100% AWARE  — All Diver-level certifications I issue support Project AWARE

I’ve long been a supporter of Project AWARE.   They’ve done a great job encouraging conservation and promoting responsibility among divers for the underwater world.  Project AWARE recently relaunched, focusing on aquatic debris and shark conservation.

Aquatic debris is a tremendous problem.  A large portion of it is plastics.  Plastics that won’t biodegrade for a long time.  Plastics that can trap animals.  Plastic that might look like food, but when eaten can harm or kill animals.   Project AWARE has sponsored aquatic cleanups for a long time.   With their relaunch, Dive Against Debris has become one of their primary focus areas.

Debris washed up on shore after a storm. Project AWARE's Dive against Debris program helps aquatic enthusiasts clean up our water ways.

I’ve personally sponsored 6 cleanups in Utah.   Our first cleanup, in partnership with the Living Planet Aquarium, picked up 1380 pounds of trash from Bountiful Pond, near Bountiful, Utah.   Our second cleanup, along the Jordan River Parkway in 2004, collected 1550 pounds of trash.  Even in a land-locked state like Utah, our water ways need to be cleaned up.   Project AWARE’s Dive Against Debris program helps us do just that.

Project AWARE’s other key focus is shark conservation.   Sharks are endangered; their primary threat being man.   Sharks are sleek and elegant in the water.   They’re not the blood thirsty man-eaters that we’ve seen in the movies.   Sharks are an apex predator, staying at the top of the food chain.   They help remove unhealthy marine animals and provide balance to the ecosystem.    Unfortunately, they are collected as by-catch or caught solely for their fins for shark fin soup, an Asian delicacy.   Sharks mature late in life, breed infrequently and have, relatively, few young.

When sharks are caught as by-catch (caught as part of normal fishing operations, but not the target fish species), they are often tossed overboard dead.   When harvested for shark fin soup, they are caught, fins removed and then often dumped overboard…still alive.   Either way, they are out of the ecosystem.   As an apex predator, that has long-reaching impacts.   That means there are more lower-level carnivores, which result in fewer herbivores.   The lack of herbivores means that there is more algae, which is at the base of the food chain.   Excessive algae can smother reef systems.   You can learn more about Shark Conservation in the new Project AWARE Shark Conservation Specialty Diver course.  You can also help conserve sharks by signing the petition on the right side of this page.

Project AWARE still has ongoing programs, such as the Project AWARE Specialty and Project AWARE Coral Reef Conservation Specialty.    While these are both PADI Specialty Diver courses, they are also open to non-divers as well.   When I conduct PADI Instructor Development Courses (IDC), I include a Project AWARE workshop.   That typically includes at least one PADI Specialty Course and reviewing how to teach the Project AWARE courses.

All of the tenets of Emergency Management apply to scuba diving:

• Prevention/preparation
• Mitigation
• Response
• Recovery

Recreational scuba diving has a good track record of safety.   That said, there are still a number of scuba diving emergencies that occur each year, many of which can be prevented.   As with any activity, being prepared is key.  How do we prepare to handle scuba diving emergencies?

• In the Open Water Diver Course, entry level divers are taught how to assemble their equipment, do a pre-dive check with a buddy and to dive with a buddy.   The pre-dive check, checking BCD, Weights, Releases, Air and a final check of everything else, can catch a lot of problems.   Too much weight, not enough air, etc.
• Also, in Open Water, entry level divers are taught how to adjust their gear underwater or deal with certain equipment issues underwater.   By learning what to do, a bit of extra water in your mask doesn’t become a source of panic.
• Advancing on in education, through the Adventures in Diving/Advanced Open Water course, divers dive in different environments and practice new skills.
• In the PADI Rescue Diver Course, divers extend their skills to handle scuba diving emergencies, starting with a review of what they’ve already learned in Open Water and Advanced.
• The next step is to start paying attention to other divers behavior.  Do they appear nervous (talking too much or not at all), unsure of what they’re doing (fumbling with gear),  not ready for the dive (inappropriate scuba equipment), etc?

Predive safety checks can prevent diving emergencies.

So far, that covers prevention and mitigation.   How do we respond to problems?

• Like other emergency care, start with a scene assessment.   Are there hazards?   Is the diver missing and we need to search, or was the diver found unresponsive?
• A Rescue Diver builds a tool kit of skills in the PADI Rescue Diver course: assisting from shore or a boat, surfacing an unresponsive diver, attending to an unresponsive, non-breathing diver at the surface, egress.
• Rescue Divers also learn the basics of emergency management for a scuba diving emergency.   This can be managing the scene, working with other responders, organizing logistics for a search & rescue, etc.

