regrets...I've had a few...er, skills I learnt after the fact

[fast97rs]

Well... other then working more with boyency....

I have grown up fishing, skin diving, shrimping, and lobstering.... but i noticed that nowere in the coarse do they explain what are the thinkgs to do if you recieve an injury... such as accent and treatment... other then incidents having to do with the diver holding his breath (blocks and reverse block)... im talking about treating a major cut, how to remove a hook from your buddy and what not.... (hooks are easy to get out... u just finish pushing them through and cut the barb off the tip and then just pull out...) but you guys get the idea....

That and i never noticed anything about what possible dangers on the bottom... i know your wearing a wet suit and gloves... but i think this is something divers should know... like how to identify certain fish, and what "fire coral" looks like... what jelly fish look like, and how to treat any of the injuries that can happen from these organisms.......

I think that they should have it atleast in the book... i read the whole Naui cert. book and still no info on any of that....

Just my $.02....

Jorgy

 

[fast97rs]

sorry... my mistake

 

[Tom725]

Well... other then working more with boyency....

I have grown up fishing, skin diving, shrimping, and lobstering.... but i noticed that nowere in the coarse do they explain what are the thinkgs to do if you recieve an injury... such as accent and treatment... other then incidents having to do with the diver holding his breath (blocks and reverse block)... im talking about treating a major cut, how to remove a hook from your buddy and what not.... (hooks are easy to get out... u just finish pushing them through and cut the barb off the tip and then just pull out...) but you guys get the idea....

That and i never noticed anything about what possible dangers on the bottom... i know your wearing a wet suit and gloves... but i think this is something divers should know... like how to identify certain fish, and what "fire coral" looks like... what jelly fish look like, and how to treat any of the injuries that can happen from these organisms.......

I think that they should have it atleast in the book... i read the whole Naui cert. book and still no info on any of that....

Just my $.02....

Jorgy

IMHO, you cannot teach every enviornment in a basic class. The hazards diving in a wreck in Lake Michigan are far different from the hazards of fire coral. When I teach I always ask why the students are learning to dive. If they plan to dive Lake Michigan I talk about that. If they are going to Cozumel, I talk about drift diving. If they are going to a warm water site we talk about staying off the reef.

If you reread your open water book after you have been diving for a while you will be amazed the things in the book that you do not remember, did not learn or did not understand at the time.

Maintain your bouyancy. Move slowly. Dive within your skill. Keep learning.

AOW gives you five more dives under supervision. It makes you a better diver, if not a MUCH better diver.

 

[Shrew]

We completed our open water certification last august in the bahamas. Not knowing anything, I attempted to mimic our instructor. I copied his bouyancy, trim, kicks, and lack of motion. It seemed to work as I was very relaxed, comfortable, and moved w/ ease w/o needless leg fanning.

We're headin south in 3 weeks for our first dive trip and I can't wait to lay in the ocean's water again, inches from the sandy bottom, motionless, watching the suspended particles and the reef living before me.

 

[MASS-Diver]

The main thing both my OW and AOW classes were missing was any information on gas planning. There was none. No one ever taught me at what pressure I should start to come up during a dive at X depth. 500psi, 1000psi - whatever? It's the biggest weakness in dive instruction these days and the fact is, many instructors don't know how to manage their gas either.

 

[dilligaf368]

IMO, there are lots of divers out there that just want the "patches" from all the classes. Bragging rights go right along with that.
From an OLD moldy diver: Get more water time. Experence is the path to being a better diver ALONG with the classes. I see too many divers that want to "Go Deep". New divers will "follow along" with that spirit and "Test themselves" by going too deep and too long and get into trouble fast.
New divers sometimes get to believe there is more to see deeper. Some divers think that there are MORE things deeper and don't have the new discovery taste to them as the shallow stuff does. In the Pacific Northwest there are more "things" in the shallows (60' or less). I have taught My Kids that there is more to see shallow. More dive time is allowed by the tables, shallow.
The best advice to the new diver is to stay shallow and get more time in the water. Practice the "Basics" and have them become a "Part of You" instead of learning everything over and over again. By that I mean that less time in the water and long periods of time between dives means that the diver will experence re-learning the basics on each dive.
I wish that new divers would spend less time between dives and do them shallow and allowing more water time per dive. As the "water time" increases then the Classes for "advancement" be added.
Some People take class after class and almost all of them inside 5 years. It doesn't make them Good divers just lots of class smart, not water smart. 'Just my thoughts......Bill

 

[Web Monkey]

Now that you've moved beyond being 'new to diving' (define that as you like) what skills do you wish you'd learned in OW cert (or other entry cert)? OR What have you learned in the meantime that you consider essential? How'd you learn it?

Most of the skills that I consider essential were covered in OW, but it took a while before I realized how important they were, or that something the book devoted a paragraph to, really could have used a chapter.

• How to decide if you're in over your head (no pun intended) and that it's OK to call a dive for no other reason than "it doesn't seem right".
• Proper weighting is everything. If you're using a drysuit, this goes double.
• You need an equipment technician and shop that you trust with your life, because that's what you're doing.
• That if you're very quiet and don't move, interesting things will show themselves.
• That the last word in your personal safety is you. Not the instructor, not the DM, not even your buddy.
• You can learn a lot by diving with someone who is better than you if you watch and listen carefully and ask questions.
• The $80 dive that you blow off will seem like the bargain of a lifetime when you're sitting in the bar with a burger and a beer, looking out over an ocean that looks like it's auditioning for the Weather Channel.
• Always analyze every tank of Nitrox before you use it. Don't trust anybody.

Terry

 

[ScubaZone]

What skills should be learned?

Before “ALL” the agencies found they could make a chunk of change by dividing up every little skill, OW used to be what OW, AOW, Rescue and a few other skills all rolled into one just for OW.

IMHO I think it was a combination between the cash and the amount of people failing the courses. A while back the failure rate was very high. Today it is very low. Are they producing better divers today? I don’t think so but they have made it much easier to get an OW card. In the process, a lot of important skills are skipped and are being left up to the new diver to learn as they can afford them.

Gary D.

I think you may have meant to refer to Instructors as opposed to Agencies. I for one know I can and am encouraged by my agency to teach in excess of the basic OW standard. At the end of the day it is really up to the instructor and there commitment to the growth of the industry and there own reputation.

 

[JulieannevZ]

I agree with what people have said here about remaining motionless, and about bouyancy skills being most important.

I'm still new to diving ( done only 40 dives ) and my bouyancy is still not as it should be. I'm becoming more relaxed with each dive and getting much better all the time.

Regarding the Open Water course, and what it teaches - I found that I was taught too much, and just couldn't take all of it in. Perhaps it was because I did the course over just 2 weekends. First w/e in the pool and 2nd in the Open Water.

And, that's just me. I was pretty slow at learning about all the equipment. I'd never done anything remotely like that before.

 

[boxcar]

The skill that I am most grateful for learning is communication.

After reading and re-reading this thread, I wanted to give a plug for communication, both above and below the surface...I never have a good dive if I feel I can't trust my buddy for whatever reason...and communication is a big part of that...As I dive in a club to which I am a relatively new member, I find myself often diving with buddies for the first time...and having that pre-dive chat about experience, conditions, safety and dive planning makes all the difference to me in terms of relaxing and having a good dive...I wish I'd have learnt sooner what to ask and not ask in that pre-dive chat...