Відео

Thank you, that answers my questions

I've never had any issues getting the actual course standards document from the agencies. I used those to populate a spreadsheet comparing the different courses, as well as developing a step by step training matrix for the training track I'm interested in.

I bought the MK3I for my dives in the Keys and love it! Its ability to manage and plan run and bike rides as well as diving is impressive. Awesome watch. Needed to download Garmin Connect as well to connect to my phone. It is expensive, but I personally believe that it is well worth the money.

I did my CCR air diluent and decompression course for the AP, I sat down with the instructor and went through what the course standards were, he then advised me what he was going to do in addition… my instructor prided himself on the quality of his courses (and rightly so) rather than just change a battery and an o ring we stripped the unit right down and rebuilt it, including the solenoid (he is an AP TECH) then the skills were drilled and drilled and drilled, flash cards issued at the most inconvenient time.. by the end of the course I was knackered but I was happy I had my monies worth and I was confident in the use of the rebreather.. It is now the bar for All future course, if I have not been hammered with drills and questioned about everything on every dive and any theory…I won’t be happy. Instructors must have some pride in what they do and prove their worth, otherwise they are not worth the time.

I dive with 2 of the most experienced divers in the UK and both mount a knife to their leg. And a easy accessible one on their bcd. So I know its all preferences but slating someone mounting one to their leg and making out they're in experienced. You want one accessible for you buddy as well so a reasonably sized knife on the leg is good if your top half gets tangled your buddy can grab it

About the agencies that are more difficult, more challenging, etc., well... GUE?

Standards are important, but not everything. Far too many instructors simply regurgitate a mindless tick list of standards without actually creating competent divers. Standards only work if combined with an objective definition of student performance (i.e. 'mastery'). Students bumbling through a given skill once or twice does not ensure learning and retention. Very, very few instructors invest the time to actually drill skills to a persistently reliable level. Similarly, standards are ineffective if not written with enough specificity to prevent downwards interpretation. I have seen instructors interpret vaguely written standards to the point of utter meaninglessness. Lastly, in continued education, it seems normalized for instructors to entirely disregard prerequisites competencies (not certifications) for courses. The most common general standards violation is the neglect of pre-course skills assessments. Students progress from course to course with fundamental skill deficits remaining unaddressed.

Glad you think like me. They are expensive rubbish.Take them apart, you will realise why.Qd fitting is asking for trouble and as you point out the hose length is far too short.

The part where you talk about the agencies is exactly the reason I've choose to go down the tec diver route rather than divemaster and instructer I have no interest of becoming part of there pyramid scheme just want to become a better diver 👌

Always the best videos. Thank you for the valuable info and really glad that you are OK.

Great share. Agree 100% that being insured (I use DANAP) is essential.

If any crew wants to watch I'll let them but that's about it... other than me on the boat asking them to unhook the bungee from the valves (yes that happens to divers with a bit experience as well 🤫) If they want to check if the valve is open I'll ask them them to tell me when they do this so I can check it afterwards. This way they are happy they can comply with their procedures and I'm happy because I was the last one touching the valve.

Goodness your description of the courses with all their grammar issues, spelling and math errors was fantastic. I actually have always checked the course standards for all my courses before I signed up for the course… well, since I stopped training with PADI. I use that to also check myself if I feel like I am up to snuff to even take the course. My favorite tec instructor also uses the standards, but as a minimum. He and I are both slightly deranged and enjoy finding what my true breaking point is during skills, and he always plans extra dives to work on skills, or have fun dives after course completion.

Got these for my kids and tried on myself. Decided not to use bc felt like I was breathing in the air I was breathing out. No way to tell if I was getting fresh air and you wouldn't know until you start getting dizzy and pass out. This is probably why people have died.

This model is discontinued. Any recommendations on another product equally effective?

I have never understood the whole point of the 200M swim test. Wouldn't you be able to tell if a student could swim after 20M?? I mean isn't that the point of the BCD and the oral inflation training? I guess in a perfect storm you could technically run out of air and puncture your BCD and have to ditch everything and swim for it but what's the odds of that? As always, love the videos James!!

