Should Nitrox Certification require dives....

[jonnythan]

Ha, Ha, Ha, you guys crack me up. You complain about not getting enough dives in classes and the lack of skills that divers have. Then you want to get a card to allow you to dive longer, but you don't want to dive?

The one agency that makes sense out of this conundrum is NAUI. They have one color cert card if you do the dives and another color if you don't.

I thought this sport is about getting out there and diving, not complaining about it, but different strokes I guess!!!!

If the dives were training dives where you actually learned something, you would have a point.

However, the dives are really just pleasure dives and there's nothing to learn unless the instructor decides to bring in extra (not class related) material.

 

[The Kraken]

Originally Posted by sweatfrog
Ha, Ha, Ha, you guys crack me up. You complain about not getting enough dives in classes and the lack of skills that divers have. Then you want to get a card to allow you to dive longer, but you don't want to dive?

The one agency that makes sense out of this conundrum is NAUI. They have one color cert card if you do the dives and another color if you don't.

I thought this sport is about getting out there and diving, not complaining about it, but different strokes I guess!!!!


Sweatfrog,

I think the core of the complaint lies with being assessed with superfluous financial expenditures.

My first and foremost fiduciary responsibility is to my family, not the local dive shop.

Breathing through a regulator was satisfactorily covered in my open water classes. Why HAVE TO PAY for two dives that effectively add no here-to-fore gained knowledge or significant technical ability to a diver's log book.

The only difference in regular air diving and EAN diving is in the planning and O2 analysis, all other things remain the same.

My question to those the support a requisite "2 dive minimum" is, what exactly do the two dives add to the base knowledge of the diver and what, once submerged and breathing EAN, does the diver experience differently than a conventional air dive?

Like everyone else here, just an opinion.

 

[jagfish]

The one agency that makes sense out of this conundrum is NAUI. They have one color cert card if you do the dives and another color if you don't.

Does this really make sense out of the situation....

So when you go to a dive shop what does each color mean when you want to get a nitrox fill?

 

[sweatfrog]

Does this really make sense out of the situation....

So when you go to a dive shop what does each color mean when you want to get a nitrox fill?

Now that's a good question, when you think about it. I guess he could dive 40% with one color and .40 with the other.

If the people complaining about this issue had as many dives as they have time posting, this could be a moot issue. There's nothing like diving to improve your skills.

If you guys are worried about spending a little money to dive, maybe you should think about a less expensive hobby. Look into how much it costs to use a personal trainer. You get a lot more for your money from a nitrox class.

 

[String]

You still havent explained how a nitrox dive on a nitrox course is going to be any better than normal diving on nitrox not part of the course. You've failed to state any advantages of it at all or how nitrox diving is different to air diving.

Diving a lot is good. However diving for the sake of it when its not needed and benefits nobody except someone elses pocket isnt good.

 

[The Kraken]

Sweatfrog,

"If you guys are worried about spending a little money to dive, maybe you should think about a less expensive hobby"

. . . I'm not concerned about electively spending a little money to dive, I'm concerned about being charged to do dives that really don't have any practical experience content relative to the crux of the cirriculum.

As for me, I'd rather save that $50 and put it toward a dive of my choice.

Each is free to spend his or her money in whatever fashion he or she finds fitting. It's just that I see no LOGIC in the requirement other than a financial gain for the certifying agency.

Once again, just my opinion.

 

[jonnythan]

I'm with The Kraken. I hate being charged to do dives I may not want to do and may interfere with diving I really do want to do with a buddy from the class I may really not want to get in the water with.

Being charged money for what is effectively a waste of time shouldn't simply be tolerated because "diving is expensive, get over it."

 

[jagfish]

There's nothing like diving to improve your skills.

I can't argue with that. I guess a few dives added to the equipment specialist course couldn't hurt....

 

[LeFlaneur]

Well, I always want to dive more, and would have been happy to dive if that's what the course required. Of course, the dives would have been at the local quarry, which currently has a below-thermocline temp of 41 degrees F. In a couple weeks I'll be in diving in warmer water. I'll get Nitrox fills then and will be none the worse off.

 

[DennisW]

I am going to use an analogy some of you may or may not agree with. Doesn't matter to me if you do or not. I am a pilot. I want to get my Intrument rating so I can fly my airplane when I can't see out the windshield in weather that can be moderately bad. Not thunderstorm weather, just rainy and cloudy with low ceilings. I have been flying for 25 years, so I know how to fly an airplane. I can take off, I can land, I can navigate between airports. I have even taken simulated instrument conditions training (required for a private pilot). I have flown many hours "under the hood" which means flying without being able to see outside the airplane (with an instructor of course). All of the skills required to get my instrument rating can be demonstrated and completed on a simulator (one approved by the FAA). However, the FAA requires that I actually have a certain amount of training hours flying to get my rating. Why? It's more expensive than a simulator and I can demonstrate all of the skills on the simulator. Frankly, a simulator is just not the same as the real thing. It's the same thing with training in diving, whether it is Nitrox or some other advanced training. The dives provide the instructor with an insight as to your thought processess. The instructor can see if you really "got it". Taking the class room into the actual situation can be very difficult for many people. With out the dives, the instructor can't tell if you truly understand the concepts. A flight instructor has to sign off a pilot in order for her/him to take the written exam for the instrument pilot rating. The flight instructor also has to sign off the pilot to take the practical flight test with an FAA Examiner or Designated Pilot Examiner. The instructor wants to make sure the pilot can pass the test to obtain the rating. Same thing with diving. If I was an instructor, I would want to make sure the person was competent in the actual environment before I gave them the license to go kill themselves.

Just my 2 psi.