What is the problem with doing a Scuba Review/Refresher?

[redacted]

Just for clarification: I'm not here to either defend or attack 'my' shop's policy.
My answer is in line with Chrisch's: there's no easy answers. Dive computer's might be borrowed. Logbooks can be falsified, and like yourself most people stop logging after reaching a certain number of dives (or right after they're certified). So to be honest mostly we take people's word for it, because that's about as reliable as previous methods. If they want to lie about it there's not much we can do (becaust they can also falsify ther logs) but at least the honus is on them if the dive turns out to be too challlenging for them, or if they make a fool of themselves on the boat when it turns out they don't know how to set up their gear.

ScubaRose

You have not answered the question about when the customer is advised of this requirement. I feel that is critical.

Any policies that are established at the time the contract with a dive op is made (payment is rendered and accepted) are part of that contract and are binding. Anything after the contract is made are requests and recommendations - not binding.

I don't mind policies that present restrictions or added expenses as long as they are up front. I am unhappy with any late add-ons. I tend to express my unhappiness with poor reviews but may cancel any contract and take my business elsewhere in extreme cases. Wasting a day of diving to take a refresher course would be an extreme case for me.

I checked a local shop in Austin TX. Their refresher courses are $75.

 

[chrisch]

.....
Just a few questions to keep the discussion going and to inform myself better

- What's the ongoing rate for a checkout dive and how do these things usually work? I have never worked in an environment where this was a 'formal' thing and am curious about what they entail.
- What about instabuddies? We get quite a few divers that come here alone and that buddy up with another "lonely" diver (for lack of a better word?). Imagine both yourself and your instabuddy have, let's say, around 15 dives but both haven't been diving in the last 8 months. The dive is unguided. How would you feel about that?
- Now imagine that + you arrive at the site and there seems to be a fairly strong current which doesn't leave a lot of time for messing about on the surface, but all other divers on the boat are very experienced and for them this is another routine dive. You bought a new wetsuit for this trip, but it's the first time you use it and you have no idea how many weights you need. What do you do?
- What if you are experienced (both number of dives and dives in this area) and you are being buddied up with someone with 12 dives, AOW cert and no dives since last october?

Obviously I'm making up random examples: but you catch my drift.

- Never had a check out dive.

- I would not want to be "instabuddy" if I were not very experienced and had few dives. I personally wouldn't have signed up for an unguided dive if I were at that point in my diving. I would be cautious of anyone in that situation.

- If I needed to do a weight check I would have done it before getting to the dive site. Failing that overweight a bit and compensate on the BC, subject to dive depth being shallow enough for the BC to handle an extra Kg or two.

- If I was buddied up with your inexperienced diver that was a bit rusty I would be OK with that, provided you are not buddying me with them all week and I get 15 min BT and back on the boat with 120 bar every dive. Will you let me send them up the shot/anchor and finish my gas off with another buddy pair? (vis permitting).

Do I need a PADI specialty card for the drift (sorry )

 

[drbill]

Although I understand the OP's intent, I think requiring a refresher course for someone who has not dived in 6 months may be a little stringent. If they have not dived in the last year, maybe. I'd advise having the diver do a guided dive so the DM or instructor can assess their comfort in the water and skills level.

I was mildly offended when several dive ops required me to do a "check out" dive simply because my c-card was from the 1960s. I had recent logged dives they could view, but they still required it and almost all the dive ops sent me out with DMs or instructors that hadn't been born when I started diving back in 1961-62.

 

[ScubaSteve1962]

Just a few questions to keep the discussion going and to inform myself better

- What's the ongoing rate for a checkout dive and how do these things usually work? I have never worked in an environment where this was a 'formal' thing and am curious about what they entail.
- What about instabuddies? We get quite a few divers that come here alone and that buddy up with another "lonely" diver (for lack of a better word?). Imagine both yourself and your instabuddy have, let's say, around 15 dives but both haven't been diving in the last 8 months. The dive is unguided. How would you feel about that?
- Now imagine that + you arrive at the site and there seems to be a fairly strong current which doesn't leave a lot of time for messing about on the surface, but all other divers on the boat are very experienced and for them this is another routine dive. You bought a new wetsuit for this trip, but it's the first time you use it and you have no idea how many weights you need. What do you do?
- What if you are experienced (both number of dives and dives in this area) and you are being buddied up with someone with 12 dives, AOW cert and no dives since last october?

