What scuba course do I need?

I know I had read somewhere in the past (or maybe I was told, I'm not sure), that there's a scuba diving class that you can take that you will "not" be a certified diver, BUT it will allow you to do the Discover Scuba dives when in ports without having to do the "class" time and go directly to just the dives up to 40'.

What are they called?

Thanks in advance.

The Scuba Diver certification allows dives to a maximum depth of 40 feet and only with a dive pro.

The Open Water Diver certification allows dives with an equally certified diver (a dive buddy), to the limit of no-decompression diving (130 feet). An Open Water diver can also obtain air fills, rent gear and so on.

The Scuba Diver course is roughly the first half of the Open Water course, and requires two certification dives rather than the four required for Open Water diver. The Scuba Diver Course omits the portions on dive planning (computers and tables), the marine environment (aquatic life and waves, tides and currents), and some other aspects on the assumption that you'll always be accompanied by a dive pro.

Harris

Denver, CO

The Scuba Diver certification allows dives to a maximum depth of 40 feet and only with a dive pro.

 

The Open Water Diver certification allows dives with an equally certified diver (a dive buddy), to the limit of no-decompression diving (130 feet). An Open Water diver can also obtain air fills, rent gear and so on.

 

The Scuba Diver course is roughly the first half of the Open Water course, and requires two certification dives rather than the four required for Open Water diver. The Scuba Diver Course omits the portions on dive planning (computers and tables), the marine environment (aquatic life and waves, tides and currents), and some other aspects on the assumption that you'll always be accompanied by a dive pro.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

Thanks for the clarification. I am trying to figure out which class this is at my local shop and having some difficulty. I don't see anything listed that says "Scuba Diver course".

Does this mean they don't offer this?

https://www.padi.com/padi-courses/scuba-diver/

That is the course you're looking for. It is offered by

shops that do PADI certifications.

I went to the Aquatic Adventures Ohio web site and

at face value, it doesn't look like they offer that.

They may not be a PADI dive shop.

You should give them a call or e-mail them just to

make sure they do or don't.

https://www.padi.com/padi-courses/scuba-diver/

 

That is the course you're looking for. It is offered by

shops that do PADI certifications.

 

I went to the Aquatic Adventures Ohio web site and

at face value, it doesn't look like they offer that.

 

They may not be a PADI dive shop.

 

You should give them a call or e-mail them just to

make sure they do or don't.

They are a PADI dive shop. My daughter does scuba with them and is a PADI Seal at the moment waiting to turn 10 to get certified. They have talked to me about being PADI, but I'm not sure why it's not mentioned on the site?? Weird.

Thanks for the link.

I have to admit, you had me worried there for a minute, so I dug a little deeper.

The link that you provided to the PADI site, gave a place to look up a PADI near me and my dive center did come up confirming.

The Scuba Diver Course is almost never offered on a dive shop's menu of options. It is very unusual that a customer wants it, and the terminology is confusing, so shops generally avoid talking about it. (Please see caveat below)

I know you're thinking that's as far as you want to go with your diving, but generally the Scuba Diver Course is only going to save you about 1/3 the price of the Open Water course, even though you're only getting about half the training and instructional time. I'd really recommend taking the entire Open Water Course. There's nothing that says you would need to dive beyond your current plans; but there's also no downside to knowing about dive planning and the effects of nitrogen on your body - things that aren't' covered in the Scuba Diver course.

CAVEAT: Some dive shops that use Groupon, or similar advertising will offer the Scuba Diver Course. This is unfortunately done as a method to get customers in the door, only to find out the course they get at the "bargain price" is not in fact what they need to do what they want - dive as autonomous (open water) divers.

Harris

Denver, CO

I agree that the SCUBA DIVER course is seldom on the 'menu' for a regular dive shop/school ...

Here's the rub ... as mentioned the SD course is ruffly 1/2 of the Open Water Diver course which is generally considered the "full" introductory class. OK, I did SD ..... where's the class I can take for just part two????? There ISN'T such an offering in the 'official' list of PADI classes .....

