Felipe Telles
Registered
Hey everyone,
This text is about what I'm experiencing this week and my history as a diver. This week my mother-in-law is geeting certified. I'm following her classes everyday for at least a little time, both inside the pool or in the classroom, and I can see how bad my instruction was. I will begin with my certification process:
-Me and my fiancee signed up for the cheapest scuba classes we could find. It was not just the cheapest but also the fastest. We tought: Oh great! What can differ from one LDS from another? It's just scuba diving, it can't be that hard, there's no way it can have been diferences between the classes. We will stay less time in the classroom and in the pool, but so what? We want to dive in the sea, not wacth a boring class or stay in a pool preteding we were diving.
We signed up for the class, and watched the instructional video two times, read the whole material and answered all the questions in the book, and learned how to read and work with the tables. We were ready for the classes. Our first class was in the classroom, and our instructor came up and asked: did you guys watched the whole video? Did you understand how to read tables? Do have any questions about the book? And that was pretty much everything that happened during the first day.
Second day we moved on to the pool. We put on the wetsuits, were taught how to set up a scuba unit (tanks, regs, bc...). Jumped in the water with everything ready and we don everything (masks, fins, bcs). This was really uncomfortable, we were confined to a very small space. It was a pool rented from a swim school nearby, and we were only allowed to stay in ONE lane. That meant 5 people confined to a space that was only 6 feet in width, and we couldn't get much farther apart from each water because the water was milky. It really sucked, I cramped for almost half of our classtime. We learned on how to take our regs of, how to purge it, how to clean the mask, fin pivot........ you know, the basics.
Third day again in the pool. Set up and jump in the water. Again the same crappy pool. This time we learned the emergency procedures. Everything went well, and in the end of the class we could swin a lap or two underwater if we wanted to.
This was the end of the classes, we had our check-out in the following weekend. Nothing really special, just four dives to demonstrate our skills learned during the week knelling down in the bottom of the sea. We do it without any major problems.
Ok, now we're certified! Our following dives were our nitrox checkout dive (not mandatory but the school offered it) and our AOW dives. And with 10 dives me and my fiancee were Advance Open Water divers and Nitrox divers. Can't this be better? Oh yeah, we were offered just after we complete our AOW to start EFR+rescue and then DM. This way our instructor said we could have 80 dives "for free" just by paying the DM course.
This time we thought a little and said 
.
-------------------
This happened a year ago. This week as I said before my mother-in-law is getting certified. This time we didn't just thought about the money, but we thought about everything that can happen (and happened a lot of times with us)t o a badly certified scuba diver. The LDS we chose for her to take the classes is now the LDS we chose for everything (gear, traveling, courses). The instructor for this LDS became a very good friend of me and my fiancee and also is our mentor. We were retaught SCUBA diving after two sessions in the pool with him.
His course was not cheap. She paid 50% more than I paid for my certification. His courses are structured in the following way: First day is in the classroom, second and third in the pool and on the fourth back to the classroom, fifth day is in a deep pool (10 feet deep).
The first day was about how everything works on scuba diving, the pressure changes, how our body reacts, how to chose equipament. It was really about to know what's scuba is all about. This class took four and a half hours. A little less than my whole scuba learning process took.
Second day was on the pool (the pool was much bigger than what I had my training). 1 hour to set everything properly, to check everything, to make sure everything is working well. Now to the pool. She didn't put all the equip on already. she got used to breath underwater, with nothing more than just the second stage. No mask. As she progressed he stimulated her to take the reg off and put it back on, to blow the air through the nose. After maybe an hour doing this it was time for she to put the bc with the tank, but no mask yet. Before that they made a little weight check and she was taught on how to set up a weight belt (mine was already given to me without an explanation). She was taught on how to properly deflate a BC (I dived a lot of times overweighted because I couldn't let all the air go off my BC), and then she went down. She didn't knell down but instead she just stood laying flat in the floor feeling how her breathing can affect her bouyance, again without a mask. Finally she puts her mask on, and quickly learned how to clean it by blowing through her nose which was a walk in the park since she was already doing that without the mask. Now the instructor makes up a challenge to her. He tells her to take her mask down to the neck, put the regulator on, and put back the mask and clean it. This way she practiced everything she learned that day in one exercise. This was without knelling down. She does it in the first try. The class lasted for about 4 and a half hour again. She could take two whole courses with me already...
Second day in the pool was about kicking tecniques and emergency procedures. She was taught the flutter kick, the frog, the half flutter, and the back kick. I didn't even now that there was differents kicks in scuba. Of course, she didn't became proficient in these kicks, but at least she knew that they exist and how to perform it. Righ after there was emergency procedures. I couldn't watch it but by what she told me it was nothing fancy, just the basic stuff. Again 4 and half hours
Second day in the classroom she learned tables, and how the whole nitrogen thing works. I couldn't watch this again. Again 4 and half hours.
Tomorrow we are going to the deep pool. There she we'll learn on how to equalize, to work on her kicks, to the descend the line, how to do the giant stride. All the stuff she has to do in the sea.
The checkout I really don't know how's going to be, but I'll write it as soon as I can.
Anyway, there's A LOT you can learn with good instruction. It may cost more sometimes but it's well worth it. It's your life at risk while you're diving. This is priceless.
Also, there are things which a good instructor may present you in the begining, that if you are not taught you will learn, one way or another. But it will take time, some dives in your belt, and some bad surprises underwater.
I learned on how a good instructor can be valueable in some acidents I had, it wasn't anything dangerous, but it could become, as anything in scuba. I owe a lot to this guy, he's a very good friend and a great mentor.
This may be tiring to read, but if you're thinking about diving it might be worth it!
