Just got back from Carribean Cruise

[BuzzF117]

I just returned from a Caribbean Cruise with my wife. I did 6 dives over 4 days and was amazed by the lack of basic skills many divers posses. Things like buoyancy control, proper weighting or just plain common sense on the reef or wreck. One women can thank a dive master for getting her head screwed on straight when she over filled her BCD and almost swam herself to death trying to stay down on bottom of the wreck we were diving. Another women was more into appearances then she was about getting her weight distributed correctly on the belt so she kept doing barrel rolls under the surface I was really pissed when she almost took out my mask and reg because she was out of control then couldn't control herself on the safety stop. I just gave her space and let her go on her own. Best dive buddy all week was a young women from Austin TX who was doing her 6th dive after certification and she had her head on straight and dove within her abilities, she did better then the others with much more experience. You learn very quickly who to avoid and who is a good dive buddy. I am very thankful for an instructor that emphasized certain skills over and over.

In St Lucia we dove and before we began our dive the dive master wanted to see certain skills performed before the dive and he had to teach somebody how to clear their mask. It's sad when simple basic skills are over looked by certifying instructors. I practice mask clearing and reg recovery at least once when I do a dive I even breath off my air2 so if in an emergency it won't be strange to me. Don't think i am bashing women it's just those were two of the major ones that jumped out at me.

[MLenyo]

that's ridiculous! i know on my cert dives that some people still weren't sure of the steps to put their gear together. i wouldn't want to buddy up with people who didn't even know their basic stuff. i was buddied with the DM though, so it was all good.

[Splitlip]

Believe it.

The agencies today make certification too easy. Everybody passes. Eventually, we all hope, with experience will come skills.

My pet peave is seeing over weighted divers. Over weighting affects buoyancy control and gas consumption among other skills. Mostly though, it puts the person in an upright or almost upright position where the fins drag and kick the bottom, damaging the reefs (here).

Sadly, it is the BCD, that enables people to overweight. (couple more shots of gas in the bladder and I'm good to go. Right?) I see them often hanging like puppets pedalling away. Instructor's don't spend enough time on this skill IMO.

If you look a t a lot of folks' pictures even here on this site, it looks like they are riding bikes. That because they are over weighted.

[Kokomo]

Did these people really have C cards or was it like a Discover Scuba class? Alot of the resorts do quickie certifications in a weekend. I could picture divers like that coming out of these types of classes. No time to practice anything. Dangerous for themselves and everyone else around them!

[Diver Kat]

To some extent, I blame the instructors that train these people. I was lucky to have one that didn't let anyone slide on any part of training, and made sure we all took it very seriously - even if she had to spend extra time after class with them. However, I have seen others just pass people and give them their card when they really hadn't caught on to some of the skills. It is downright scary sometimes!!

[maggs_the]

you know, i've often wondered about my OWN training. i did the full 4-weekend course but i dont really feel that the course or pool or even open water certification dives really did as much as i would have thought to prepare me... the biggest thing i got out of it was a respect for how practice helps... i signed up and paid the extra $50 to be allowed to get in the pool for a year and just blow bubbles on the bottom... doesnt sound very "fun" but i was the dork who really took it seriously when the instructors said practice your basic skills.

i also immediately followed the open water cert with other classes to keep things fresh and then i found my best dive buddy (my boyfriend) and now have just under 100 dives under my belt and feel a lot more confident. but i'm still not a perfect diver. i dont slow him down and he doesnt push too hard (i have a time clearing my ears most days) so we compliment each other well.

but even so, i still wonder how others who took the same class from the same instructors as me have not seriously hurt themselves because the classes seemed wayyyy too easy and wrong answers were not really wrong.. just corrected and approved.

but, at the same time, they did give me the most important diving information. it's 100% my responsibility to take care of myself with knowledge and training. i'm grateful for that.

[BuzzGA]

I see instructors as a big part of the problem. When my wife certified a couple of years ago her instructor just didn't pay attention, the BCD he gave my wife was an extra large...that would be big on me let alone my wife...She broke a mask strap during a dive and he was so far ahead of the group she never was able to catch up to him so she did the dive with one hand on her mask keeping it in place. After the class, I got her a full set of her own gear and before we headed out for our first dive, I got her in the pool with another instructor I had met. What a difference, 15 minutes in the deep end at the Y and she was relaxed and having a good time. She is really thoughtful in her diving, so much so that when we were planning our dive trip for two weeks from now she asked that we carve out some time on a shallow dive so she can work on some bouancy issues.

[Soonerwink]

I was on a Flower Garden trip last year with two other buddies, and as soon as everyone got checked in on the Spree we started setting up our gear. There was a guy next to one of my buddies that asked if he would set up his gear and be his dive buddy since there were three of us. My buddy told him he didn't have time right now and told him to ask me. Thanks Kenny. I told him I would show him how to set up his own gear but wouldn't be his dive buddy until I saw how well he dived. I was lucky a late diver arrived on the boat and didn't have a buddy so this guy talked her into being his dive buddy. These were the only divers in three days that had to be picked up by the dingy because they got too low on air and had to surface too far away from the boat.

[emcbride81]

It amazes me also...I think that most DIs, regardless of agency, push people through too quickly. I know that I was one of those overweighted dives in Coz back in 1999...blew through gas quickly and had to buddy breathe off the DM every dive. I hated it, I just thought it was me...then in 2006 after having been frustrated with diving and stopped for 6 years, I went out with Dive with Martin in Coz and the DM told me to drop my weight on the second dive because, once again, I had to buddy breathe off of him on the first...I took off 8 pounds..I had been at 24lbs...and BAM, neutral buoyancy...I then fell back in love with diving. All of that frustration because noone taught me proper buoyancy...I guess I needed to take the specialty class for that one.

[Puffer Fish]

Originally Posted by Splitlip

Believe it.

The agencies today make certification too easy. Everybody passes. Eventually, we all hope, with experience will come skills.

My pet peave is seeing over weighted divers. Over weighting affects buoyancy control and gas consumption among other skills. Mostly though, it puts the person in an upright or almost upright position where the fins drag and kick the bottom, damaging the reefs (here).

Sadly, it is the BCD, that enables people to overweight. (couple more shots of gas in the bladder and I'm good to go. Right?) I see them often hanging like puppets pedalling away. Instructor's don't spend enough time on this skill IMO.

If you look a t a lot of folks' pictures even here on this site, it looks like they are riding bikes. That because they are over weighted.

That problem is as much to do with the divers as it is the resort... someone shows up... want to pay money to go diving... using rental gear... has no idea what weight to use... so they just over weight everyone... You ever see a resort do a weight check? I never have... and if you ask (say you are using new gear, new suit and a tank you are not familar with)... they look at you like you are crazy.