I too recommend you take Open Water .... the extra training won't hurt and trust me ... if you start diving much at all you are gonna want to be autonomous ....

autonomous? •acting independently or having the freedom to do so

another poster here presented this term as what it means when you get Open Water Certified and I agree. Being an autonomous diver you can get tanks filled and dive on your own. Now you might think "never"! But some day soon you and dd may find yourself spending a week at Sunset House where a dive package includes unlimited shore diving right outside you room .... no need to hire a guide for every dive .... or be limited to 40 feet! You are not required to dive with just a buddy, but you have the basic skills required to do so ....

p.s. you can do all the classwork for Open Water on line and once that's completed do all you checkout work in two days .... a nice weekend in the Keys!

I agree with the other recommendations. If you're motivated for the Scuba Diver course go ahead and get the complete Open Water certification. You can still choose to mostly dive as part of a guided group led by a divemaster or instructor in relatively shallow water (most Caribbean dive shops tend to focus on providing this kind of "follow me" dive unless you make it clear that you want more autonomy than that).

If you go as far as the first half of the course...the Scuba Diver cert...you might as well just do the final part which is only the open water dives (4). In fact, it is usually just as cheap and you get the certification card which is good for LIFE.

FYI - my husband was an instructor for 10+ years, and he only gave out the Scuba Diver cert to the students who failed their Open Water dives, i.e. they could not complete the skills underwater and/or stay down for the length of time required. An example - he had a student who was a 60+ yr old man who was out of shape and a 2pk per day smoker. He could not stay down for more than 15 minutes without running out of air on his tank, he was a hoover. My husband tried several times with him, then took him out and gave him a talk. He was not fit to get a C-card but since he had completed the first half of course (tests and pool skills) he got the Scuba Diver card.

Just my 2 cents.

robin

If you go as far as the first half of the course...the Scuba Diver cert...you might as well just do the final part which is only the open water dives (4). In fact, it is usually just as cheap and you get the certification card which is good for LIFE.

 

FYI - my husband was an instructor for 10+ years, and he only gave out the Scuba Diver cert to the students who failed their Open Water dives, i.e. they could not complete the skills underwater and/or stay down for the length of time required. An example - he had a student who was a 60+ yr old man who was out of shape and a 2pk per day smoker. He could not stay down for more than 15 minutes without running out of air on his tank, he was a hoover. My husband tried several times with him, then took him out and gave him a talk. He was not fit to get a C-card but since he had completed the first half of course (tests and pool skills) he got the Scuba Diver card.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

robin

To clarify, the Scuba Diver course requires 2 open water dives (minimum), while the Open Water course requires a minimum of 4.

Harris

Denver, CO

To clarify, the Scuba Diver course requires 2 open water dives (minimum), while the Open Water course requires a minimum of 4.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

oops, True...sorry if my post was confusing.

The Scuba Diver certification allows dives to a maximum depth of 40 feet and only with a dive pro.

 

The Open Water Diver certification allows dives with an equally certified diver (a dive buddy), to the limit of no-decompression diving (130 feet). An Open Water diver can also obtain air fills, rent gear and so on.

 

The Scuba Diver course is roughly the first half of the Open Water course, and requires two certification dives rather than the four required for Open Water diver. The Scuba Diver Course omits the portions on dive planning (computers and tables), the marine environment (aquatic life and waves, tides and currents), and some other aspects on the assumption that you'll always be accompanied by a dive pro.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

I thought you needed Advanced Open Water to go down to 130'. Isn't OW just down to 60'?

I thought you needed Advanced Open Water to go down to 130'. Isn't OW just down to 60'?

By the book....yes.

By most dive ops that are working primarily from tips...they will take you anywhere you want. I have seen zero enforcement of depth limits by any dive op except with young kids. My own child was taken down to 70-100' more than once when Jr AOW cert card said only 70' max.

