What is your recommendation for a complete newbie that just finished the open water course with a reputable dive company... But strongly feels she was rushed through the course and basically given the certification because she paid for it and not necessarily earned it or passed required skills due to the lack of being taught said skills? When this concern was brought to the instructors attention he simply said, if you need more time to work on some of these skills then sign up for the boyuncy control class. I don't think it's right to have to pay additional money for skills that are required to learn and required to be able to execute to be certified. Especially considering this was not a group setting. It was private lessons. What is your thoughts and suggestions. I appreciate all your videos!!! Keep em coming!!! #askdiversready
Hi Joni, I've pinned your question because it is vital and unfortunately all too common. I'm really disappointed that this happened, especially as you went to the extra effort (and cost) of hiring a private instructor. When you learn to be an Instructor, they talk a lot about 'Mastery' of skills. Repeating skills over and over until you can do them perfectly and not moving on to the next skill until mastery of the previous skill has been achieved. Unfortunately, some individuals in my profession forget this and simply have a one-and-done mentality: 'I had the students do all the skills. The course is complete.' To that, I say: 'Do' is different from 'Master.' Often, this is not even the Dive Instructors fault. They have to choose between providing thorough training for the student, or getting the course done as best as possible in the time and cost constraints placed on them by their employer. They're never going to see you again, and they like being employed, so their choice is a simple one. I'm curious about a few aspects of your experience: How experienced was the Instructor? (How long had they been teaching? How many students had they taught?) Where in the world were you and how much did you pay? (You don't have to name-and-shame, but just a general geographic region and an approximate amount.) Did you pick your Instructor personally, or were you assigned one? Shoot me an email to james@diversready.com As for suggestions, rather than paying for a bullshit buoyancy course, why not hire a private guide and ask them for an assessment/coaching? You already got the cert card (I presume) so there's no need right now to pay for another course, you just want to get better at the level you're at. A private guide is an excellent option for one-to-one coaching without having to buy a full course. I hope this helps! Thanks for watching and for sharing your experience! James
I like the way Edd Sorenson puts it (although he said it in the context of cave training): when you get your certification, that is your learner's permit, that is a license for you to start learning to dive properly.
A lot of good observations here 🙂 I had probably 50 dives by the time I got my AOW and close to 200 when I did Rescue during a dive trip in 2007. That and 3 specialties I thought were plenty. After I came back from my trip a member of our dive club who was an IDC Staff Instructor started talking to me about Divemaster. I always said I wasn't interested and just wanted to dive... a year and a half later I finally agreed to do the course. I ended up doing Divemaster about 2 years after Rescue. I was probably close to 400 dives by then (it's been a while 😄)I enjoyed the course but it would be 8 years before I did anything with it. I just wanted to dive after all 🙂. Only much later did I discover that he needed to train a certain number of Divemasters in order for him to move up 😉 I finally became an instructor a couple years ago. It was interesting to me that I had more than double the number of dives of the other 3 candidates put together! I do enjoy teaching but I think I enjoy it mainly because I don't need the money. It was more to give me something to do and supplement my retirement income. I can take my time, keep my classes small, and focus on turning out good divers🙂
I took my rescue class at 60 or 70ish dives and rescue was a game changer for me. I have an awesome set of dive instructors and they really helped me see common issues with divers. I know the training worked this weekend when I was diving in a tourist location and was able to help 3 newer divers correct mistakes before or during dives. I always thought the diver progression was a bit insane because most classes dont require any number of logged dives before advancing. I am glad to see I am not the only one who thinks this way!
At the end of the day, each diver is responsible for themselves and their knowledge progression. Some dive shops do turn and burn people which is probably the cause of those OW and AOW divers who haven't yet fully grasped the basics. As for minimum logged dives, that's what stopped me from taking self-reliant-still intend to get an instructor to show me and my buddy how to use a pony and hand one off even in a buddy pair though.
@@YuriyDel I agree. I naturally gravitate towards knowing more and I do get frustrated with the way dive info can be taught sometimes because knowing how to use a pony or being self reliant before 100 dives can be incredibly useful! I am incredibly fortunate to have a spouse that dives and we have many local training lakes and quarries to travel to in between the more fun locations which can be really helpful in progressing skills. I realize not everyone has this luxury.
@@luv2read247 I'm also fortunate in that regard but I think I have her doubled up by now, ha-ha. Unfortunately, my closest place to dive is 1-2 hours and I haven't finished drysuit yet.
@@YuriyDel my spouse and I have had drysuits for 2 years now and it drastically opens up so many local (and non local) dive options. It was an expensive investment but it was well worth it! I hope you guys have fun when you get yours.
My instructor once said: "There are plenty skiers with over 20 years of skiing experience who think they rock the mountains..but guess how many sucked the last 20 years at doing it and still do. You dont have to boast with skill when youre good at smth, try to help others get better and never fall to the conception you mastered anything...the next obstacle is just around the corner! Never judge the skill level on how many cards or logged dives somebody collected or fall in blind cofidence over something like that." -that stuck with me ever since
Thank you James! I completed my OWC a month ago.... and I was almost sold on the push to do my Advanced the week after... one of my co-OWC-learners jumped straight to it.... I was a little sad that I didn’t have the money to jump straight there, but I came home and spoke to some friends:... I wanted to race out and do advanced and race out and buy an underwater camera.... but one of my friends mother, a dive instructor said to me.... “don’t go and buy anything yet.... just go and dive, work on your buoyancy and just enjoy diving... don’t get pushed to moving forward yet.” It honestly changed my mindset. I have ordered my own gear now after we have hired gear and gone out a few times on our own boat. I’m loving just the getting out there to dive scenario around the moment. I’m only up to 9 dives... but I’m having a ball... Thank you for this great video that made me feel like I’m on the right track... I’m just getting experience
George the Macaw & Skye Parrot Artist Thanks for watching! Yes, that’s what it’s all about... make your next dive 1% better than your previous dive. Congrats on the OW cert. Dive safe. James
I could not agree more, I have always recommended to beginner divers to at the very least train through rescue diver, it give novices a big insight into what Murphy's law can do, opened my eyes. And then I became a DM shortly there after. Good video
Another great video, James. I've always been amazed that people do on to do 'advanced' straight after their open water, but it is just shaking that cash tree one more time. I joined BSAC after 50 dives, and was amazed at how they train truly independent divers; they also incorporate some elements of rescue right from the start of their lowest level Ocean Diver qualification. One year with BSAC and I'm twice the diver I was before. Result.
