Resort Courses / Discover Scuba courses versus certification

[Osric]

The standard advice I give people who show even the slightest interest in my underwater photos or scuba is to take a resort course ("discover scuba" course) on their next vacation.

I tell them that these courses teach them just enough that they won't kill themselves, and let them taste what scuba is like without the commitment of full certification. Then, if they liked it, they should sign up for paperwork/classwork at home, and do their OW certification dives on their next trip.

But recently I was talking to a fellow diver and he was expressing his dislike of resort courses, which he felt were dangerous due to the lack of training received. And I've now seen that in some places initial training is done in open water instead of a pool, making success vary quite a bit with how calm or not calm it is - even mild waves pose a challenge for someone using the gear for the very first time.

So I was interested in people's opinion here: should I change the advice I'm giving? On the one hand, I don't want to see more people who get certified and then dive no more (an almost epidemic problem in this sport, in my opinion), but on the other I don't want to be suggesting people do anything unsafe.

thanks
Osric

 

[NorCalDM]

I don't agree with the resort courses. They teach just enough to use the equipment but not enough to understand the dangers. I also don't agree with discover scuba classes being done in open water at least in a pool the environment is controlled but in open water conditions can change quickly and now your dealing with the environment along with students that barely know how their equipment works. As for people not diving after certification well diving is not for everybody.

 

[Damselfish]

It seems there's enough people who did a discover or resort course, and got hooked, that would probably never have tried it otherwise. And while getting all the info and practice in the full course is better, I think many resort courses are perfectly fine for their purposes. Plus how often do you actually hear about truly bad things happening in resort courses? I'm sure there's some, but then there's plenty of bad stories about OW classes too.

I'm thinking if they're interested enough to listen, you can help best by explaining all their options. And perhaps by pointing out that all courses aren't the same - that like anything, some places do a great job of it and some don't. And that it's worth their doing a little research (maybe here) to make sure the place they decide to do whatever has their act together. If you haven't completely bored them yet, give them some hints what to look for or avoid. (From what I've seen, I think it's fairly common among people first getting into this to be confused about the options, and also to assume a class is a class and it doesn't really matter which one.)

As far as doing a resort course in OW, a place that would do it in inappropriate conditions just falls under the general category of places they don't want to use. But there are plenty of spots with bathtub like OW.

I'd actually suggest they do a Discover in a pool at home, maybe someplace you know does a good job. Then if they like that they can choose between local certification, referral, or doing it on their next trip. Doesn't drag it out as many trips that way.

And if someone gets certified and doesn't continue, so what? I don't see it as a problem, it just is. People take classes in all sorts of things then don't pursue them further.

 

[DevonDiver]

DSD is a great concept... but the relative safety is entirely dictated by the professional standards of the dive operation concerned. It is perhaps the diving program that is most open to neglect and irresponsible operation.

As for giving advice for people to try DSD as a portal into the underwater world... of course!

Just mitigate that advice with some pointers on how to identify a trustworthy and highly professional dive operation to have that experience with.

 

[driftwood]

I have seen DSD abused by operators on a regular basis, as much as it pains me, I have to agree with Devon. Just be sure you know the shop and instructor before you recommend it.

 

[Teamcasa]

This goes back to the "depends on the instructor" argument.

Last September took three of my nephews on a DSD at Catalina's dive park. The two instructors were so good with them it was amazing. They had the time of their lives.

 

[Froid]

I will agree with Teamcasa. It is all about the Dive shop/Instructor. The 2 extremes I have seen over the past few years were:

1) Cancun- Instructor in the pool with the 2 Discovery divers working with them for 30 min before taking them out to OW. Explaining in detail all the aspects of what they needed to know and what to expect. Dive was great, DM stayed with the divers the whole dive.

Smiles all the way around after the dive. Most likely adding a couple new divers to the sport.

2) Bahamas- Instructor on the boat going through the flip chart with an Italian couple that barely spoke english. Watching the Discovery divers corking over and over again in their 30 min dive. I was cringing everytime I saw the DM shooting over to pull release valve to bring them back down. It made for a bad dive for me and other divers worrying that we would hear the return call to run them back to the hospital.

End of dive, certified divers unhappy, one of the Italians in tears. Most likely losing at least one new diver to the sport.

 

[Guba]

Although I had wanted to be a diver since I watched Sea Hunt as a kid (yeah...THAT long ago!), it wasn't until I had the opportunity to take a "resort course" on vacation that I got the chance to dive for the first time (at the tender age of 43). Yup, I was hooked and had it not been for that experience I might never have been driven to actually fulfill that dream of becoming a "real diver".

 

[Charlie99]

I have seen DSD abused by operators on a regular basis, as much as it pains me, I have to agree with Devon. Just be sure you know the shop and instructor before you recommend it.

I 2nd that recommendation. While I had an enjoyable dive on my discover scuba dives 15+ years ago, it wasn't really done in a safe manner. I did a quick checkout in the pool, and the instructor arranged for me to join a fellow instructor that was going to take 2 certified divers out on a boat.

We dove from an unattended boat. The instructor left me hanging at 15' on the mooring line and continued on with the 2 certified divers also in the water. I hung for about 10 minutes by myself before climbing back into the empty boat. I thought at the time that it was pretty strange for a diver in the water for the very first time to be left alone.

Between dives, the instructor asked if I was comfortable going through archways and small caves. "Sure!", I said, and that is indeed what we did on the 2nd dive, in an area I later recognized as the 5 Caves/5 Graves divesite here in Maui. I didn't at the time think it was that strange, but have later found out that it was definitely another violation of the recommendations.
As it was my 2nd time in the water on scuba, I of course sucked in a big breath of air as we went into the overhead areas, and proceeded to bounce off the ceiling.

So on my first ever pair of dives in the ocean, still not certified, I managed to do 10 minutes of solo on one dive, and go into caves on the second.

I do recommend Discover Scuba to people, but am careful about which operators and instructors I recommend.

 

[Garrobo]

I compare it to driving a car for the first time. Nothing more deadly than hitting the highway with a novice driver at the wheel, yet teenagers do it every day and survive. Depends on how much hair is on the chest of the instructor in my opinion.