2 day ow certification?

[flots am]

Following PADI Scuba Diver certification, do you need to dive with a DM or Instructor?

According to PADI, either one is fine, although you really shouldn't care what PADI is OK with, since they have nothing to lose.

If the diver screws up, or the dive leader screws up and the diver is injured or killed, PADI is pretty much bulletproof. In most resort locations, the shop and instructor are as well.

This really should have nothing to do with who will "let" anybody do any particular dive, but whether the diver is actually qualified to safely do the dive.

 

[TheFix]

No one has said it is a sham, rip off or con. The OP said it was an OW course (he spelled it OQ- by missing a key).

Ok, I'll call it a "shame" to say the least. From what I can tell, having been an Instructor now for 2 years in the Pacific Northwest, the weekend, or 2-day "immersion," OW certifications are producing some of the most ill-equipped and ill-prepared divers the sport and industry have ever seen. If you ever want to dive cold water, forget it, take the time and patience to do it right, absorb the skills and knowledge over more time, and learn from your Instructors as many are suggesting here.

While it's more conceivable to complete such a course in a warm water destination... in that the participant may be more comfortable and feel like they are "ready" afterward, there is no way you can master the intricacies of buoyancy in that short a time. For the sake of money, "resort" courses sacrifice proper training time and send "certified divers" out in to the coral reefs to damage them for the rest of our lifetimes... truly a shame, if not a sham. Please do not be selfish and self-serving, take the time to get trained properly.

 

[tstormdiver]

Ok, I'll call it a "shame" to say the least. From what I can tell, having been an Instructor now for 2 years in the Pacific Northwest, the weekend, or 2-day "immersion," OW certifications are producing some of the most ill-equipped and ill-prepared divers the sport and industry have ever seen. If you ever want to dive cold water, forget it, take the time and patience to do it right, absorb the skills and knowledge over more time, and learn from your Instructors as many are suggesting here.

While it's more conceivable to complete such a course in a warm water destination... in that the participant may be more comfortable and feel like they are "ready" afterward, there is no way you can master the intricacies of buoyancy in that short a time. For the sake of money, "resort" courses sacrifice proper training time and send "certified divers" out in to the coral reefs to damage them for the rest of our lifetimes... truly a shame, if not a sham. Please do not be selfish and self-serving, take the time to get trained properly.

I don't disagree with you 1 bit. Our shop refuses to do ANY OW course in less than 4 sessions of 3hr clssroom & 3hrs in the pool, each session + a weekend of OW dives. IMO this is just barely enough,.... & that is with no real issues. It is amazing, the potential students that call wanting to be certified in 1 -2 weekends. Just last week, we had a potential student call, wanting to be certified in 1 afternoon (he was rushed getting ready for a tropical vacation).

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

But it makes for a great sales pitch.
I believe it is just one more way to cash in on the vacationer who is inspired to dive. It fills the till and makes sure that more is spent to complete the real cert. That's just how I see it. I don't see that it helps anyone become a competent, self-reliant diver.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

This kind of questionably worded thread comes up every few months, even in the Instructor to Instructor forum (I2I). Terminology is usually the biggest hurdle to true communication.

Unlike perhaps 99% of scuba instructors, I have conducted a true to Standards, 2-day OW course, with three 20-something tow-in surfing free dive hunters. It was ~10 hours each day and we were all exhausted at the end of it.

Most people, including dive instructors, who use the 2-day OW Course terminology are using the term incorrectly IMHO, because they are only talking about the Academics and Confined Water; check out dives are not included, there is no OW certification.

Ok, I'll call it a "shame" to say the least. From what I can tell, having been an Instructor now for 2 years in the Pacific Northwest, the weekend, or 2-day "immersion," OW certifications are producing some of the most ill-equipped and ill-prepared divers the sport and industry have ever seen. If you ever want to dive cold water, forget it, take the time and patience to do it right, absorb the skills and knowledge over more time, and learn from your Instructors as many are suggesting here.

