Posted by Jason on October 18, 2000 at 17:46:39:
In Reply to: I don't have a problem with an 80 minute cert... posted by Eins on October 18, 2000 at 12:08:07:
I assisted an example of a quickie weekend course where
they probably didn't even get 80 minutes in the water,
and much of that time was sitting holding onto a rope.
They demonstrated each skill once, maybe twice. That isn't
good enough. They need to do them enough to screw them
up at least once, be it in the pool or the ocean.
And more importantly, when are they learning to DIVE?
Sure they can exist under water and return, but the
sport of diving goes a little bit beyond that. I've gone
out with recently certed divers and had to teach them this:
Get down close to the bottom, stick your face up close
to things, most Cal critters are coin sized, don't kick
up the sand, use the kelp to deal with up/downs and surge.
Checkout dives should be about more than just showing
skills, and that's a spot where the PADI specs for
each dive really fail the students. I'd much rather
see the students do lots of demos on their first two
dives and then do the second day looking at whats to see.