What is "basic scuba"?

[deich]

 

[HenrikBP]

I recall being taught fin pivots repeatedly as part of my OW and my AOW. I specifically chose Precision Buoyancy to learn something new and to this day I feel ripped off.

Yep, exact same situation with me. I'd started reading SB early on and figured the whole "horizontal trim" sounded like a good idea as did frog kicks. So I'd been working on that when I did my OW, AOW (w/ buoyancy) and Peak Performance.

So when I in Peak Performance did horizontal ascent/descend hovering above the bottom rather than "real" fin pivots my instructor "corrected" me and insisted my fins needed to touch the bottom during that exercise. We also practiced vertical and "lotus" hover and I was told that frog kicks would get me stuck swimming through the hoops, so I was not to do those either.

What a waste.

I think it would be ideal if the skills mentioned in the OP were indeed considered "basic." But like "common courtesy" they're not common at all

Henrik

 

[oldogre]

My thoughts as a "beginner diver". In AOW (i.e. learning to dive Pt.2), for buoyancy -off the beach in 6metres- I had to swim under my instructors legs not touching the sand, & certainly not his "jewels", we then swam over rocks, staying as close to them as possible without touching. This was 1-1 & was normal with this PADI course, the instructors were salaried.

 

[budgy]

Ballast, Buoyancy control, trim and SAC rate go hand in hand. How much time can one afford to spend on a student and even when you do, looks can be deceiving. You can take them 1:1 over a weekend and think you've really made a difference and see them 6 months later and realise you didn't. Until a student learns to relax, they'll overfill their lungs and compensate with ballast. The bigger the buoyancy compensation bubble the more difficult it is to control. Some of us learn to achieve the fine adjustment of trim through muscular tention, arching our backs and twisting our bodies. When task loaded many if not most of us momentarily lose our balance along with our buoyancy control. With practice we even get good at compensating for being overweighted. I know it sounds crazy, but a couple of us did a ballast checks this month as part of preparing for teaching a new skills development course that involved buoyancy assessments and we were both overweighted. I'm still learning and still practicing the the basics .

 

[CamG]

Greetings fellow SB members and TSand M makes a good point. The instructor that I assist takes the proper amount of time to explain the techniques and demonstrate them to his OW students. He also stresses no-silting and demonstrates how to avoid it with good buoyancy. He also demonstrates how to lift of the bottom if you do come in contact with it. He stresses stop moving and use the inflator / lungs to cause the minimum amount of damage. This is done on a platform or on the gravel bottomed area. Usually there are other certified divers swimming around doing the "dirt devil,muck dance, etc." to adequately demonstrate what not to do. This is a real issue that I have tried to address with several of the offenders in a very polite and considerate way. In my experience about 50 % try to improve and the rest think you are crazy for stopping them or talking to them off to the side.
TSandM I have enjoyed some totally unbelievable dives in the 20' to 30' range this past season observing animals night and day. I had the pleasure of taking some close friends on their first dive over an hour. It was fantastic and led to some killer long shallow dives going to the places less visited. I love those dives just like the deep deco dives, just more critters in the shallow ones.
Have fun all and safe diving to you!
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!

 

[highdesert]

I think hovering is about as basic as you can get. I think most people who dive for very long in a silty environment can do this even though most of us weren't specifically "taught" this.

gcbryan ... Sorry, but I think these are two very contradictory sentences. In the first, hovering is "as basic as you can get." In the second, it's a skill learned by "most people who dive very long in a silty environment."

I am not taking issue with you personally or your skills, but some divers may complete many hundreds of dives, and amass a huge volume of skills, without ever being exposed to a silty environment. It may be, however, that they are expert in all manner of ripping current and tides. IMHO, I think it's incorrect to apply the same bag of "basic scuba" skills for all divers, everywhere.

 

[Arizona_SVO]

Ten minutes in a 20 foot radius, and not a single bit of silt raised. No problems hovering for that long. Constant passive communication -- each of us knew where the others were at all times.

To me, these are basic scuba skills. But how many people who would term themselves basic divers have been taught how to do this?

These things are basic skills, but how long and how many dives would the instruction have to be then to achieve these things with the proficiency you describe in an OW class? When does a class go from being OW with the truly basics like the 'I am out of air' signal, to passive communications? When does the class go from neutral bouyant, to motionless hovering and still get called basic? Most divers in OW are taught how to get neutrally bouyant and basic communications... how much more proficient should they be?

Not that I don't agree that these aren't basic skills, but aren't they the skills taught at a basic level in OW already?

I suspect that if OW students looked back at their training, they would see that indeed, they were given the 'basics' of these things, but they just did not realize the full extent the instructors were talking about when given that information. No matter how much the instructor stressed that to the students, it is something only time will teach.

In your OW class, were you taught to communicate? Yes. Were you taught neutral bouyancy? Yes. Were you taught to keep track of your buddy? Yes. Were you taught passive communications? No. Were you taught motionless hovering? No. Were you taught to keep track of the entire group? No. Anti-silting kicks, well, maybe they were not taught that... So, now what?

We are constantly blurring the line between instruction and experience here... one cannot substitute for the other. Both must be had in order to move forward.

</soapbox>

 

[OldNSalty]

Is it a basic skill? Based on observation, no. Because many newe divers (and some not new) don't have it.

Should it be a basic skill? Sure, but are agencies/instructors really willing to hold someone back because they can't do this after 4 or 5 dives? I don't think so-not the majority anyway. Sure, if those doing the teaching are willing to take the extra time to teach it I supppose it could become a basic skill...that would be nice.

 

[Dhboner]

I practice bouyancy control on every dive and hovering just off the bottom is one of my favourite drills. I really enjoy the control of my "attitude" by inhaling and exhaling.

I also like to do a hand stand just off the bottom and hold myself inverted and vertical. It sounds kind of silly but it's a lot of fun and really "tunes you in" to your bouyancy.

Bob (Toronto)

 

[Jim Lapenta]

It is basic skill with me and the instructors I respect. It is the first skill they learn on scuba. By the end of session two mask remove and replace, reg retrieval, and weightbelt off and on horizontal, hovering, and maintaining depth while doing it IS expected. And for the next 5-6 pool sessions it is practiced repeatedly. Frog kicks are introduced in session one while still on snorkel and used when swimming underwater on the skin dives. Frog kicking and other non-silting techniques are part of my Basic OW class. As they should be part of every OW class. You do not need silt to use a non silting kick. Not teaching buoyancy and good propulsion techniques is lazy.