2airishuman
Contributor
In a couple of other threads someone suggested that I direct my question to my instructor instead of SB.
I live in a semi-rural part of Minnesota. There aren't a lot of dive shops. A year ago, I went to the dive shop that was closest to me, and got some snorkeling equipment. The service was fantastic despite the shop being small, and I ended up with a mask that fits, and a snorkel and fins that worked better than anything I'd previously tried. I had such a great time in the ocean that, once it became clear that finances and schedules would allow us to travel again this winter, I decided to take an OWD class. I stopped by the dive shop, which had changed hands but was still helpful. They're a PADI shop and told me to take the on-line course.
The nature of the on-line course is such that there isn't anyone who is really "my instructor."
It isn't possible to complete an OWD class in Minnesota this time of the year, because the water is too cold. So my path will necessarily involve pool time here, followed by completion of the open water dives while I am traveling. This shop conducts the confined water dives in a single day, and schedules them on an ad hoc basis when they have enough students. My class has been canceled once. The shop doesn't know who my instructor will be, because they have a group of instructors and aren't sure who they'll assign.
Subsequently I expect to engage in two days of open water dives, in the ocean, with an instructor who I have not yet met, and with whom I do not expect to form a lasting instructor/student relationship.
I don't know how to do this any better at this point. In retrospect, if I'd decided to do this a few months earlier, I would have had more choices because I could complete all the training locally. Knowing what I've learned since on SB, I might have sought out a larger shop that offers a broader range of training. At this point I can't because most of those locally are not PADI shops, so I'd have to start over on the knowledge portion of the class, and there would be the additional complication of setting up the open water portion of the training with a dive center that uses the same agency.
I appreciate the expertise on SB. I ask questions here, and enjoy reading the replies. There's certainly a broader range of viewpoints that I'm going to get at my LDS, and experience with a broader range of diving activities, locations, and equipment. I don't think I would have learned, for example, what "rock bottom" is, why it's important, or how to calculate it -- without the discussions on SB. And I think I would probably have been talked into hauling local rental gear on my trip and back, then talked into buying a jacket BCD, with an Air2 and an unnecessarily expensive regulator from a manufacturer that uses titanium for their high-end products.
I am a novice trying to make the most of a system of instruction that is designed to be easy and inexpensive, because that is all the industry offers me. I want to be safe, have a good time, and get the most for my money.
I think that I will become a safer diver by asking questions and reading posts on SB than I would have been by directing all my questions to my instructor.
Whoever that is.
I live in a semi-rural part of Minnesota. There aren't a lot of dive shops. A year ago, I went to the dive shop that was closest to me, and got some snorkeling equipment. The service was fantastic despite the shop being small, and I ended up with a mask that fits, and a snorkel and fins that worked better than anything I'd previously tried. I had such a great time in the ocean that, once it became clear that finances and schedules would allow us to travel again this winter, I decided to take an OWD class. I stopped by the dive shop, which had changed hands but was still helpful. They're a PADI shop and told me to take the on-line course.
The nature of the on-line course is such that there isn't anyone who is really "my instructor."
It isn't possible to complete an OWD class in Minnesota this time of the year, because the water is too cold. So my path will necessarily involve pool time here, followed by completion of the open water dives while I am traveling. This shop conducts the confined water dives in a single day, and schedules them on an ad hoc basis when they have enough students. My class has been canceled once. The shop doesn't know who my instructor will be, because they have a group of instructors and aren't sure who they'll assign.
Subsequently I expect to engage in two days of open water dives, in the ocean, with an instructor who I have not yet met, and with whom I do not expect to form a lasting instructor/student relationship.
I don't know how to do this any better at this point. In retrospect, if I'd decided to do this a few months earlier, I would have had more choices because I could complete all the training locally. Knowing what I've learned since on SB, I might have sought out a larger shop that offers a broader range of training. At this point I can't because most of those locally are not PADI shops, so I'd have to start over on the knowledge portion of the class, and there would be the additional complication of setting up the open water portion of the training with a dive center that uses the same agency.
I appreciate the expertise on SB. I ask questions here, and enjoy reading the replies. There's certainly a broader range of viewpoints that I'm going to get at my LDS, and experience with a broader range of diving activities, locations, and equipment. I don't think I would have learned, for example, what "rock bottom" is, why it's important, or how to calculate it -- without the discussions on SB. And I think I would probably have been talked into hauling local rental gear on my trip and back, then talked into buying a jacket BCD, with an Air2 and an unnecessarily expensive regulator from a manufacturer that uses titanium for their high-end products.
I am a novice trying to make the most of a system of instruction that is designed to be easy and inexpensive, because that is all the industry offers me. I want to be safe, have a good time, and get the most for my money.
I think that I will become a safer diver by asking questions and reading posts on SB than I would have been by directing all my questions to my instructor.
Whoever that is.
