Rescue Diver To Divemaster
Well Its been about a week or so since I have signed up for the Divemaster course with Shorncliffe dive centre in the snow swept South East of England. First off this is the first step on the professional scuba courses and professionalism is of paramount, so after paying my course fees! it was a new drysuit neck seal, new set of regs, crew pack so not an inconsiderable sum, but necessary to start on my journey. Week one: Friday the fifth, all day from 10.30am in the classroom with Chris my instructor and fellow Divemaster trainee Paul we went through every knowledge review that we had home studied the previous week into great detail, we were then thrown in at the deep end and asked to prepare a dive site map and present a dive briefing to four other instructors, a quick visit to the toilet and ten to [...]
Categories: PADI, Scuba diving courses Tags: Rescue Diving Course
Adiabatic Compression and Scuba Diving…
Getting my Instructor excited by opening the gas valve all the way, fast OR Adiabatic Compression, as it applies to scuba divers. Why does my instructor get excited? What exactly is adiabatic compression and why do I need to know about it? Your instructor gets excited because of the possibility of fire or explosion! Adiabatic compression is defined as a process where high-pressure gas flows at or near sonic velocity toward the low-pressure end of a piping system with a major restriction, such as a dead-end, a down sizing, or an abrupt turn. The likelihood of a reaction (ignition) increases with increases in the rate of gas compression and gas temperature.¹ So let us break that down into terms that are understandable and apply to scuba diving and let you the diver understand why it is important. We all use compressed gas, usually air, to scuba dive with. Some divers [...]
Categories: Scuba diving courses Tags: Adiabatic Compression, Education, Explosion, Fire, Risk
NAUI Advanced Scuba Rescue
This article summarizes the necessity of good, in-depth scuba rescue training. All agencies offer this level training although the NAUI course focuses on scenarios in addition to skills, real world experience.
Categories: featured, NAUI Tags: Dive Training, NAUI, Naui Expert, Scuba Career
Life after the PADI IDC – continue your education
Ok guys. Congratulations on becoming PADI Instructors. Give yourself a standing ovation. You have done exceptionally well to get to this level. Now you can give people a life changing experience as you introduce them and guide them through the world of scuba diving. Get out there and start teaching as much as you can. But what other options are also available to you now? Is this the end of the road? Does you experience stop after the IE? No way! Don’t let this be the end of your diving education. There are still more things that you can learn and also more things that you can offer people as a diving educator. For instance have you ever thought about being able to teach the things that interest you? Do you have a particular passion for wreck diving or perhaps underwater photography? Would you like to be able to teach [...]
Categories: Scuba Careers Tags: PADI, PADI IDC, PADI Instructors, Scuba Career
Hitler Dives with SSI… and he is not an AOW
Is not easy to be The Fuhre, specially when you want to go diving and you are just an open water diver. So the big question is: Should dive operators alowed Hitler to dive without his Advanced Open water certification? Enjoy!
Categories: Scuba diving courses Tags: Dive Hitler, scuba Hitler, The Fuhrer
PADI IDC: Choosing the Best PADI Course Director
As technology and dive business has advanced, so has diving instruction. Just as there are many choices of Regulators, BCD’s, computers, and dive trip options, there are just as many choices of instructors. There are also a lot of Course Directors out there these days. As with Instructors in any field, there are some good and some that are not so good. However, just like there are certain things you want to know before choosing your doctor, there are certain items you should inquire of your Course Director. Accreditation and Experience – Does your Course Director have the education and experience to train you proper. Just like in the Dive master course, a big part of the IDC is for the CD to share his/ her experience. If somebody does not have that, then it comes down to “teach you to pass the IE”. Also remember that if the CD [...]
Categories: PADI, Scuba Careers Tags: PADI Career, PADI Course Director, PADI IDC
So You Want to Live in Paradise
The purpose of this article is to give you a perspective of what it’s really like living the dream, being a dive instructor and living in Paradise. Like you, I to had what some would call a “real job” some 18 years ago! I had real clothes that I always spent money on to make sure that they were the most fashionable of the time. I drove nice cars that were mostly financed by the banks. My jobs over the years involved working in the publishing business, farm work, every aspect of the restaurant business and even a short time at a large retail outlet. Back then internet wasn’t around but there was no shortage of newspapers and magazine articles that gave you a glimpse of various exotic locations. I too worked hard to save my money in order to visit these wonderful places when vacation time rolled around, and [...]
Categories: Scuba Careers Tags: Diving Careers, PADI IDC, Scuba Career
Minimum Age for Scuba Diver Certification with NAUI
Minimum Age for Scuba Diver Certification with NAUI I am often asked (again just today) “How old does my child need to be to dive?”. NAUI has a minimum age requirement for open water scuba diver, it is 15 years. Dean with his son Drew NAUI does have a Junior certification for ages 12 – 14 years. Some courses (open water) allow a conditional Junior Certification. This Junior certification can be issued to persons age 12 – 14 years. Junior Certification carries several restrictions. * The parent or guardian and Junior diver agree that the Junior diver will dive with a certified adult (18 years of age) diver of the parent’s or guardian selection. * The parent or guardian and Junior diver agree that the Junior diver will limit diving depth to 60 feet or less. * By signing the Junior certification card, the parent or guardian agrees to be [...]
Categories: NAUI, Scuba diving courses Tags: minimum age requirement, NAUI, scubad diving
The History Behind PADI
I will not attempt to compare PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) to other agencies as each has its own standards equal to or above the minimum established. I also believe that the individual instructor has a big influence on the training received. I have seen many great instructors from all agencies and several bad instructors in all agencies. PADI has a large Quality Control Department and continues to insure proper, safe training to every student. Is PADI the best? It is hard to argue with 70 percent of the trained divers yearly. PADI History: Let take a look In 1966 in Illinois, John Cronin, a scuba equipment salesman for U.S. Divers, and Ralph Ericson, an educator and swimming instructor, were concerned about the scuba diving industry. They felt that the current scuba certification agencies were unprofessional, didn’t use state of the art instruction and made it unnecessarily difficult for people [...]
Categories: PADI, Scuba diving courses Tags: Dive PADI, PADI, PADI Courses, PADI history, Scuba Diving with PADI
The NAUI Requirement for Underwater Swim (and How To Do It)
NAUI requires all open water scuba divers to perform a 50 feet (16.67 yards) underwater swim on one breath with no push off from the wall.¹ NAUI also requires skin diver instructor candidates toperform a 25 yard swim underwater on one breath with no dive or push off from the wall.² As a NAUI instructor you have the leeway to enhance courses you teach. Where I teach at Scuba Steve’s Aquatic Adventures ( http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=121881663788) we also require the Divemaster candidates (who are striving for the highest NAUI leadership-level certification below Instructor) to perform a 25 yard swim underwater on one breath with no dive or push off from the wall. So why is it important to be able to swim underwater while holding your breath? I think we all can think of several reasons. Some of them would include comfort underwater without scuba, more comfort when skin diving and while [...]
Categories: NAUI Tags: Breath hold, NAUI, Underwater swimming
