Starting Our Certification Path!

[seubank20]

This past Saturday my husband and I drove about 2 hours north to check out a dive shop that offered what they called a "Discover Scuba" class, that was basically just a test run at scuba diving. The instructor was amazing and very thorough even in the 2 hours that we were there. We went over some basic scuba instruction and headed to the pool. He thought us a couple small skills like clearing our masks, and how to find our regulator is we lost it. Then we sent about 15 minutes just sitting at the bottom of the pool getting the hang of constantly breathing and getting use to how it felt being underwater. We had a great time, and our instructor was again just awesome!

If you had replied/followed my first thread you know we were having a hard time choosing between a cheap class a friend was offering up or going ahead and doing a class through a PADI dive shop. Needless to say, after leaving the dive shop Saturday our mind was more than made up and we officially signed up a condensed class May 4th and 5th. We will be in class/pool for about 5 hours both days then doing our OW sign off dive the following weekend over 2 days as well. We were skeptical about the class only being 2 days but the instructor assured us that as long as we do all the reading before the class starts and pay attention during class that we will be fine. Since we live about 2 1/2 hours from this particular dive shop the 2 day class is probably our best bet! We are very excited, but more excited that the instructor seems like a very great and knowledgeable man. This makes his 25th year teaching and owning his own shop. Plus we will be in class with 3 other people (5 to a class) so I feel like we will have plenty of time for one on one instruction is we need it. For now, we are just waiting on them to send us our books to start reading before the class even starts!

I just want to thank everyone again for all the advice and kind words from my last thread. Hopefully we get this class done no problem and possible start diving with some of ya'll local to us!

 

[seattlepaul1975]

Good luck in the certification! It's a fun journey. My wife and I did our cert with SSI over a longer period (4 weeks) I think. One of the things that helped me the most was reading forums. It's great to read and hear about what other people have issues with or even better the mishaps forum here. Reading that allowed me to have a better understanding at times of what was being talked about, or better yet I was able to ask a question from that and feel more comfortable as a result.

Most of all enjoy it and have fun!

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I hope he's breaking that 5 hours up. That's a long time in the pool. People get cold and tired. When that happens the learning process comes to a grinding halt. It's why I am not allowed to teach a class like that by my agency standards. Nor would I due to my own. And just how much time does that leave you to actually absorb the material? Not just parrot it back. Read the lake Rawlings thread where the woman died. Same type of class. One weekend or three week nights. If you were my daughter I'd advise you to go with the longer one with your friend.

 

[Quero]

To the OP: It sounds like you've made a confident choice. Do your self-study and go to your sessions prepared and you should be okay. If you feel rushed at all, just ask for an extra pool session.

To Jim: Good grief! They haven't even begun their course yet and already you're starting your sales-pitch-cum-"the sky is falling"-lecture about how any course other than yours is inferior? And that they're likely to end up as corpses by doing the course they've signed up for? Give it a rest, man!

 

[kerrycorcoran]

Isn't it a blast. The wife and I are in the process of completing our OW certification (SSI) and it has been awesome. I agree, the Instructor must make a huge difference. Thus far its been educational and fun, so it's easy to want to go back for more.
Since starting the classes I have been all over the web reading anything scuba related. Can't get enough. Too much fun.
Best of luck.

PS - Make sure you plan your tropical dive now!

 

[ReneB]

Seubank:

Congrats to you and your husband on your decision to take the plunge!

I'm a newly certified diver, and I just wanted to share a couple of my experiences and thoughts with you.

First, I think it's a good idea for you to do as much of the theoretical stuff before your class. I chose to do it via an online course (and then did the confined and open water course) later, and this allowed me to have a better understanding of the principles before the actual class.

I also wanted to say that I do agree that 5 hours at a time without a significant break may be a bit much. You seem younger than me, so maybe it's not going to be an issue for you, but I know that on the 2nd day of our confined water work, my instructor made a great call by telling me that she thought we had done enough for the day. In my case, I was having a problem successfully doing a technique, and, as often happens when one is tried, got a bit frustrated. Fortunately, the next day we started off with that very same technique and it was a piece of cake.

Good luck and have fun with your course and your new hobby!

 

[Quero]

I also wanted to say that I do agree that 5 hours at a time without a significant break may be a bit much.

