Resort Courses / Discover Scuba courses versus certification

[femalediver]

I did a discover SCUBA the first time I wanted to try diving, and I knew not having been instructed properly before would hinder the experience, but it was not terrible either. Even though the conditions were abnormal for the place I was at, I still managed to find enjoyment in it. I do not recommend that to everybody. Furthermore, I think it is better to at least try the gear on in a pool first. I did wish that I did after the experience was over for a couple of reasons:
1) You would feel more comfortable and be more likely to enjoy the experience
2) It takes a while to get used to it if its your first time, and those things are not cheap by any means, so by the time you feel comfortable its time to get out and that really sucks because its a waste of money at that point.

I hope this response was helpful.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I've been trying to research, but having a hard time finding much unbiased information. We are going to Oahu in mid-April and interested in doing a discovery course in the open ocean. My sister and I are both newly graduated from college and not sure we are ready to invest the time or money in a full time certification yet, but also nervous about how safe the discovery courses are.

Hawai'i 'Ohana - ScubaBoard

Wish you were visiting Maui as well, lot's of good DSD options here. Posting in the 'Ohana forum (link above) is a good place for more research. :cool2:

 

[BrianKon]

I took a resort DSD in Hawaii in 2006, by 2008 I was an Open Water Instructor.

I highly reccomend the DSD, however some are better than others. Here in Hawaii many do them off the boat safely and without incident, usually limited to 2 students. Some do them in the pool and some off a very protected beach. I have seen and participated in them all.

the real issue is the Instructor, no matter what the environment a good Instructor will ensure you have a positive experience. Whereas a poor instructor, even in a pool may provide you with a bad experience.

 

[Frosty]

I'm in the position of having recently (october2010) done my OW at a resort in Fiji.
My wife and oldest son decided that once I had my OW they would do the dsd
In our case the entire experience was in the sea. From the most basic training to the actual dives.
I actually couldn't imagine doing it any other way.
The big advantage is that you are learning your skills in the actual enviroment you will be diving in
That said the sea was so flat that canoes caused the biggest ripples and the bottom was an extremely gentle slope down.
I was with wife and son on their 12m dive and it was at a calm sea location and 1 DM/instructor with each of them at all times. I think the comparison to putting a novice driver straight on the road isn't what its about. More like put a novice driver on a racetrack with a drive instructor next to them with dual controls.
Yea there is danger but I couldn't see how it could be done in a less dangerous way and still give a taste of what divings about.
and most important--the wife will be doing her OW two weeks time and son will after his school exams so the tase has wetted the apatite. Which I guess is the point of the whole thing.

 

[KY_BOB]

I'm sure that there a lots of great operations in Hawaii but a young friend and a couple of her friends went one went out on one last fall her. Class consisted of and hour of classroom discussion and then 2 30-40; deep boat dives.

If that isn't reckless, I don't know what is.

She got into the water, got seasick from the waves, and didn't do the dives. I'm glad that she didn't. She could have got hurt. She was never comfortable and was a prime candidate to panic.


Another sad thing is that she wanted to learn to dive but is now leery if it.

 

[BrianKon]

Aloha KY BOB,

sorry to hear of your friends bad experience ,it does happen. I might suggest in lieu of her experience to seek a more private instruction. It might cost an extra $25-$50 bucks but she would be 1 on 1 with an instructor. Have her simply explain her experience to the instructor/dive shop and they shpuld be more than willing to accomodate her. If I was her instructor, I would suggest to do the dives from shore to avoid the sea sickness. Also the added insurance that she would have the full and undivided attention of a professional instructor should calm her nerves as well, which will lead to a more pleasant experience. It may have been the waves, but if she was also nervous it would defineatly contribute to her nausea. Taking DSD students into open water is a mixed bag. Some love it and feel they got their moneys worth and others are upset over the whole experience.

Talk to some people in your area and get a recommendation for a good non-intimdating instructor, and she should be just fine.

good luck

brian

 

[TexasKaren68]

Reckless? Not my experience, although others might beg to differ. Discover Scuba is what got me into diving and got me to spend lots and lots of money boosting the economy one piece of dive equipment at a time

I wanted to go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef and selected a company that did day trips from Cairns and signed up to go on two different days. The first day I was on a pretty decent sized boat with about 30 people, not crowded at all, and I went snorkeling as did most of the other customers, and about 10 or so went scuba diving including one girl who did a Discover Scuba dive. After she was done I talked to her about it because I was curious. She apparently had a good time and didn't have any problems so that got me thinking.

The second day I was on a different boat (same company) and decided what the heck, I want to go scuba diving. Well, this time I was on a crowded sailboat and it was windier. By the time we got to the reef my stomach was churning. I was the only one doing Discover Scuba so the instructor took me aside and we spent about 10 minutes (yes, 10 minutes) going over some basic safety info, hand signals, got told to never stop breathing, and that was pretty much it. We anchored, I got into my gear with the instructors' help and did my first giant stride into the ocean. The instructor held on to me for the entire dive. He worked my BC and dragged me around pointing out fish, clams, Nemo, etc. Because of the miserable sail out to the reef, after 20 minutes I felt like I was about to vomit into my reg and despite having been told that it was perfectly fine to do so, I opted to thumb the dive at that point. Seasickness and scuba just don't mix. That was my first scuba lesson.

