What to expect on a checkout dive?

[Warhammer]

FWIW, I'll be insisting the DM watch me and my wife closely and ask for easy/benign dive sites for our week there. OW certified does not mean OW competent.

If you get too carried away with that request you could end up diving with the Discover Scuba divers. However, there is no shame in doing so for a dive or 2, especially if you need a little confidence building and a chance to work on your buoyancy/ballast. The upside would be you'd be on very shallow dives. But this is probably what the checkout dives are for.

I have never been to Sandals St. Lucia, but I have been to Sandals in the Bahamas and Jamaica and they usually sent multiple DMs on every dive. There is usually a leader, videographer, and a follower. They keep all of the divers in the middle and generally do easy dives. If you get a chance to do a night dive, after you've gained a little confidence, it's an awesome experience.

 

[highdesert]

The most difficult resort checkout dive I've undergone (not part of a course) involved doing a weight check and then having the DM watch me flood and purge my mask. Done. It may also involve said DM keeping one eye on you through part of that dive to see that you're reasonably comfortable in the water.

 

[explorer08]

2) the (usually) first dive on an organized trip or series of dives with an operator. In this case, the dive is to make sure all of the equipment is working, properly adjusted, that your weight gets dialed in etc. For the dive leaders it's also a good opportunity to see the level of the group and to get early eyes on potential problems.

R..

If it is like that, ok. If it is, what PADI calls "Discover Local Diving", ok too. But very often it turns into that someone of the staff is checking the skills of new customers and that is inacceptable in my opinion. We are talking here about certified divers. They have presented their c-cards to the dive operator and this c-card confirms that some fellow instructor confirmed at some time that the holder of this card has successfully fullfilled the requirements set for the respective level. So who the hell these operators believe to be, that they feel entitled to check the capabilities of divers, which have been confirmed by another instructors before, no matter how long this may be ago?

If I rent a car or a boat I just have to present my licence and it doesn't matter how old it is and how often I have been driving a car or a boat and I never heard about any renter who required a checkout tour with his car or boat. So why should this be different with diving?

It's something different, if the customer himself asks for a refresher (or an introduction into the car or boat).

 

[Tigerman]

No offense explorer08, but checking out new customers skills in the water is not only NOT unacceptable, it should be a REQUIREMENT on every single busy diving location in the world.
Its not like the dive sites around the world isn't getting banged up enough from accidental misshaps, so getting people with bad bouyancy to stay the hell away from them is nothing short of brilliant.

A car rental company that rent you their car based on your drivers license have an insurance policy for said car and can get it replaced within days. How long do you think a coral fan take to be replaced after some inattentive diver with crap bouyancy crash through it?

 

[explorer08]

A car rental company that rent you their car based on your drivers license have an insurance policy for said car and can get it replaced within days. How long do you think a coral fan take to be replaced after some inattentive diver with crap bouyancy crash through it?

I disagree. We diving instructors are not the underwater police. Anyway, if I see some misbehaviour during a dive, I talk with the customer about it after the dive and probably I offer him some help to prevent any problem in the future. But I don't feel entitled to control a certified divers capabilities without any specific reason, just preventive.

And with regards to rental cars, what's about other people which may get injured or killed through a rental car? Not everything can be fixed with money from some insurance company.

 

[oly5050user]

If it is like that, ok. If it is, what PADI calls "Discover Local Diving", ok too. But very often it turns into that someone of the staff is checking the skills of new customers and that is inacceptable in my opinion. We are talking here about certified divers. They have presented their c-cards to the dive operator and this c-card confirms that some fellow instructor confirmed at some time that the holder of this card has successfully fullfilled the requirements set for the respective level. So who the hell these operators believe to be, that they feel entitled to check the capabilities of divers, which have been confirmed by another instructors before, no matter how long this may be ago?

If I rent a car or a boat I just have to present my licence and it doesn't matter how old it is and how often I have been driving a car or a boat and I never heard about any renter who required a checkout tour with his car or boat. So why should this be different with diving?

It's something different, if the customer himself asks for a refresher (or an introduction into the car or boat).

Really cannot see where it is unacceptable to ask a customer at a resort/boat to do a demonstration of a few skills.If the person is certified he/she should have no issues whatever with their skills and be able to perform them easily.Having a customer clear a mask and a regulator and demonstrating buoyancy control takes all of 2-3 minutes of time or less..It also would show the other divers there
who they DO NOT want to be buddied up with..Many times I get people who claim to have been diving for years and show up unable to simply put their gear together correctly,much less be able to easily clear a mask or have any buoyancy control. I recently had a customer who claimed to dive for 10 years and tried to go into the water with 22 lbs of lead,with no wetsuit on ..Got him down to use no lead at all and had him use 4lbs to compensate for air used during dive.Same customer who claimed to be diving for 10 years had less than 30 dives over that period of time.

 

[RonFrank]

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This is not the place to argue. Take that to PM. This is a flame free friendly environment where grass grows and birds sing! Seriously, If you can not be civil, don't post here.

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[explorer08]

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This is not the place to argue. Take that to PM. This is a flame free friendly environment where grass grows and birds sing! Seriously, If you can not be civil, don't post here.

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There has been no flaming and nothing uncivil in my post. So, if it is just that this is not the place to argue, you should delete everything from post no. 23 on. Or is it just that you have a problem with my opinion?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I have no problem doing a checkout to get acclimated and check my gear. But if some resort instructor wants to see my do skills on my knees I'm going laugh in his face and then complain to the op about their staff encouraging poor and possibly unsafe procedures.

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[Scott]

I have no problem doing a checkout to get acclimated and check my gear. But if some resort instructor wants to see my do skills on my knees I'm going laugh in his face and then complain to the op about their staff encouraging poor and possibly unsafe procedures.

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That's all well and good, but you will be going to do the skill anyway and when you complain, is that going to be after you have enjoyed the use of their reef(s) and boat or before?

I just returned from a resort that required a 'orientation' dive were they wanted a weight check and to see a mask clear. I casually mentioned to the DM that most of my group learned their skills neutral and would most likely do them from a pivot or hover. Not a problem. We were there to dive not to prove some point.