Only once have I seen any guidelines enforced and that was with my kid who was AOW with 50+ dives but too young to dive the Spiegel Grove according to the dive op. So we postponed our trip to Key Largo a month... Silly rule. That same dive op then took several newly certified adults down to 100' in mad current on that dive.

not true

from FAQ on the PADI web site

"How deep do you go? With the necessary training and experience, the limit for recreational scuba diving is 40 metres/130 feet. Beginning scuba divers stay shallower than about 18 metres/60 feet."

As previously discussed, open water certification makes one an 'autonomous diver' .... that means you self regulate and the limit is the limit of sport diving on air .... 130 feet ... but even this is self regulated .. no one can stop you from doing dumb stuff and going to 150! I'm not saying you should do it .... but the fact is, you can. PADI RECOMMENDS beginning divers limit their depth to 60 feet ...... RECOMMENDS. They make no definition of when one transitions from a beginner to experienced ....

Advanced OWD has a deep dive as one of the two 'required' dives .... it is a core element of the course but not a requirement to dive beyond 60 feet. An 'advanced' card just means you've done it ONCE. When I got my advanced card it was 'sold' to me like this: it proves you've done a few more dives than the check out dives .... dive shops view you a LITTLE more positively ..... a little

So here's a question .... if I have open water with over 500 logged dives including many to 100 feet, and you have 10 logged dives but have completed the advanced course with ONE dive to 100 feet (yes this IS possible), who's a beginner and who's experienced?

I took dd to Cayman weeks after getting her open water certification and her 8th open water dive was to 100 feet .... perfectly 'legal' and perfectly safe. The shop we dove with is one of the best anywhere IMO and they had NO problem with this ... they had observed her first on shallower dives ... and I was her buddy and they know me .... By the end of the year she had over 100 logged dives and was an intern at CocoView Roatan

AUTONOMOUS ..... SELF REGULATION ..... don't dive when the conditions exceed you comfort zone .... adults supervise children (junior divers) .... all important points to ponder.

btw, I've been on boats taking a group of folks out for a 100 foot dive when some spoke up and said "I'm not comfortable with that depth" .... and almost always the answer was to split the party into a deep group and a shallow group ..... SPEAK UP! However knowing your destination also plays in ... on the wall in Cayman, the top of the wall is typically 70 feet or more so going on a boat and asking to stay above 60 is sort of a problem if the rest of the boat expects a wall dive ......

(did you know that by 'physics' if a diver can get to 30 feet comfortably, they are probably not going to have an issue to get to 100 .....)

not true

 

from FAQ on the PADI web site

 

 

"How deep do you go? With the necessary training and experience, the limit for recreational scuba diving is 40 metres/130 feet. Beginning scuba divers stay shallower than about 18 metres/60 feet."

 

As previously discussed, open water certification makes one an 'autonomous diver' .... that means you self regulate and the limit is the limit of sport diving on air .... 130 feet ... but even this is self regulated .. no one can stop you from doing dumb stuff and going to 150! I'm not saying you should do it .... but the fact is, you can. PADI RECOMMENDS beginning divers limit their depth to 60 feet ...... RECOMMENDS. They make no definition of when one transitions from a beginner to experienced ....

 

Advanced OWD has a deep dive as one of the two 'required' dives .... it is a core element of the course but not a requirement to dive beyond 60 feet. An 'advanced' card just means you've done it ONCE. When I got my advanced card it was 'sold' to me like this: it proves you've done a few more dives than the check out dives .... dive shops view you a LITTLE more positively ..... a little

 

So here's a question .... if I have open water with over 500 logged dives including many to 100 feet, and you have 10 logged dives but have completed the advanced course with ONE dive to 100 feet (yes this IS possible), who's a beginner and who's experienced?

 

I took dd to Cayman weeks after getting her open water certification and her 8th open water dive was to 100 feet .... perfectly 'legal' and perfectly safe. The shop we dove with is one of the best anywhere IMO and they had NO problem with this ... they had observed her first on shallower dives ... and I was her buddy and they know me .... By the end of the year she had over 100 logged dives and was an intern at CocoView Roatan

 

AUTONOMOUS ..... SELF REGULATION ..... don't dive when the conditions exceed you comfort zone .... adults supervise children (junior divers) .... all important points to ponder.

