Basic Certification???

[herman]

My suggestion would be to head to a local PADI shop and do a refresher course. They can be done in one day and that would give you a pretty good idea wheather or not you needed a full recert. They can also help you get a replacement card.

 

[Guba]

Sounds like you have your head on straight with a clear grasp of the situation. The other posters, I believe, have given very insightful and straight evaluations, along with good adice.
Things change, and that applies to diving as well. I remember the tale of a fellow some years ago who was going to "get back into diving" after a fairly long time away from it. A friend of his had "taken care" of renting the gear for a simple lake dive. The "bells and alarms" statement of the day was when the fellow was getting ready to put on his equipment..."Hey, why are there two mouthpieces on this thing?"
He had never used gear with an octo. Nor had he any idea how to use the "third gauge" on the console (a computer). This fellow had serious need of a new certification and really had very little business in the water at that point.
Have fun in Jamaica! With the right outfitter/service, you'll be fine.

 

[friscuba]

Agreed -
I took a resort course in Mexico. While I felt it was very thorough and well done, considering the minimal time requirements (PADI), I see what I missed when I got home and took my OW Cert (SDI). I don't recall being taught any buoyancy and remember that I was slightly negative during the one dive. I think our max depth was about 40 feet for 35 minutes or so.
S.

Careful on the agency bashing, I'm not sure of the requirements for the various agencies when it comes to introductory dives, but instructors who don't follow guidelines are not limited to any one agency.

As far as PADI and buoyancy, they do show how the inflator/deflator works and they do tell you not to touch the reef with hands or fins and such. The instructor is supposed to take care of the bulk of it for you simply because if they don't you'd probably have divers hitting the surface, or the reef, all of the time. There's only so much you can teach a person on an intro dive, unless you want it to become a full certification.

I'd have to do a bit of research, but I do wonder if SDI, NAUI, YMCA or SSI require buoyancy skills practice for introductory dives... somehow I'm skeptical, but I couldn't say for sure without checking first.

 

[Walter]

Careful on the agency bashing, I'm not sure of the requirements for the various agencies when it comes to introductory dives, but instructors who don't follow guidelines are not limited to any one agency.

As far as PADI and buoyancy, they do show how the inflator/deflator works and they do tell you not to touch the reef with hands or fins and such. The instructor is supposed to take care of the bulk of it for you simply because if they don't you'd probably have divers hitting the surface, or the reef, all of the time. There's only so much you can teach a person on an intro dive, unless you want it to become a full certification.

I'd have to do a bit of research, but I do wonder if SDI, NAUI, YMCA or SSI require buoyancy skills practice for introductory dives... somehow I'm skeptical, but I couldn't say for sure without checking first.

Where do you see any agency bashing in sbrooks' post? PADI's standards do not allow instructors to teach buoyancy control to their resort students. That's a fact. Your statement about the other agencies could be considered bashing because you are making a blanket statement about their standards when you don't have a clue as to what their standards state. You need to be careful of agency bashing.

 

[friscuba]

Actually, I guess "agency bashing" was strong. PADI was mentioned as the agency providing sbrooks' initial diving though, I may have read more into it.

As far was what I said, I did say I couldn't say for sure. Looking at the YMCA and NAUI websites just now, I couldn't find any sort of introductory dive program actually listed. You seem familiar with YMCA standards, do they even have an intro program, or are we comparing apples with oranges when it comes to requirements for intro dives - "At least one agency does not teach any buoyancy control in their resort courses" - ?

later,

 

[Walter]

YMCA has a resort course, it does include buoyancy control. The instructor does not manipulate the student's LPI and dump valve. Students learn to do that for themselves.

 

[friscuba]

YMCA has a resort course, it does include buoyancy control. The instructor does not manipulate the student's LPI and dump valve. Students learn to do that for themselves.

So are they requiring hovers or fin pivots on introductory dives? Are they requiring pool sessions with hovers or fin pivots prior to dives in open water? I'm just trying to figure out exactly how much training is involved on the Y's resort program and how they are accomplishing the buoyancy training during the dive that the other agency isn't. The reality is, despite PADI's insistance that the instructor help the students with BCD buoyancy adjustments, the divers are in most cases picking up buoyancy control on thier own.

This is not mean't to be a knock on the Y program, I actually came up through it for all of my pre-instructor level training, I just think it's quite possible that many of the differences between agencies' programs are more subtle than major.

later,