Should I Take A Dive Refresher Course?

I was asked a question a couple of weeks ago by a friend who hasn't been able to dive for a few years due to work & family stuff about getting back to it. His question was this “what can I do to get myself ready to get back under water?”. Great question. Here's what I told him:

One you could take a refresher class. This normally amounts to taking some time in a pool getting reacquainted with the gear & sensations of diving. You get a chance to review how to put gear together & go over procedures. Many times instructors will include some classroom refresher as well. For example, many will reacquaint the diver with tables or go over dive computers.

Another way of getting back into diving after a layoff would be to plan a few very simple dives in known areas with a Dive Master or Instructor. In this way, the diver could be assured that the dives would be planned appropriately and he or she would have someone else watching out for them.

One last idea would be to get your gear together, rent or get your tanks filled & jump into the pool in your back yard. (The YMCA pool would work as well.) For some this idea gives them them chance to reacquaint themselves without supervision. I am sure that some people are quite capable of doing exactly what they need to do in order to get themselves ready for the next dive.

Of course some would ask why anyone would really need a refresher plan in the first place? After all, certification is good forever & we all know that it's kind of like riding a bike; it will all come back to you once you get started. Sounds good but after teaching for some time now, I know how easy it is to forget what you've learned or worse yet, misremember.

Let me give you an example of a person who told me they were a master diver & thought they knew everything about diving. It seems he was taught that one of the ways you can know that you are not going up too fast is to be sure that you didn't ascend faster than your bubbles. Back in the good old days, this was after all, taught as gospel. And he could absolutely not understand why we didn't teach this simple rule anymore. The problem is that it isn't safe.

Here's the way David Holt puts it. “When a diver exhales bubbles into the water, the bubbles begin to expand as they rise. As they expand they increase their buoyancy and therefore travel to the surface with increasing speed which causes them to expand faster and travel even faster towards the surface. Second, it is extremely difficult to follow bubbles, especially when there are more than a few divers, there is poor visibility, or when there is substantial current. Third, it is extremely difficult to slow your ascent rate after you have passed the bubble you were watching. By the time your realize that your gaining on your bubble, its to late - You are going to fast!”

Does that mean that every one has learned something wrong. No, not at all. In fact, most instructors are absolutely incredible. They not only teach to standards but go above & beyond to help new divers become really great divers. It's just that we can & do forget. After just a few months, details can become a little fuzzy. “How does that 1^st stage get attached again?” “How much weight do I need with this wetsuit?” “Why is this mask fogging up?” “How do I turn this computer on?”

I hope you get it. Yes, it can be just like riding a bike. The difference is that if you fall down from a bike, you may skin a knee or even break an elbow. Running out of air on scuba at 80' could be fatal. I don't know about you but my instructor said that I was responsible for me when I dive. That means that I am the only one I have to be accountable to. It also means that if I really take a good look in the mirror, I might realize that being responsible means not taking foolish risks.

If it's been a while, why not stop by the local dive shop or ask around to find an instructor who would spend a day with you helping to get you ready for that next dive trip.