I was one of those people. OW>Eanx>AOW. Didn't feel terribly advanced with a dozen dives but I learned some important things that I kept practicing until I did improve. For example, going on our first solo dive (no instructor or guide) with my wife, I managed to navigate us to within 20ft of our exit with my compass-later I also impressed a dive instructor when I drew him a dive map to find something underwater based on headings, time, depth, etc. I like the introduction of rescue much earlier on (I was watching the videos and light studying before finishing OW) but, overall, they're all just classes so one should learn as much as one is able to become better.
One thing I like about SSI is they won't recognize or give you AOW status until you have at least 24 dives AND 4 specialities. They also don't "sell" you an AOW certification so much as you earn it and then they acknowledge your rating. I know the speciality requirement rubs some the wrong way and it is a version of selling you a certification in a roundabout way. But if you take quality courses such as Nitrox, Deep, Dry Suit, Stress/Rescue, etc you should on your way pretty well.
walked in after my AOW and the shop owner said I was on my way to being and instructor fast forward to finishing my DM course with a total of less than 100 dives they wanted me to start my IDC and I pushed back and said I would not consider this until I had at least 200 logged dives. no I am not an instructor as I went on a completely different path of underwater photography and Citizen scientist with a local organisation. So since completing my DM I have solo dived as a photographer at home (Australia) and overseas. I regularly help out with my dive instructor as a training aid for IDC to ensure skill retention across my dive qualifications. BTW now over 300 dives in ten years and having fun blowing bubbles.
Which is better : Open water -> poor buoyancy and trim, etc -> 25 log dive (only 18 m depth, no wreck, no night, no wreck dive) -> better buoyancy and trim -> take advance course (25 log max 18m only without any specialty) or Open water -> poor buoyancy and trim -> take advance course -> 25 log dive (deep dive, night dive, wreck dive) -> better buoyancy and trim, also specialty experience (in those 25 dives)
as for rescue diver...... join your local volunteer FD, situational awareness is a MUST, when you're fighting fire. plus you get certified in at least EMR.
Best point of the entire video: Don't do OW and AOW back-to-back. I just passed my AOW, about 1.5 years and 13 dives inbetween (not counting the 5 required AOW dives for PADI). A guy at my dive shop pushed me to go for the next level right away. But a couple of instructors hammered home in my head the need to first get a handle on buoyancy control. I'm glad I waited. In AOW, my dive buddy kept floating to the surface from 20' as he was navigating with his compass (I was fine). On the deep dive, you need to hover at 15' for 3 minutes (no problem). Employing the DSMB requires buoyancy control, so you don't shoot up to the surface with your tube.
James, Awesome video and spot on! I recently certified advanced open water which was awesome and exposed us to the deep water experience. We trained with a diver pursuing their Master SCUBA. We all grouped together to help their certification and "Situational Awareness (SA)" was killing our dive sessions. You can't purchase SA....and 100 logged dives with one friend doesn't count as "experienced" dives.
I do support the idea that people should do some diving between OW and AOW. I had 2. So when my instructor strongly insisted that I needed the peak performance buoyancy, I didn't have the confidence to tell them that I didn't need it even though my OW instructor told me that I was very natural with my buoyancy and trim. I thought it would be better to be conservative than cocky and went along with it. After the course, my aow instructor said the same thing as my aow instructor. So I missed seeing a wreck in the process. Given the same circumstances my decision was correct I think, but if I had more dives I would have known what I can or cannot do. Also, as far as I know, ssi master diver card is free. Once the requirements of the specialities and dives are met of course. Great video as always. Really useful for newbs like me
I recommend doing Intro to Tech if you want to progress further with your skills after a minimum of 100 dives and the rescue under your belt. For me it was eyeopening 😂 I really thought to be a decent diver who allready has perfectet his buoyancy until I was asked to do a Full cirkle of skills in perfect buoyancy without visual depth refference. Now i know what i have to train on.😅 In my course i had two Paddy Instruktors as students, their struggle was not less than mine.
The wife and I are getting open water certified this month. I fully agree rescue should be next. When I’ve taken surf and SUP lessons that’s one of the first things they teach, and it so valuable. I agree with you completely on needing a many dives between each certification level. Great video. Thanks.
Brilliant video! I remember back in 05 I did my OW course as a school extracurricular activity (science teacher was also a Dive Master). So we did the OW training over one and a half semester at school so it was thorough and no “over the weekend” deal. Then we (a bunch of 16 yare olds) were going to do: Boat, Deep, Navigation, Night and Wreck to qualify as AOW in less than one week in Malta… Ok, we have a handful of dives under our belts (the majority are pool dives at this point). Then cram in five new subjects and become comfortable with it in less than one week, some of us were still struggling with trim and buoyancy. I remember telling my teacher I would settle for Adventure Diver and focus on honing the skills we already learnt. Unfortunately shortly after the trip the local dive store/school closed down, then life and higher education happened. So haven’t used my skills in…15yares (why do I feel old?!). So I am planning to do the basic course over now with CMAS (back in 05 it was that organisation that begins with a P and ends with ADI). Anyway keep up the awesome content!
Great video. I took the speed method as the local diving options were limited. Ow and aow back to back. 50 dives and I had my padi msd. I then took a year off from training and racked up 100+ "fun" dives. I then went for DM and tec40/sidemount. Rescue is the most beneficial course by far and everyone should take it as well as sdi solo or intro to tech in my opinion. The skills taught and problem solving will make you a better diver. I'm now +300 dives and my next step is trimix but i want to log more deep / deco dives before I start down that path.
Hi Joshua! Thanks for watching! There's no better place in the world to learn Trimix than here in sunny South Florida... just sayin'...! 😃 www.miamitechnicaldiving.com James
I think you should also mention that you focused pretty heavily on PADI. Other agencies such as SSI, SDI, CMAS, BSAC, etc. do not allow further training immediately after the completion of the OWD. E.g. SSI requires you to complete 4 full specialities and 25 completed dive in total for an AOWD cert (you get it for free though, which is nice)
The advanced term is based 100% on marketing purpose for sure. It's a way to sale five speciality courses in exchange of a glothing term when the customer will be back at the office.
The dive shop I first learnt scuba diving, the instructor there said (not sure he use the word “recommend” or make it his shop’s rule) that in order to progress to A.O.W course, he (I am going to go with the word recommend here) recomended getting at least 20 dives to gain some experience before progression. Right now I moved and another dive shop I went to said there was no restriction or pre-requisite to progress from Open Water to Advance Open Water. Before that moment, I have always thought it was the requirement. Hint: I said above I cannot remember for sure what my first dive instructor said. My current status is an Open Water diver. I have not progress myself because while I do love diving, I live far away from any ocean or shore so I cannot just go out and do shore dive easily. In fact, I have no idea that shore dive exist until I watched your shore dive video - live aboard dives are costly. Plus, I don’t have time to go diving as often as I’d like so I am focusing on gaining experience with my current skill right now. What I want to do in my future progression, I want to progress to a rescue or even enter tech dive, but with my current situation, those are going to have to wait.