Obviously I'm making up random examples: but you catch my drift.

A check out dive is usually the first dive on a shallow reef at no extra cost.

For me if I'm traveling alone, I like to find ops that provide guides.

If you arrive in a new wet-suit and need to do a weight check, go do a check out dive at a better location with no current if possible.

If buddied with an in experienced diver, again, do a check out dive if possible


Now on to the original topic. Does a refresher course have to be done with an instructor. or can I go to a local pool and refresh my skills alone or with a buddy?

 

[Mike]

Although I understand the OP's intent, I think requiring a refresher course for someone who has not dived in 6 months may be a little stringent. If they have not dived in the last year, maybe. I'd advise having the diver do a guided dive so the DM or instructor can assess their comfort in the water and skills level.

I was mildly offended when several dive ops required me to do a "check out" dive simply because my c-card was from the 1960s. I had recent logged dives they could view, but they still required it and almost all the dive ops sent me out with DMs or instructors that hadn't been born when I started diving back in 1961-62.

A check out dive is a guided dive so the DM or instructor can assess their comfort in the water and skills level. The check out dive should be a normal dive just not an advanced dive, it should be a milder dive site with controlled, known, easy, predictable conditions. A check out dive is not a kneel on the bottom and do mask clearing and regulator retrievals.

 

[nimoh]

A check out dive is a guided dive so the DM or instructor can assess their comfort in the water and skills level. The check out dive should be a normal dive just not an advanced dive, it should be a milder dive site with controlled, known, easy, predictable conditions. A check out dive is not a kneel on the bottom and do mask clearing and regulator retrievals.

I agree that a check out dive is a guided dive, and will add that not all guided dives are check out dives. However, Scuba Review courses are not the same thing as a check out dive (although they are guided dives).

 

[redacted]

A check out dive is a guided dive so the DM or instructor can assess their comfort in the water and skills level. The check out dive should be a normal dive just not an advanced dive, it should be a milder dive site with controlled, known, easy, predictable conditions. A check out dive is not a kneel on the bottom and do mask clearing and regulator retrievals.

So, you have never been to Bonaire.:shocked2:

In Bonaire, a checkout dive is required by most, probably all, dive ops. It is done on the house reef, normally without a DM/guide. It is the newly arrived divers' opportunity to verify their gear and weight are right before heading out to anywhere they choose to go.

 

[Skittl1321]

Now on to the original topic. Does a refresher course have to be done with an instructor. or can I go to a local pool and refresh my skills alone or with a buddy?

It doesn't seem like it would be a "course" without a professional. But my LDS uses divemasters, not instructors.

I plan to refresh our skills with a buddy instead of taking the course- but I'm going to a local quarry, so it gets logged as a dive. I don't know if the places that require a refresher would "count" it if it was in a pool. However, due to thermoclines, we only go to 20 feet in the quarry (which is only 30 feet deep) so it isn't that much different from a pool except you can't see anything...

 

[boulderjohn]

Now on to the original topic. Does a refresher course have to be done with an instructor. or can I go to a local pool and refresh my skills alone or with a buddy?

A certified diver can rent a tank and do a simple local dive with a friend in anticipation of a dive trip. You won't be able to get into most pools because that requires special insurance. You can, however get into a local pool under the auspices of a dive shop that does have that special insurance. When the dive shop for which I work has a scheduled pool session for their OW classes, it is quite common for certified divers to pay a very small fee to rent a tank and weights and do their own refreshers without any professional assistance. They just have to stay out of the way of the classes. If your local dive shop has its own pool, it is usually pretty easy to rent some time in it.

 

[Hawkwood]

It doesn't seem like it would be a "course" without a professional. But my LDS uses divemasters, not instructors.

...

They are doing a "refresher", not a formal review, which has defined standards and elements to follow.

We have our DMs do the "refreshers" as well. They are simply leading the certified divers through all the skills in the pool, something a DM is capable of doing.

We do lots of refreshers in the fall and winter months, one a week. There is a strong demand for them here by those folks diving on vacation once or twice a year.