This text is about what I'm experiencing this week and my history as a diver. This week my mother-in-law is geeting certified. I'm following her classes everyday for at least a little time, both inside the pool or in the classroom, and I can see how bad my instruction was. I will begin with my certification process:
-Me and my fiancee signed up for the cheapest scuba classes we could find. It was not just the cheapest but also the fastest. We tought: Oh great! What can differ from one LDS from another? It's just scuba diving, it can't be that hard, there's no way it can have been diferences between the classes. We will stay less time in the classroom and in the pool, but so what? We want to dive in the sea, not wacth a boring class or stay in a pool preteding we were diving.
We signed up for the class, and watched the instructional video two times, read the whole material and answered all the questions in the book, and learned how to read and work with the tables. We were ready for the classes. Our first class was in the classroom, and our instructor came up and asked: did you guys watched the whole video? Did you understand how to read tables? Do have any questions about the book? And that was pretty much everything that happened during the first day.
Second day we moved on to the pool. We put on the wetsuits, were taught how to set up a scuba unit (tanks, regs, bc...). Jumped in the water with everything ready and we don everything (masks, fins, bcs). This was really uncomfortable, we were confined to a very small space. It was a pool rented from a swim school nearby, and we were only allowed to stay in ONE lane. That meant 5 people confined to a space that was only 6 feet in width, and we couldn't get much farther apart from each water because the water was milky. It really sucked, I cramped for almost half of our classtime. We learned on how to take our regs of, how to purge it, how to clean the mask, fin pivot........ you know, the basics.
Third day again in the pool. Set up and jump in the water. Again the same crappy pool. This time we learned the emergency procedures. Everything went well, and in the end of the class we could swin a lap or two underwater if we wanted to.
This was the end of the classes, we had our check-out in the following weekend. Nothing really special, just four dives to demonstrate our skills learned during the week knelling down in the bottom of the sea. We do it without any major problems.
Ok, now we're certified! Our following dives were our nitrox checkout dive (not mandatory but the school offered it) and our AOW dives. And with 10 dives me and my fiancee were Advance Open Water divers and Nitrox divers. Can't this be better? Oh yeah, we were offered just after we complete our AOW to start EFR+rescue and then DM. This way our instructor said we could have 80 dives "for free" just by paying the DM course.
This time we thought a little and said .-------------------
This happened a year ago. This week as I said before my mother-in-law is getting certified. This time we didn't just thought about the money, but we thought about everything that can happen (and happened a lot of times with us)t o a badly certified scuba diver. The LDS we chose for her to take the classes is now the LDS we chose for everything (gear, traveling, courses). The instructor for this LDS became a very good friend of me and my fiancee and also is our mentor. We were retaught SCUBA diving after two sessions in the pool with him.
His course was not cheap. She paid 50% more than I paid for my certification. His courses are structured in the following way: First day is in the classroom, second and third in the pool and on the fourth back to the classroom, fifth day is in a deep pool (10 feet deep).
The first day was about how everything works on scuba diving, the pressure changes, how our body reacts, how to chose equipament. It was really about to know what's scuba is all about. This class took four and a half hours. A little less than my whole scuba learning process took.
Second day was on the pool (the pool was much bigger than what I had my training). 1 hour to set everything properly, to check everything, to make sure everything is working well. Now to the pool. She didn't put all the equip on already. she got used to breath underwater, with nothing more than just the second stage. No mask. As she progressed he stimulated her to take the reg off and put it back on, to blow the air through the nose. After maybe an hour doing this it was time for she to put the bc with the tank, but no mask yet. Before that they made a little weight check and she was taught on how to set up a weight belt (mine was already given to me without an explanation). She was taught on how to properly deflate a BC (I dived a lot of times overweighted because I couldn't let all the air go off my BC), and then she went down. She didn't knell down but instead she just stood laying flat in the floor feeling how her breathing can affect her bouyance, again without a mask. Finally she puts her mask on, and quickly learned how to clean it by blowing through her nose which was a walk in the park since she was already doing that without the mask. Now the instructor makes up a challenge to her. He tells her to take her mask down to the neck, put the regulator on, and put back the mask and clean it. This way she practiced everything she learned that day in one exercise. This was without knelling down. She does it in the first try. The class lasted for about 4 and a half hour again. She could take two whole courses with me already...
Second day in the pool was about kicking tecniques and emergency procedures. She was taught the flutter kick, the frog, the half flutter, and the back kick. I didn't even now that there was differents kicks in scuba. Of course, she didn't became proficient in these kicks, but at least she knew that they exist and how to perform it. Righ after there was emergency procedures. I couldn't watch it but by what she told me it was nothing fancy, just the basic stuff. Again 4 and half hours
Second day in the classroom she learned tables, and how the whole nitrogen thing works. I couldn't watch this again. Again 4 and half hours.
Tomorrow we are going to the deep pool. There she we'll learn on how to equalize, to work on her kicks, to the descend the line, how to do the giant stride. All the stuff she has to do in the sea.
The checkout I really don't know how's going to be, but I'll write it as soon as I can.
Anyway, there's A LOT you can learn with good instruction. It may cost more sometimes but it's well worth it. It's your life at risk while you're diving. This is priceless.
Also, there are things which a good instructor may present you in the begining, that if you are not taught you will learn, one way or another. But it will take time, some dives in your belt, and some bad surprises underwater.
I learned on how a good instructor can be valueable in some acidents I had, it wasn't anything dangerous, but it could become, as anything in scuba. I owe a lot to this guy, he's a very good friend and a great mentor.
This may be tiring to read, but if you're thinking about diving it might be worth it!