I know this is very late, but I'm an open water diver with 10 dives, and I definitly agree with your advice about not doing them back to back, and I find that it is pretty weird you can be a rescue diver with less than 20 dives. I'd like to wait until I have more dives personally before I get my advanced, but renting diving gear is pretty expensive in Sydney Australia, and while I have snorkling gear, buying diving gear outright feels like it costs an arm and a leg, and I wouldnt like to skimp on gear that keeps me alive lol.
OW with Nitrox. Paid for 4 other courses but never logged the dives. Loss of family at the dive shop and work got really busy. Deep, limited vis/night, nav, and photo. Yup. I paid for that photo course.
C'est le vie. I have learned my lesson but at least when I take those classes again it should be a breeze! 😎 blending from this and the Tec diving video, XR SSI one day. Sadly with that, she was my mentor as well as her husband who passed away, who was the trimix home blender for the shop! It will take time to find that "instructor" again.
Can’t wait to get my feet wet. I am currently studying for my open water certification. After open water it will be getting my enriched air certification and dive dive dive!
Michael Smart Both my wife and I passed our open water. We completed 6 open water dives while on vacation in Puerto Morelos Mexico. Saw some truly amazing things. It was wonderful. Can’t wait to get back in that clear blue water!
I didn't get my advance open water until I had 23 dives under my belt. Right now, I have 33 dives. I plan to get my rescue diver certification as my next level as training but I would rather be logging dives and that's how you get experience as a diver.
As someone who just finished rescue (I feel I waited too long), I highly recommend the course. Being a more experienced diver by logging more dives is great but the class is solely about how to handle an emergency with a buddy or someone in the group. To me, being an experienced diver is someone who can help/educate/save the experienced and inexperienced alike.
I'd just say that SSI automatically promotes you to MSD once you have completed the Rescue plus the Specialties and have enough logged dives. Don't need to pay them again - more SSIs thank you card than their newest billing excuse.
The dive center I’m looking to go through has a master scuba diver “course” that I believe includes 5 specialty certs for $500. So I think that’s actually a pretty good deal. But I’m a loooong way from that. Thanks for the education!
even tho i'm a freediver, but i found your channel very informative you're red pilling the heck out of divers i know from before about some of the problems of the diving world this is why i'm still struggling to find a competent freediving instructor bc lot of those so called master divers arnt really experienced enough some of them dont even know about the safety protocols, how can i trust them with my life? about depth, its true, beginners have this tendency to want to conquer depths, and forget about enjoying the experience of diving most of the beautiful diving sites are shallow like reefs and are close to shores there is no point to be able to dive 30feet when you didnt experience tides, swells and current when trying to surface those things cant be taught in a diving course, they are experienced thro many dives in different conditions
Thanks for this great video. Having a minimum number of dives to quality for Advance and Rescue sounds similar to Global Underwater Explorer (GUE) requirements like the level 2 which requires 25 dives.
I think GUE do a lot of things well. I haven't drank their coolaid and I don't care for elitism, but I do like that they don't rush you from one course to the next. Thanks for watching, Tarcisus. James
Sad to say, sometimes there's more open water divers that have more experience then some new "dive master or instructors" lol diving is not about going zero to hero..... it's all about experience! Also gaining confidence to move to the next level... but I agree about rescue diver course should be the 2 course... I'm open water diver, and I'm not taking advanced anytime soon, but I still gain knowledge about diving by reading, you tube, especially this channel! I believe all you really need is a basic open water diver certification, unless you want to learn Advanced specialty courses, like tech diving, cave dive, or wreck penetration, that could be dangerous if not properly trained... or be a professional, if you want a career from scuba diving... but great video!!
I'm a new subscriber and from one pro to another this is, so far, my favorite of all your videos. Excellent commentary, excellent food for thought, and when the students ask about next steps I have some additional talking points. If you ever find yourself in Monterey Bay, let's go diving! Thanks again for this video.
Hi , I wonder if you know or have some information where I can do som cave diving ? I have just finiched Advanced open water course and one of this 3 dives was cave diving and i loved it !
Thank you James! Great video as always. Very relevant for me at this point as a beginner diver. Personally I did not want to do my aow right after the ow class. It didn't seem right, because I was still very unsure about the whole process and everything I learned in the open water class. I've just recently signed up for the aow with a better feeling and more confidence in the water it seems to be the right time now. :-)
Great video - the 10,000 hours thing has been widely debunked now, but the point is still valid! In Malta (where I live) you cannot dive without an instructor (instructor, not DM) unless you’re advanced open water, so people here tend to do the courses back to back as the OW is essentially useless. Do you know any other countries with similar laws?
Ha ha! Do all students get to do a “James impersonation”? I’ve had great instructors and learned more in the water than in the classroom or in the manuals. When in doubt, dive more!
Reminds me of a story.... I been diving since I was a kid with my dad, I never got certified still I was 27 years old... on my check out dive. One of the students ran out of air and wasn't listening to the instructors, not a very good diver in my opinion... 2 months later he went to a school to be an instructor... I was shocked!
Let me explain it. I’m a retired PADIMaster instructor. pADI stands for put another dollar in. Your instructor and shop have one goal. Sell Sell Sell. Another course. Another piece of equipment another trip. Etc etc etc. don’t let them kid you.
I’m at the point of knowing I need my rescue diver course. I have over 50 logged dives, but here’s my problem. I am an ER nurse and know that Murphy (Murphy’s law) lives in my back pocket. Seeing every single day all the ways that life can and will go wrong, I’m scared of dealing with it underwater. I have situational awareness just because I can’t turn it off, but any tips to get mentally ok with getting my rescue diver?
Being an ER nurse you will shine on the Rescue course. Just do it. I bet you will be 100 times better than the instructor on your specific skills. The underwater/diving parts of the course are not difficult. As long as your own diving is ok, you'll be fine. Focus is on other people and helping them. You should already be able to handle yourself when it comes to buoyancy and trim etc. The "difficult" stuff is keeping track of the things you need to do in the right order when it comes to emergency procedures, and you will already know all that.
Just based on that statement, you're going to set the curve for that rescue course. You should be mentally fine with the course, it'll just add a little bit of in-water rescue to your repertoire. As others have said, you'll do great.
