Discover scuba

[snagel]

Who exactly is the instructor? What a FUBAR!

Snagel

[Foo2]

Wow! How sad.

[scubastud]

They all look terrified .

[Lulubelle]

Surely this was a staged video meant to entertain, don't you think? There are question marks at the end for the organization and instructor name.

I did a Discover Scuba program in Mexico. The instructor was terrific. I ended up going back and doing my OW with him 1:1.

[IrishSquid]

What a regulation "Charlie Foxtrot" !

[mitsuguy]

From someone who has done over 100 DSD's since May of this year, I think I'll share some observations...

1) PADI (and most other training organizations) allow a maximum ratio of 4 students per instructor, with an additional 2 allowed with a certified assistant - here, we have 6 students and it appears 1 instructor, unless the video camera operator is a certified assistant - so, may be within guidelines here, we don't know

2) PADI (and most other training organizations) does not allow the primary instructor to be engaged in photo or video work (a certified assistant can be however), and I see a camera attached to this guy - this is a direct violation of standards no matter how you look at it

First off, I have to admit, I have had some DSDers that look horrible underwater - bad kicking form, up and down and up and down, even without touching their BCD's, but one thing I always do is allow them to move on their own, in fact, I almost require it... (I have made two exceptions, both times were girls who were scared, but wanted to keep doing it, so they swam around holding my hand the entire time - or maybe they weren't scared and just liked me, who knows) Anyways, its hard to comment if they were overweighted or any of that stuff without actually being there - I have had people require 16-20 lbs of lead, but at the same time, at least one of those BC's looks like it has a ton of air in it, and the girl looks to have 20 lbs worth of lead on, so I would say they are all over weighted... When I take my DSD's out, I try to get as close as possible by guessing (I've gotten pretty good), and I usually like to guess a little light, as then it is easy to add a couple lbs once we get in the water - its much harder on me to worry about having to add a bunch of air to their BC and worry about adding more as we descend and releasing as we ascend if they are overweighted... the closer they are to neutral, the less I have to worry about buoyancy...

now, couple things make me believe this was staged...
1) tank being loose like that - it is hard to believe ANY instructor would just let that go (and if the videographer was indeed a certified assistant, it is real easy to call it the videographers fault as easy as it was the primary instructors)
2) check out the fins... no two pairs are the same... its hard to believe everyone doing the DSD brought their own fins and another quick note - they are all open heel fins... it is more common for dive centers in warm areas to rent full foot fins as it cuts down on cost big time
3) check out the masks - again, no two are the same, very uncommon for DSDers...
4) there is at least one thing wrong with every one of them from their left to right, we have a) severely overweighted b) cummerbund loose / waist strap not tied c) tank loose d) not paying attention to instructor e) breathing off of octo f) left shoulder completely out of shoulder strap
5) the first person (A) sometimes forgets to bicycle kick and actually has good form (for being that overweighted), then goes back to bicycle kicking
6) the one that appears to be breathing off an octo may indeed be breathing off their primary, but its just yellow, which would mean they probably have an airsource/air2/octo inflator on their BCD... this would definitely not happen with rental gear, and I highly highly doubt a DSD has their own BCD/regulator...

one thing many are worried about that may or may not be an issue is the coral... from the video it is hard to tell if that is truly live coral or not... that looks like an area we have here that there is no live coral at all on - once upon a time it was alive but no more... that being said, I always start out my DSD's (after skills have been completed) in 8 feet of water on a sandy bottom... we swim over the sandy bottom for 3 or 4 minutes to get everything figured out buoyancy and swimming wise until we venture out over the coral... also, for someones octo or console to come unhooked is relatively common and falls under the I'll fix it if I can category, but so long as it is not dragging along the coral, I typically don't worry too much with it (DSDers are usually much higher off the coral when diving than many of us, so most of the time its a nonissue)

so, my official take on this - it's either a fake, or both the instructor and videographer have some serious student control issues, and being that we know the videographers name, maybe we should report him????

[MagnaBoxer]

Could be staged... or just a terrible instructor who had no business conducting the DSD. When the wife and I did our DSD in Cozumel a few years ago it was the most incredible experience ever. We went in by Papa Hog's and sat on the bottom for 30 minutes in about 10 foot of water and could breathe!! Ok, so maybe not that exciting but at the time it was to us.

We then came out, changed tanks, got on the boat, and went to Paradise and made an open water dive. I could not believe the things I was seeing!! A spotted eagle ray swam right by us and must have been 10 feet across! I was in awe. When the mouthpiece came off of my second stage at 45 fsw and dropped to my side I managed to put in my octo and in a half panic swam to the DM to show him the reg. He waved it off as if it was of no importance and swam away. We continued the dive (albeit a short one as I Hoovered) with me holding on for dear life to my wife's BC for fear that my octo may suffer the same fate as the primary and then surfaced with no problems. All in all a great experience and one that I forever will thank myself for making the decision to just go for it.

Just saying, if you don't know it's wrong, and someone who you put your trust in doesn't tell you it's wrong then maybe this guy with the loose tank, who may not be familiar with the gear is having one of those "I'm underwater and breathing!!!" experiences. Or it could just be staged as some suspect.

Maybe this instructor takes all his DSD'ers to this same spot hence the once living, now dead coral.

[DRSharky]

It says that it's not staged, in the description and in one comment too. And I believe it, because I've seen many "professionals" doing an interesting job.
One certified instructor who apparently owns a dive shop somewhere in Canada asked me questions that open water diver should know. Sometimes I feel really sorry for some divers or students.
I tried to help under water few times, when I saw divers with an instructor / guide from a different dive shop and then I got into trouble, that the clients were not mine. OK safety first!!! I just cannot watch people that have problems and there is nobody to help them.

[mitsuguy]

I still think the dead giveaway is the first girl who starts off bicycle kicking, then goes to a nicely formed kick, then back to bicycle kicking... and its not just bicycle kicking, its very bad bicycle kicking...

[DevilDiver]

Notice the instructors knee pads... maybe he needs the support but I'm guessing he is used to kneeling on the coral.

Funny how the dad is the one with the death grip on to the instructor(?).

I wonder what video camera was used, the quality is very good.