diver/instructor!!

 

[emtdan]

you DO know what PADI should stand for?

Put Another Dollar In

 

[diverbob]

What's wrong?????? You aren't a well rounded diver/instructor. I'm sure your knowledge of wreck diving is vast, diving "The Flamingo" at Haigh. Pass that knowledge along to all your students.

The answer to your question, "Are you trying to imply that people who have more dives in the ocean are better divers or would make better instructors?", YES you'd probably be a much better diver/instructor!!

I have to disagree with this to an extent. Sure, you might get to do more, and see more stuff in the ocean, but diving is diving. You cant fault people for where they live, and diving what is accessible to them. Sure, ocean divers probably are better at wreck diving, but I would bet that quarry divers are better at navigation, because anyone can get where they want to go with 80+ foot vis. Try going where you want to go in 2 or 3 foot vis. Almost seems like you are trying to pit quarry vs ocean divers. Who cares where you dive, as long as your diving.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I think you need more than quarry dives to have a well rounded pool of experience but quarries can offer some very challending conditions. They sometimes have very cold water, poor vis and deep water. Wazzie for instance is about 350 ft deep and it's just a little above freezing down ther all the time.

At the same time some ocean divers are diving the same warm water reef dives all the time. Big deal.

I myself don't have a lot of ocean dives but I have a bunch of dives in the Great Lakes. There too we have water as deep and as cold as you want it not to mention that current and high seas aren't at all uncommon.

Other than quarries and fresh water lakes I have more dives in caves than any place else. Those range from the pretty, fairly warm, Florida caves to some shallow low vis, cold Kentucky sumps that we had to haul our gear up and down mountains using ropes to get into. The ones we dive the most are the Missouri caves which range from high 40's to mig 50's (deg F) and a shallow short dive is 150 ft with a run time of 75 or 80 minutes. We won't go into what the deeper, longer ones are like. And then there are the flooded mines (and no I don't mean that tourist trap Bonn Terr). Mine Lamotte is like 45 deg F variable vis and has miles of tunnels and a maze of lines. Current? Some caves have flow that'll just about tear your face off along with your mask. LOL

How coiuld I get to the keys when I'd have to drive through N. Florida cave country to get there?

Oh and many of the caves are free to get in. No schedules, no DM no 10 minutes to dive call. Just do what you want, when you want. When you finish diving you can throw some sticks on the ground, drop in a match, throw some meat in and in a little while you're eating. Heck some are unexplored or the entrances are out in a lake and only the small cave diving community even know where they are. Of course for my wife and I the gas for a weekend of diving can cost a bunch...helium is like gold only way more useful.

I'd like to get out and do a few more ocean dives but salt water tasts lousy, I have to pass up free caves to pay big bucks on boats and then I'd have to actually clean my gear.

I'm thinking a good salt water trip would be to go down to the gulf and have uncle Rick take me huntin. I haven't done that in salt water. I've done some catfish sticking in Arkansas but nothing in the gulf.

A couple Northeast wrecks would be cool too...and maybe a trip out west to dive BC.

I guess any place there's water is a good place to dive but don't you salt water guys get to stuck up because some of us fresh water folks could take you out and show you some stuff.

Besides...our fish look like fish!

 

[MikeFerrara]

Did I mention the fantastic, 100+ year old and intact wooden wrecks full of cargo we have?

Come on....Labor Day!