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

[matt_unique]

• 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

I like this list too. Anyone in the group must be comfortable calling a dive at any time for any reason. I think this understanding should be emphasized to students.

In terms of weighting, I think most OW instructors concentrate on sinking the students the get on with the class rather than taking 1 student at a time into the water with a 500psi tank to really do it right. Perhaps some do but this has not been my experience.

--Matt

 

[adurso]

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.

When I was initially certified, through NAUI, 30 something odd years ago, the initial class required skills that are not required today. Back then the student had to tread water for quite a while, swim some exorbitant distance, the instructors would tear your equipment off underwater and so on. This is what I believe Gary D is referring to. There were no specialty courses. Most of the information learned in advanced or specialty classes was presented in the basic class. Many feel the dive industry has become too commercialized. Many students did fail these early classes due to rigorous academic content as well as skills. I know instructors today are encouraged to go above and beyond the basics, but they are not required to do so.

 

[fast97rs]

When I was initially certified, through NAUI, 30 something odd years ago, the initial class required skills that are not required today. Back then the student had to tread water for quite a while, swim some exorbitant distance, the instructors would tear your equipment off underwater and so on. This is what I believe Gary D is referring to. There were no specialty courses. Most of the information learned in advanced or specialty classes was presented in the basic class. Many feel the dive industry has become too commercialized. Many students did fail these early classes due to rigorous academic content as well as skills. I know instructors today are encouraged to go above and beyond the basics, but they are not required to do so.

Well... i just got my cert. through Naui and they made us swim 250 yards, thread water for 10 minutes, and do an underwater swim for 25 yards, they also stripped our equipment, made us swim without masks, make us swim with a blacked out mask (so that we learn to swim forward and get confortable following a single coarse)... but then again... i took the coarse at my University (FIU)... and it lasted almost 3 months....

the only thing we didn't go over much is neutral boyancy... they did with free diving gear... but not with scuba gear on.....

Just my $.02

 

[adurso]

Well... i just got my cert. through Naui and they made us swim 250 yards, thread water for 10 minutes, and do an underwater swim for 25 yards, they also stripped our equipment, made us swim without masks, make us swim with a blacked out mask (so that we learn to swim forward and get confortable following a single coarse)... but then again... i took the coarse at my University (FIU)... and it lasted almost 3 months....

the only thing we didn't go over much is neutral boyancy... they did with free diving gear... but not with scuba gear on.....

Just my $.02

Interesting. Did they throw your gear into 30 feet of water and make you jump in and dress while being harassed by an instructor? Did they have instructors come along and turn off your air and tear your mask off at depth? Your course sounds more like the old course, although for college credit I would imagine it would be in greater detail than a dive shop class. Did they do deco procedures also? Do any other Florida colleges offer scuba for credit?

 

[lorien]

Looking back on my OW classes, it is hard to believe what I was NOT taught. My instructor did not even get in the pool with us with the exception of 1 time. The rest of the time he actually sat in a chair on the side of the pool in his clothes and told us what to do. I was never required to remove and replace my mask in the pool. Imagine my shock when I was asked to do it in open water first time on a wet suit, hood and gloves at about 30' in cold water. A different instructor went into the lake with us and my instructor stayed on the boat in his clothes. Amazing that this is allowed to happend within any agency. I knew that I had not learned what I needed to know and that I had not been taught properly. My first dive outside of class was with someone I met in the same OW class, we rented gear and went to the lake to attempt a dive by ourselves which I was not really comfortable with as I had an idea that there was so much we had not learned. Luckily several members of a local dive club showed up and took us along on their dive. I joined the local club and started diving with more experienced people right away and started learning what I had not been taught; proper weighting, bouyancy control, etc, etc. Good experienced divers were vey helpful in helping me advance my skills as I tend to ask lots of questions and watch everyone to see how they are doing what they are doing. Since then I have found a LDS that I love dealing with along with instructors there that I really trust and enjoy working with. I have tagged along with several OW classes and praticed the skills that I was never shown and never even imagined doing such as no mask swims, breathing from a free flowing reg, pre-dive safety checks, communication, etc, etc. In addition I have taken numerous specialty courses and I learned somthing from every one of them as well as continued to increase my skills overall. Rescue class also really helped me advance and now I am doing DM. I think that a lot depends on who your instructor is and what their dedication to diving is or is not. There are a lot of good instructors out there, some mediocre ones and some who truly should not be teaching at all.

 

[adurso]

The instructor is all important. My civilian instructor was a friend and co-worker, I was so blase about him turning my air off that when I had an o-ring blow at 120' on a wreck we were on I thought he had done it again! This was before octos and SPGs, so the look of shock on his face when I made the throat cutting motion was priceless!

 

[alikws]

one i see at resort diving sites is the dense clot of divers on the descent line at exactly 15 feet bumping into each other, concentrating on the 3 minute countdown timer waiting until it expires... meanwhile absolutly nobody is at 12 feet or 19 feet, where it's sane... and just hanging out there, somtimes interesting things happen/swim by.... nothing wrong with a 4 or 5 minute safety stop at 19 feet, watch the scenery and wait until the crowd thins out,where the waves arent beating you up.....

 

[fast97rs]

Interesting. Did they throw your gear into 30 feet of water and make you jump in and dress while being harassed by an instructor? Did they have instructors come along and turn off your air and tear your mask off at depth? Your course sounds more like the old course, although for college credit I would imagine it would be in greater detail than a dive shop class. Did they do deco procedures also? Do any other Florida colleges offer scuba for credit?

But i agree... i like the Naui coarse better than the Padi one...(My personal opinion) thats why i went through the university... that and its cost about $275 for the credits... and $300 for the dive.... so i don't think it is worth it.... but im on scholarship... so it only cost me $300 for the dives... that and we get 6 OW dives and one skin dive....

Not yet..... thats on Fri / Sat... looking foward to that... LOL ..... im still in the process of getting my cert. LOL.... its been a long coarse... but i like when its tough... makes me feel better about it....

That i know of its.... FIU, Miami Dade College, and UM....

FIU offers.... OW, AOW, Techinical Diver, and Rescue Diver.... i can't remember the details and the offering is always changing.... due to the shop/instructors that are working with the university....

other than that... you have to contact the college

Jorgy

 

[el ridgeo]

Hi all,

Carrying on from another thread...to avoid the hijack...

There's a lot of talk on the Board about the skills of new divers (e.g. What is O/W certified? 'Advanced O/W isn't really advanced'...that sort of thing) and some disparaging remarks about various cert agencies or the practices of some instructors... often quite a lot of advice from more experienced divers...

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?
What's your view on continuing education in diving (formal? informal? within a group of peer divers? etc)

I posted here as I think there are a lot of relatively inexperienced divers (including me) who are looking at diving as an ongoing hobby/recreational activity and are looking for some insight on getting 'better' in order to enjoy the sport more, for the long term.

IMHO, most newly certified OW divers have no real skills to speak of. Skills come with practice and patience. So does confidence. Dive whenever you get the chance. Pay attention to the people you dive with, both in and out of the water. Advanced classes are okay, but the best thing you can do is practice.