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

[Meister481]

Not in 60ft of water which is the OW limit nd not in 130 ft of water which is the rec limit.
But yes oxtox should be covered, but not multi gases.
I would like to see advanced nitrox and entry trimix become one course though

Agreed, next on my list.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

Only so much you can cover and only so much people are willing to pay for. With some shops giving away certs at under 200 bucks you have to wonder how much they'll learn as one day wonders.

 

[RonFrank]

I don't really find much lacking in the PADI OW book. What is lacking is that there is just not enough time spent teaching the class, and realistically two Pool sessions, and then four OW dives is NOT going to give the student much skill.

A big issue I have is that the tests are easy, and as easy as they are, one only needs 75% to pass. THAT IMO is a Joke. I it's multiple guess, and if one skims the materials, and answers the easy questions with common sense, you are going to pass without really having an understanding of the materials.

I'm not sure who the OP certified with, but the fact that she is not aware of what to do if an inflater hose is free flowing indicates either the agency she certified with is not covering that (doubtful, as I KNOW PADI, and NAUI both do, and I'm betting SSI as well), or she did not read or retain the material.

 

[Walter]

I wonder what else is routinely left out of basic open water certification that really should be or used to be included?

Which OW course?

 

[Mark Vlahos]

My open water course was several years ago, so my opinions and information may be a bit outdated.

I would have liked to have seen more attention paid to gas planning. Basically I was taught that the boat captain or dive master will tell you to be back on the boat with X PSI in your tank. Usually it was 700 PSI. I simply observed the pressure go down and made sure that I was shallow well before I got close. The planning information I got in my AOW course was more informative than Basic Open Water.

I also think that more time should be spent on bouyancy. We did all of our skills firmly landed on the bottom. Bouyancy was taught later as a separate skill. Good bouyancy is central to so many things, it will help with your air consumption, and comfort level, you will not damage the reef, or stir up the bottom diminishing visibility. Learning the fin pivot just does not cut it, You need to take a diver and lift them off the bottom and get them to stop kicking and wait to see what happens. The fin pivot can be a step along the way, but it is certainly not the end of the journey.

I felt that when I took my Advanced Open Water course it was more like "the rest of the basic things we did not teach you course" and not truly an advanced level course. The first truly advanced course I took was Decompression Procedures.

Mark Vlahos

 

[SDAnderson]

I wonder what else is routinely left out of basic open water certification that really should be or used to be included?

Nothing.

The entry level courses are designed to be exactly that: entry level. They teach only enough skills to make it possible for a diver to plan and execute a simple, shallow dive with a buddy in conditions equal to or better than they were trained in.

If anything, I'd like to see better mastery of the skills that are being taught before adding more skills, i.e., your OW course should have covered both disconnecting a power inflator and freeing yourself from entanglements. Adding more skills to the curriculum before the current skills sets are actually being mastered seems needlessly confusing.

Safety and fun are not compromised by teaching divers only the basics and turning them loose to have a good time. Divers that want to learn more skills have lots of opportunities to do so, those whose aspirations don't exceed an occasional vacation reef dive have no need to learn how to shoot a bag, calculate DOTF or blow bubble rings.

 

[Bill51]

Nothing.

The entry level courses are designed to be exactly that: entry level. They teach only enough skills to make it possible for a diver to plan and execute a simple, shallow dive with a buddy in conditions equal to or better than they were trained in.

If anything, I'd like to see better mastery of the skills that are being taught before adding more skills, i.e., your OW course should have covered both disconnecting a power inflator and freeing yourself from entanglements. Adding more skills to the curriculum before the current skills sets are actually being mastered seems needlessly confusing.

Safety and fun are not compromised by teaching divers only the basics and turning them loose to have a good time. Divers that want to learn more skills have lots of opportunities to do so, those whose aspirations don't exceed an occasional vacation reef dive have no need to learn how to shoot a bag, calculate DOTF or blow bubble rings.

Yes!! While there are exceptions, most students are so overwhelmed learning basic OW material and learning the skills, let alone mastering any of them, that additional task loading in class or pool sessions might make them worse divers that master nothing.

Unless everyone is willing to pay for private lessons tailored to what they intend (or think they intend) to dive, classes will always be a compromise. The best an instructor can do is understand the objectives of all the students in the class and help them learn as much as they can for what they plan on diving – while making sure everyone meets some minimum level of in water skills. Learning to deploy an SMB would be a waste of time for students planning on nothing more than shore dives at the local quarry, and they’d be bored out of their minds having to listen to it.

I also disagree with the idea students should immediately take AOW after completing OW, or that the two should be combined. I think most new divers become more comfortable with their skills after they’ve made a few dives without the safety blanket mentality of having their instructor next to them, and until they’ve gained some level of independence all AOW will do is make them pedantic slaves to what the instructor says.

Thank you for starting this thread as it does give me some great ideas.

 

[Ice9]

Multiple methods of ear equalization would be nice. I think just the standard valsalva is covered in OW class, and that doesn't always work well for everyone. Perhaps it should be a requirement to watch that video (I think its from somewhere in UW) I think its called Under Pressure - The Diver's Ear....

 

[The Horn]

Nothing.

The entry level courses are designed to be exactly that: entry level. They teach only enough skills to make it possible for a diver to plan and execute a simple, shallow dive with a buddy in conditions equal to or better than they were trained in.

This course to me would then be a resort Intro to Scuba. No Certification just enough training and practice to complete some resort style or local area dives, to test the waters and see if a full blown course is on the agenda.

Obviously a lot of divers are dissapointed with the current course(s) content.

 

[freediver]

Greater emphasis on fundamental snorkeling/free diving skills to make the participant more comfortable in the water, which will, consequently, make them more comfortable on scuba which will, consequently, enable them to perform tasks and skills with more proficiency which will, in theory I suppose, make better divers and reduce accidents.