Discover Scuba Diving aka DSD aka "Resort Course" question?

[paowdan]

Dan, are you really an AOW certified diver? Some of your comments lead me to believe you are being less than truthful with us. You wrote this as if you were inquiring on behalf of your "friends" but you "clearly" involve yourself as part of the DSD resort course. Why would an AOW certified diver take a resort course? You listed your experience in minutes rather than in number of dives which is not the norm. I thought maybe you liked the sound of that better than the number of dives you have but now I actually believe that you are not a diver at all and were actually listing your own experience and not your "friends" resort dive.. You keep saying "we" instead of "they". You also seem to know "alot" about something you supposedly were not a part of. Come clean Dan.

Jim,

Sorry that you may have misinterpreted my posts. I am, in fact, still inquiring on behalf of my friends who participated on a DSD. As I mentioned in my previous post, the boat dropped off the other certified divers for their first dive, then my friends (and me) to do their first DSD dive (and also my first dive), then picked everyone up to do a 2nd dive. I was NOT actually participating in the DSD. Rather, I was "tagging along" in order to observe (and film) my friends. I was actually given the option to dive with the other certified divers for my first dive but chose to accompany my friends (why? because they're my friends and the point was to do this TOGETHER?). =)

I have 50+ logged dives averaging 40-45 minutes (I still use my original PADI log book where you add up "cumulative bottom time" which I've just kept in minutes... I don't understand why you get so hung up over this? Maybe it's because I don't get to spend too much time chatting about my dives with other divers...).

Perhaps this video will convince you that I am who I say I am (my Suunto D6 logged 130 feet the last time I dove it... a bit deep for a non-diver, no?)? =)
Scuba Diving in the Caribbean: St. George Wreck

It's a recent video I posted while diving in the DR. And if you so feel inclined, you can even e-mail John @ Scuba Fun (I think it's info@scubafun.info - btw, I highly recommend them!) and ask him if I'm actually an AOW diver? =)

scubapatton - and you've identified another of the issues I had!

nolatom - Glad to hear you had a much better experience!

 

[Buoyant1]

I took a DSD course the week after I started my OW classes (I figured that I was going to be in Key West, I found a place that did it rather cheap, and got good tips for when I went through the rest of my course)

I had already at that point done a "discover" course in the pool twice with what would become my LDS...more of a "try scuba" type of thing. I did it once myself, and once with my wife (with the same instructor) Then had my first class...went to KW did the DSD which was about a half hour in the pool with the instructor making sure I knew how to do the basics, then he went to take the tanks to the boat and had another instructor that was proctoring an exam keep an eye on my while I worked on what ever I wanted.

We then went to the reef and did two 30-35 ft dives and had a blast!

With that...I honestly think it's the OP and how they conduct their business..I've heard of more and less. (more meaning that people have gone to "resorts" took the class on day one and were able to dive all week with an instructor at will) and less...reading your experience...err your friends that is.

If it gets them into diving,then it was money well spent, if it doesn't then at least they had the opportunity to try it.

 

[bfw]

Understand that the program guide for the DSD program is pretty thin--like a few pages.

Since it can be "credited" as module 1 of OW, it's reasonable to treat any material regarding the teaching of that module as applicable.

 

[bfw]

I have never been on a boat that left divers in the water and would never dive with a boat that did.

Ever heard of drift diving?

 

[String]

The DSD is in theory a pool session with the option for open water so they aren't really breaking standards doing so.

A lot of places in holiday resorts with calm sea etc treat the sea as "confined open water" so do the skills there and then go straight into the tour portion. This works fairly well and isn't really short changing.

The 2nd tank dive people do is normally open water, a little deeper and longer and they don't have to repeat the skills.

Where i worked last year the DSD was about 2hrs per student.

They had the PADI DSD video (about 20 mins) and then a brief theory session on the kit, skills etc (15 mins).

Then they walk to the pool and do the skills. Depending on the student this can take 10 mins to 45 mins.

After the skills they leave the pool, down the steps and into the sea for the open water dive (30 mins or so and max depth 6m)

If they want to do the "follow up" dive they simply turn up, hop onto the boat which goes to a different site, off the boat for a dive of 45 mins max, 12m max then return. No skills.


