Does "Discover SCUBA" discourage new divers?

[lmorin]

My wife and I are diving today because of a Club Med resort course taken at Turks and Caicos in 2002 with a calm, encouraging, excellent instructor. I think the real answer to some of the questions about resort courses is the same as applies to beginning scuba instruction in general--it is a much better experience on all counts with an excellent instructor.

And, by the way, we did a repeat of the course the following year at the same place, but with an altogether indifferent instructor. We did not care at that point because we were already solidly rooted in the right way of doing things from the prior excellent instructor. Nevertheless, the between-instructor difference is one of the major reasons we decided to become formally certified and to strike out on our own.

 

[kafkaland]

I got seriously interested in scuba through a DSD course. I was on Hawaii for surfing, but the waves were lacking one day, and I was looking for something to do, and signed up for a DSD course. I was the only student, we did a solid pool session and a really fun shore dive on a reef with plenty of interesting fish.

Back home, I signed up for an OW course, thinking that it would be good to be certified if I'm again stuck on a surf trip without waves. And a few dives later, I'm hooked and will soon go on my first diving vacation to Honduras, where there is no rideable surf whatsoever.

so in my case, a positive DSD experience made the difference.

 

[scubastingray]

I did a pool only DSD, and couldn't clear my ears so I abandoned the idea. It was my chief concern when finally deciding to take the plunge, and practicing ear clearing techniques helped.

 

[Goodtime Adventures]

Yes, as many of the others have said, this was not a proper dsd, which should be a 3 part experience consisting of theory, skills paractice and shallow dive. I've done one of these myself - in Cairns, Australia, and if it weren't for an encouraging friend and a professional and patient instructor I don't think I'd ever have dived again. Its such a shame that these cowboy ops treat people this way and scare so many potential divers out of a lifetime of otherwise enjoyable experiences. Anyway.....

So to answer the OPs original question, DSD's should not discourage divers if done properly. They are not however right for everyone, so if depends on the individual diver's motivations. If they choose the dsd over certification because they're nervous then more often than not its better just to go for the OW right off. It is impossible to teach someone to dive in half a day/a day/whatever time period you use for discovery dives. Therefore the information is limited to essential and need to know stuff, and is potentially more scary to a nervous student as they are left in ignorance of the more complex/complete theory that takes longer to convey. You obviously get a much deeper understanding of diving, the equipment (and more importantly to trust it), safety, buoyancy, contingency skills etc etc on the full course, which helps eliminate most of those initial fears & 'what ifs' in the students mind.

 

[TMHeimer]

Goodtime Adventures, I agree. As I mentioned way back, I think pool DSD only is a good option, especially for someone not "comfortable" in water (why would they take scuba at all yet?). I think it was a DSD course onboard a cruise--with an ocean dive included-- that steered me to the snorkel tour instead. I figured this seemed a bit sketchy for me, being an experienced snorkeler then. I also knew that if/when I took scuba it would be the full course-- why waste time and maybe pay extra? But a pool experience may make the decision for someone who is unsure about liking scuba.

 

[violamama]

I didn't have time to read all the responses, but I'm glad to hear there are guidelines for proper DSD courses. When I did my OW cert dives, there was a family on the boat doing DSD. The mom seemed experienced, but there were 3 others with them who wanted to try the dsd. I don't think they had done anything other than walk on the boat that day. The mom did not even stay nearby when the 3 DSDs entered the water.

The instructor was very good with them, but it was annoying to have to share his attention when I was supposed to be doing my own first ocean dives and demonstrating skills I had learned in a pool. In retrospect, I don't think I was ready for that much personal responsibility on my first ow dives.

I doubt it's financially viable to ask boat-only ops to try to keep DSDs separate from other kinds of dives, but I kind of wish it were. It seems like it would be easier for the instructor to serve each student's goals (not to mention safety) that way.

 

[emoreira]

According to SSI standards Try Scuba (Discover Scuba as per PADI) should be done in two steps. First a pool dive with an explanation before and second and open water dive with limited depth.
I've seen many times that the pool dive is omitted and people is sent directly to the open water dive and with poor thermal insulation, I mean very few neoprene in cold water. This will surely condemn the Try Scuba candidate in a future "scuba hater".
If we are introducing people to our sport and we want to show them the marvels of the underwater world, we should treat them in the best way possible.
Some operators only see the amount of money they will receive with this unique and never ever again experience.

 

[TMHeimer]

violamama's post is an example of cutting corners. I agree with emoreira about standards being followed and a student's first impression of scuba. From what I've read, PADI is well aware of "cutting corners" and I believe their data points out that this is the course with the most incidents. All the more reason to check out exactly what will happen before signing up for DSD. Of course, many people (as with me) don't research anything much about it and have no clue what any scuba course is about.

 

[Atsbits]

I did a DSD PADI course on the great barrier reef a while back. The course consisted of some very basic instruction on the boat ride out. I felt I had to spend more time listening to the photographer than the instructor.

We then got given preassembled gear and got thrown off the back of the boat. We did a mask clearing exercise and dv retrieval bobbing on the surface before being taken down the anchor line. The dives were good from the marine life viewing side. And I felt rather comfortable at the time. Had a good experience which led me to get certified but only later.

Looking back at it after certification, I do feel there are things I would have wished went much better. My weighting and trim was on the more pathetic side and not being taught how to operate the bc caused me to kick the reef on a couple of occasions. What bothered me a lot more though was the blasted photographers who kept pulling me back to take shots and forcing me to hit the reef again. They kept on drawing my attention away from enjoying the dive so they could charge exorbitant fees for pictures of me where I look completely alien. They also did not teach us the signal to tell the photographers to f@&$ off.

Not having any idea about dive time or gas management also seems a bit crazy now as the only way we knew when to surface was by following the instructor blindly. It was a 1:4 ratio of instructor to dsd divers. I do remember my air consumption was better than my cousins who were with me. The gas consumption was monitored by the instructor going to read all the gauges by himself. We were just told to get his attention if the needle reached the orange section.

I think if I knew then what I know now, I would have been a lot more apprehensive about doing the dives to the point where I would not do it. It was an exercise in trusting the op completely. And I now know the technique for warding off the photographers, pull out a Rambo knife and head for the LP hose. Is this normal for ops doing DSD in popular dive destinations or is it a cowboy type dive experience in Aus or am I just over analyzing this and blowing it out of proportion?

 

[String]

A DSD done *properly* can create people desperate to carry on or learn diving - even those that weren't really interested before.

However one done BADLY (or worse, resort style "intro dives") where people are given minimal briefings, dragged across with no control usually in large groups for a small amount of time can turn even the keenest learner into someone that never wants to do it again.

Ive come across no end of people that decided to not learn to dive after a terrible/dodgy intro experience. You see it all the time here, 10 minute dips, ears hurting in a group of 12 crashing into the sand.