PADI scuba divers??
Discussion
Mel- I'm sorry hear about that, you might be pleased to hear that i have my CBOS and MIST certicfication ready to offshore whenever i like, but like diving i have no experience offshore.
Fezant- I am learning pretty quickly on here that DM is not a walk in the park, i never expected it to be but i also never expected it to be as hard as it possibly could be. Hard work doesn't really phase me, lst year i was working over here 8hours per day for £25. I often go down to my dive centre and just help out, re filling cylinders, washing equipment etc...
My dive centre haven't encouraged me to take any courses, if anything they have spoke to me and asked me whether or not i am sure this is what i want to do and if i'm doing it for the right reasons. I have been friends with all the instructors down the dive centre for about a year now and not once have they pushed me into doing anything i didn't want to do.
And yes before you ask i have been done on the flavoured air trick!
Fezant- I am learning pretty quickly on here that DM is not a walk in the park, i never expected it to be but i also never expected it to be as hard as it possibly could be. Hard work doesn't really phase me, lst year i was working over here 8hours per day for £25. I often go down to my dive centre and just help out, re filling cylinders, washing equipment etc...
My dive centre haven't encouraged me to take any courses, if anything they have spoke to me and asked me whether or not i am sure this is what i want to do and if i'm doing it for the right reasons. I have been friends with all the instructors down the dive centre for about a year now and not once have they pushed me into doing anything i didn't want to do.
And yes before you ask i have been done on the flavoured air trick!
bluetone said:
A beginner on their first try-dive in Open Water??
Yep, did mine that way. It's "safe" to say that, uh, following the rules isn't high on the list of things in Tobago.... I spent my first dive (a try dive, having spent 10 mins in a pool first) basically looking after myself because the instructor was a bit busy with two other people who were not happy at all.
PADI is called Pay And Dive Instantly for a reason.
Craig, I think basically I agree with your view that you can become a rescue diver and DM with PADI BUT do you honestly think that it is wise to do so with so few dives yourself logged? I mean, get 50 dives logged then go for it IMHO. I am not an experienced diver here with less than 100 dives logged, so please listen to those who have many hundreds of dives logged. A couple of my friends are DMs and they were shocked that anyone would even consider allowing you to train for it with your current experience (though they are also BSAC so take the p**s outta PADI any time they can....).
this still son=unds like the rookie passing the exams and expecting a quality job at the end of it, kind of like the graduate expecting to go contracting in my industry on the 6 figure contracts out of uni cause they have the certs to prove they can do it.
Experience is worth more than certs anytime and always will be.
If you want to get real world experience go out and work for a dive school as an assistant, watching and learning from the pros rather than think you can walk in to one of their jobs.
do a loads of buddy dives with inexperience people under the watch of a truely qualified person, hell off your services for free but for dives, air and kit to get the experience.
Think about it and stop saying you are doing well on the exams and theory as that means nothing and makes you sound cocky infront of the old timers that will give you grief, learn from their experience and even go diving with them to get experience.
It makes sense.
Experience is worth more than certs anytime and always will be.
If you want to get real world experience go out and work for a dive school as an assistant, watching and learning from the pros rather than think you can walk in to one of their jobs.
do a loads of buddy dives with inexperience people under the watch of a truely qualified person, hell off your services for free but for dives, air and kit to get the experience.
Think about it and stop saying you are doing well on the exams and theory as that means nothing and makes you sound cocky infront of the old timers that will give you grief, learn from their experience and even go diving with them to get experience.
It makes sense.
Just a quick update on my progress.
Passed all my exams 95% average.
all stamina test finished- scored 20 in total
all skills complete little disapointed 90 out of 105, have been practicing in the pool since then.
Conducted 4 DSD's definately the best part of the course, the whole reason i decided to go for my DM
I have an emergency assistance plan to complete then a few more dies to do as a leader and dive briefings.
Equipment will be here next week and i should be signed off within a few weeks i think.
I know what everyone said before, but its something I really wanted to do and I am really enjoying and can't wait to get working!
Passed all my exams 95% average.
all stamina test finished- scored 20 in total
all skills complete little disapointed 90 out of 105, have been practicing in the pool since then.
Conducted 4 DSD's definately the best part of the course, the whole reason i decided to go for my DM
I have an emergency assistance plan to complete then a few more dies to do as a leader and dive briefings.
Equipment will be here next week and i should be signed off within a few weeks i think.
I know what everyone said before, but its something I really wanted to do and I am really enjoying and can't wait to get working!
Got my PADI Openwater and Advanced years ago while working at a Club Med in Mexico.
My first 10 buddy dives were night dives as I was too busy taking fat Americans on snorkel safari's or teaching them to snorkel.
I am more into free diving these days as I find it a bit more of a challenge, wish I had more time to spend diving but work and family keeps me away from the water.
My first 10 buddy dives were night dives as I was too busy taking fat Americans on snorkel safari's or teaching them to snorkel.
I am more into free diving these days as I find it a bit more of a challenge, wish I had more time to spend diving but work and family keeps me away from the water.
My other half has just bought paid for me to do my full PADI course in the UK (when the weather gets warmer!)