 

btw, I've been on boats taking a group of folks out for a 100 foot dive when some spoke up and said "I'm not comfortable with that depth" .... and almost always the answer was to split the party into a deep group and a shallow group ..... SPEAK UP! However knowing your destination also plays in ... on the wall in Cayman, the top of the wall is typically 70 feet or more so going on a boat and asking to stay above 60 is sort of a problem if the rest of the boat expects a wall dive ......

 

(did you know that by 'physics' if a diver can get to 30 feet comfortably, they are probably not going to have an issue to get to 100 .....)

Beautiful answer!!

Harris

Denver, CO

Kim, I agree with everyone here who has encouraged you to go for the Open Water certification. I'm going to give you a slightly different reason fo the Open Water certificafion in addition to what the others have said. SAKARI! You already know that the minute she is old enough to get certified, she is going to want to do so. If I understand you correctly, you want to be able to dive with Sakari and supervise her diving, which I think is a great idea. In order to be sure she is diving safely, you need to be the best educated diver that you can be, and as comfortable diving yourself as you can be. That comfort level on your part comes with training and experience diving on your own. Yes, the Open Water certification will cost more than the Scuba Diver certification will, and will require more effort on your part. It will also make you a better, safer diver, the kind of diver I think you want to be.

QM2 had a scuba excursion to dive the Rhone wreck in Tortola this week. One of the passengers arrived with only a Scuba Diver certification so she had to join the Discover Scuba group instead of the certified diver group. Many parts of the Rhone are in up to 75 feet of water so being limited to 40 feet really affects one's ability to enjoy exploring the site.

I have been taking in what everyone has been saying. I have been thinking long and hard about it all. There are several points that I want to make about diving for me.

I probably wouldn't get certified (if I do) until my daughter turns 10 and decides to get certified and we would do it together (she had someone in her last class that did his certification with his son and that's kinda the way I would like to do it as well). So we have about a year and a half to go for that...if not longer. So why do I say that? Because she is having a lot of issues with trying to clear her ears and until she gets that either figured out on her own or her ears develop enough (maybe it's an age thing for her?) she won't be getting certified past her PADI Seal either.

I just wanted to be able to take the scuba class and be able to skip the "class" time involved in Discover Scuba at the ports we decide to stop and do a dive in.

The money involved in getting scuba certified versus open water certified is not an issue and I don't mind paying to get scuba certified and then having to pay again for open water if that's what I decide to do. It's more of a comfort thing for me and not a money thing.

One point is that we would only be diving while on a cruise. This means I would only do this around 3 times (if I'm lucky) a year and of course it wouldn't be each port I stopped in and probably only once during each cruise. We would probably never end up doing a land vacation at any dive resort and this boils down to 1) it's just easier and cheaper to do a cruise and experience several different places on the same vacation and 2) we are limited to fly only where our airline flies to (which is very limited-Southwest). While there are a "few" places in the Caribbean they fly to, I wouldn't want to fly to most of them and stay there for a vacation (for instance Belize...although they are located with the barrier reef, Belize is just not a place I would want to vacation at).

Another thing is that I know it has been brought up about being able to dive autonomously, but I'm just being honest and I don't think I would EVER want to do that. I would just never feel comfortable. I would want a local who knows the area and the sites and their way around to be there, not to mention for safety reasons. I honestly don't even like snorkeling by myself and prefer to have others around. I'm a chicken...seriously (and anyone who has read my reviews knows how much I snorkel and plan most of my port times in an area that has snorkeling) but... I prefer to snorkel from the beach instead of off a boat. I will usually turn down a boat snorkeling excursion and opt for shore snorkeling. I don't feel comfortable just jumping off a boat into deep water and like to gradually warm up to my snorkeling. I also like having the option to turn around when I start to feel uncomfortable (which does happen a lot). I have been places in the past that had great snorkeling out a ways from the shore, but I refused to go out because I couldn't get anyone else to go with me. Once I ended up sending my husband out to check out the reef, with the camera, just so that I could see what was out there. Having someone more experienced around me (scuba) would be the other thing I would want to do...even if I was to get an open water certification. I truly feel that having others around you is safer if something was to happen.

