NAUI Open Water Class Requirements

Today, I inquired at a dive shop about the cost and general parameters for getting my teenage daughter certified. The instructor was offering what seems to be a pretty competitive price.

I asked about the classroom/academics and he said that it is an on-line course, but they meet on a Saturday morning, go over the material (test I assume?) and then they do some pool work and on the same day do two open water dives. Then on the following weekend the divers do one boat trip and do two more scuba dives to complete the training program.

Is this really how abbreviated the course is now, or is the guy planning on breaking standards by doing a little pool work and then two open water training dives all in one day. There was NO additional pool sessions other than the initial one on a Saturday.

Unfortunately all that must be done is a introduction to skills in confined water. Although there are a lot of skills if I wanted to I could introduce them all to you and have you do them once in a matter of a few hours. I am not saying I agree with it but technically I don't thin he is breaking standards. I put my students in the pool twice at a minimum. Half the skills on day one then I allow time to practice skills and then the second half of the skills on day two. As far as elearning, many of the instructors I know are using it. It is more cost effective for a instructor to allow you to take the course online and then clarify anything not fully understood followed by testing your knowledge with a exam.

Based on your description, this meets the minimum standards for most (NAUI, SSI, and PADI) agencies....

The online coursers do cover the material well, student retention may even be higher than traditional 8 hour lecture series I taught in the 90's.... Everyone learns differently. I had my son (10 years old) also read the book and complete the mini quizzes.... His ability to talk about SCUBA concepts definitely improved from the repetition (not the quality). Pool time can be the make or break.... Consider a private instructor.... In a one day pool class, the students don't have much time to get comfortable.... A private instructor can do wonders with any students in a short time.

Also be sure to make arrangements for your Jr Diver weeks ahead of time.... We keep our son above 25 feet for his dives (personal choice). Even finding shops that will verbally agree to the 40 foot standard can be difficult.... Bananarama Dive Resort has been incredible at looking towards the needs and requirements of a Jr diver and his over protective parents... It took me several months of trying to find a dive location willing (and enthusiastic!) about working with us.

Safe Diving

WOW, I have been out of teaching for a long time. They can now teach all the skills in one pool session needed for certification! Amazing! I forget the standards when I taught, but I think we had to have like 4 pool sessions or something and they were pretty busy, as I recall.

I am teaching my daughter to dive myself, but since I am no longer an active instructor, I thought it might be nice to have her actually get a certification card... in case anyone ever asks for it...

I am somewhat relieved to hear that the instructor's class description was within standards. But this once again confirms to me that the certification agencies (NAUI too I guess).. are working from a much different perspective than me.

My daughter has been on 3 very shallow open water dives with me and I am not yet sure I will allow her to take a class, even if I am allowed to observe.. This is just incredibly scary to me.

My daughter has been on 3 very shallow open water dives with me and I am not yet sure I will allow her to take a class, even if I am allowed to observe.. This is just incredibly scary to me.

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Why NAUI or yet why this instructor?
Why not seek out an Instructor that teaches closer to what you feel the course should entail? Not abbreviated.

Why not the GUE Rec 1 class? It seems to be a much better class.

There are plenty of other shops/instructors that still teach long spread out courses.

As far as a GUE class, there are what 20 gue instructors in the US? Not an option for a whole lot of folks.

The instructor is the key here....not the agency

Scott:

Why NAUI or yet why this instructor?
Why not seek out an Instructor that teaches closer to what you feel the course should entail? Not abbreviated.

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To be honest they were running a half off special for Black Friday.. I was looking for a cheap course, I am not that worried about what she will or will not learn in the class, since I will teach her "what she needs to know".

Plus I would only allow her to take a class I can completely monitor (especially the open water dives, I MUST be allowed to be her buddy). I have concerns about some other extremely poorly trained student killing her. There is no way, I would trust her safety to these certification agencies or their instructors.

I just wanted to have her get a card.. even if it is becoming increasingly meaningless, she may want to go on a charter boat or something sometime and it would make sense for her to have card to show.

On the other hand, I would rather not support an instructor who would openly violate standards. It seems to be getting so ridiculous, I am wondering if there is not a source for fake cert cards..

While I understand your protectiveness, you are what I would consider a parent from hell. You know, the overbearing kind of guy that tries to undermine the instructors authority/responsibility. You also have this preconceived notion that there are no comprehensive courses or competent instructors, which doesn't surprise me since you merely want to give your kid the cheapest class that can get her a c card.

tomfcrist:

While I understand your protectiveness, you are what I would consider a parent from hell. You know, the overbearing kind of guy that tries to undermine the instructors authority/responsibility. You also have this preconceived notion that there are no comprehensive courses or competent instructors, which doesn't surprise me since you merely want to give your kid the cheapest class that can get her a c card.

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I would never undermine the instructor's authority... unless of course he/she tried to do something that I didn't think was safe, then I would, of course intervene.

Kinda funny, on her twin brother's "class" (5 years ago) I was tagging along and had to hold and calm down a student who bolted for the surface and was freaking out. The instructor had not noticed, and I just remained stationary and submerged, holding her hips and keeping her head out of the water until the instructor noticed the issue and then he ascended and dealt with her, and got her positively buoyant and then I released her. The instructor was very appreciative of my help.

On their older brothers certification dive (years earlier), a student bolted for the surface and refused to descend, so the instructor asked me (an uninsured, non-active instructor) to tow the guy to shore (after he exhausted himself on the surface). I was very hesitant to leave my kid with the rest of the class, but I did as asked and towed the guy to standing depth and then swam back to the group.

I guess I'm just price shopping for the cheapest cert card...I'm just amazed what the standards are. Back when I completed the NAUI instructor course in the late 70's, they had some pretty high standards for training. I had incorrectly assumed that the organization had maintained some degree of rigorousness..