PADI "Looking Good" Certification

[NAM001]

I heard of this a long time beck. the title was a suggestive one but centered on good trim good form and a good handling of your self in the water.

 

[StayWet]

The dive industry had gotten so ridiculous with all of the specialty courses that they offer nowadays. Night diver, wreck diver, etc., it's all about money for them. I earned my open-water "C" card in 1988, and since then have watched the industry churn out students that are so scared of diving, because they are told that 60' is deep, and OMG don't go below that without more certifications! it's all about money. When you get your open-water certification as a new diver, you have all of the training that you need to do night dives, non-penetration wreck dives, boat dives etc., all that is needed after that is more experience diving to become more confident and relaxed in the water.
So to all the new divers out there, stop rushing out to get all of the latest specialty certifications, save your money and just dive more and get the experience.

 

[Streydog]

I just received an email from a dive shop not too far from me, I got my Nitrox card from them. They are advertising a Zombie Apocalypse Diver certification for only $130.00. You also get a certificate and a bracelet. Not making this up.

 

[seeker242]

Here's an interesting one!

"PADI Heli-Dive Certification"
The OC Helicopters PADI Heli-Dive Course is a certification training course designed to familiarize Divers with the skills, knowledge, planning, organization, procedures, techniques, problems, hazards and enjoyment of diving from a helicopter.

And it's cheap!

* Single dives starting from $1,100 per/person

 

[tursiops]

The dive industry had gotten so ridiculous with all of the specialty courses that they offer nowadays. Night diver, wreck diver, etc., it's all about money for them. I earned my open-water "C" card in 1988, and since then have watched the industry churn out students that are so scared of diving, because they are told that 60' is deep, and OMG don't go below that without more certifications! it's all about money. When you get your open-water certification as a new diver, you have all of the training that you need to do night dives, non-penetration wreck dives, boat dives etc., all that is needed after that is more experience diving to become more confident and relaxed in the water.
So to all the new divers out there, stop rushing out to get all of the latest specialty certifications, save your money and just dive more and get the experience.

This post is disingenuous and naive. The open-water cert MAY be all you need to do a (for example) boat dive, but it is NOT all you need to do a night dive, or a safe lift-bag/search-and-recovery dive, or a deep dive (like 130 ft). I'm guessing you have never taken a good specialty class from a good instructor. So maybe it is not good to generalize and offer bad advice.

 

[cerich]

Here's an interesting one!

"PADI Heli-Dive Certification"
The OC Helicopters PADI Heli-Dive Course is a certification training course designed to familiarize Divers with the skills, knowledge, planning, organization, procedures, techniques, problems, hazards and enjoyment of diving from a helicopter.

And it's cheap!

* Single dives starting from $1,100 per/person

you ever rent a helicopter for a hour? That price is not outta line

 

[dmaziuk]

This post is disingenuous and naive. The open-water cert MAY be all you need to do a (for example) boat dive, but it is NOT all you need to do a night dive, or a safe lift-bag/search-and-recovery dive, or a deep dive (like 130 ft). I'm guessing you have never taken a good specialty class from a good instructor. So maybe it is not good to generalize and offer bad advice.

So far I managed to dive at night and dive below 100', strangely enough without killing myself. Of course, some people look like they need a specialty class to breathe and chew gum at the same time...

 

[tursiops]

So far I managed to dive at night and dive below 100', strangely enough without killing myself. Of course, some people look like they need a specialty class to breathe and chew gum at the same time...

This is exactly the expected response: "I did it, so no one needs any training." Not quite a logical conclusion.

 

[dmaziuk]

This is exactly the expected response: "I did it, so no one needs any training." Not quite a logical conclusion.

OW course should include all the information you need. I don't have my PADI booklet here to check, but I'm pretty sure we've covered narcosis in the classroom and basic compass use (to find the right direction in the dark) during certification dives. We did not cover the proper operation of a lift bag, nor search strategies and patterns, so I wouldn't argue about those. But then, neither did the post you were replying to.

 

[tursiops]

OW course should include all the information you need. I don't have my PADI booklet here to check, but I'm pretty sure we've covered narcosis in the classroom and basic compass use (to find the right direction in the dark) during certification dives. We did not cover the proper operation of a lift bag, nor search strategies and patterns, so I wouldn't argue about those. But then, neither did the post you were replying to.

I agree, there is a lot of material in the OW book. More than is actually covered in the in-water training.

What I was objecting to was the statement that "everything" is covered in OW and "nothing" can be gained by any further training. The poster gave trivial examples (like boat), I gave non-trivial examples (like S&R) and disagreed with his use of Night as a example. Maybe some untrained night divers understand the additional difficulty of buoyancy without good visual clues, or realize the light is for signaling as well as seeing, or know how to read their gauges in the dark, etc, but most do not.