PADI scuba divers??

[Dupont666]

so to do this:

http://www.bigsquid.co.uk/courses/open.htm

I would bugger off here again:

http://www.manta-dive.com/diving-accommodation-gil...

and pay:

http://www.gili-paradise.com/gilis-dive-site.php

(£200) and do it as part of the holiday.

Wish I did it last time I was there.

(

[Jgtv]

mel said:

I'm not having a dig at you personally but I simply can not comprehend how any one can seriously consider being a "rescue" diver with only 12 dives under their belt. I know it's courses and qualifications etc but seriously at 12 dives you won't have even reached the totaly at ease with yourself stage while underwater let alone being confident enough to assist others should a problem arise. I honestly think if PADI are able and willing to award these qualifications at that level then they are without a doubt dangerous, not just to the student but others around them. I would take a "rescue" qualification to indicate a confident, well trained, experienced, and self sufficient individual who if needed could be called upon to assist in a rescue situation, infact I would look to be able to actually send the rescue diver into the water to do the rescue while co ordiating from the dry side, at anything less than 100+ dives I simply would not have that confidence in any diver, at anything less than level everything is still new and interesting.

I was thinking much the same, after 12 dives I was still strugling with my kit let alone trying to sort someone else kit out in a crisis!

I started diving at about 13, now almost 27, Done god knows how many dives, did my Rescue at 16, I already had well over 100 hours underwater in everything from 2 foot vis in off the south coast to the Thistlegorm in the Red Sea and the cenotes? in Mexico.

Started dive master by 18 but never actually finished all the work to get the qualification,Helped in the classes for while at a mates school, good experience but never really turned it into anything so I still enjoy it as a hobby,

Haven't been this year yet thanks to the bloody mortgage, sorting it out soon at I am going to the Maldives in October Hopefully! get in.

Good that you love it but I am a little confused at that level after 12 dives, and a Divemaster after 6 months, unless you go everyday I wouldn't have thought you would be fully up to speed would you?

[moles]

I did go in the pool and managed to do nearly all the stuff except for mask removal (I did it twice but never felt comfortable doing it). I went out on a dive and was fine and then back to the pool to try mask removal again but freaked out and decided that it wasn't safe to carry on with the course any more.

[Dupont666]

Jgtv said:

mel said:

I'm not having a dig at you personally but I simply can not comprehend how any one can seriously consider being a "rescue" diver with only 12 dives under their belt. I know it's courses and qualifications etc but seriously at 12 dives you won't have even reached the totaly at ease with yourself stage while underwater let alone being confident enough to assist others should a problem arise. I honestly think if PADI are able and willing to award these qualifications at that level then they are without a doubt dangerous, not just to the student but others around them. I would take a "rescue" qualification to indicate a confident, well trained, experienced, and self sufficient individual who if needed could be called upon to assist in a rescue situation, infact I would look to be able to actually send the rescue diver into the water to do the rescue while co ordiating from the dry side, at anything less than 100+ dives I simply would not have that confidence in any diver, at anything less than level everything is still new and interesting.

I was thinking much the same, after 12 dives I was still strugling with my kit let alone trying to sort someone else kit out in a crisis!

I started diving at about 13, now almost 27, Done god knows how many dives, did my Rescue at 16, I already had well over 100 hours underwater in everything from 2 foot vis in off the south coast to the Thistlegorm in the Red Sea and the cenotes? in Mexico.

Started dive master by 18 but never actually finished all the work to get the qualification,Helped in the classes for while at a mates school, good experience but never really turned it into anything so I still enjoy it as a hobby,

Haven't been this year yet thanks to the bloody mortgage, sorting it out soon at I am going to the Maldives in October Hopefully! get in.

Good that you love it but I am a little confused at that level after 12 dives, and a Divemaster after 6 months, unless you go everyday I wouldn't have thought you would be fully up to speed would you?

My OH has clocked loads of hours and even she didnt want to do the divemaster yet... Im happy with the PADI and the advanced and see from there, just living in UK means no nice warm seas to go in.... just the thames

[Mexico.]

Mexico Malta Turkey are good for diving depends on your budget south and south west coast uk are very good sw france is also good with great roads la rochelle some great wrecks mostly spanish sunk by the british

[Pvapour]

on our 3rd session, loving the diving, hate the book work.

waters lovely & warm here at the mo, looking forward to doing some underwater photos

[aclivity]

Justayellowbadge said:

IanMorewood said:

Justayellowbadge said:

Apparently it had never ocurred to her that being able to swim AT ALL was a requisite skill.