I mean... as a n00b its easier to deal with the integrated setup than it is to have two hoses flopping around. Yeah you get used to it the more you dive, but starting out it's easier to differentiate. If I'm donating air to a diver without, I'm handing out the primary and switching to my integrated. I don't usually use the "pull to dump" feature... I go for the one on the opposite shoulder to bleed off bcd air. When putting it on (I don't like people touching me unless they're doing a quick check on the tank), it's one less hose I have to worry about getting snagged on while dawning the gear. You made some good points and gave me more to think about. I have a standard secondary like you recommend simply because the BCD I bought didn't have the integrated built in (like the nighthawk I trained on).

I did my AOW with Padi in the Bahamas and the instructor always told me ahead of time what was expected for each specialty dive by reading the cards PADI prepared for each specialty. Everything was well done. When I did my PADI OW in Cancun before that, the instructor was also very clear about the expectations and standards and very safety oriented. We've remained good friends and have spoken a few times over the years of his dissatisfaction with some employers who couldn't care less for security or course requirements. I've got a feeling like the issue is often with the bosses and not with the instructors themselves.

Been there, done it. Amazing dive. Got the specialty card. Would do it again!

Only thing I feel my wife and I didnt get enough training with was weighing and boyuancy. We were definitely over weighted in the pool sessions and check dives at the spring and boyuancy was a major issue. Fast forward two months and we went to the Philippines and did our first ocean dives and both ended up using 2-4lbs less weight each in saltwater and boyuancy was not a problem at all after the first dive. I know it probably makes things easier on an instructor having students overweighted but it killed my confidence knowing we were going to the Coral triangle and worried I was going to crash into the reef. Luckily we had an amazing guide that took the time to make sure we were weighted properly and gave us some pointers on finning and trim the dives were incredible.

For us is obligatory surface boa and deployeble

Mares? What is strong and poor side? Same for scubatec?

I just can not fully agree. Hear me out: my very first snorkeling started with cheap full face mask from huge european chain store. Good visibility, pretty well shaped so fitting was nice. Breathing in this mask is something you need to get used to. For the next year, I bought higher version of the same mask, with improved breathing system and wider visor. I need to admit, that was a huge upgrade. I agree, breathing is heavier and you really get exhausted faster than with traditional snorkel set. But if you pay attention and observe your body, you will not reach the dangerous zone. To sum this up, I have spent lots of time in masks like this in Adriatic Sea - Have never felt like I was in serious danger. I followed the instructions, watched a few videos of people who use them much more often than me and i just kept using and enjoying it. You are 100% right about choosing top brand masks. That was my beginner mistake.

How do our students "know" what they are supposed to be learning during their course? It's easy. We literally provide them the agency standards directly from the S&P so they can see it, and THEN we show them all the additional requirements our company adds to those baseline standards. They literally get to see up-front. At the end, we go over everything on a checklist and they get to verify they were indeed held to OUR standard. "Exceeding "the standard" is OUR "standard" here at PDC.

Why do you carry on the left side? Would not be better on the right, away from low pressure inflator hose? [2:53]

Thanks for this review. Please do one for the new Suunto Ocean and maybe a comparison?

I agree with everything except the last point. Why WHY can we not set the prices such that everyone gets compensated properly? In the end you're paying the same amount anyway, except there's the added pressure and guilt. Why can't we just have a pleasant transaction, I give you whatever you ask up front and I don't need to worry about keeping bills dry in the middle of the ocean? There is another type of diver: the bragging card collector, he will make sure to tell you about his altitude dry suit ice diver deep speciality card while you're out on a 40ft reef in the Caribbean.

Are there a lot of incidences of problems using these in out-of-air situations?

This was my mindset as a brand new OW student: dive shop X charges $300 for the entire OW course, dive shop Y charges $400. I knew nothing about scuba and my only information was the price and the card that I would get at the end; so the "product" in my mind was that card, and if it's the same in either case, then I should go with the cheaper shop. Obviously it was ignorance (and some stupidity) on my part. I still would've preferred if the $400 dive shop explained to me about the safety aspect, the skills involved, importance of a good instructor etc., I probably would've gone with them instead.

bought a decathlon Subea 900 it is suppose to be able to go underwater to 3 metres, I put my head under and I almost exploded but just surface snorkelling it was fine ( I wouldnt want to swim ( you need to do that for snorkelling ) for more than 15 minutes anyhow and never swim deeper than I can stand up for more than 3 minutes - but I might now go get a proper named one not sure I want hypoxia hmmm.

