Your Top 3 Advanced Questions.

[Jax]

I think the best questions would be scenario questions. For example:

1. You are on a boat in Molokini crater. The dive guide is describing the dive, which involves visiting garden eels at 130 feet. You are diving an aluminum 80. Is this dive a good idea or not? Defend your answer with specifics (decompression, gas, etc.)

2. You are diving off a friend's boat at a site which is current-sensitive. The boat is anchored. There is a moderate breeze blowing. Describe the factors you should take into consideration for planning this dive. (Location and identifying characteristics of the lie of the anchor; direction to work the dive to ensure an easy return to the boat if you have to surface early or can't find the anchor; tag lines; manned or unattended boat)

3. You are meeting up at a local dive site with a visiting SB diver. You have never dived together before, and the diver hasn't ever dived the site. Go through the dive planning, briefing, gear and buddy check you would do before diving. (Site info, buddy separation protocols, communications, checking weight systems, etc.)

I think questions that make the student integrate the information are much better than a single question that says, "What's the rock bottom for this dive?" It's too easy to knee-jerk out those answers.

(BTW, the things in parentheses are the answers you're looking for, not cues in the question)

Always on the money!!!

1. Narcosis - what is it, why do you get it, and when? (hoping you don't get "happens deeper than 100 ft . . .")

TSandM hit my questions, but here is a variant:

2. You have an insta-buddy, and his/her equipment is different than yours. What do you need to know about his/her equipment, and why? (donation hose, BC dump, gas mixture, weight dump, etc)

3. Describe a proper weight check, and the purpose thereof. (looking for neutral at 500 psi)

 

[Jax]

Its always good to read your input Andy.

In order to answer the above questions, the student must have quite a bit of knowledge. SAC calcs, Boyle's law, equipment(tanks at least), NDLs and dive planning.

Did you feel that gas planning was the key missing ingredient when you were going through training at the OW/AOW level?

Yes!!

 

[Divedoggie]

1. How deep should I go?
2. How long should I stay?
3. How much gas should I take?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Here are the canned answers:

1. 130 feet max depth for recreational divers. 60ft for new divers. 100 for AOW divers.

2. Use tables to determine No Decompression Limits. Don't push the limits. Check SPG frequently. If diving with computer, read owner's manual and don't go beyond Dive Time Remaining. Don't push computer's limits.

3. 3000psi. Everyone uses an AL80.

These rudementary questions speak volumes though, don't they?

 

[Jax]

Here's one: Can you get DCI when diving within the limits of a computer?

 

[SeaHorse81]

I'm not sure if you will get much more from an AOW course with a different agency unless the Instructor is taking it apon himself to expand the course. If the different agency is with Jim Lapenta, then it will be more thorough.

Funny you should mention Jim, because it is indeed he who will be teaching the courses I'm taking. He teaches his OW people way more than I got in my AOW, which is why I want to try the AOW again. Even before I knew anything about other agencies and the debates about the quality of present-day training, I didn't feel like my PADI AOW was worth much (other than the $ I paid for it, of course). I felt like I walked away with a card and some more odds and ends of information, but felt that calling it "advanced" was an overstatement.

 

[Divedoggie]

Funny you should mention Jim, because it is indeed he who will be teaching the courses I'm taking. He teaches his OW people way more than I got in my AOW, which is why I want to try the AOW again. Even before I knew anything about other agencies and the debates about the quality of present-day training, I didn't feel like my PADI AOW was worth much (other than the $ I paid for it, of course). I felt like I walked away with a card and some more odds and ends of information, but felt that calling it "advanced" was an overstatement.

I agree. I walked away from my AOW course thinking, "that was cool, but I don't really know much more than I did 5 dives ago." It exposed me to possibilities in diving and motivated me to dive more frequently, but it offered only the very first baby steps toward becoming advanced. I believe that students completing my PADI AOW will have taken some giant steps toward becoming advanced, but in-water experience is what they ultimately need.

I certainly don't know of all AOW courses being taught out there, but I knew Jim is in PA and I saw that you were too. I know he teaches AOW and based on his posts, he is motivated to provide as complete a program as possible.

 

[Hepcat62]

Here are the canned answers:

1. 130 feet max depth for recreational divers. 60ft for new divers. 100 for AOW divers.

2. Use tables to determine No Decompression Limits. Don't push the limits. Check SPG frequently. If diving with computer, read owner's manual and don't go beyond Dive Time Remaining. Don't push computer's limits.

3. 3000psi. Everyone uses an AL80.

These rudementary questions speak volumes though, don't they?

Indeed. I think Bob's point in raising those "rudimentary" questions is that those canned answers fall apart incredibly quickly when you actually start considering the gas planning in detail. How deep should I go, how long should I stay, and how much gas should I bring, are all interrelated functions, and are affected by a number of other individualized factors - breathing rate, dive plan, desire to keep a buddy amongst the living in an out-of-gas scenario, etc.

 

[robbcayman]

Make it non-dive related. My cousin took a business class at a prestigious university. The professor said the final exam would be an essay. The essay was to comprehensively discuss courage in all aspects.

My cousin thought for a few seconds scribbled something down and handed in his paper. He wrote: this is.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

For college kids, i think they should have a good lesson on how and where people die when scuba diving. Going over some of those statistics, about people reaching the surface and dieing, people sinking and drowning without ditching lead, the frequency of occurance of both buddy separation and death. You should have the time to teach these things and for testosterone laden college boys showing off around girls, this factual information might be particularly useful. Some questions about these issues above would seem good.

Also a simple question: What is the most common ingury associated with scuba diving? And explain why your buddy and dive instructor can NOT really protect you from it.

Another: What is the most common scuba gear faulure modes? 2nd and 3rd most common?

Another: Short essay: Describe the oncept of unstable equalibrium. Give a simple example from or typical day to day life and then another very important example with scuba diving and explain why unstable equilibrium makes ascent and descents considerably more challenging.

Another: How would you weigh air with just a full scuba tank and ojects typically found in the home?

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I think the best questions would be scenario questions. For example:

1. You are on a boat in Molokini crater. The dive guide is describing the dive, which involves visiting garden eels at 130 feet. You are diving an aluminum 80. Is this dive a good idea or not? Defend your answer with specifics (decompression, gas, etc.)

In this scenario I would say that this is the first time I have heard of guides going to 130' to see eels that start at 70'

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/hawaii-ohana/243718-molokini-kayak-dive.html

Back up to 110' it becomes more typical of a Molokini dive. I had actually never been to this white tip rest area; like most guides I keep the tourists above 80' so they don't hoover their tank.

...

By the trevally picture I'm back above 80' and heading across the sand channel. Continued in next post...

I know that I have done a dive at Reefs End where I used an AL100 for a 60 minute, 138' max depth air dive, which my Suunto Viper did not indicate an extended safety stop. My best dive buddy would have had ~900 psi left in her AL80 on that dive (I had ~400 psi at the surface).

With the typical dive I'd lead at Molokini (near Maui), we'd drop to ~90-100' for a quick look to see if we could find the sharks (~10 minutes), then swim over to the sand channel for the garden eels (meeting them in ~70'), then swim up the channel to the air turn-point of the fastest-breathing diver, move over on top of the coral, heading back along there. Total dive time: 45+ minutes, depending on breathing rate.