A Shopping List for a Valid Scuba Course

When I hear about "free, quick and easy dive courses," I ask, "Do they also offer a quickie week-end astronaut course for a dollar ninety eight?"

We have all seen promotions like "learn to dive in a weekend" or "Three days for Scuba Certification" and wondered "how can they do that?" Of course we all known that if you set your course standards low enough you can do just about anything. You ask yourself, "How can the public be so blind as to buy this kind of promotion?" Lacking the knowledge of what is necessary for a thorough, safe certification course, why wouldn't the average consumer want to take one that required as little time as possible, though? It is a given that:

1) People will buy the cheapest they can.
2) They will take the shortest course possible in order to get "The Card."
3)"It couldn't be that dangerous; Look at the nerd down the street who is a Certified Diver."

What Course Should I or My Loved One Take?
People frequently call me to ask which course to take, or in which course they should enroll their friend/son/daughter/fiancee/spouse? Since not everyone can take my courses, I try to give these folks a few means by which they can evaluate the courses that are offered by local instructors and dive shops. Besides the time parameters that a minimal adequate course should have (at least 32 contact hours and five open water dives under the direct supervision of a certified instructor), I give these following yardsticks to use and questions to ask:

1. If the course is "Free", what must I buy and at what cost? What must I rent at what cost per use? What charter fees can I anticipate? What will the certification cost be? Even if the course is not billed as "free", these questions should be asked to determine the actual cost. By the time all of these questions have been answered, the prospective student will have some idea of what the cost of the course really is. A value-wise dive candidate should compare not only all of the costs, but also compare costs against material presented.

2. How many dives can I expect under the direct supervision of my instructor. Also, what instructor-student ratios can I expect in the pool and in open water?if the student/instructor ration is much over eight to one in open water, the benefits from my instructor's supervisory efforts are certainly going to be questionable. Ten to one ratios are acceptable in confined water. Water conditions such as current and visibility will alter ratios.

3. Will I be taught how to evaluate all necessary and optional equipment for functional safety - for either class use or post-class renting - and desirable features for purchases? Will I be taught "what to do" if any of my equipment malfunctions, and what type of malfunctions might be possible? Certain basic equipment knowledge should be included in every course.

4. Will I be taught how to use "Dive Tables" so that I can intelligently track my nitrogen absorption and be able to plan dive profiles that will prevent or at least reduce, the possibility of decompression sickness (DCS/Bends)? If this is not a part of a basic course, it is an incomplete course and should not merit certification.

5. Will I be taught diving first aid for the possible traumas associated with the use of high-pressure air systems and diving? If not, since the Red Cross does not teach hyperbaric accident management where do I go to learn about diving first aid, if not from my dive instructor? If this is not a part of the basic course, don't take it!

6. Will I be taught "self rescue," "Buddy assists," "Buddy rescue" in my basic diving class? If these skills are "to complex" for me with five dives under my belt, they will probably still be so at six or seven dives as well. The point being that these are not terribly complex skills, but they will require dedicated time for teaching and practice. Are you as my instructor willing to devote the time and effort in the basic course to teach me these skills? This is a skill that should be taught and mastered at the basic entry or "Scuba Diver" level. If you are told that this is too complex a topic area for a beginning student, I would question the abilities of the instructor.

7. In what types of environment will I be qualified to dive, and will I be told what I must do to qualify for other types and environments? If all my training takes place in a lake and I live in an area that enables me to dive offshore in surf or in the ocean in a current, what must I do to be qualified in those environments? Another must! If you are told you will be certified to dive anywhere and everywhere, ask if there is a difference between certification and qualifications!

8. Will I be taught buoyancy control with different types of equipment or must I learn it by myself through trial and error? If so, maybe I don't need an instructor. Yet another must! Too many diver deaths result from too much weight on the belt or system dragging the diver below the surface. Many instructors have the theory that, "students are always too buoyant on their first dive. So, if I put more than enough weight on them, they can always compensate with their buoyancy compensators if thy are too heavy". Unfortunately, the reason so many new students are too buoyant on their first dives is because they are uncomfortable with their gear, confidence and training and tend to retain too much air in their lungs. If they are taught proper buoyancy control in the pool, they will not be uncomfortable on their first open water dives. After the first dives, too often the instructor fails to advise them of the need to reduce weight. So, that's the way they dive, at least until the day of tragedy.

9. Will I be taught the effects of pressure on my body: the effects of breathing high pressure air; the effects of pressure on my air consumption rates; the effects water will have on my vision, hearing, and my body's heat retention capabilities? If not, then why am I paying you for a certification course?

10. Will I have the tools (knowledge) to plan my dives for the environments that I have been trained in and skill to dive that plan as a result of the course I am preparing to take from you?

Let's start focusing on ways that we can educate the public and arm them with the information they need to be able to intelligently seek out a good dive course and protect themselves from promotions that prey on their ignorance. Let's start putting the consumer first, and give the value he or she is willing to pay for. We are wasting dive enthusiasts when they come out of our courses with too little knowledge and skill to feel confident in their ability to plan a dive and dive safely. Rather, they are confident in the fact that they "don't" have adequate skill and knowledge to dive safely, so they just drop out.

If you can't look back and find that half of your students have been diving at least twice since they took your course, perhaps you should take a new look at your entry level or Scuba Diver course with an analytical eye. Consider what you need to do to graduate students who have confidence and self-sufficiency. It may be adding another confined water training session, or perhaps one or two more open water dives to the course. It may be having the students assume more responsibility for their diving activities as the course goes on. In any case, it involves certifying divers who can dive and who know it, because they knew how to select a good program.

The author is a NAUI instructor trainer who is a director of safety operations at Walt Disney World.

Sources - March/April 1995 copyright 1996 NAUI. All rights reserved.

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