Stoo
Contributor
- Messages
- 3,506
- Reaction score
- 3,804
- # of dives
- 5000 - ∞
I ask the question because I know that I know how to dive safely, and I respect the restrictions my training has imposed.
The "over-certification" of diving is a relatively new phenomenon, created by PADI. When I learned how to dive, there was basically one certification. It was quite thorough, and the rest you figured out on your own and with more experienced mentors. I went from my NAUI "Basic" certification to an AI to Instructor without 24 courses in between.
Then PADI figured out that by teaching a new diver "just enough" to dive to a certain depth or certain conditions, that they could keep training that same person over and over and over and over and... Well you get the idea. I am constantly amazed at some of the "courses" that are offered. I think it also creates a lot of divers who require constant baby-sitting. I am always amused when I see threads on here with titles like, "I am only PADI OW1 certified... What will happen if i dive to 61'???" (Answer: Take the PADI 61' - 100' course!) I saw this first hand when I went to Utila where my daughter was living. While there, she moved through various courses to get to her Advanced or something, that "certified" her to dive to 100'. On one of our dives, I wandered below 100' and she started to frantically wave at me, pointing at her computer. I thought something was wrong, but it turned out that she was afraid of some mysterious repercussion should she exceed 100'!
Having said that, the PADI way does keep re-engaging the novice/occasional diver and that can't be a bad thing, however it does create a system where the COST associated with getting more advanced certifications is astonishing. I think it's especially good for people who are not confident in their own abilities (perhaps as a result of the over-certifying process) so really only dive while taking a course. (Again, using my daughter as an example, she managed (over the course of six months) to go from uncertified to a Divemaster candidate and had NEVER been diving outside of a course, other than the 20 dives she did with me!) (Rest assured, she left Utila before she completed it, so you need not worry that she's working on a boat someplace!)
Getting back to the original question, of course training and certification is required. Other so-called dangerous sports tend to be less equipment and technically oriented. Using say sky-diving as an example, as long as you know how to pack a 'chute properly, I presume you're good to go. I don't sky-dive, but I assume that in order to rent a chute, you need to prove that you have completed a course... don't you? If PADI expands into the sky-diving business, you will see 14 levels of certification... jumping from a picnic table, jumping from a step ladder, jumping from 3000' , then 3500' and so on... ;-)
The reason that I stopped teaching a few years ago was that I just couldn't get my head around "sort of" teaching someone about diving. I used to run an 8 or 12 week course with hours of class time, hours of pool time, and two full weekends of diving. When people finished one of those programmes, they were real divers who knew how to navigate, dive at night, do some light deco should it be required, how to rescue someone and on and on. And no, not everyone passed, but they were given a ticket to come to the next course for free.
Last edited: