So what is NOT covered in open water cert that should be?

[Bill51]

I'd like to see OW courses teach people how to dive but I don't think its going to happen :14:

Then you have to answer the question of what it means to know how to dive. I’m still learning every time I teach a class or step in the water, and I don’t ever plan on stopping learning how to dive. Today I have skills to cope with the one in a million problem that I didn’t have after 10 years of diving, but there’s no way I can lump everything I know or have learned into one class.

Any course is a compromise and will be somewhat colored by the experience of the instructor. An instructor that has had multiple inflator problems in his diving career might be more likely to include it in his class or put more emphasis on it than an instructor that’s never had it happen. The current safety record of diving, and especially new divers, means we must be doing something right at covering the most common problems a beginning student will encounter, and teaching them how to avoid situations where they’ll be facing problems they’re not equipped to handle.

 

[Dive-aholic]

However, after reading Scuba Board here for months and getting a few dives under my belt and talking with other divers, it is starting to occur to me that I might not know some really basic things that I ought to know like the stuck inflator hose. It seems from reading here that diving instruction a while back used to cover more. I am wondering two things here. What used to be taught that is no longer and then in the current teaching, what things are instuctors more likely to pass over is time starts running short?

The main skill that comes to mind is buddy breathing. It's optional in the PADI curriculum and we give the students the option of learning it and trying it. About half choose to do it. Stuck inflator is the key thing I've seen and heard of being passed over. Another one they might pass over is Remove & Replace BC and weights underwater. Maybe underwater swim without mask. Basically, I'm naming all the skills that are only done in PADI's confined water. If the CW instructor skips these skills and the student does checkouts with a different instructor, no one is the wiser...

Now as far as the dive tables go, they are up front about not thinking that it is important and that tables are the way to go. They say computers are a better safer way to dive. For my part, I will still dive with a computer, but now I want a solid understanding of tables both in my head and a copy in my pocket.

I have 2 computers now so I have a back up. Do you have 2 computers? If not, then the table is a cheap back up. If you're computer dies on you, as long as you've been paying attention to your depth and times and not relying on your computer, you can begin diving tables. Personally, I'd start diving the Wheel because it allows for multilevel dives. IMO, computers are there to back up tables. They are not to be used as a primary means of planning your dive. I've done enough recreational dives, I know the NDL for the depths I'm heading to. For deco dives, I cut tables and know my schedule. The computer is there to comfirm things. I follow the most conservative of the 2. Usually they're within a couple minutes of each other.

I also want to learn how to use a spool and an smb and learn more about gas management beyond the be back with 500psi

For gas management click here. For spool and smb, find a diver who knows how to use one and do a few shallow water deployments.

 

[SDAnderson]

Maybe I should change up the question to help me answer my original question. Is someone that is an instructor regardless of agency be willing to provide a list of what should be covered in OW?

Happy to oblige! It's a big list and, rather than reinvent the wheel (or ask you to trust an idiot instructor), I'll defer to any of the numerous, concise and remarkably similar sources already available: the training materials available from PADI, SDI, BSAC, YMCA, or any of the other major agencies. There are minor variances but, IMHO, nothing worth getting worked up about - though Walter disagrees (in an agreeable sort of way ) with me. For instance, you'll find the LP inflator disconnect drill listed as a required skill on page 112 of the PADI Open Water student manual, I suspect it's somewhere in the SDI materials, as well. The book doesn't teach you how to do it but does let you know that the instructor is required to.

You'll hear this truism a lot as you move forward with your education: the quality of your instructor is more important than which agency s/he teaches for. Here's another one that you won't hear as often: the quality of the student is more important than the quality of the instructor. Students who devote the time and energy to getting as much as possible from each class, who do the homework, who think about what they're learning, who work hard at the skills, who pay attention, who challenge themselves, will succeed no matter how much of a nincompoop their instructor might be.

There are two secrets to becoming a better diver: dive frequently and continue your education. Pay attention and work hard but don't get bogged down in pedantic minutae - it's no fun and it won't make you a better diver.

Here endeth the lesson...

 

[Walter]

You'll hear this truism a lot as you move forward with your education: the quality of your instructor is more important than which agency s/he teaches for.

True, you'll hear it quite often, but unless you have an extremely good or extremely bad instructor, it's simply not true. Most instructors follow agency standards to the letter. When they do that (which is almost always), the agency written standards are much more important than the instructor. Standards vary greatly from agency to agency.

There are those poor instructors who violate standards and turn a good course into a bad one and those wonderful instructors who add a great deal to their classes turning poor classes into excellent ones. Fortunately, the first type is not that common, unfortunately, neither is the second.

 

[ORFranc86]

THank you. I have heard much to the contrary. I just finished my OW, going to Kauai at the end of January. I am planning on doing my AOW there. I have seen and heard much controversy on whether this was the correct plan of action. This makes me feel like I made the correct decision. I thought it would be better to take the AOW now to learn the additional skills needed to actually do OW diving with a buddy. Thanks for the info.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Franc, don't think that AOW will give you much more information. It all depends on the instructor and the specialty dives that are offered. You will be required to do the deep and navigation dives. The other 3 are up to the dive op, instructor, or student. If you end up doing the boat, naturalist, and fish id dives, you will probably come up with no more knowledge or skills for diving with a buddy than you have now. Just get out there and dive with different buddies. Find some experienced divers to dive with and you'll learn more that way.