I'm extremly excited, i've only ever had one real strong desire and thats to swim with Great White sharks.
I can't wait to get diving but i have to admit i'm quite nervous. I'm a strong swimmer and have no problems in water except for my eyes. I can't even open my eyes in the shower so i'm a little worried about this! I'm sure i'll overcome it.
I know the UK's probably not the best place to learn but i can't see me going on nice exotic holidays anytime soon, plus i want to be able to get straight in the water when i get there.
Does anyone here dive around the Brighton area?
I'm extremly excited, i've only ever had one real strong desire and thats to swim with Great White sharks.
I can't wait to get diving but i have to admit i'm quite nervous. I'm a strong swimmer and have no problems in water except for my eyes. I can't even open my eyes in the shower so i'm a little worried about this! I'm sure i'll overcome it.
I know the UK's probably not the best place to learn but i can't see me going on nice exotic holidays anytime soon, plus i want to be able to get straight in the water when i get there.
Does anyone here dive around the Brighton area?
maix27 said:
I'm extremly excited, i've only ever had one real strong desire and thats to swim with Great White sharks.
Probably not the smartest thing to do in the world, do you think your gf is trying to tell you something! 
maix27 said:
I can't wait to get diving but i have to admit i'm quite nervous. I'm a strong swimmer and have no problems in water except for my eyes. I can't even open my eyes in the shower so i'm a little worried about this! I'm sure i'll overcome it.
This could be bit of a problem, however it does seem to be a common problem. Seriously if this is a problem I'd get it sorted before you start the course. It's one of the 1st thing you have to do in the pool. If you struggle on the course you will not get through. GT03ROB said:
maix27 said:
I'm extremly excited, i've only ever had one real strong desire and thats to swim with Great White sharks.
Probably not the smartest thing to do in the world, do you think your gf is trying to tell you something! GT03ROB said:
maix27 said:
I can't wait to get diving but i have to admit i'm quite nervous. I'm a strong swimmer and have no problems in water except for my eyes. I can't even open my eyes in the shower so i'm a little worried about this! I'm sure i'll overcome it.
This could be bit of a problem, however it does seem to be a common problem. Seriously if this is a problem I'd get it sorted before you start the course. It's one of the 1st thing you have to do in the pool. If you struggle on the course you will not get through. Cheers for the advice.
maix27 said:
I know the UK's probably not the best place to learn
The opposite is often true - learning to dive in the cold (more technical) and low visibility waters of the UK sets you up very well, generally easier to learn here and dive elsewhere than learn somewhere warm then re-learn in the UK.maix27 said:
I know the UK's probably not the best place to learn but i can't see me going on nice exotic holidays anytime soon, plus i want to be able to get straight in the water when i get there.
Does anyone here dive around the Brighton area?
In my view the UK is the best place to learn if you can find someone in vis so bad you cant see your knees then you are more than capable of diving in clear warm water. My rescue was just like that. Does anyone here dive around the Brighton area?
Also if you dive in the UK and enjoy it you will enjoy it most places.
As for diving down in Brighton, haven't done it for a while to be honest even then it was only once or twice usually its Bournemouth area for me.
glad to see so many people starting scuba diving.
I took on board alot of advive given here.
the only advice i didn't take was to not start.
I have been listening to everything, not messing about, taking everything very seriously.
Everyone was right, DM is not what i thought it was, its alot harder, long hours and a lot of responsibility which for some i can see to be quite a intimidating situation, i have been put through several situation throughout dives by my instructor. Obviously i'm not going to experience every posible problem but i have done quite a few of the more common problems.
I hope to dive with some of you one day
I took on board alot of advive given here.
the only advice i didn't take was to not start.
I have been listening to everything, not messing about, taking everything very seriously.
Everyone was right, DM is not what i thought it was, its alot harder, long hours and a lot of responsibility which for some i can see to be quite a intimidating situation, i have been put through several situation throughout dives by my instructor. Obviously i'm not going to experience every posible problem but i have done quite a few of the more common problems.
I hope to dive with some of you one day
Bit of a bump really.
Also I have been working out in Egypt for the last 6 months gaining lots of experience. So much experience that the dive centre I work for suggested I do the IDC so I did. Not wanting to sound like a t
t but i sailed through the IE getting 100% in pretty much everything, I understand that this does not make me a good instructor. In fact I am stting myself about teaching my first course.
I have racked up just under 300 dives now.
Any other new divers since last year??
Also I have been working out in Egypt for the last 6 months gaining lots of experience. So much experience that the dive centre I work for suggested I do the IDC so I did. Not wanting to sound like a t
t but i sailed through the IE getting 100% in pretty much everything, I understand that this does not make me a good instructor. In fact I am stting myself about teaching my first course. I have racked up just under 300 dives now.
Any other new divers since last year??
Dive Master here, was working in Koh Tao Thailand recently, love it, got to dive with a Whale shark, 4 Bull sharks on another dive, Turtles and we got to hop in real quick with a young blue whale which was passing by....you're not strictly supposed to do some of the stuff we got up to in our spare time but hey, if you dont push the boundaries of what you can do underwater who will?...I also got attacked by Titan Triggerfish a few times, those buggers are the worst/best thing about Thailand.
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