Looking back, I absolutely loved my first dive, despite the seasickness, and if I hadn't done it I would probably not be OW certified today. Being underwater so close to the beautiful coral and pretty fish was amazing. We didn't go below about 20 feet, mostly because I was so sick, and I never once felt like I was in any danger. Even knowing what I know now, I don't think I was in any danger. My instructor had a firm hold on me at all times.

I'd recommend a Discover Scuba dive to anyone who thinks they might be interested in scuba diving.

 

[Session Eleven]

I absolutely loved my Discover Scuba class. I wish I could remember who it was with, I only know it was in Hawaii... I think I have a T-shirt from the dive shop I can dig out to amend this post.

The "class" was limited to my mother, myself, and the instructor which made it very pleasant. We spent an hour or so in the pool with all the equipment, doing some mask-clearing and and regulator recovery exercises, as well as getting acquainted with buoyancy control (clearly there was no way we could be fully informed in that period of time, but we got the very basics). After that it was a lunch break and into the ocean from the beach. My instructor was never more than five feet from me and I must have been 'asked' if I was OK twice a minute, but that was probably good. Overall I had a great time and inspired me (although delayed by several years) to pursue becoming certified.

 

[Frosty]

-Hey folks I'm kinda gobsmacked at the two negative posts above regarding DSD.
Please forgive my ignorance but don't the same training rules apply to DSD as apply to all training?
I'll be specific . We did our dive training at Plantation Island resort in Fiji
The first stage of the DSD was run identicaly to the first "pool" lesson of my OW course.
They went into the ocean straight off the beach to the training area
The water was about 1.5m deep.
They were shown and repeatedly practiced mask clearing,mask removal and replacement,sweeping for their second stage,,breathing with the reg,removal of the reg underwater and reg clear.They were taught basic boyancy control with the BC,how to fill the BC at the surface,checking their air level and the most basic signals-Up /down/out of air and the biy--IM JUST GREAT (ok well it was really ok but ya get the point) .and follow me.
They weren't allowed to go further untill they showed they could complete the task.
This all took around 25 minutes. They then stood up and the instructor explained about keeping breathing and equalising. He was quite emphatic that if you feel ear pain to go up a m or two
They then moved out to around 3.0m-4.0m of water and practiced what they had learned.
They dived to the bottom so they felt the first squease for equalising and the first need to dump air from the bc to decend.
They had about 10minutes at 3.0m then headed to the shore.
Incidently --despite Plantation island being a "budget" resort that experience above was 100% free of charge so if they hated it they diddn't need to actually pay for the DSD dive. But the training was compulsary-no training no actual DSD 12m dive.
I chose to dive with them on the DSD dive (ok lets be honest you couldn't keep me on the surface when there was diving to be done)
The boat dive was from a 20 foor ally cat fizzboat and it started with a surface briefing explaing water entry and signalling they were ok and exit into the boat. and that they were to follow the mooring line down to the bottom (6.0m) Although they were expected to "gear up" themselves the individual instructor/guide was hovering watching them and did the final gear check for them.
The entry was a drop backwards.off the side of the boat. We dove down to 6.0m and regrouped. The DM then checked ears were ok and that they were comfortable.
They paired up and then we headed down to 12m or so through bomi's and sealife galore.
after about half an hour at 12m we followed the bottom up to 9 then 6m where we stopped for a few minutes before heading to the surface.
Thinking back they did get a fair bit of extra attention on the surface to be sure they got back in the boat ok

 

[dolesorchard]

I've had two very different experiences with DSD. I got certified in '74 while in high school. My wife would not try diving for 30 years, but a few years ago a LDS had an open house at a hotel and offered the opportunity to try out diving in a pool one on one with an instructor. She tried it and figured out that her fears of the whole experience were unfounded. Two weeks later we were in Costa Rica with friends and she and our friends did a DSD. This was a great experience for them all. There was one instructor for each diver plus me and my wife was immediately hooked. She was certified two weeks later. This was in Montezuma, Costa Rica the Lead instructor was an Italian guy, I cannot remember the name of the company. The only thing that was a little unnerving was that my wife almost put her hand down on a scorpionfish, but an instructor was right by her side and grabbed her hand and showed her what she almost did.

The other experience was a fiasco. We went to the Keys last January and we wanted to dive and three friends with us wanted to do DSD. They went for a pool session and were very excited and we went for the dive after lunch. The one instructor said the visibility was not great, but otherwise the conditions were good. The visibility was the highlight of the dive. It was very rough and all but my wife got sick. The chop was so bad that the instructor told everyone they should get into the water and immediately go down the anchor line. The surge was terrible and we were hanging on the anchor line for about ten minutes before the instructor finally got into the water. We were told we would be the only people on the boat, but as we arrived another diver showed up and wanted to dive. If he hadn't been there we would have probably not even allowed our friends to try it, but we and they were stuck for two dives because of the other guy on the boat. It would have been a very disappointing day for us if our friends were not there, but with the assurances of the dive shop that we would be the only people on the boat and that conditions were good, then having terrible conditions and not being able to say take us back to shore, it was an awful day for all of us. One of those people will never try diving again. This was at Captain Hook's in Marathon. I was shocked that they would take people out for DSD under those conditions and that there was only one instructor for three DSDers.