In tec, what do you plan to accomplish. Are you merely looking to dive longer than the NDL or are you looking to dive deeper than the 120 foot mark. In my opinion you should be a rescue diver at the very least the deeper you go there are different emotional feelings that you may encounter. Narcosis will hit me like a freight train at 105 foot or so, consistently. In the warmer waters of the Caribbean it's more of a giddy or euphoria feeling. In the cold water of the great lakes 45 degree bottom temperature it's more of fear that sets in and you have to deal with that. Tec is a wide open category and only the instructor that is teaching you could access your readiness, hope this helps.
My son and I achieved our Advanced Open Water Diver after our 41 logged dives. Our computer dive logs indicate more dives then our paper (online) logbooks as we have at times surfaced for a consultation, which splits the dive on the computer. I agree that getting an Advanced Open Water Diver back to back to the Open Water Diver does nothing for providing real experience. SSI requires 24 logged dives, so each agency must have different requirements, which is also misleading.
I'm a commercial diver, you can't get a commercial cert through scuba. There are atleast 3 commercial schools maybe 4 now, I got mine back in 92. There's one on the east coast, one on the west coast, one in Texas I think there was a 4th starting up back then
I did my 5 OW dives and another 5 dives on my own. Today, looking back, I can see that PADI OW never taught me how to do anything properly and I found myself struggling to do anything underwater. I'm a firm believer education changes people so I went for the AOW because I knew I needed instruction. I did the Buddah hover, swam around the remnants of a boat that sunk 10 million years ago (nothing leftof the boat but some metal pieces), and got the AOW + nitrox. Still terrible instruction. Then I did peak performance buoyancy because I thought that was going to help me. NOPE! Only when I did my TDI sidemount course, I received proper instruction regarding buoyancy, trim, and propulsion techniques. Today I am Deco Procedures, Adv Nitrox, Full Cave, Multi-Stage Cave and still don't have the rescue diver course. That's NOT a dive course. I personally think people put it in a pedestal where it doesn't belong. Safe dives to all! Cheers!
Divers Ready can you not add in some subtitles text correcting the error? E.g. “I meant 60 ft/18 M here”. Pretty sure I’ve seen that on other channels.
I don't know why the courses never mention that tech diving exists. I found out about it fro your youtube. I asked an instructor about what is needed training wise before it's ok to do deco and he just said "we are recreational divers" great guy but I think people are told "tech divers die of the bends inside a cave".
@@DiversReady I guess just a general intro and maybe a bit about the reasons someone might want to get into it. Maybe some about what it takes financially and training wise, and a little about the pay off for extra money or work.
Opinions are like, well you know. Someone states what the requirement is for a vague title like Master should be, well it is just one person's opinion. It may have taken him the 10,000 hours to figure something out. Aptitude does not always come with time. Some people will be highly skilled quickly, some never will. This is the case in any trade or craft. Having organizations set standards is just group opinions. A group decided I needed to study Algerbra in High School. In over 50 years I can't think of a single application I ever used it, but I got a cert for it. Lol It is good to be confident without having the opinion that you know it all. You never will. Don't discount what you do know by what you don't know. I am 66, so I am a Senior Diver. Maybe I will have a local shop embroider me a patch. That and $3.25 will get me a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
I have over a 100 dives. All I need is a night dive to get advanced open water. My girlfriend is a dive master. Do I have to do advanced before I go to rescue diver?
I'm actually the person that has AOW and only 9 logged dives. I want to do the rescue course but only after getting many more logged dives. Also in the mean time I'll probably do the deep course. The master diver is a rip off. Use your money on a tec or ccr course if you run out of things to spend your money on
Your recommendation for what an open water diver should be able to do is absolutely bogus. An open water diver is not taught how to navigate in water and he/she could get so far away from the boat, get caught in a current, go into shark or jelly fish infested waters and get in trouble really really fast. An open water diver should be able to maneuver around with a master diver present at all times! Highly incorrect and dangerous video!
I just got my open water and I'd by surprised if I get in 25 dives before enrolling in AOW. Sadly I was not very impressed with my open water and feel like it will be beneficial to get any re-calibration needed before venturing off too much on my own. I won't be going back to the same dive instructor.
Went through 4 instructors (4 different dive shops) finishing OW years ago. Finding a good instructor is key for good skill development-along with personal study and practice.
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What is your recommendation for a complete newbie that just finished the open water course with a reputable dive company... But strongly feels she was rushed through the course and basically given the certification because she paid for it and not necessarily earned it or passed required skills due to the lack of being taught said skills? When this concern was brought to the instructors attention he simply said, if you need more time to work on some of these skills then sign up for the boyuncy control class. I don't think it's right to have to pay additional money for skills that are required to learn and required to be able to execute to be certified. Especially considering this was not a group setting. It was private lessons. What is your thoughts and suggestions.
I appreciate all your videos!!! Keep em coming!!!
#askdiversready
Hi Joni,
I've pinned your question because it is vital and unfortunately all too common. I'm really disappointed that this happened, especially as you went to the extra effort (and cost) of hiring a private instructor. When you learn to be an Instructor, they talk a lot about 'Mastery' of skills. Repeating skills over and over until you can do them perfectly and not moving on to the next skill until mastery of the previous skill has been achieved. Unfortunately, some individuals in my profession forget this and simply have a one-and-done mentality: 'I had the students do all the skills. The course is complete.' To that, I say: 'Do' is different from 'Master.' Often, this is not even the Dive Instructors fault. They have to choose between providing thorough training for the student, or getting the course done as best as possible in the time and cost constraints placed on them by their employer. They're never going to see you again, and they like being employed, so their choice is a simple one.
I'm curious about a few aspects of your experience: How experienced was the Instructor? (How long had they been teaching? How many students had they taught?) Where in the world were you and how much did you pay? (You don't have to name-and-shame, but just a general geographic region and an approximate amount.) Did you pick your Instructor personally, or were you assigned one? Shoot me an email to james@diversready.com
As for suggestions, rather than paying for a bullshit buoyancy course, why not hire a private guide and ask them for an assessment/coaching? You already got the cert card (I presume) so there's no need right now to pay for another course, you just want to get better at the level you're at. A private guide is an excellent option for one-to-one coaching without having to buy a full course.
I hope this helps! Thanks for watching and for sharing your experience!
James
I like the way Edd Sorenson puts it (although he said it in the context of cave training): when you get your certification, that is your learner's permit, that is a license for you to start learning to dive properly.