What and the instructor didnt even ask yer to swim a lap of the pool before signing her up?

Guess not. Not all PADI outfits tend to be the same quality - I always look for German, Dutch or Brit owned/run.

I'm not a PADI diver, I trained with the beards and beer bellies (BSAC, TDI for nitrox), but the sentiment about looking for a British dive centre is generally sound. Recreational divers trained and experienced in British waters tend to be the best divers in the world. The theory goes that if you can cope with near zero viz, freezing cold water and a more technical workload, not to mention that UK divers are more receptive to things like "devil gas" (nitrox), trimix and rebreathers, then you should be fine in warm and clear waters. Perhaps the only exception to this flagrant generalisation are the WKPP divers in the US and the CDG in the UK, who do technical, long duration, exploration dives in zero viz, pitch darkness, freezing cold water in an overhead environment.

There used to be internet wars of words between PADI and BSAC divers, then the GUE divers got all the flack, or TDI, NAUI or any other training organisation. The fact is that a good instructor is a good instructor regardless of which training manual they follow.

[Yoshiwaan]

Ah the Zenobia is great. I actually got taken inside by a local, just a short stint through a passage with no corners so no chance of getting lost. It was really surreal though, looking directly up 10 metres and seeing what used to be a window. Very cool, a touch unnerving though, but then again being 30 metres underwater is far from natural anyway

My brother got taken to the bar on there by the same guy. When the ship first sunk divers used to go in there and drink out of the liquor dispensors. They're all empty now though

It's pretty big too, pity my vis was pretty ste so I didn't get the full picture. I hope yours is better.

Let us know how the dive goes.

Edited by Yoshiwaan on Monday 10th August 17:42

Edited by Yoshiwaan on Monday 10th August 17:43

[MartG]

aclivity said:

Recreational divers trained and experienced in British waters tend to be the best divers in the world. The theory goes that if you can cope with near zero viz, freezing cold water and a more technical workload, not to mention that UK divers are more receptive to things like "devil gas" (nitrox), trimix and rebreathers, then you should be fine in warm and clear waters.

Agreed - memories of 'mask off' drill for my BSAC Dive Leader qualification - in a rather muddy Windermere - in February ! Actually the water, at 2 degrees C, felt comparatively warm compared to the air temp - one of the group sat down after her dive and her drysuit froze to the rock she was sitting on

[minimoog]

MartG said:

Agreed - memories of 'mask off' drill for my BSAC Dive Leader qualification - in a rather muddy Windermere - in February ! Actually the water, at 2 degrees C, felt comparatively warm compared to the air temp - one of the group sat down after her dive and her drysuit froze to the rock she was sitting on

Drysuit? Wuss

Fond-ish memories of doing my Open Water quali dives in a wetsuit at Capern Wray in November.

[Dan_1981]

Another BSAC-er here.

Done all of my qualification dives in the UK, a couple of the cost of Anglesey - in December. (christ that was cold and visibility was poor) - was only wearing a semi dry suit aswell!

And then a couple more in a quarry not far from Mancehster, at a man made diving type place.

Since then dived at Easter island - amazing

Great Barrier Reef - awesome

Red Sea around Sharm - good - wish i'd done the thistlegorm.

Looking to get back into it and do my next few levels now.

[DIW35]

Divemaster and rescue diver here. Did most of my training in UK waters, but the majority of my dives have now been done in warm, clear waters. In fact, the drysuit hasn't had an airing for quite some time now. I must be getting old.

[MartG]

minimoog said:

Fond-ish memories of doing my Open Water quali dives in a wetsuit at Capern Wray in November.

Did my only night dive there, before it became a 'proper' dive centre - not much to look at other than stolen & dumped cars back then

[CyprusCraig]

Dupont666 said:

Jgtv said:

mel said:

I'm not having a dig at you personally but I simply can not comprehend how any one can seriously consider being a "rescue" diver with only 12 dives under their belt. I know it's courses and qualifications etc but seriously at 12 dives you won't have even reached the totaly at ease with yourself stage while underwater let alone being confident enough to assist others should a problem arise. I honestly think if PADI are able and willing to award these qualifications at that level then they are without a doubt dangerous, not just to the student but others around them. I would take a "rescue" qualification to indicate a confident, well trained, experienced, and self sufficient individual who if needed could be called upon to assist in a rescue situation, infact I would look to be able to actually send the rescue diver into the water to do the rescue while co ordiating from the dry side, at anything less than 100+ dives I simply would not have that confidence in any diver, at anything less than level everything is still new and interesting.

