When to Admit It's Time to Re-Take Your Open Water...

I get asked a lot how often you should refresh your dive skills, and how often you should take a proper refresher with a Divemaster or Instructor. I almost never get asked when one should consider re-taking Open Water. And this one kind of scares me a little.

I've had a number of students in my refresher classes who haven't been diving since they did their Open Water certification dives - 30 years ago. No joke. The last time some of these folks have been in the water was before I was even a sparkle in my daddy's eye. And some of these lovely people haven't done a single fun dive, just the requisite 4 Open Water certification dives.

My darlings: It's time to re-take your Open Water Certification.

Diving has changed a ton over the past couple of decades. The basic premise is the same - strap some compressed air and shiny technology onto your back, put a thingy in your mouth, thrown on a mask and some fins, and go swim around. The construction and configuration of said items has changed, as have the skills you need to keep yourself safe when you're diving. Let's explore that a bit.

Did You Learn on the Original Aqua-Lung?

Did your training on one of these? Whoah. This pretty much pre-dates formal diver training as it is. Created by Émile Gagnan and Jacques Cousteau, The original Aqua-Lung diving system consisted of a single hose (loop), no BCD, and most certainly no backups. And yet, it gave birth to modern diving as we know it.

See that lovely little string starting at #3? That's your reserve. You'd breathe till there was nothing left, then pull that string to release the last bit of air, and start your ascent. Think about that one for a second.

Or Maybe You Learned on The Porpoise - AKA, the Great-Grand-Daddy of Modern Scuba Gear?

Now we get into something more familiar. The Porpoise was the first single-hose open circuit scuba regulator in the world. Created by an Aussie gentleman by the name of Ted Eldred, he developed it to work around the patents surrounding the Gagnan-Cousteau Aqua-Lung, and came up with this sucker.

Single hose on a regulator, first stage, pressure gauge - this was then adopted by the Royal Australian Navy, and eventually this style of system became what we know today as our typical dive gear set up.

If you were trained on this one, well, we need to talk. Things have changed a wee bit.

Maybe You've Never Seen an Alternate Second Stage. What's an Octo? What's a BCD?

The Alternate Second Stage (AKA Octo) didn't become a thing until the mid-to-late 60's. Once it did become a thing though, you had to learn what to do with it. I've had someone tell me they'd rather just cut it off their kit than learn how to use it. Ouch! An octo serves as a back-up regulator in the event your buddy runs out of air, or your primary malfunctions (so you can safely get to the surface).

If you get into a set of modern dive gear, you might have an inkling of what to do, but is that something you want to figure out on the fly. BCD's are one of those items. Some folks have just never been in a BCD. They weren't truly commercially produced till the 70's. Kind of an important little piece of gear!

A Two Hour Refresher is NOT Enough Time To Teach Someone How To Dive

It really isn't. The class and pool portion of an Open Water Course is over 20 hours. Unless you dive regularly, it's highly unlikely that two hours will be anywhere near enough to get you up to snuff. Remember - you're going into an alien environment where we bipeds have no business surviving.

Be Fair to Your Poor Instructor.

Really, your instructor will do everything they can to provide you with as much information as they can within that two hours they have to run the refresher. If you're coming into it with no diving in the past decade, you're asking them to teach you as much of a 20+ hour course in two hours as they can, and that is just not doable. It allows no time for questions, no time for practice, and will rush the entire session.

So What's The Recommendation?

Refreshers are designed for divers who haven't been in the water for a bit, typically 6 months to a year. Longer than that, you may need to book a private refresher, or just do a second session. Longer than five years? Re-take Open Water.

At the end of the day, it's your safety. Ensure you have the training required to dive safely, and always dive within your training and limits. Practice, practice, practice - and never be afraid to re-take Open Water. Be a smart diver, not a statistic. Be prepared for emergencies, and you'll know exactly what to do if the guano hits the fan.

Happy Diving!

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