selfishshellfish
Registered
What's the difference?
Background: I passed my OW with a PADI dive shop about a month ago in Mexico. I chose the shop mainly because it had pretty good reviews and was very cheap (I'm a broke college student).
The thing is...: I still don't feel ready to dive independently (not referring to solo, just diving without instructor/DM). I don't know if it's the PADI course, the particular dive shop, or my particular instructor, but I besides knowing how to perform the skills needed to pass the practical portion, I don't know much else. I did my theory and pool training within two hours on the first day. I understood the basic gist of diving: breathe, don't go down too fast, don't come up too fast...and that was about it. My instructor seemed to be in a rush that day and packed me off back to my resort and told me to look over the materials (he explicitly told me to just find answers to the questions in the manual and not to read it). There were a lot of things he failed to mention that he probably should have even when I was just perusing the manual. Needless to say I'm pretty sure I failed the exam... well I still got my OW. They also reused exams, so most of the answers were already circled by previous students. I did find some wrong answers so I tried to ignore the answers to the best of my ability. I went home after my vacation and read the manual page to page (almost). I'll probably reread it before my next dive (at least the emergency and the equipment sections).
He was a lot more attentive underwater than on land, almost overly so. He practically showed me how to do all of the skills before I repeated them back to him. He practically pulled me down when I breathed out and pushed me up when I breathed out during the buoyancy test. I think I would have done fine without his help, but... I also didn't need help swimming. I don't understand why he felt the need to hold my hand when there were four other students who were lagging far behind. We had to turn around and wait for them several times. He helped when no help was asked and neglected it when it was...
In short I don't feel prepared at all for my next dive, whenever that may be.
Funny thing is, he offered to certify me in the AOW right after I had completed my first two open water dives (DAY 2!). Told me that there was minimal theory work (I don't see how it could be any less than the thirty minutes I got with him on day 1), and that I would do perfectly fine in harder/deeper dives because my buoyancy was good (buoyancy was the part of the test he manhandled me on). He even offered to buddy dive afterwards... (more caverns/wrecks) I'm pretty sure he was fishing for money here . I get that, I'm broke too. I didn't mind, I work in hospitality, I also come off as a money vamp sometimes. Anyway, a convenient cold and reading all the horror stories that came along with inadequate training stopped me from pursuing that track.
On the other hand, there is a SSI shop located near where I live. It's a lot pricier... and they require more experienced and personalized help before handing out certifications. Albeit, the certifications will cost me a few times more than in Mexico, but it looks more legit. (If I choose to get my next certification there that is). I plan on taking a refresher course, dive with a DM until I feel comfy in the water, gain more experience diving, and then...well that's for later.
~SS
Background: I passed my OW with a PADI dive shop about a month ago in Mexico. I chose the shop mainly because it had pretty good reviews and was very cheap (I'm a broke college student).
The thing is...: I still don't feel ready to dive independently (not referring to solo, just diving without instructor/DM). I don't know if it's the PADI course, the particular dive shop, or my particular instructor, but I besides knowing how to perform the skills needed to pass the practical portion, I don't know much else. I did my theory and pool training within two hours on the first day. I understood the basic gist of diving: breathe, don't go down too fast, don't come up too fast...and that was about it. My instructor seemed to be in a rush that day and packed me off back to my resort and told me to look over the materials (he explicitly told me to just find answers to the questions in the manual and not to read it). There were a lot of things he failed to mention that he probably should have even when I was just perusing the manual. Needless to say I'm pretty sure I failed the exam... well I still got my OW. They also reused exams, so most of the answers were already circled by previous students. I did find some wrong answers so I tried to ignore the answers to the best of my ability. I went home after my vacation and read the manual page to page (almost). I'll probably reread it before my next dive (at least the emergency and the equipment sections).
He was a lot more attentive underwater than on land, almost overly so. He practically showed me how to do all of the skills before I repeated them back to him. He practically pulled me down when I breathed out and pushed me up when I breathed out during the buoyancy test. I think I would have done fine without his help, but... I also didn't need help swimming. I don't understand why he felt the need to hold my hand when there were four other students who were lagging far behind. We had to turn around and wait for them several times. He helped when no help was asked and neglected it when it was...
In short I don't feel prepared at all for my next dive, whenever that may be.
Funny thing is, he offered to certify me in the AOW right after I had completed my first two open water dives (DAY 2!). Told me that there was minimal theory work (I don't see how it could be any less than the thirty minutes I got with him on day 1), and that I would do perfectly fine in harder/deeper dives because my buoyancy was good (buoyancy was the part of the test he manhandled me on). He even offered to buddy dive afterwards... (more caverns/wrecks) I'm pretty sure he was fishing for money here . I get that, I'm broke too. I didn't mind, I work in hospitality, I also come off as a money vamp sometimes. Anyway, a convenient cold and reading all the horror stories that came along with inadequate training stopped me from pursuing that track.
On the other hand, there is a SSI shop located near where I live. It's a lot pricier... and they require more experienced and personalized help before handing out certifications. Albeit, the certifications will cost me a few times more than in Mexico, but it looks more legit. (If I choose to get my next certification there that is). I plan on taking a refresher course, dive with a DM until I feel comfy in the water, gain more experience diving, and then...well that's for later.
~SS