LET’S TALK SCUBA
By: Chris Russello
NASE West Coast Regional
Instructor Training Director
NAUI Instructor Trainer February 2021
I recently finished an Open Water Certification class. As most of your know, the Scuba Training Agencies require a minimum of 4 Ocean Dives. I require at least 5 maybe 6 Ocean dives for certification, however there are times when a student cannot complete the 5th or 6th dive but they have passed the minimum standards required to be certified.
In all my years of teaching, myself and all my instructors teach our students proper neutral buoyancy before we certify them. I believe it is very, very important for a student to learn proper buoyancy during scuba training, and should be introduced and practiced in confined water then performed at its “peak” during open water training.
Buoyancy should not be a difficult skill to teach in an open water class. If a student has proper weighting and learns proper breathing then they should perform proper buoyancy.
In my opinion, a certified “open water” diver should not have to take an “Advanced Course” to learn “peak performance buoyancy” that is required by a certain agency. If an Instructor has to teach a “peak performance buoyancy” in a Advanced Class then, in my opinion, the original Instructor who taught the open water class has FAILED to teach the student proper buoyancy.
It is so important to learn proper buoyancy. As a diver, you are more comfortable in the water, use less air, which allows you to stay down longer and enjoy your diving experience even more.
All of us at ALOHA DIVE take pride in the fact that when a student completes an open water course with us we teach them proper buoyancy without having them take an “Advanced Class”.
I welcome your replies and opinions. aloha@dive-aloha.com
Until next time.. Dive safe.