Oh buddy... If only all the dive centers were like you... My reality is that I see some dive centers doing an Open Water in... 2 days only. I let you imagine what kind of divers they produce...

James, will you be doing a video discussing Woody’s medivac experience with DAN?

This is absolutely ridiculous. I have been diving with scubapro air 2 since like 1999. I have never had a single issue of any kind. I recently switched to the Atomic version its much better in my opinion. If your buddy needs help you give them your primary and u use the AI. I dive once a week weather permitting here in SFL.

I think you should do a follow up.on this video I'm off to Turkey and was planning on a recreational dive the resort I'm going to has 3 dive centers according to Google but it prob has many more in the UK I pay around £30 a dive at local dive center more if it more than 15 miles offshore now I have contacted the 3 dive centers and the cost vary wildly even though they are all offering the same thing £160 £120 and £50 for 2 dives thinking they prob price high knowing you'll likely knock them down I tried negotiating a better price got them down to £120 £100 and £50 considering I pay £30 for a dive in UK I would expect turkey to be around £60 or slightly cheaper for two dives as the wages are less in Turkey

Opinion on CMAS Instruction?

I want one for finding new dive spots up to 35-40m . Is that tether robust enough or could you attach some monofilament fishing line to it in case you need to pull up from depth. A strong fishing line wouldn’t interfere with the units performance you would think

Will the Avelo system be Twin and Nitrox available or remain a single tank system?

As usual, great content and easily understood explaination, James🤿👍😃🇦🇺

I was a firefighter long before I was a diver, which was a tremendous help when it came to learning to breathe properly underwater. When I was a firefighter, we were put through several different physical and psychological stress courses while breathing from an SCBA tank and our lives may have depended on how long we could make that tank last. Those skills translated to SCUBA with each breath being deliberate; either to oxygenate the brain or to control bouyancy.

Another thing to keep in mind, especially if you don’t dive much in a certain environment, changes in your weight and/or body composition will affect how much lead you need. Learned that firsthand when I lost weight and mistakingly took the same amount of lead on a dive. Talk about freefall to the bottom🫣

i have been diving and snorkeling there 40 years every year it changes

Thanks for covering this story. Can you post an update video for this?

Great joke man… Totally going to use that against my 9 year old. I’m consuming everything I can about scuba and skills I can work on out of the water. Waiting to be able to pick up a job before I continue my batshit crazy be in the water once a week.

As a certified diver what really annoys me is the price difference between different dive centers just look up the price of a dives near you

Advanced open water certification is a waste of time and money. Peak buoyancy should be a class in open water and the deep dives should be moved to open water training. So yes, we're being cheated paying for multiple "fluff" dives just so PADI can pitch other pointless certs. It's all marketing.

in which Month did you dive there? I will dive Gozo in a Week and think about the choice of Suit . Either 5mm Wet or Avatar drysuit. How cold has it been in depth ? Kind regards from Germany

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.

I wish I could say zero-to-hero was only happening in country X or resort Y. But this is an industry-wide issue. My AoW instructor was visibly hesitant to train me as a newly certified OW student with zero fun dives, but the dive shop (his employer) happily took my money, so he had no choice. Looking back I realize he was in an impossible situation.

I have been following Divers Ready since 2020 and have found it to be a great resource in my diving. I have since become an SDI open water dive instructor and have applied many things I have learned from James. My very favorite and number one on the top of my list is never place the students in their knees, always neutrally buoyant. As far as the swimming skills also as US Masters swim coach I hold high standards on the swim test for beginners and professionals, and have turned away students for their inability to properly complete this of the most important skills. Thank you James for holding everyone to a higher standard.

Who interprets if a student meets minimum requirements? What does minimum requirements real mean ? It , to the best of my knowledge, mean mastery , recall or practice. What then is the value of " minimum requirements " ?