Posted by Randy Medaris on June 18, 2001 at 12:11:58:
In Reply to: This weekend's observations from Casino Point posted by MHK on June 18, 2001 at 10:17:57:
My openwater checkout was done on my knees, in a circle too. I am not an instructor, but I think this is done for the practical reasons of being able to watch students and keep the class together. I really could not control my buoyancy well enough to share air or remove and replace my mask. I would either sunk into the sand or floated to the surface. 4 dives is just not enough to master the skills and my instructor left the impression on me that it was necessary to seek at ways to improve through additional training and working with more experienced divers.
I'm glad that people like you are going out of their way to help solve the problem. I would love to join you at Casino Point sometime.