"The actual pyramid scheme starts when you become a dive master " - absolutely truthful
A lot of good observations here 🙂 I had probably 50 dives by the time I got my AOW and close to 200 when I did Rescue during a dive trip in 2007. That and 3 specialties I thought were plenty. After I came back from my trip a member of our dive club who was an IDC Staff Instructor started talking to me about Divemaster. I always said I wasn't interested and just wanted to dive... a year and a half later I finally agreed to do the course. I ended up doing Divemaster about 2 years after Rescue. I was probably close to 400 dives by then (it's been a while 😄)I enjoyed the course but it would be 8 years before I did anything with it. I just wanted to dive after all 🙂. Only much later did I discover that he needed to train a certain number of Divemasters in order for him to move up 😉
I finally became an instructor a couple years ago. It was interesting to me that I had more than double the number of dives of the other 3 candidates put together! I do enjoy teaching but I think I enjoy it mainly because I don't need the money. It was more to give me something to do and supplement my retirement income. I can take my time, keep my classes small, and focus on turning out good divers🙂
I just finished my 4th dive
I took my rescue class at 60 or 70ish dives and rescue was a game changer for me. I have an awesome set of dive instructors and they really helped me see common issues with divers. I know the training worked this weekend when I was diving in a tourist location and was able to help 3 newer divers correct mistakes before or during dives. I always thought the diver progression was a bit insane because most classes dont require any number of logged dives before advancing. I am glad to see I am not the only one who thinks this way!
At the end of the day, each diver is responsible for themselves and their knowledge progression. Some dive shops do turn and burn people which is probably the cause of those OW and AOW divers who haven't yet fully grasped the basics. As for minimum logged dives, that's what stopped me from taking self-reliant-still intend to get an instructor to show me and my buddy how to use a pony and hand one off even in a buddy pair though.
@@YuriyDel I agree. I naturally gravitate towards knowing more and I do get frustrated with the way dive info can be taught sometimes because knowing how to use a pony or being self reliant before 100 dives can be incredibly useful! I am incredibly fortunate to have a spouse that dives and we have many local training lakes and quarries to travel to in between the more fun locations which can be really helpful in progressing skills. I realize not everyone has this luxury.
@@luv2read247 I'm also fortunate in that regard but I think I have her doubled up by now, ha-ha. Unfortunately, my closest place to dive is 1-2 hours and I haven't finished drysuit yet.
@@YuriyDel my spouse and I have had drysuits for 2 years now and it drastically opens up so many local (and non local) dive options. It was an expensive investment but it was well worth it! I hope you guys have fun when you get yours.
My instructor once said: "There are plenty skiers with over 20 years of skiing experience who think they rock the mountains..but guess how many sucked the last 20 years at doing it and still do. You dont have to boast with skill when youre good at smth, try to help others get better and never fall to the conception you mastered anything...the next obstacle is just around the corner! Never judge the skill level on how many cards or logged dives somebody collected or fall in blind cofidence over something like that." -that stuck with me ever since
Well said even the most accomplished divers can go home in a body bag
@@markgiltner7358 True but a bit of a dark response, mate.
Thank you James! I completed my OWC a month ago.... and I was almost sold on the push to do my Advanced the week after... one of my co-OWC-learners jumped straight to it.... I was a little sad that I didn’t have the money to jump straight there, but I came home and spoke to some friends:...
I wanted to race out and do advanced and race out and buy an underwater camera.... but one of my friends mother, a dive instructor said to me.... “don’t go and buy anything yet.... just go and dive, work on your buoyancy and just enjoy diving... don’t get pushed to moving forward yet.”
It honestly changed my mindset. I have ordered my own gear now after we have hired gear and gone out a few times on our own boat. I’m loving just the getting out there to dive scenario around the moment. I’m only up to 9 dives... but I’m having a ball...
Thank you for this great video that made me feel like I’m on the right track... I’m just getting experience
George the Macaw & Skye Parrot Artist Thanks for watching! Yes, that’s what it’s all about... make your next dive 1% better than your previous dive. Congrats on the OW cert. Dive safe. James
I could not agree more, I have always recommended to beginner divers to at the very least train through rescue diver, it give novices a big insight into what Murphy's law can do, opened my eyes. And then I became a DM shortly there after. Good video
Another great video, James. I've always been amazed that people do on to do 'advanced' straight after their open water, but it is just shaking that cash tree one more time. I joined BSAC after 50 dives, and was amazed at how they train truly independent divers; they also incorporate some elements of rescue right from the start of their lowest level Ocean Diver qualification. One year with BSAC and I'm twice the diver I was before. Result.
I was one of those people. OW>Eanx>AOW. Didn't feel terribly advanced with a dozen dives but I learned some important things that I kept practicing until I did improve. For example, going on our first solo dive (no instructor or guide) with my wife, I managed to navigate us to within 20ft of our exit with my compass-later I also impressed a dive instructor when I drew him a dive map to find something underwater based on headings, time, depth, etc. I like the introduction of rescue much earlier on (I was watching the videos and light studying before finishing OW) but, overall, they're all just classes so one should learn as much as one is able to become better.
One thing I like about SSI is they won't recognize or give you AOW status until you have at least 24 dives AND 4 specialities. They also don't "sell" you an AOW certification so much as you earn it and then they acknowledge your rating. I know the speciality requirement rubs some the wrong way and it is a version of selling you a certification in a roundabout way. But if you take quality courses such as Nitrox, Deep, Dry Suit, Stress/Rescue, etc you should on your way pretty well.
walked in after my AOW and the shop owner said I was on my way to being and instructor
fast forward to finishing my DM course with a total of less than 100 dives they wanted me to start my IDC and I pushed back and said I would not consider this until I had at least 200 logged dives.
no I am not an instructor as I went on a completely different path of underwater photography and Citizen scientist with a local organisation.
So since completing my DM I have solo dived as a photographer at home (Australia) and overseas.
I regularly help out with my dive instructor as a training aid for IDC to ensure skill retention across my dive qualifications.
BTW now over 300 dives in ten years and having fun blowing bubbles.
10,000 dives, now that really makes sense to me, and I agree entirely with you.
I really like SSI approach, you can either get advanced, or do the 5 speciality and get certified automatically
Which is better :
Open water -> poor buoyancy and trim, etc -> 25 log dive (only 18 m depth, no wreck, no night, no wreck dive) -> better buoyancy and trim -> take advance course (25 log max 18m only without any specialty)
or
Open water -> poor buoyancy and trim -> take advance course -> 25 log dive (deep dive, night dive, wreck dive) -> better buoyancy and trim, also specialty experience (in those 25 dives)
I love that you tell it like it is...always. Thank you for that!!!