Rescue Diver practice: responding to a scuba emergency on the surface.

Since scuba diving is often done in remote locations, EMS isn’t readily available.   Additional training on how to handle scuba diving emergencies can make a big difference in outcome.   I highly recommend the DAN Training programs, including:

• DAN Oxygen Provider/Oxygen First Aid for Scuba Diving Injuries
• DAN Hazardous Marine Life Injuries
• DAN On-Site Neurological Assessment for Divers (Neuro)
• DAN Dive Medicine for Divers I: more about diving accidents and conducting physical exams, including respiratory
• DAN Dive Medicine for Divers II: barotraumas, decompression illness, practicing how to use an EpiPen and taking blood pressure.
• DAN Dive Medicine for Divers III: Gas toxicities, drowning, ear barotrauma and using an otoscope.

Beyond the response to a scuba diving emergency, Rescue Divers also learn how to help the diver and themselves recover from an incident.   This starts in the response phase: if the injured diver can help with their own care, that gives them a sense of control which will help their recovery.   For the Rescue Diver, learning about how to handle their own stress after an incident can help them personally recover.

All of these skills are reviewed and practiced at higher levels in diver education.   Divemasters and Scuba Instructors need to be able to respond to scuba diving emergencies and manage them.

What does it take to become a dive professional?   A deep commitment?  A love of the underwater world?   A desire to share the adventure of exploration?   All of that!

Let’s take a look at the career path options:

1. Open Water Diver   (everybody has to start somewhere)
2. Advanced Open Water (expand your skills…sample the things divers do for fun)
3. Rescue Diver (learn how to prevent and respond to problems)
4. Specialties  and Master Scuba Diver (while optional, highly recommended; explore those fun things in more depth)
5. Divemaster–the first rung of the professional ladder.   Guide groups of divers and assist with classes.   Individual and group management skills.
6. Assistant Instructor–learn how to teach in the classroom, the pool and in open water
7. Instructor(OWSI)–take your teaching skills further and explore the courses you can teach as an Instructor
8. Specialty Instructor–learn how to teach specialty areas of diving, sharing your passion with new divers.
9. Master Scuba Diver Trainer(MSDT)–An instructor than can teach in five specialty areas and has shown their teaching ability by issuing 25 diver certifications.
10. IDC Staff Instructor–an assistant to a Course Director; involved in all aspects of training new Assistant Instructors and Instructors.
11. Master Instructor–demonstrated ability to teach at all levels, Open Water through Assistant Instructor and has issues 150 or more certifications at those various levels
12. Course Director–Instructor Trainer, trains new instructors to teach scuba
13. Specialty Instructor Trainer–a Course Director that can train new Specialty Instructors

As you can see, the path is as long as you want it to be and as varied as you want.   Start your adventure today!

Look at the 2012 GoPro schedule to see where you want to go this year.

As a Scuba Instructor, I love to teach.   Part of that love comes from the variety of scuba diving courses I can offer.   Here’s a small sampling of those programs

• Open Water Diver
• Adventures in Diving: Adventure Diver and Advanced Open Water
• Rescue Diver
• Specialty Diver courses [The list is long...click over to the Specialty page for more info.]
• Dive Safety Courses–Divers Alert Network (DAN) Provider Courses
• Oxygen first aid for Scuba diving injuries
• Hazardous marine Life injuries
• Basic Life support & First Aid (BLSFA)
• On-site Neurological Exam for divers
• Basic Life support for diving professionals (BLSPro)
• Dive Medicine for Divers (levels 1-3)
• PADI Professional Courses
• PADI Divemaster
• PADI Assistant Instructor
• PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor
• PADI Specialty Instructor
• PADI IDC Staff Instructor
• DAN Professional courses
• I offer DAN Instructor Qualification Courses for all of the DAN courses I can teach.

What are PADI Specialty Diver Courses?   When PADI developed their continuing education model, they realized that divers have a lot of varied interests.  For me, it’s underwater imaging (underwater photography and underwater videography) and dive safety.   To accommodate those interests, they started developing courses that go into more depth about a certain topic.   If you’re familiar with Adventures in Diving Program or Advanced Open Water Diver, you’ve experienced a sample of these specialty areas.

