Is scuba diving like riding a bike?

Hey Folks,

I was certified (NAUI) in 1988 when I was around 16 years old. Within three years of my certification I got Openwater II, did several relatively deep dives (120ft), did some ice-diving, and dove in everything from cold Michigan muck-lakes to strong current rivers to tropical paradises. Unfortunately, it has been about 10 years since those golden times and I haven't been diving since. Now I'm 32 years old and am going on vacation with my girlfriend and a few other friends to Dahab, Egypt where we plan on doing a whole lot of diving. I have decided to retake the Openwater advanced class (PADI) with my friend. I figured this might help get my bearings again. I also purchased and completely read the PADI basic manual hoping that will help as well. My question is: Am I being over ambitious by taking the advance class with no 'warm-up'? I'd start with a refresher course, but we simply do not have the time for it. Apparently we are required to do some sort of pre-dive dive in order to check our buouancy and so forth. Will this be enough to quickly practice a few basic skills (i.e mask clearing). What are some of the skills you would suggest I practice a few times before hitting the real dives?

Thanks.

as I never left it that long!

It may be an idea to do a Scuba Review - anyone that has not dived for 6 months is encouraged to do one. It should not be expensive and is probably a good idea. You'll basically do the o/w pool work but should be able to demonstrate it rather than be taught but let your fuy know and you should be OK.

Have fun

Jonathan

just remeber that even experienced riders occasionally crash their bikes.

I think you would be well advised to at least get in a pool and practice your skills before beginning your advanced course.

A few skills to include are mask clearing, mask removal and replacement, swimming without a mask, hovering, adjusting for neutral buoyancy with changes in depth, various kicks, alternate air source ascents, emergency swimming ascents, removing and replacing gear, removing and replacing weightbelt, compass use, dive table use, SMB deployment, and more.

I took a seven year hiatus and have recently returned to diving. I had no where near the dive experience you had when I stopped diving. Because of the amount of time and lack of solid dives I went ahead and retook OW.

It was over kill. I should have gone with a refresher. With your experience I doubt you would have any problem going straight to AOW. I would recommend at least one dive before you begin so you can go over the basics. If you cant find time for a dive than at least do a pool session to get your feet wet so to speak.

Jonathan once bubbled...
as I never left it that long!

It may be an idea to do a Scuba Review - anyone that has not dived for 6 months is encouraged to do one.

Click to expand...

Not to pick nits, but the language is actually "anyone who has not dived in several months or longer..." Making it largely subject to interpretation.

At any clip, at minimum you should do the Scuba Review. Since time is of the essence for you, I'd say you want to do the Scuba Review as soon as possible, and then you want to get yourself in the water, do some "easy" dives. To a point it is like riding a bike, but at the same time, the more (recent) experience you have, the more relaxed you are going to be going deeper on your vacation.

As I was discussing with several of my dive buddies over the weeked, there is nothing better than actually diving to build your dive skills and your confidence.

~W

.. is nothing more than 5 specialty dives with an instructor. The only required dives with real skills tests are NAV & Deep.

I suggest you explain you situation to your AOW instructor & make the first dive a "Boat" specialty & use it as a refresher course. If the instructor will give you a little exta assistance you should be fine. If you could talk him into an hour in the pool first, that would be even better.

Anyway good luck & dive safe.

This depends greatly on the individual - their initial training, experience and discipline. I had a decade off courtesy of Uncle Sam, and when I came back I did so with the AOW (NAUI) course. I was amazed at what my "current" diving classmates didn't know and how poor their skills were - not because they were lazy or unmotivated - they'd never been trained in the first place. I was also amazed that the NAUI AOW didn't come up to the knowledge, skill or difficulty level we were required to meet in the YMCA course of 20 years past. In further training evolutions I found that the "old" open water course was still around (minus some of the harrassment drills and the pushups in full scuba gear, and rudimentary decompression diving), it had just been renamed "Master/Rescue Diver."
E.

I'm not an instructor, but I was a participant in an AOW class that included a student who had not dived in 4 years. First dive was a navigation dive on a sedate beach, little surf, max depth 25'... the guy tried to descend with his mask on his forehead, snorkle in his mouth, he was wearing tons too much weight, generally freaked out about being in the ocean again with all this scuba gear on after so long. Seemed like a regular together kind of guy on shore, but once he was in the water, he panicked and basically acted like he had zero skills or training. He was just overwhelmed at the prospect of putting his head underwater and breathing off that reg. He quit after that first dive, and it was suggested that he do a refresher course.

So based on that one experience, you might want to at least jump in a pool and do a refresher before heading out into open water again.

It's a bit rough on the other participants of the course as well - they are expecting (and paying) to do an AOW course - as in, get in the water, and start the activities for that dive - not sit around on the surface while the instructor reviews OW skills like mask clearing with one individual. The first dive on my AOW was 90 minutes - about 30 minutes of which was spent underwater. The other hour, 4 of us bobbed like corks off the beach while the instructor tried to deal with this 1 student.

There are several dives in Dahab that can easily overload someone who is rusty or a beginner. Their blue hole has killed a bunch...

Having just done the PADI Refresher not two weeks ago today after a 12-year layoff.

It is not quite like riding a bike, although stuff does come back pretty quickly. But I highly recommend the refresher for two reasons. . .Although you can get back up to speed on reading a table in a few minutes, there is a fair amount of stuff covered in the OW course that gets away from you. I studied my old manuals a bunch and still blew a few questions on the review test. Yes you do a 50 question review test. You don't have to "pass" it though, so don't worry about it. The instructor will discuss missed questions with you in depth. Good stuff.

Then you do the mask clearing drill, the mask remove and replace drill, air sharing, hand signals, fin pivot, swim around for a while, all in shallow water with the instructor. Much better to do this, IMO in a short review session in benign environment where you can surface and ask questions before going off the boat.

I was pretty uncomfortable at first in the dive, though. I did about 60 dives in 4 years and finished my AOW while living in the tropics, but having a new wetsuit (mine actually shrank over the last 13 years. . .I didn't think neoprene did that ) and trying to keep things straight took a bit more thinking than feeling. Constant self-talk, "Hmm, you're rising a bit, let a little air out of that BC. Oh, oh, sinking now. Let's see try to clear that water out of the mask. Darn, now I'm rising again." After trying to let a little water into the mask to clear some fog, I got too much in, took a good sinus shot clearing it, then found I had gained ten feet clearing it. It used to be like I was fish. . .now it took a lot more thinking, although by the end of the second dive I was getting more comfortable.

I think your skills will come back very quickly, but I highly, highly recommend the Scuba Refresher. It's not expensive, it's not time consuming, and you'll feel a lot more confident and comfortable on the boat dives if you've practiced those simple drills first in benign water with the instructor. Probably the place you're going will offer something like this, so you don't have to do it before you go. I made an appointment to meet with the instructor a couple hours before the boat dive.

Do it, you won't regret it. I'm a big fan of the refresher now. I, too, thought I'd be at home in the water in five minutes because I remember how at ease I used to be. It ain't so!

Read this. About an instructor, no less! And I'm certainly not that experienced. Never was. And this after she had been away only two years. It will convince you to do the refresher first.

http://www.scubadiving.com/training/lessons/march02.shtml

Have fun and post a dive trip report!!

JPC