Currents are still insane!!!

[Hank49]

I don't think that makes a difference.

2012 Tide Table for Borocay Island, Philippines for fishing <º(((><

Look at the new moon phase for several months on this site. The new moon has 5-6 days of really high tides. Full has 4 or so. I used to watch this really close when I lived there because we'd dive Yapak based on tide.

 

[Mossman]

Agree that there are plenty with 100's of CLAIMED dives that aren't qualified, but I absolutley disagree that ANY diver with only 40 - 100 dives is ready to be a DM or Instructor - they simply do not have the experience or enough hours under water to truly be able to recognize, assess and handle many situations! Of course this is my opinion - others are welcome to disagree, but I won't be convinced otherwise.

While I do fully agree with your statement, there's a big difference between DM'ing in Cozumel and in other locales. For instance, in SoCal, DMs don't go in the water unless there's an emergency, hence they only need to know how to respond to surface emergencies: tows and CPR training about covers it. Besides that, they might occasionally escort a new diver, but rarely a whole group, so they're really just acting as an experienced buddy not a dive "master".

Maybe it's just a question of semantics. No one should be a "master" at diving until they have well more than 100 dives. I'm not even sure I'm a "master" with over 600, plus lots of training. "Dive leader" is more suitable title IMO. I would reserve "master" for a category beyond instructor.

 

[becca31]

FYI - 40 is the prerequisite for the program.

Even though I have my advanced, I must have forgotten the prerequisite because I just met someone today who has his 4 open water dives - AND THAT'S IT - and is getting his advanced in Cozumel next week. He said 'even though I don't have a TON of dives'... (and yes, he emphasized ton). Young guy trying to impress me with his new gear and all he's about to learn. Good that he's willing to take his scuba education further but shouldn't PADI require more dives than FOUR to get an advanced? That's absurd. He said the only prerequisite is age. He was horribly annoying.

 

[lionfish-eater]

My son and I took AOW after only a few dives. I wasn't to be able to go on advanced dives, just to get more education. Our OW training was minimal in hindsight. The AOW helped us with our bouyancy, got us in the water after dark, and took us to 80 ft. It should be called training part 2 not advanced. The class was only necessary because the first training was not thorough.

 

[DandyDon]

Even though I have my advanced, I must have forgotten the prerequisite because I just met someone today who has his 4 open water dives - AND THAT'S IT - and is getting his advanced in Cozumel next week. He said 'even though I don't have a TON of dives'... (and yes, he emphasized ton). Young guy trying to impress me with his new gear and all he's about to learn. Good that he's willing to take his scuba education further but shouldn't PADI require more dives than FOUR to get an advanced? That's absurd. He said the only prerequisite is age. He was horribly annoying.

:lol:
​

Young guys often are, but then sometimes us old coots are too. I've become quieter in person with my life lessons.

But then, going from OW directly to AOW really is a good idea as bad as weak as the courses are. I waited until I had made a couple of trips before I did AOW, then didn't learn anything.

My son and I took AOW after only a few dives. I wasn't to be able to go on advanced dives, just to get more education. Our OW training was minimal in hindsight. The AOW helped us with our bouyancy, got us in the water after dark, and took us to 80 ft. It should be called training part 2 not advanced. The class was only necessary because the first training was not thorough.

Yep. Padi started calling is Adventures but reverted back to Advanced. Better sales I guess.

 

[Uber]

What was the topic again ?......LOL.... PADI exists to make money....end of story....no point in spitting teeth about it..... I just wish the young were as macho with driving, maybe governments should think about the PADI philosophy there too....the roads would be a safer place right? Instead of just doing your test and being done, you could have night driving speciality ....fast driving....advanced steering....vehicle ID.....they could even issue special edition card with cool pictures of Ferraris and Lamborghinis....

Anyway......back on topic...Well... Kind of...The winds changed to s->n and things were a bit choppy yesterday. Went out in the moning....Santa Rosa had all but no current at all...after a shallow dive on Dahlila the seas were pretty calm... However the authorities closed the port so all afternoon diving was off...

Not sure but I believe that it's not lifted yet.... I think there are two decision poins.....one at 7:30am and another at 10:30am....so there may be no diving today.

 

[Budgirl]

Hey. We were at Santa rosa too! It was beautiful and very slow current. Our second was at San Francisco and same story. Didn't understand why they closed the port yesterday until about 6:30 or so when the winds picked up!

 

[Christi]

Even though I have my advanced, I must have forgotten the prerequisite because I just met someone today who has his 4 open water dives - AND THAT'S IT - and is getting his advanced in Cozumel next week. He said 'even though I don't have a TON of dives'... (and yes, he emphasized ton). Young guy trying to impress me with his new gear and all he's about to learn. Good that he's willing to take his scuba education further but shouldn't PADI require more dives than FOUR to get an advanced? That's absurd. He said the only prerequisite is age. He was horribly annoying.

This is because the "Advanced" course is NOT an ADVANCED course. This topic is covered ad nauseum. This course is NOTHING MORE than an extension of the open water couse designed to keep students under the training and supervision of an instructor for longer - so YES, it is GOOD that he is taking his AOW immediately following OW rather than doing what most do and think because they are OW they are ready to be let loose by themselves.

Taking the AOW class does NOT make you an "advanced diver" nor should you already BE an "advanced" diver to take the class. ONLY time and experience can make someone an ADVANCED diver.

BTW - this is not ONLY a PADI thing - NONE of the agencies Advanced courses qualify anyone as an "Advanced diver" - again, only time and experience under water can give anyone those qualifications. As I said in a previous post, in the eyes of most dive professionals, you are considered a new/novice diver until you have at least 100 dives logged - and BTW - diving IS NOT a competitive sport! Unfortunately, there are ALOT of chest thumpers out there that try to make it so! We ALL started somewhere and being a "new diver" is not a bad thing. With ANY level of diver, we need to remember our training, dive within our limits, listen to our bodies, and dive as safely as possible within those limits!

---------- Post added April 22nd, 2012 at 08:03 AM ----------

What was the topic again ?......LOL.... PADI exists to make money....end of story....no point in spitting teeth about it..... I just wish the young were as macho with driving, maybe governments should think about the PADI philosophy there too....the roads would be a safer place right? Instead of just doing your test and being done, you could have night driving speciality ....fast driving....advanced steering....vehicle ID.....they could even issue special edition card with cool pictures of Ferraris and Lamborghinis....

Anyway......back on topic...Well... Kind of...The winds changed to s->n and things were a bit choppy yesterday. Went out in the moning....Santa Rosa had all but no current at all...after a shallow dive on Dahlila the seas were pretty calm... However the authorities closed the port so all afternoon diving was off...

Not sure but I believe that it's not lifted yet.... I think there are two decision poins.....one at 7:30am and another at 10:30am....so there may be no diving today.

I am sure by now you understand why the port is closed - and don't count on diving today - the wind is coming straight out of the west now, but expectged to shift to the NW with stronger winds mid-day. Tomorrow is still up in the air - but today is out - make other plans!

 

[Uber]

Yup...checked earlier...port is closed for sure today. Makes sense to me.... And there is always something else to do on Coz

 

[Mossman]

Yup...checked earlier...port is closed for sure today. Makes sense to me.... And there is always something else to do on Coz

Doesn't make sense to me. Port closures affected my diving in December and February, so now I'm going in late April specifically to avoid them. Hopefully this will blow off by the a.m. of the 24th? For such a popular dive destination, it's amazing how many days a year the port closes.