Becoming an instructor without any real dives

[Eric Sedletzky]

Perhaps he was a minimalist

Good one!

 

[InTheDrink]

I was on holiday last year being guided by a guy who I felt was better than most I'd been guided by and assumed he'd been a DM for infinity. He really was very good in every manner, including attentiveness and safety. After about 4 days I found out he had 60 dives under his belt starting 3 months ago (or something like that). I mightn't be best placed to make a judgement on these things given my level of experience but I was much more impressed with him than I have been by many with countless more dives. Maybe he was unusual. The conditions we were diving in were moderately challenging. I think sometimes people are naturals. I'm precisely the opposite.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I was on holiday last year being guided by a guy who I felt was better than most I'd been guided by and assumed he'd been a DM for infinity. He really was very good in every manner, including attentiveness and safety. After about 4 days I found out he had 60 dives under his belt starting 3 months ago (or something like that). I mightn't be best placed to make a judgement on these things given my level of experience but I was much more impressed with him than I have been by many with countless more dives. Maybe he was unusual. The conditions we were diving in were moderately challenging. I think sometimes people are naturals. I'm precisely the opposite.

Yes, definitely there are some who have the natural ability and attitude to be good with very little experience. They are few and far between, and a decent instructor will be able to recognize (and nurture) one of those rare individuals right from the get-go.

Had one of those in an OW class this past October ... by the second day of checkout dives, my AI was remarking that it was like diving with one of his regular dive buddies ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Dive Junky]

I wouldn't.

Class dives are under very controlled circumstances. You're usually teaching them in the same place (usually a very benign dive site), under the same conditions dive after dive, and with serious depth and time limitations. You really aren't learning anything, since you're simply repeating the same information and exercises over and over.

Doing the same dive 100 times isn't the same as doing 100 different dives. No matter that you're handling students, you really aren't learning much about diving ... leadership skills and diving skills are very different things.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Boy you guys need more places to dive. I take OW students thru to DiveMaster students almost year round out here on the Jersey coast and the St. Lawrence Seaway and other than OW rarely dive the same sites.

 

[caribdiver]

A buddy and I were talking the other day and we were discussing the subject of instructors that don't have any real world or independant dives outside of a class environment.
Is it theoretically possible for someone to get certified and go up through the organization without actually doing a dive on their own?
Here's what I see.
Open water- 4 dives
AOW 5- dives
Rescue - 3-4 dives? can't remember
Nitrox- 2 dives
All other specialties 15 dives? I haven't added it up
Start divemaster - all internship dives to get 60 dives required for cert.
Continue with internship
Assistant instructor up to 100 dives
Instructor test
Start instructing and do nothing but pool and cert dives.

Is this a possible scenario? Or is there a gap somewhere I'm not seeing.
Does the instructor requirement dictate that candidates have to have a certain number of dives on their own?

It looks like it is a possible scenario and a terrifying one at that. I was on a boat with a guy that was a DM a couple of weeks ago. He had done his first ocean dive the day before. Needless to say, he didn't do too well in the currents and was calling his dive at 30 minutes because he was low on air.

 

[NorthWoodsDiver]

A buddy and I were talking the other day and we were discussing the subject of instructors that don't have any real world or independant dives outside of a class environment.
Is it theoretically possible for someone to get certified and go up through the organization without actually doing a dive on their own?
Here's what I see.
Open water- 4 dives
AOW 5- dives
Rescue - 3-4 dives? can't remember
Nitrox- 2 dives
All other specialties 15 dives? I haven't added it up
Start divemaster - all internship dives to get 60 dives required for cert.
Continue with internship
Assistant instructor up to 100 dives
Instructor test
Start instructing and do nothing but pool and cert dives.

Is this a possible scenario? Or is there a gap somewhere I'm not seeing.
Does the instructor requirement dictate that candidates have to have a certain number of dives on their own?

Isn't that pretty much what you do to get certified as an instructor though one of those "diving schools" that teach you to teach diving in like 6 weeks or something?

kinda crazy to think about...

 

[Blackwood]

Well of course, I know that.
The reason all this came up is because we were discussing someone we know who became an instructor only a year after being open water certified. The only time this guy was in the water was with a class. Next thing you know he's an instructor.

Looks as if you knew the answer before you asked the question.

 

[Thalassamania]

The real problem is not the number of dives, or the time since they started diving,. The problem is that the lack of challenging dive sites and the baby-step level of the skills that they teach; over, and over, and over again. This does little or nothing to advance their personal abilities. After all, one can only get so good at clearing a mask, or doing fin pivots, if they were teaching exercises with a great deal more "top" it might be a different story.

 

[InTheDrink]

I think it hugely depends on what you're looking for.

On vacation, in my experience at least, guides/instructors/DMs rarely volunteer information. This is strictly business. They take you out and show you a good time. Hopefully. In this scenario I haven't seen any difference in quality between little and very experienced.

For local diving or non vacation diving I think you're probably looking for a little bit more. Or a lot more. You're looking to find someone that loves imparting knowledge and has the experience to do that. I think it's a completely different deal.

My experience with the former is extensive (as a percentage of small ) and I've not learned much apart from to rely on myself.

My experience with the latter is minimal but has been hugely rewarding. I think vacation diving and local/habitual diving are such different beasts they deserve different names. I am sure PADI would approve of this so I've already put in the trademark holder.

So what was the point again? Oh yeah. Getting pro qualified without any 'real' diving.
Vacation divers = OK
Local divers = You probably want more

 

[gumbo717]

There are certain shops in Florida that practice that exact scenario; you can walk in as an OW student and in 3 months walk out a certified OWSI.