Thanks Alan! To thine own self be true! Thanks for watching. James
@@DiversReady Also, SDI has changed their requirement from 9 dives to 25 dives...not sure on SSI or PADI or NAUI or any of the others
I've ~ 275 dives , open, advance, x, y, rescue, divemaster , I'd class myself as, just getting the hang of it ..
as for rescue diver...... join your local volunteer FD, situational awareness is a MUST, when you're fighting fire. plus you get certified in at least EMR.
The Master Scuba Diver is an actual course in NAUI. It is a more intensive course than an advance course.
I've heard naui is better than padi in ways
GUE Fundamentals is better
@gauge010 GUE just seems too regermented to me with a my way or the highway approach
Best point of the entire video: Don't do OW and AOW back-to-back. I just passed my AOW, about 1.5 years and 13 dives inbetween (not counting the 5 required AOW dives for PADI). A guy at my dive shop pushed me to go for the next level right away. But a couple of instructors hammered home in my head the need to first get a handle on buoyancy control. I'm glad I waited. In AOW, my dive buddy kept floating to the surface from 20' as he was navigating with his compass (I was fine). On the deep dive, you need to hover at 15' for 3 minutes (no problem). Employing the DSMB requires buoyancy control, so you don't shoot up to the surface with your tube.
James, Awesome video and spot on!
I recently certified advanced open water which was awesome and exposed us to the deep water experience. We trained with a diver pursuing their Master SCUBA.
We all grouped together to help their certification and "Situational Awareness (SA)" was killing our dive sessions. You can't purchase SA....and 100 logged dives with one friend doesn't count as "experienced" dives.
I do support the idea that people should do some diving between OW and AOW. I had 2. So when my instructor strongly insisted that I needed the peak performance buoyancy, I didn't have the confidence to tell them that I didn't need it even though my OW instructor told me that I was very natural with my buoyancy and trim. I thought it would be better to be conservative than cocky and went along with it. After the course, my aow instructor said the same thing as my aow instructor. So I missed seeing a wreck in the process. Given the same circumstances my decision was correct I think, but if I had more dives I would have known what I can or cannot do.
Also, as far as I know, ssi master diver card is free. Once the requirements of the specialities and dives are met of course.
Great video as always. Really useful for newbs like me
I recommend doing Intro to Tech if you want to progress further with your skills after a minimum of 100 dives and the rescue under your belt. For me it was eyeopening 😂 I really thought to be a decent diver who allready has perfectet his buoyancy until I was asked to do a Full cirkle of skills in perfect buoyancy without visual depth refference. Now i know what i have to train on.😅 In my course i had two Paddy Instruktors as students, their struggle was not less than mine.
The wife and I are getting open water certified this month. I fully agree rescue should be next. When I’ve taken surf and SUP lessons that’s one of the first things they teach, and it so valuable. I agree with you completely on needing a many dives between each certification level. Great video. Thanks.
Brilliant video!
I remember back in 05 I did my OW course as a school extracurricular activity (science teacher was also a Dive Master). So we did the OW training over one and a half semester at school so it was thorough and no “over the weekend” deal. Then we (a bunch of 16 yare olds) were going to do: Boat, Deep, Navigation, Night and Wreck to qualify as AOW in less than one week in Malta… Ok, we have a handful of dives under our belts (the majority are pool dives at this point). Then cram in five new subjects and become comfortable with it in less than one week, some of us were still struggling with trim and buoyancy. I remember telling my teacher I would settle for Adventure Diver and focus on honing the skills we already learnt.
Unfortunately shortly after the trip the local dive store/school closed down, then life and higher education happened. So haven’t used my skills in…15yares (why do I feel old?!). So I am planning to do the basic course over now with CMAS (back in 05 it was that organisation that begins with a P and ends with ADI).
Anyway keep up the awesome content!
Great video. I took the speed method as the local diving options were limited. Ow and aow back to back. 50 dives and I had my padi msd. I then took a year off from training and racked up 100+ "fun" dives. I then went for DM and tec40/sidemount. Rescue is the most beneficial course by far and everyone should take it as well as sdi solo or intro to tech in my opinion. The skills taught and problem solving will make you a better diver. I'm now +300 dives and my next step is trimix but i want to log more deep / deco dives before I start down that path.
Hi Joshua! Thanks for watching! There's no better place in the world to learn Trimix than here in sunny South Florida... just sayin'...! 😃
www.miamitechnicaldiving.com
James
I think you should also mention that you focused pretty heavily on PADI. Other agencies such as SSI, SDI, CMAS, BSAC, etc. do not allow further training immediately after the completion of the OWD.
E.g. SSI requires you to complete 4 full specialities and 25 completed dive in total for an AOWD cert (you get it for free though, which is nice)
The advanced term is based 100% on marketing purpose for sure. It's a way to sale five speciality courses in exchange of a glothing term when the customer will be back at the office.
The dive shop I first learnt scuba diving, the instructor there said (not sure he use the word “recommend” or make it his shop’s rule) that in order to progress to A.O.W course, he (I am going to go with the word recommend here) recomended getting at least 20 dives to gain some experience before progression.
Right now I moved and another dive shop I went to said there was no restriction or pre-requisite to progress from Open Water to Advance Open Water. Before that moment, I have always thought it was the requirement. Hint: I said above I cannot remember for sure what my first dive instructor said.
My current status is an Open Water diver. I have not progress myself because while I do love diving, I live far away from any ocean or shore so I cannot just go out and do shore dive easily. In fact, I have no idea that shore dive exist until I watched your shore dive video - live aboard dives are costly. Plus, I don’t have time to go diving as often as I’d like so I am focusing on gaining experience with my current skill right now. What I want to do in my future progression, I want to progress to a rescue or even enter tech dive, but with my current situation, those are going to have to wait.
I know this is very late, but I'm an open water diver with 10 dives, and I definitly agree with your advice about not doing them back to back, and I find that it is pretty weird you can be a rescue diver with less than 20 dives. I'd like to wait until I have more dives personally before I get my advanced, but renting diving gear is pretty expensive in Sydney Australia, and while I have snorkling gear, buying diving gear outright feels like it costs an arm and a leg, and I wouldnt like to skimp on gear that keeps me alive lol.
OW with Nitrox. Paid for 4 other courses but never logged the dives. Loss of family at the dive shop and work got really busy. Deep, limited vis/night, nav, and photo. Yup. I paid for that photo course.
Ouch. Sorry to hear that, Scottyboy2086. Dive safe. James
C'est le vie. I have learned my lesson but at least when I take those classes again it should be a breeze! 😎 blending from this and the Tec diving video, XR SSI one day. Sadly with that, she was my mentor as well as her husband who passed away, who was the trimix home blender for the shop! It will take time to find that "instructor" again.