The previous year in a different place we used the sea as "confined open water" and extended the tour portion from there.

 

[String]

Wow, so the boat left the divers in water to go drop off DSD students, THEN left the DSD students to go get the divers, THEN returned for the DSD students..! OUCH. I have never been on a boat that left divers in the water and would never dive with a boat that did.

Obviously your experience of diving protocols and locations is limited. In lots of places on the planet return to boat is not practical or in fact possible. Tides, low visibility, currents and often just practicalities mean the boat never anchors.

It drops divers in the moves around providing surface cover. Divers ending a dive send up a marker buoy and the boat should be waiting next to it when they surface.

In my view this is a far safer method of diving as if there is an emergency say a diver pops up a few hundred metres away it can respond *immediately*. No need to pull or cut anchor, start engines or anything - its there in seconds.

 

[scubapatton]

Ever heard of drift diving?

Drift diving does not entail the boat leaving the divers. The boat hangs back, yes, but they do not leave you to go deal with other divers. When you surface and signal, the boat will come get you, which means they are within visual of you with nothing to do but help you - eg, they are not dealing with other divers (unless they are in your group and just surfaced sooner). I have done drift dives with some boat operators that were so on top of things, they could trail our bubble line and when we surfaced, they were only a short distance away. They were small panggas, but pretty nice for drift diving. Oh wait, supposedly I have never heard of drift diving, because a post to a specific question regarding BRAND new divers doing a DSD dive leads to a world-wide comment.

If you want to get dropped off and then let the drift hopefully return you to shore while the boat goes about some other business, then go ahead and dive with that boat.

 

[scubapatton]

Obviously your experience of diving protocols and locations is limited. In lots of places on the planet return to boat is not practical or in fact possible. Tides, low visibility, currents and often just practicalities mean the boat never anchors.

It drops divers in the moves around providing surface cover. Divers ending a dive send up a marker buoy and the boat should be waiting next to it when they surface.

In my view this is a far safer method of diving as if there is an emergency say a diver pops up a few hundred metres away it can respond *immediately*. No need to pull or cut anchor, start engines or anything - its there in seconds.

Obviously.... Except I have dove in more places than my bath tub. I did not say the boat needs to be on top of the divers, but I have never dove, nor would I dive, with a boat that dropped students in one area, left to go to another area to drop off other divers, and then returned. It is just a recipe for disaster to me. Especially when the students being dropped off are DSD or OW students. Mind you, I do not know just how far the two drop sites were, but I would be VERY weary if the two dive sites were more than a hundred feet or so from each other. It may not be an issue if you are dropping some students in a deeper area and scuttling over to a shallower area, but it just makes no sense from a safety perspective when involving DSD or OW students, which this scenario did.

And yes, I have never dove a spot from a boat, and then had the boat leave me without taking me back. I have experienced this with small watercraft, but never with a boat ran by a dive shop operator.

String, we are saying the same thing. I am not saying anchor up ALL THE TIME, I am only saying LEAVING a dive site to attend to other divers is just not sane. MOVING, yes, LEAVING, no. Hope that makes sense this post around.

 

[wreckchick]

Not that I particularly want to get into the fray but it sounded like the OW divers got dropped and boat took the DSD group shallow. It is possible that the OW group was doing a one-way planning to meet the boat at the DSD location. I've done similar dives and it's really no big deal, it's a drift to a point instead of a pick-up. I'm probably wrong though.

Anyhoo, as far as the experience in concerned, every op handles DSDs differently. Our shop does classroom, pool and on the boat for a 2-tank dive (2 fresh tanks) if the student does fine in the pool but there are a ton of variations on the theme.

Rachel

 

[scubapatton]

No fray on my end. My experience is in California predominately, but I have dove all over the world. I have never gone on a boat with DSD students though, so maybe international locations do things different then what I see in CA. I do realize boat operators try to get in as many activities as they can in one boat - eg DSD students, divers, etc, but I still PERSONALLY would not dive with a boat that is going to drop me off then go attend to other divers in a group not my own. Drift diving or otherwise.