As I have said before...I'm a chicken. Seriously. The deeper I go the more frightened I get. When the water gets darker and colder, there's something inside of me that throws an anxiety button. I will admit, I'm scared to death of seeing a shark. I know people have said they really don't bother you and most of the attacks you see and hear about is due to those at the top of the surface, which present themselves as a seal or something along the food chain. But I'm still scared. There have been several things that have recently popped up on my "social media" page and I probably shouldn't be reading things like this, but I can't help myself. THIS article came up and I promise you, it describes exactly what would probably happen to me. Then another article popped up (can't find it now) about a group of divers and they encounter a shark and it stated that all divers know to be in a vertical position and stick together. One diver was a little out from the others and in a horizontal position and was attacked. I guess I need to stay away from social media and articles on scuba diving. :eek:

So you might wonder why I think this and everyone thinks that once I'm put in that situation, and trained, it wouldn't be an issue. One of the reasons I think this would be more likely to happen to me (freaking out) is other instances I have been put in. I use to work in the ER/trauma center and ran many traumas. I LOVE this stuff...the gory things that you will see in the ER just amaze me. However, I would get so caught up in what was going on, I would go into a "shock" so to speak and freeze and it was almost like an out-of-body experience where I'm just watching and frozen and I forgot all that my training had taught me. Someone would need to snap me back out of it to get moving again. It sounds just like what happened to the diver in the article above. I'm just scared. Honestly...super scared...to the point that I doubt myself wanting to scuba ever again sometimes. I will also admit that the dark scares me...something else I would probably never do is a night dive. Not being able to see and only having a light...no thank you.

Of course, like some have said, my shop may not even offer a scuba certification and it might not even matter. I haven't inquired about it yet, just wanted info on it and what it was called.

I was told and have read before, that (for instance) the Discover Scuba dive that we just did in St Thomas could have been counted as one of the "dives" involved in getting certified. So I guess I was thinking along the lines of if I did the scuba certification, I could do a few discover scuba dives and that would count as my 2 dives? I may be thinking about it all wrong. But honest...at least at this point, that's all that I'm interested in (shore diving, being guided by someone else with knowledge of the area and experience, and with a group). I have to say I'm also worried about "clearing the mask" (as in fully removing it and putting it back on) and also the requirements I have read about floating for 10 minutes straight and swimming for 200 meters (however far that is) without stopping. While I know this is a safety thing, I wonder if I could even do it is the problem.

I probably sound like a scared idiot now. :(

Thank you for all the Great reviews. We enjoy following you and your family adventures on and off cruise ships. The photos are great and the underwater colours spectacular.

Scuba for you will correctly follow the time line for Sakari, certified in 1.5 years at age 10. As a parent you have mastered patience. Safety and caution are needed for Scuba. Sakari is ok at clearing water from her face mask. You both snorkel a lot and are ok at holding your breath. Practise in a pool shallow end, taking your mask off, putting it on and clearing.

The last trip scuba introduction had time under water, fly by for you. It was new and you were concentrating on the great pictures. I bet you did not think about sharks.

Always snorkel and scuba with a buddy. Looking forward to your next review including snorkel and Scuba.

 

I was told and have read before, that (for instance) the Discover Scuba dive that we just did in St Thomas could have been counted as one of the "dives" involved in getting certified. So I guess I was thinking along the lines of if I did the scuba certification, I could do a few discover scuba dives and that would count as my 2 dives? I may be thinking about it all wrong. But honest...at least at this point, that's all that I'm interested in (shore diving, being guided by someone else with knowledge of the area and experience, and with a group). I have to say I'm also worried about "clearing the mask" (as in fully removing it and putting it back on) and also the requirements I have read about floating for 10 minutes straight and swimming for 200 meters (however far that is) without stopping. While I know this is a safety thing, I wonder if I could even do it is the problem.

