Scuba Police is Watching – Value of Continuing Education
You are certified to go scuba diving now and ready to take on the world. At that point your scuba instructor will bring up the next class again, Advanced Open Water. Some will say, “Why can’t I go and just scuba dive since I am certified”. This is true. There is no “Scuba Police” sitting there waiting to give you a ticket like they do when you are driving. However, think about this in a little different perspective. After you are trained in the class and pool you need to do four open water dives with an instructor to demonstrate that you remember everything you were taught. All you need to do is four dives. Most people remember being teenagers or have teenagers close enough to relate. Imagine a teenager jumping on the highway after only four times driving behind the wheel in the real environment. Can it be done with no harm? Sure, but most of us would not count on it. If they make it back OK, it is the parents who will have this pain of worry of what could go wrong.
My point here is to emphasize value in continuing education and diving with the supervision of a scuba instructor. As you head out on your journey of scuba diving you will gain more experience and knowledge under the wing of a scuba instructor. Just like anything else, the lesson is so much greater with a mentor than striking it out on your own. The scuba instructor will provide you insight that would take you hundreds of dives to get a good handle on. Plus, the scuba instructor will share their own stories with you. Everyone loves stories that we can relate to.
There are things from each course you will take with you on your own dives. I guarantee that with most of the dives you are on will be able to implement something from each course you take, beyond the open water class. This could be from tying a knot on a shipwreck that you learned in your search and recovery class. Maybe you are in the middle of the quarry and you were ‘turned around’ due to the excitement of an underwater object and you grab your compass to take a reading to get back to shore. Or maybe you are out in the beautiful ocean on vacation and you see a newer diver go through stages from excited to worried way to fast. Without letting things go too far that will create some type of injury you make an approach to help the diver with what they need without making the diver’s worry noticeable. You would have never be able to do this without taking the rescue diver class after your Advanced Open Water class. Who would have guessed you needed anything you learned?
Now you can see some of the value of continuing on in classes you know you will enjoy. You never know you just might enjoy the challenge that comes with these classes and move yourself through the Professional ranks like I did. Others will just continue learning and becoming a more confident diver. That is something you cannot put a price tag on. You can enjoy years of endless excitement and relaxation.