I was thinking much the same, after 12 dives I was still strugling with my kit let alone trying to sort someone else kit out in a crisis!

I started diving at about 13, now almost 27, Done god knows how many dives, did my Rescue at 16, I already had well over 100 hours underwater in everything from 2 foot vis in off the south coast to the Thistlegorm in the Red Sea and the cenotes? in Mexico.

Started dive master by 18 but never actually finished all the work to get the qualification,Helped in the classes for while at a mates school, good experience but never really turned it into anything so I still enjoy it as a hobby,

Haven't been this year yet thanks to the bloody mortgage, sorting it out soon at I am going to the Maldives in October Hopefully! get in.

Good that you love it but I am a little confused at that level after 12 dives, and a Divemaster after 6 months, unless you go everyday I wouldn't have thought you would be fully up to speed would you?

My OH has clocked loads of hours and even she didnt want to do the divemaster yet... Im happy with the PADI and the advanced and see from there, just living in UK means no nice warm seas to go in.... just the thames

I understand where you guys are coming from...

But it is under the instrcutors discretion to allow me take the course, without wanting to sound cocky, i have never had a problem (albeit 12 dives) i have already assisted in one rescue (avoided other student from doing a rapid ascent from 30m), Most importantly i feel like i'm ready for it. If i fail to complete the 4 open water scenarios at the end of the course then your right i'm not ready.

I will be diving everyday until christmas... I'll be at the Dive centre 5 days a week hopefully diving 2/3 times a day once i start my divemaster.

Also i never thought there would be so many divers on PH good to hear it hope to see some of you at Turtle Bay Dive Centre TRNC one day!

[mel]

There's no delicate way of putting this but if you believe what you have just written then you're a fool.

Nothing can compensate for time underwater and at probably around 8 hours total you haven't even got properly wet.

[Shaolin]

mel said:

There's no delicate way of putting this but if you believe what you have just written then you're a fool.

Nothing can compensate for time underwater and at probably around 8 hours total you haven't even got properly wet.

Bit harsh as it's the way PADI works, but I agree broadly.

I have done about 80 dives, followed BSAC but never did the qualification, did PADI OW and AOW so I can dive on holiday. Next step would be Rescue, but I don't want to spend the money or time jumping through the hoops for the sake of it. I'll probably go to the Red Sea in Oct with youngest son so he can do Rescue Diver (he's got about 20-25 dives so far).

PADI is good as it gets you diving within limits quickly whereas BSAC is a bit of a marathon and people are more likely to give up first, PADIs bite-size pieces keeps people at it. I think the first major step with PADI needs Rescue and 50 dives so there is something behind the facade. Having said that PADI is a money making machine in a way that BSAC has no idea about.

I've dived Antarctica, Barrier Reef and Red Sea, most of my 80 dives have been at -2C to +2C, the warm water dives are easier to prepare for (!) but there's nothing like diving with seals and penguins or icebergs.

[Pigeon]

If your instructor likes BMWs and doesn't smoke, find another one ASAP

[DownUnder.]

Learnt at New Horizons in Macclesfield, did all my training at either Capernwray or Stoney Cove (Generally late January - Still can't feel my balls)

Started DM at 100 dives in the Red sea (Marsa Alam) On my gap year just gone, lots of work and i could hardly say 12 is enough to begin thinking about it. I struggled after 100!!

Love the sport, think everyone should try it.

[bluetone]

AOW but still a novice. Was really looking forward to getting wet in Sardinia a couple of weeks a go; I was actually in the local dive centre checking out the sites when I first noticed a vague soreness at the back of my throat. Next morning = full-on head cold and no way to equalise (FFS).

Snorkeling just wasn't the same

[Trooper2]

Pigeon said:

If your instructor likes BMWs and doesn't smoke, find another one ASAP

What?... "German tintops!"......Lurking 'Bruciebabe'.........Your thread has arrived!....