 

I probably sound like a scared idiot now. :(

An instructor would have a better answer but I don't believe this is correct. The OW checkout dives are not just dives with an instructor. They have a very specific checklist of skills the student has to demonstrate and only some would have been done on a discover scuba (assuming they were done properly at all - there's a ton of variation in what a DSD actually covers). It seems unlikely an instructor would just assume you are proficient in the skills based on completing a DSD elsewhere and skip them.

Regarding Scuba Diver vs Open Water certs. I think you're better off with OW. I can imagine SD being problematic at dive destinations due to the restrictions and being such an uncommon cert. Cruise ship dive excursions usually say "must have Ow certification". Group dives in the Caribbean are very often deeper than 40 feet for the first dive.

Then there's the basic issues of the training itself. Given how uncommon Scuba Diver is, you'd likely have to do a private class, which may very well be more expensive than traditional OW. Plus its hard to have too much training, its easy to have no enough.

 

As I have said before...I'm a chicken. Seriously. The deeper I go the more frightened I get. When the water gets darker and colder, there's something inside of me that throws an anxiety button. I will admit, I'm scared to death of seeing a shark. I know people have said they really don't bother you and most of the attacks you see and hear about is due to those at the top of the surface, which present themselves as a seal or something along the food chain. But I'm still scared. There have been several things that have recently popped up on my "social media" page and I probably shouldn't be reading things like this, but I can't help myself. THIS article came up and I promise you, it describes exactly what would probably happen to me. Then another article popped up (can't find it now) about a group of divers and they encounter a shark and it stated that all divers know to be in a vertical position and stick together. One diver was a little out from the others and in a horizontal position and was attacked. I guess I need to stay away from social media and articles on scuba diving.

 

So you might wonder why I think this and everyone thinks that once I'm put in that situation, and trained, it wouldn't be an issue. One of the reasons I think this would be more likely to happen to me (freaking out) is other instances I have been put in. I use to work in the ER/trauma center and ran many traumas. I LOVE this stuff...the gory things that you will see in the ER just amaze me. However, I would get so caught up in what was going on, I would go into a "shock" so to speak and freeze and it was almost like an out-of-body experience where I'm just watching and frozen and I forgot all that my training had taught me. Someone would need to snap me back out of it to get moving again. It sounds just like what happened to the diver in the article above. I'm just scared. Honestly...super scared...to the point that I doubt myself wanting to scuba ever again sometimes. I will also admit that the dark scares me...something else I would probably never do is a night dive. Not being able to see and only having a light...no thank you.

Missed some of this the first time. Panicking underwater is much more likely when one has little to no training and experience (such as on a DSD). The first story from ScubaDiving.com emphasizes the benefits of training and experience. The second story about the shark attack, if its even true, is so astronomically unlikely that its a bit crazy to worry about. Fun fact - sharks kill roughly 10 people a year around the world. by comparison mosquitos kill 725,000 but I bet you don't cower in your home out of fear of a mosquito bite (at least I hope you don't). According to National Geographic, you also have a better chance of being killed by a meteorite, asteroid or comet http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/02/160209-meteorite-death-india-probability-odds/ .

Thank you for all the Great reviews. We enjoy following you and your family adventures on and off cruise ships. The photos are great and the underwater colours spectacular.

Scuba for you will correctly follow the time line for Sakari, certified in 1.5 years at age 10. As a parent you have mastered patience. Safety and caution are needed for Scuba. Sakari is ok at clearing water from her face mask. You both snorkel a lot and are ok at holding your breath. Practise in a pool shallow end, taking your mask off, putting it on and clearing.