Can’t wait to get my feet wet. I am currently studying for my open water certification. After open water it will be getting my enriched air certification and dive dive dive!
Good for u. Have u passed yet??
Michael Smart Both my wife and I passed our open water. We completed 6 open water dives while on vacation in Puerto Morelos Mexico. Saw some truly amazing things. It was wonderful. Can’t wait to get back in that clear blue water!
plumberjoe80 where abouts are you from.
Pixel art + synthwave
Hello thank you for your video, a very good one. I am a french scuba instructor and I really appreciate your channel :-) :-)
I didn't get my advance open water until I had 23 dives under my belt. Right now, I have 33 dives. I plan to get my rescue diver certification as my next level as training but I would rather be logging dives and that's how you get experience as a diver.
As someone who just finished rescue (I feel I waited too long), I highly recommend the course. Being a more experienced diver by logging more dives is great but the class is solely about how to handle an emergency with a buddy or someone in the group. To me, being an experienced diver is someone who can help/educate/save the experienced and inexperienced alike.
I'd just say that SSI automatically promotes you to MSD once you have completed the Rescue plus the Specialties and have enough logged dives. Don't need to pay them again - more SSIs thank you card than their newest billing excuse.
The dive center I’m looking to go through has a master scuba diver “course” that I believe includes 5 specialty certs for $500. So I think that’s actually a pretty good deal. But I’m a loooong way from that. Thanks for the education!
even tho i'm a freediver, but i found your channel very informative
you're red pilling the heck out of divers
i know from before about some of the problems of the diving world
this is why i'm still struggling to find a competent freediving instructor
bc lot of those so called master divers arnt really experienced enough
some of them dont even know about the safety protocols, how can i trust them with my life?
about depth, its true, beginners have this tendency to want to conquer depths, and forget about enjoying the experience of diving
most of the beautiful diving sites are shallow like reefs and are close to shores
there is no point to be able to dive 30feet when you didnt experience tides, swells and current when trying to surface
those things cant be taught in a diving course, they are experienced thro many dives in different conditions
Thanks for this great video. Having a minimum number of dives to quality for Advance and Rescue sounds similar to Global Underwater Explorer (GUE) requirements like the level 2 which requires 25 dives.
I think GUE do a lot of things well. I haven't drank their coolaid and I don't care for elitism, but I do like that they don't rush you from one course to the next. Thanks for watching, Tarcisus. James
Sad to say, sometimes there's more open water divers that have more experience then some new
"dive master or instructors" lol diving is not about going zero to hero..... it's all about experience! Also gaining confidence to move to the next level... but I agree about rescue diver course should be the 2 course... I'm open water diver, and I'm not taking advanced anytime soon, but I still gain knowledge about diving by reading, you tube, especially this channel! I believe all you really need is a basic open water diver certification, unless you want to learn Advanced specialty courses, like tech diving, cave dive, or wreck penetration, that could be dangerous if not properly trained... or be a professional, if you want a career from scuba diving... but great video!!
I'm a new subscriber and from one pro to another this is, so far, my favorite of all your videos. Excellent commentary, excellent food for thought, and when the students ask about next steps I have some additional talking points. If you ever find yourself in Monterey Bay, let's go diving! Thanks again for this video.
Hi , I wonder if you know or have some information where I can do som cave diving ? I have just finiched Advanced open water course and one of this 3 dives was cave diving and i loved it !
Good honest info. Thx again James
Thank you James! Great video as always. Very relevant for me at this point as a beginner diver. Personally I did not want to do my aow right after the ow class. It didn't seem right, because I was still very unsure about the whole process and everything I learned in the open water class.
I've just recently signed up for the aow with a better feeling and more confidence in the water it seems to be the right time now. :-)
Great video - the 10,000 hours thing has been widely debunked now, but the point is still valid!
In Malta (where I live) you cannot dive without an instructor (instructor, not DM) unless you’re advanced open water, so people here tend to do the courses back to back as the OW is essentially useless. Do you know any other countries with similar laws?
I believe that the SDI Master Diver is no charge once you meet the requirements. And you can use tech courses to meet it.
Master Diver certification is free in SSI
good advice ,well i know am on the right path
Awesome videos! Earned my sub
SPOT ON!!!
10:30😂 put another dollar in. Love it.
Another excellent video with information I couldn't agree with more! 😊
I missed the part where they explain why its bad for beginner divers to recieve more training?
My AOW instructor insisted on 20 logged dives before the course.
Ha ha! Do all students get to do a “James impersonation”?
I’ve had great instructors and learned more in the water than in the classroom or in the manuals. When in doubt, dive more!
I didn't hear about number of dives between OW & AOW, but I heard 40 is required for Rescue, & 10 more (=50) for Master
Is a award you buy for yourself to celebrate the amount you spend 😆 i almost had a aneurysm hearing this, still in tears laughing, thanks for that.
Hi, I am really enjoying your videos. You mentioned the 4 fundamentals, what are they in your view?
Hi Craig, I'm going to include this question in our monthly Q&A for June 2021.
I have seen OW divers go to Instructors in 6 weeks!
I can believe it.
I would hope that the dive store who brings on a person with that little experience, i hope they have some over site in place.
Reminds me of a story.... I been diving since I was a kid with my dad, I never got certified still I was 27 years old... on my check out dive. One of the students ran out of air and wasn't listening to the instructors, not a very good diver in my opinion... 2 months later he went to a school to be an instructor... I was shocked!
Let me explain it. I’m a retired PADIMaster instructor. pADI stands for put another dollar in. Your instructor and shop have one goal. Sell Sell Sell. Another course. Another piece of equipment another trip. Etc etc etc. don’t let them kid you.
I think you meant 60ft at minute 3:20 XD
I’m at the point of knowing I need my rescue diver course. I have over 50 logged dives, but here’s my problem. I am an ER nurse and know that Murphy (Murphy’s law) lives in my back pocket. Seeing every single day all the ways that life can and will go wrong, I’m scared of dealing with it underwater. I have situational awareness just because I can’t turn it off, but any tips to get mentally ok with getting my rescue diver?
I just took the rescue course. Go for it, it will help you to deal with your fear.
Being an ER nurse you will shine on the Rescue course. Just do it. I bet you will be 100 times better than the instructor on your specific skills. The underwater/diving parts of the course are not difficult. As long as your own diving is ok, you'll be fine. Focus is on other people and helping them. You should already be able to handle yourself when it comes to buoyancy and trim etc. The "difficult" stuff is keeping track of the things you need to do in the right order when it comes to emergency procedures, and you will already know all that.
