Should I dive in shallow waters without a certification?

[Raphus]

No worries, he's already practiced buoyancy and navigation plus there's a hookah rescue squad up top. What could possibly go wrong?

I hope he gets your sarcasm

I had this kind of conversation before..
Someone fresh out of owd did only solo dives to 20m+ without any redundancy and multiple dives without surface intervals.
His argument was, that he had done it before and nothing happens. So its safe and he can do it again.

I dont know why some people just know everything better. Without any education

 

[wpotere]

I hope he gets your sarcasm

I had this kind of conversation before..
Someone fresh out of owd did only solo dives to 20m+ without any redundancy and multiple dives without surface intervals.
His argument was, that he had done it before and nothing happens. So its safe and he can do it again.

I dont know why some people just know everything better. Without any education

Should have told him that there is a reason that we have life guards at swimming pools. Something can happen...

 

[Vitesse2l]

I dont know why some people just know everything better. Without any education

I wonder if it's because at a very basic level Scuba is so easy? Breathe in through the reg, enough weight to sink, fins to push you along. Most people could do that with zero training.

 

[Raphus]

I wonder if it's because at a very basic level Scuba is so easy? Breathe in through the reg, enough weight to sink, fins to push you along. Most people could do that with zero training.

True.
Thats what i said before: solo diving is easy.even for beginners. Its relaxing because you only have to look for yourself.
Really nothing more then breathing and finning... Until something goes wrong.

Same with swimming, you can learn swimming in a day. As a 3 year old. So its not that hard right?

Then why are there so many death every year. In local lakes, with no current, no waves, no dangerous animals and no boats? In germany we have many death in lakes every weekend. Mostly young healthy people.

 

[Dark Wolf]

And of course there is the flip side of the coin, people that have a c card and no clue. Depends on a lot of factors.

DW

 

[Raphus]

Yes of course..
Someone should only dive withing their limits.
And these limits are not set by a c-card.
You can get aowd in 9 dives and deep dive in 13.

But i will never dive down to 40m with someone who has only 13 dives, even he is "allowed" to.

 

[AJ]

I dont know why some people just know everything better. Without any education

Well, there will always be people who think they know better. Hopefully they learn before getting hurt. On the other hand, what's the worth of an average scuba training? Speaking for myself, the OW and even AOW were not worth the money and effort in retrospect. They gave me permission to get my tanks filled and very basic knowledge and skills. A 'learners permit' if you will. My real training started after AOW by diving a lot and making (a lot of ) mistakes and learning from them in retrospective. I educated myself further in dive science. In other words. I don't care much for certs and (A)OW basic education. I do care for experience and knowledge.

P.s. I would not advise anyone to go diving without proper training first!! I just want to say that certs and basic education are quite meaningless as far as diver competency goes, don't be obsessed with them. They are no more than a learners permit.

 

[Raphus]

Well, there will always be people who think they know better. Hopefully they learn before getting hurt. On the other hand, what's the worth of an average scuba training? Speaking for myself, the OW and even AOW were not worth the money and effort in retrospect. They gave me permission to get my tanks filled and very basic knowledge and skills. A 'learners permit' if you will. My real training started after AOW by diving a lot and making (a lot of ) mistakes and learning from them in retrospective. I educated myself further in dive science. In other words. I don't care much for certs and (A)OW basic education. I do care for experience and knowledge.

P.s. I would not advise anyone to go diving without proper training first!! I just want to say that certs and basic education are quite meaningless as far as diver competency goes, don't be obsessed with them. They are no more than a learners permit.

True.. I was very disappointed from all courses i took.. Even rescue..which was ok but nothing more..

But diving solo without any education is just not right.

 

[Dark Wolf]

I agree. Education also comes in many forms.

DW

 

[Neilwood]

Hello folks, I have a passion but don’t have the money to pay for PADI or ssi. I have scuba dived twice and the second time a PADI instructor showed me just about everything in a try scuba class, equalizing hand singles, pretty much a lot of things and even gave me a handbook. And it’s my second time diving and I have looked at online classes for scuba diving and spend almost till 3 am studying scuba and practiced it in my pool and to be honest I do not want to dive down 100 feet i feel comfortable doing it but I like staying in 10 feet water looking for treasure. I am thinking about picking up a used Zeagle ranger bcd. Love those things. But anyways I have been in my pool 2-4 times a day practicing these techniques that they show on the two hour video like clearing water out of the mask. Honestly I’d love to do it but don’t have the money for the class. I’m not sure it’s the best idea but im slowly saving money up for a PADI certification class. Let me know what your guys thoughts are!

I am in a similar position as the original poster. for the moment i've decided to each myself scuba. Tho someday i might get my certification if I need it. But i have my own breathable compressor, tanks, BCD and all the equipment, and learned to rebuild and service all the regulators, and have a pool to practice in. And it's been fun. I had to watch multiple online classes to understand what techniques to learn, and then i got a few tips from my family who are already certified, but i've been taking it slow and have been on a few shallow dives in the past couple weeks while i'm getting a feel for everything and plan on going again this weekend.

Really worry about posts like these. Especially from people who have families, I am quite sure they would prefer that you learn in a safe way.

While I realise that, many,many years ago scuba was learned by reading a book and trying things it wasn't really a safe way to do it. Even years later after classes started there were still quite a lot of deaths/ serious injuries. There are a number of divers on this forum who did it this way and would probably testify themselves that they are lucky to be alive (and have probably seen a number of friends who "knew better" die).

Scuba courses exist for a reason (originally anyway) - to make people safer divers. On courses you effectively learn from other peoples mistakes without paying the price in blood (as others have done in the past) because their mistakes are now covered by learning.

Do you know how to check your gear and know that it is safe? Do you know how to weight yourself properly? Can you control your ascent/descent rates & hover? Can you recover a lost reg? These are but a few clues as to how to die while diving. I can think of quite a number of other things (at least another dozen or more) that are taught on courses that can/will save your life.

@wildcat99s you really don't know how easy it is to kill yourself with a compressor do you? How do you know your compressor is safe and providing breathable air? Do you know how to check it and test it? Even a small amount of impurities can kill you without you even knowing about it ( CO poisoning is just one way and has killed hundreds of people who never knew they were dying).

Comparing it with another couple of activities that people do for fun - driving & firearms. Would you happily give someone your car/ gun without checking they are safe and not going to either kill you or themselves?