The last trip scuba introduction had time under water, fly by for you. It was new and you were concentrating on the great pictures. I bet you did not think about sharks.

Always snorkel and scuba with a buddy. Looking forward to your next review including snorkel and Scuba.

Thanks so much for the compliments and the encouragement.

I would love to be able to practice clearing my mask in a pool. I would do anything in a pool. But there's really no pool to practice in where I'm at (other than when you would have a class). There comes an increased anxiety with salt water though. The thought of getting it in my eyes freaks me out. Taking the mask off and putting it back on...ok. No biggie. Then clearing it...ok fine. But opening my eyes again to make sure the water is out and the possibility that the water isn't all cleared. Yikes. :p

Yes, I wouldn't say time flew by for us. It felt like we were under there for hours and it was fairly short (which I liked). Yea, I was concentrating on good pictures, but in the back of my mind, I was always looking off in the distance...just in case. :o So sharks were still on my mind, but it was a little more at ease since I had everyone around me.

I'm just gonna have to bite the bullet and do the OW cert I guess. Then I guess I would still get to pick and choose what I do and where at.

An instructor would have a better answer but I don't believe this is correct. The OW checkout dives are not just dives with an instructor. They have a very specific checklist of skills the student has to demonstrate and only some would have been done on a discover scuba (assuming they were done properly at all - there's a ton of variation in what a DSD actually covers). It seems unlikely an instructor would just assume you are proficient in the skills based on completing a DSD elsewhere and skip them.

 

Regarding Scuba Diver vs Open Water certs. I think you're better off with OW. I can imagine SD being problematic at dive destinations due to the restrictions and being such an uncommon cert. Cruise ship dive excursions usually say "must have Ow certification". Group dives in the Caribbean are very often deeper than 40 feet for the first dive.

 

Then there's the basic issues of the training itself. Given how uncommon Scuba Diver is, you'd likely have to do a private class, which may very well be more expensive than traditional OW. Plus its hard to have too much training, its easy to have no enough.

 

 

 

Missed some of this the first time. Panicking underwater is much more likely when one has little to no training and experience (such as on a DSD). The first story from ScubaDiving.com emphasizes the benefits of training and experience. The second story about the shark attack, if its even true, is so astronomically unlikely that its a bit crazy to worry about. Fun fact - sharks kill roughly 10 people a year around the world. by comparison mosquitos kill 725,000 but I bet you don't cower in your home out of fear of a mosquito bite (at least I hope you don't). According to National Geographic, you also have a better chance of being killed by a meteorite, asteroid or comet http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/02/160209-meteorite-death-india-probability-odds/ .

Yea, that makes sense about doing the skills and another assuming that you just knew them. I did ask for some clarification once and I think they were trying to imply that the DS counted toward one of the dives IF you completed the course with them. So, maybe that's the difference, I'm not sure.

Thanks for your thoughts. I appreciate it. :)

I would love to be able to practice clearing my mask in a pool. I would do anything in a pool. But there's really no pool to practice in where I'm at (other than when you would have a class).

I do get a little more stinging in my eyes from salt water than fresh, but with good skills you're likely to have drops of water around your eyes rather than a mask full of water.

My local dive shop lets people use the pool on nights when they have classes, either to check out equipment or to work on skills like mask clearing. It's in their interest that you're comfortable with essential skills so you dive more (and hopefully spend more in their shop). You'd probably need to pay for air plus any other equipment you'd need to rent for the session.

 

I do get a little more stinging in my eyes from salt water than fresh, but with good skills you're likely to have drops of water around your eyes rather than a mask full of water.

Oh yea...my local dive shop does allow you to get in the pool during my daughters scuba classes. I guess I could practice then. I didn't think of that. They let me in to try out a full face mask once before and I noticed the dad of two other boys getting in to just swim and play with his 4 year old at the last class. Thanks for bringing that up.

I've also just practiced mask clearing in the shower - let the mask fill with water, let it sit full of water on your face as you get comfortable breathing through your mouth, then clear it and repeat.