Just based on that statement, you're going to set the curve for that rescue course. You should be mentally fine with the course, it'll just add a little bit of in-water rescue to your repertoire. As others have said, you'll do great.
James, how many dives, do you think, I should have under my belt, to consider Intro to Tec / Tec 40?
In tec, what do you plan to accomplish. Are you merely looking to dive longer than the NDL or are you looking to dive deeper than the 120 foot mark. In my opinion you should be a rescue diver at the very least the deeper you go there are different emotional feelings that you may encounter.
Narcosis will hit me like a freight train at 105 foot or so, consistently. In the warmer waters of the Caribbean it's more of a giddy or euphoria feeling. In the cold water of the great lakes 45 degree bottom temperature it's more of fear that sets in and you have to deal with that.
Tec is a wide open category and only the instructor that is teaching you could access your readiness, hope this helps.
If your merely looking to to do EAN 40 then you could probably Incorporate that into an advanced course as a specialty card.
Beautiful pixel art :)
My son and I achieved our Advanced Open Water Diver after our 41 logged dives. Our computer dive logs indicate more dives then our paper (online) logbooks as we have at times surfaced for a consultation, which splits the dive on the computer. I agree that getting an Advanced Open Water Diver back to back to the Open Water Diver does nothing for providing real experience. SSI requires 24 logged dives, so each agency must have different requirements, which is also misleading.
Hey James, great content! I can‘t see the link which your talking about the divemaster. Is this video not out yet?
Would you recommend doing something like GUE Fundamentals before or after Rescue Diver?
How many logged dives do I need to become a commercial diver?
I'm a commercial diver, you can't get a commercial cert through scuba.
There are atleast 3 commercial schools maybe 4 now, I got mine back in 92. There's one on the east coast, one on the west coast, one in Texas I think there was a 4th starting up back then
I did my 5 OW dives and another 5 dives on my own. Today, looking back, I can see that PADI OW never taught me how to do anything properly and I found myself struggling to do anything underwater.
I'm a firm believer education changes people so I went for the AOW because I knew I needed instruction. I did the Buddah hover, swam around the remnants of a boat that sunk 10 million years ago (nothing leftof the boat but some metal pieces), and got the AOW + nitrox. Still terrible instruction.
Then I did peak performance buoyancy because I thought that was going to help me. NOPE!
Only when I did my TDI sidemount course, I received proper instruction regarding buoyancy, trim, and propulsion techniques.
Today I am Deco Procedures, Adv Nitrox, Full Cave, Multi-Stage Cave and still don't have the rescue diver course. That's NOT a dive course. I personally think people put it in a pedestal where it doesn't belong.
Safe dives to all!
Cheers!
Could you do this type of video for tec courses?
3:20 I think you mean 60 ft/18 M
Correct. I mis-spoke. Thanks for watching. James
Divers Ready can you not add in some subtitles text correcting the error? E.g. “I meant 60 ft/18 M here”. Pretty sure I’ve seen that on other channels.
Hey james great video, what training agency do you represent maybe you can do a time line video of those 20 years in mastering diving 🌊♥️
ruclips.net/video/gKtMrb5ic3c/видео.html
I don't know why the courses never mention that tech diving exists. I found out about it fro your youtube. I asked an instructor about what is needed training wise before it's ok to do deco and he just said "we are recreational divers" great guy but I think people are told "tech divers die of the bends inside a cave".
Yo love your content. Could you interview a closed circuit diver in the future? Cheers
I dive CCR as well. What would you like to know? Thanks for watching! James
@@DiversReady I guess just a general intro and maybe a bit about the reasons someone might want to get into it. Maybe some about what it takes financially and training wise, and a little about the pay off for extra money or work.
I live in Miami and I would like to swim with sharks in Playa del Carmen 🥺
Where should I start?
What are your thoughts on GUE?
Der Takin Aor Jabs!
Hello Patrick you look very cool
I was a navy diver for 10 years I have my advanced I kind of want to do this just for fun… but, is there really any use for these certs 🤷♂️
Opinions are like, well you know. Someone states what the requirement is for a vague title like Master should be, well it is just one person's opinion. It may have taken him the 10,000 hours to figure something out. Aptitude does not always come with time. Some people will be highly skilled quickly, some never will. This is the case in any trade or craft. Having organizations set standards is just group opinions. A group decided I needed to study Algerbra in High School. In over 50 years I can't think of a single application I ever used it, but I got a cert for it. Lol
It is good to be confident without having the opinion that you know it all. You never will. Don't discount what you do know by what you don't know. I am 66, so I am a Senior Diver. Maybe I will have a local shop embroider me a patch. That and $3.25 will get me a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
Diving is like Scientology - there's always a next course to pay for and take.....
I have over a 100 dives. All I need is a night dive to get advanced open water. My girlfriend is a dive master. Do I have to do advanced before I go to rescue diver?
30ft =/= 18m (think you meant 60ft).
Max depth of open water to 30 feet? Did you mean 60 feet?
Yes! I mis-spoke.
onya patrick
Thanks for watching, John. Not sure that name tags work for RUclips, but feel free to share the link with Onya. Dive safe. James
@@DiversReady sorry mate I meant onya as in good on ya Patrick. It's an Australian 'ism
I'm actually the person that has AOW and only 9 logged dives. I want to do the rescue course but only after getting many more logged dives. Also in the mean time I'll probably do the deep course. The master diver is a rip off. Use your money on a tec or ccr course if you run out of things to spend your money on
3:22 18 Meters is 60 Feet, not 30 Feet
What is going on?????
Dive safe!
30 feet is not 18 meters. You make a-lot of mistakes when you speak. You also lost a lot of credit when you said pyramid scheme!
Your recommendation for what an open water diver should be able to do is absolutely bogus. An open water diver is not taught how to navigate in water and he/she could get so far away from the boat, get caught in a current, go into shark or jelly fish infested waters and get in trouble really really fast. An open water diver should be able to maneuver around with a master diver present at all times! Highly incorrect and dangerous video!
I just got my open water and I'd by surprised if I get in 25 dives before enrolling in AOW. Sadly I was not very impressed with my open water and feel like it will be beneficial to get any re-calibration needed before venturing off too much on my own. I won't be going back to the same dive instructor.
I'm sad to hear that, Greg. Come to us and we will set you on the right path! Dive safe. James
Went through 4 instructors (4 different dive shops) finishing OW years ago. Finding a good instructor is key for good skill development-along with personal study and practice.
Thank you so so so much ❤ i will do my 25 dive then will go for Advance 🤿