The thing is that this idea was planted in your mind, ReneB, and has led you to jump to an unsupported conclusion. It's most likely NOT the way the instructor will structure the course. Typically in a course like this, part of the day will be spent in a classroom session and part in the pool rather than five straight hours in the water. When I conduct an OW course like this with the CW and classroom sessions split over two days, there's also a lunch break.

 

[ReneB]

The thing is that this idea was planted in your mind, ReneB, and has led you to jump to an unsupported conclusion. It's most likely NOT the way the instructor will structure the course. Typically in a course like this, part of the day will be spent in a classroom session and part in the pool rather than five straight hours in the water. When I conduct an OW course like this with the CW and classroom sessions split over two days, there's also a lunch break.

Sorry to disagree with you, Quero, but I don't think you may have understood what I meant: NO ONE planted the idea in my mind. It was MY experience, and that alone, that led me to make the suggestion to the OP that 5 hours at a time -- whether all in the pool or a combo of pool and classroom -- was a bit long. Of course I have NO idea of exactly how the OP's instructor will be structuring the course, and my suggestion was simply that: 5 hours at a time may be too long.

Of course you may agree or disagree with me, but please don't presume to know what I did or did not experience for myself. As I wrote, the OP's experience may differ from mine, but in my case, towards the end of a multi-hour training session during the confined water dive, I was too tired to do my best. My instructor, to her credit, saw this and 'called it a day' ... at the moment, I must confess, I was a little disappointed, but, in retrospect I saw that it was the best call for me. I thanked my instructor for it the next day. Also, in my case, I had done all the theoretical part before the sessions with the instructor, so our pool and open water time was almost 100% practical and not theoretical.

I hope you will see that in my original post I never said anything specific about the OP's instructor's intent, nor, was I taking sides in the difference of opinion you may have with Jim. I simply was reporting my experience and sharing it with the OP.

 

[k ellis]

This past Saturday my husband and I drove about 2 hours north to check out a dive shop that offered what they called a "Discover Scuba" class, that was basically just a test run at scuba diving. The instructor was amazing and very thorough even in the 2 hours that we were there. We went over some basic scuba instruction and headed to the pool. He thought us a couple small skills like clearing our masks, and how to find our regulator is we lost it. Then we sent about 15 minutes just sitting at the bottom of the pool getting the hang of constantly breathing and getting use to how it felt being underwater. We had a great time, and our instructor was again just awesome!

If you had replied/followed my first thread you know we were having a hard time choosing between a cheap class a friend was offering up or going ahead and doing a class through a PADI dive shop. Needless to say, after leaving the dive shop Saturday our mind was more than made up and we officially signed up a condensed class May 4th and 5th. We will be in class/pool for about 5 hours both days then doing our OW sign off dive the following weekend over 2 days as well. We were skeptical about the class only being 2 days but the instructor assured us that as long as we do all the reading before the class starts and pay attention during class that we will be fine. Since we live about 2 1/2 hours from this particular dive shop the 2 day class is probably our best bet! We are very excited, but more excited that the instructor seems like a very great and knowledgeable man. This makes his 25th year teaching and owning his own shop. Plus we will be in class with 3 other people (5 to a class) so I feel like we will have plenty of time for one on one instruction is we need it. For now, we are just waiting on them to send us our books to start reading before the class even starts!

I just want to thank everyone again for all the advice and kind words from my last thread. Hopefully we get this class done no problem and possible start diving with some of ya'll local to us!

Congratulations!!!!

 

[Quero]

Sorry to disagree with you, Quero, but I don't think you may have understood what I meant.

Yes, I did misunderstand, and please feel free to disagree! It's a discussion board after all! Let me try to explain my post: first of all, I was not making reference to your specific experience, which is why I quoted only a small bit of your post that was relevant to my point; I was only saying that it's not possible for you or anyone to critique the course structure given that we don't know how the OP's instructor plans to use the time. You wrote: "I also wanted to say that I do agree that 5 hours at a time without a significant break may be a bit much," when, unless the OP is doing his course with the same instructor you used, there is no way you can know that there will not be a break. I simply don't feel that before the class even begins people ought to be suggesting that the OP's experience is fated to be suboptimal. In addition, while you did say you became tired and frustrated (which is very normal), you did not say that you were in a 5-hour session with no breaks, so I didn't guess that you were making a direct comparison with your personal experience. I apologize for not reading between the lines and for misunderstanding you. Again, there's no way that any of us can know how the instructor will structure the day, and therefore critiques of the course the OP has signed up for are premature.