"Self taught" scuba diving

[Aussiemike]

G'day All, I'm new here but have been diving since 1976. I've lurked for quite a while and could be considered "initiated" as I have read every one of the 1400+ posts in the "Court Cases" thread on Gabe and Tina Watson.

My reading of the Board made me ask the question "How many of you taught yourself to scuba dive?". By that I mean read a book or watched Mike Nelson, a sixties TV series featuring scuba, and then got a tank and reg and went diving. This is what I did, as did a number of my mates. I did a course after around 100 dives as I was going to work in Papua New Guinea and wanted to make sure I could get on boats and get fills.

Anyway, I thought that this was a suitable, non controversial:blinking: first post.

mike

 

[ThomasScherrer]

where I come from, it is fully legal to purchase any kind of scuba gear
tanks and a compressor do your own fills and scuba all day long,
if it is a smart thing to do or not, is another question !
I say it is not smart today.
since today, education is cheap fast and easy to access all over the works,
if you see water, there is most likely a cmas or padi or sdi shop/office near by.
when you did this back in 76 alot looked different,
surely you did take it slow and surely you read all available material about the equipment and its use,
so you managed to learn how to use it, you did good, and you are maybe a bit smarter..
but some other persons may not be as smart in the self-education, so they learn more and better at a real course.

 

[AfterDark]

I can say I was inspired by Sea Hunt the whole idea of being able to stay underwater really grabbed me. I did get trained though the now defunct NASDS in 1968. I really learned how to dive and developed the required skills with a local dive club that had as members some pretty old looking (to me at the time) and experienced divers. The last OW dive of my training was a 50fsw dive on a sunken tug boat. After a weekend of diving with these guys I had done 6 dives 2 to over 100fsw 1 that required deco, 2 nights dives and 2 drift dives. I gained a lot of experience and probably more confidence then I needed in the 2 years I was able to dive with those guys. I did some solo diving after the club disbanded and stayed in touch with some of the guys but, as they got married they “retired” from diving and I found myself planning and doing more solo dives. These were in the days of no SPG’s, J-valves, octo regs, oral inflated vests, no computers diving or PCs!
I kinda chuckle at the redundant this or that these a days, I was lucky to have one of something! I was self taught in some aspects of diving I guess.

 

[knowone]

Now perhaps you could self teach yourself some other things, privately

 

[Rich Keller]

I purchased a tank, reg and a book on how to use them in 1970. Started local and shallow, just deep enough to bag my limit of lobster. I did take a course in 1974 as it was becoming a problem getting my tanks filled by that time.

 

[knotical]

My story is similar to many others, including quite a few here on ScubaBoard, who started in the bad old days. Jacques Cousteau's book The Silent World, Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt, and Skin Diver magazine primed me; so when a friend's dad bought an AquaLung (double hose, no alternate, no buoyancy aids, no gauges) in 1960, I jumped at the chance. We took turns, and I was hooked, at age 16. Many dives (about half of them solo), many years, and lots of reading later I took a course and got certified (PADI International Open Water). By then we'd gone from double hose, through single hose with J-valves, to alternate air sources, BC's, and gauges.

I don't regret my experiences, even the occasional lesson learned the hard way. But I'm conservative by nature and only gradually expanded my comfort zone. It surely would have gone faster with modern training.

 

[drbill]

"The Silent World" and "Sea Hunt" certainly triggered my interest, but so did living a block from the ocean as a young child (before those were out). The only instruction I received between 1961 and 1969 when I was formally certified was to not hold my breath. In 1969 I was LAC certified when I moved to California and it was mandatory to get tanks filled.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I'm expecting the vintage crowd to pour in here any minute.
I talked to one guy who just recently, as in a few years ago, obtained a old copy of the "New Science of Skin & Scuba Diving" and did all the excercises they provided in the book and learned to scuba dive.
I've read the NSSSD and the training is much more complete than any open water course offered these days.
The thing is, if somebody does go that route they would need to be sure they are able to do everything fluently and not cheat. It would take a measure of self discipline.
It is entirely possible for someone to do that in certain parts of the US and be able to buy gear and get fills without ever being asked for any sort of proof of certification.

Getting on a charter boat, probably not.

I'm sure the the scuba police will be along shortly also telling everyone how dangerous and foolish doing this is even though there is absolutely no law or regulation prohibiting it...yet.

 

[captain]

ZKY, you expected right. I taught myself to dive way back in 1957, finally got YMCA certification in 1970. That is still the only certification I have or have needed.

 

[Lead_carrier]

I'm expecting the vintage crowd to pour in here any minute.
I talked to one guy who just recently, as in a few years ago, obtained a old copy of the "New Science of Skin & Scuba Diving" and did all the excercises they provided in the book and learned to scuba dive.
I've read the NSSSD and the training is much more complete than any open water course offered these days.
The thing is, if somebody does go that route they would need to be sure they are able to do everything fluently and not cheat. It would take a measure of self discipline.
It is entirely possible for someone to do that in certain parts of the US and be able to buy gear and get fills without ever being asked for any sort of proof of certification.

Getting on a charter boat, probably not.

I'm sure the the scuba police will be along shortly also telling everyone how dangerous and foolish doing this is even though there is absolutely no law or regulation prohibiting it...yet.

I'm not the scuba police but to my knowledge there isn't any laws (in the US) requiring anyone to be certified to buy scuba gear, compressors, fill their own tanks and dive off their own boats. I'm sure there are local laws that limit the type and purpose of diving but those also pertain to certified divers. Personally, I don't think that makes real good sense not to get certified but that's just my opinion.