PADI responded to their OW swim requirement...

[Thalassamania]

I'd have giving you the swim lessons that Rick suggested, he's right ... 'aint no big deal.

 

[TomP]

You have the sort of attitude that will (eventually) get you the skills you need. The OW course is intended to be a ENTRY level course, to be followed by....diving. The only way to become a good diver is to dive, not continously take courses. Ideally you should try and find a buddy who has more experience to dive with, that way you'll have someone to give you pointers. Even if your dive buddy is of the same experience level as yourself, you'll pick it up as you go as diving is not terribly complicated. Either path (given time) will lead you to being a good diver. Despite what's being said here, good divers are not produced directly from OW classes, they got a good foundation from the OW class to become a good diver in the future.

Not to be repetitious but back in the '70s the certification now called Open Water was called Basic SCUBA which I think was a lot closer to it's intent. I don't think too many people [maybe no one] is saying that OW directly produces good divers; I think the debate is whether it provides, as you say, the foundation to become a proficient diver. My instructor likened it to a learners permit, not even a drivers license.

Further to that point I also agree that a newly certified diver needs to dive to become proficient recreational diver. But, we should take care not to interpret increased proficiency as increased knowlege. Like OW before it, proficiency just lays the foundation for more advanced diving.

 

[Walter]

My instructor likened it to a learners permit, not even a drivers license.

A poor analogy. With a learner's permit, you must have a licensed driver with you. Two folks with learners' permit can't go driving together. Two people with brand new OW cards can. Sounds like an excuse not to do an adequate job of teaching.

 

[Nemrod]

It is just what I observe, whether they are poorely trained or just don't care, I see scuba divers laying on the reef, bouncing off the reef, carving their names in the reef and mostly just creating havoc--mostly due to ignorance--and most of the time they are PadI trained. What can I say beyond the truth of what I have seen.

I am confident that scuba divers and possibly fisherman are the primary environmental hazard to the reef/marine world.

Well, I guess it is human nature, but , learning a little bouyancy control would go a long way to a start towards making this better.

Underwater photogs--it is not allright to lay on the reef to get a pretty fish picture.

N

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Hmmm... Divers visit the lee side almost exclusively; the difference is dramatic and remarkable, especially soft coral density. My conclusion is that divers with poor buoyancy control have to be the cause of most of the damage on the lee side.
Rick

If we look at this example scientifically, maybe the presence of divers (including you) is the reason for most of the damage. Observers always forget the x -factor, themselves. To make a fair comparison, you must have an undisturbed area that is also on the lee side. Now, with a similar control area where only divers with perfect buoyancy but the same fish scaring/disturbing presence make the same number of dives as the typical recreational diver mix in another similar area.

What I'm saying is what if the real reason for most of the soft coral degradation is just our presence interupting the normal activity of the animals that eat the soft coral damaging elements of the origional ecosystem? Because of us the natural soft coral protections may be damaged without making any contact to the soft coral.

I recently had a student who is a mountain climber, the big serious stuff. By his fourth dive he still could not regulate those lungs and he was all over the place. I told him he would have to pay for another dive ($75 at our location) and I would get in the pool without additional charge but he would have to master buoyancy control before I would certify him. He did so I did, I know my divers showed me buoyancy control to get certified. How they behave on a reef may be a moral, ethical or enforcement issue. If you dive Molokini, most if not all the charter boat briefings include telling divers to stay off the reef and some of the guides will physically get you off the reef if you do not pay attention. How diligent are the captains and DM's taking those divers out to the Bonaire sites?

Then again, it could also be disease brought in on dive gear, so it could be due to the experienced divers because the newbies are in local rental gear.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I know this isn't going to get us anyplace that we haven't been before (and recently too) but what I see is divers in the bottom...most of the divers, most of the time.

It hasn't mattered where I've dived, Great Lakes wrecks, midwest quarries, Florida springs, east coast or the gulf. No doubt, there are other causes of damage but why add to it?

 

[Rick Murchison]

If we look at this example scientifically, maybe the presence of divers (including you) is the reason for most of the damage. Observers always forget the x -factor, themselves. To make a fair comparison, you must have an undisturbed area that is also on the lee side. Now, with a similar control area where only divers with perfect buoyancy but the same fish scaring/disturbing presence make the same number of dives as the typical recreational diver mix in another similar area.

What I'm saying is what if the real reason for most of the soft coral degradation is just our presence interupting the normal activity of the animals that eat the soft coral damaging elements of the origional ecosystem? Because of us the natural soft coral protections may be damaged without making any contact to the soft coral.

I recently had a student who is a mountain climber, the big serious stuff. By his fourth dive he still could not regulate those lungs and he was all over the place. I told him he would have to pay for another dive ($75 at our location) and I would get in the pool without additional charge but he would have to master buoyancy control before I would certify him. He did so I did, I know my divers showed me buoyancy control to get certified. How they behave on a reef may be a moral, ethical or enforcement issue. If you dive Molokini, most if not all the charter boat briefings include telling divers to stay off the reef and some of the guides will physically get you off the reef if you do not pay attention. How diligent are the captains and DM's taking those divers out to the Bonaire sites?

Then again, it could also be disease brought in on dive gear, so it could be due to the experienced divers because the newbies are in local rental gear.

The comparison is sorta like comparing a bulldozer to a hiker.
It is the kicking, the silting, the banging into the reef that does the damage. It's not the looking - or even the gentle touching of a skilled hand - that scars and breaks and kills. As for disease, most are "opportunistic." They're always around; all they need is a lesion to invade, a lesion provided by that careless fin kick.
No, it isn't the diver who destroys, it is the careless diver, the unskilled diver, the ignorant diver, the diver who can't stay off the bottom.
Rick

 

[sweatfrog]

The comparison is sorta like comparing a bulldozer to a hiker.
It is the kicking, the silting, the banging into the reef that does the damage. It's not the looking - or even the gentle touching of a skilled hand - that scars and breaks and kills. As for disease, most are "opportunistic." They're always around; all they need is a lesion to invade, a lesion provided by that careless fin kick.
No, it isn't the diver who destroys, it is the careless diver, the unskilled diver, the ignorant diver, the diver who can't stay off the bottom.
Rick

Can you say "Global Warming"?

 

[MikeFerrara]

Can you say "Global Warming"?

Kicking a piece of coral to death will get the job done much faster than leaving it alone and waiting for the seas to warm.

 

[TomP]

A poor analogy. With a learner's permit, you must have a licensed driver with you. Two folks with learners' permit can't go driving together. Two people with brand new OW cards can. Sounds like an excuse not to do an adequate job of teaching.

Her intent was to convey a sense of wariness and reinforce the notion that proficiency can only come with experience. You get to trade in your learners permit for a drivers license after you demonstrate the ability to fasten your seat belt, drive straight, turn left and right, and parallel park to the satisfaction of your examiner. Passing the test implies only a level of proficiency at or above minimum standards. It doesn't imply a level of profiency adequate for all, or even most, conditions or environments. That's why insurance rates for new drivers are so high.