While it's more conceivable to complete such a course in a warm water destination... in that the participant may be more comfortable and feel like they are "ready" afterward, there is no way you can master the intricacies of buoyancy in that short a time. For the sake of money, "resort" courses sacrifice proper training time and send "certified divers" out in to the coral reefs to damage them for the rest of our lifetimes... truly a shame, if not a sham. Please do not be selfish and self-serving, take the time to get trained properly.

Certification History
SSI Open Water Diver - Apr'08
SSI Advanced Open Water Diver - Sep'08
SSI Master Diver - Dec'08
SSI Dive Control Specialist - Aug'09
TDI Advanced Nitrox/Decompression Procedures - Jan'10
SSI Open Water Instructor - Apr'10
SSI Specialty Instructor - May'10
DAN Instructor - May'10
SDI Open Water Instructor - Jun'10
SDI Specialty Instructor - Jun'10
SSI Adaptive SCUBA Instructor - Sep'10
SDI Scubility Instructor - Nov'10

Seriously???

According to your ScubaBoard Profile you have only been a certified diver for barely over 3 years, and only an Instructor for barely over a year. If 14 months rounds up to 2 years in your world, what does that say for the rest of what you type?

Your quoted post above sounds like you are just parroting the BS many bozos on the internet squawk to puff up their feathers and sell their own financial poppycock! :mooner:

There is no way you can produce any "proof" about any of the garbage in your second paragraph! Bunch of unsupported ignorant opinion is all you have typed, typed as fact?

I do not believe anyone is marketing a true 2-day OW course until I see the link for the web page that claims one can go from non-diver to OW Diver in 2 days; without links, I think everyone is full of it, including the OP.

To the OP; nothing personal, I just think you are mistaken about the terminology.

 

[Rhenry]

Yes I did mean to say OW. The question I have is it real or some other type of program.
She has gone through the "resort" dive before and did go through the pool portion of the OW course, but had a family issue that prevented her from completing the course. That was 2 years ago, now she wants to try again, but can't afford to take to many weekends off. She is an MT and has these crazy work schedules.

 

[Rhenry]

"PADI Two (2) Day and Weekend Open Water Scuba Diver Courses
Course Overview
Academic and Diving Theory is at home via interactive DVD/CD or eLearning online training (computer required). Eight to Twelve hours are required completing the academics.
• Confined Open Water and Open Water Sessions on Day One and Two
• Additional training and fees may be required after day Two.
• Once the course completed Open Water Certification is awarded. Additional Open Water Certification Cards available for each agency we teach."

From what I am reading this sounds like a 2 day certification course to me!!!

 

[Tienuts]

Sadly, the 2 day OW class can be quite poplar here with some dive shops. There are dozens of dive shops 15 minutes from where I sit, and they are all fighting over the same nickel. Since they can't make the classes any cheaper, they make them shorter now.

When I taught OW, I worked for one shop who specialized in this. They would take them to a pool (behind the shop owner's friend's house) which was barely 6 feet deep, and 15 feet long for their confined water dives, then right off to the boat for OW dives 1 & 2, then repeat the next day. And academics? That was covered during lunch. Just because PADI says you have to teach a certain way doesn't mean people actually do it.

I quit the shop before my first OW class was done.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

What do you think this line is there for?

• Additional training and fees may be required after day Two.

Like I said, I'm not buying it until I see some links. And how about some SB members who were actually certified in only 2 days with instructor(s).?

 

[dmoore19]

The Dive shops here do a Discover Scuba in the pool. There are no OW dives involved that I am aware of. I can understand Discover Scuba in a controlled environment of a pool (10' deep). One of the folks in my OW class bailed out when doing the pool work, couldn't get idea of breathing underwater part. Better to spend $25 for the discover scuba class in the pool than full course if your not sure it's for you.