Garibaldi in the California Channel Islands

PADI has a multitude of Specialty Diver courses that can help you explore your interests in diving and the list continues to grow.   Here’s a short sample:

• Altitude Diver
• Boat Diver
• Deep Diver
• Diver Propulsion Vehicle
• Dry Suit Diver
• Emergency Oxygen Provider
• Enriched Air Diver
• Equipment Specialist
• Fish Identification (AWARE FishID)
• Digital Underwater Photography
• Multilevel/Computer Diver
• Underwater Naturalist
• Underwater Navigator
• Project AWARE Specialty
• Project AWARE Coral Reef Conservation
• Search & Recovery Diver
• Night Diver
• Underwater Photographer
• Underwater Videographer
• Wreck Diver

Divers using a lift bag as part of the PADI Search and Recovery Specialty

In some cases, instructors can author (or be trained ) and teach PADI Distinctive Specialty courses.  For example, here are some PADI Distinctive Specialties I can teach:

• AWARE Shark Conservation
• Neurological Assessment
• AED for Scuba
• First Aid for Hazardous Marine Life Injuries
• Oxygen First Aid for Scuba

The last four correlate to the DAN Diving First Aid courses I teach.   Take the DAN course and get the PADI Distinctive Specialty at the same time!

Specialties are typically designed to give you, the diver, a safe and structured way to explore the specialty area.   After the initial dive or two, I, as the instructor, usually back off and act as a resource rather than just tell you what to do.  That way you develop the comfort to continue exploring that specialty area of diving.   For example, the PADI Altitude Diver Specialty has two dives.   The first dive involves a good amount of pre-dive planning and we compare depth gauges during the dive.   The depth gauge comparison helps you understand why we dive conservatively.   On the second dive, you plan the dive and I’m there to help and answer questions.   It can vary between specialties, of course.

Specialties are not designed to make you an expert, though.  For example, the PADI Equipment Specialist course isn’t to train you to break down and rebuild regulators.   [That requires training from the manufacturer.]   We do look at how regulators are built and how they work.  We practice basic field repairs such as repairing a wetsuit or replacing an o-ring.   The PADI Equipment Specialist course is an excellent course for all divers, as it will help you with all of your equipment purchases, long-term equipment maintenance and basic field repairs.

PADI Specialties do have an important relation with the Adventure Dives in Adventures in Diving (Adventure Diver & Advanced Open Water Diver).   The first dive in a given specialty is the same as the correlating Adventure Dive.   That means that if you’ve completed any Adventure Dives, they can count towards the correlating specialty.   If you’ve completed the Specialty, the first dive of that Specialty can count towards your Adventure Diver or Advanced Open Water certification.

PADI Continuing Education Flowchart

Specialty Diver courses also count towards your PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.  Jump over to the Master Scuba Diver page to learn more.

Questions about PADI Specialty Diver courses?  Contact me!

What is a PADI IDC Staff Instructor?   Simply put, it’s like being an Assistant Instructor for a PADI Course Director.   IDC Staff Instructors have completed extensive training to train new PADI Assistant Instructors and assist with PADI Instructor Development Courses and PADI Specialty Instructor training.

Why should you become a Staff Instructor?  As almost all instructors will tell you, the PADI Instructor Development Course is pretty intense.   There is a lot of material covered in a short amount of time.   Taking the PADI IDC Staff course allows you to see the Instructor Development process from a different point of view and pick up on a few things that you might have missed during your IDC.   PADI revised the Instructor Development process a couple of years ago.  If your IDC was prior to 2009, you will definitely benefit by seeing the new curriculum.   Since part of the IDC Staff program focuses on evaluation and critiques, it may help you refine your skills when teaching–especially for new PADI Divemaster candidates.   Also, if you’re tracking towards PADI Master Instructor, the PADI IDC Staff Instructor credential is a requirement.

How do you become a PADI IDC Staff Instructor?   There are two routes–auditing a complete IDC or presenting all components of a PADI Assistant Instructor course.   Common to both are some requirements:

* Prerequisite:  You need to be a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer (MSDT) to enroll in the program.

* Preassessment:  we’ll assess your knowledge of diving theory and PADI Systems, Standards and Procedures with written exams, then wee’ll assess your teaching abilities with both a knowledge development presentation and a confined water presentation.

* Knowledge development:   You’ll participate in four(4) presentations including an Orientation, Instructor Development Standards and Procedures, How to organize and conduct a PADI Assistant Instructor course and the Psychology of Evaluation and Counseling.

* Audit or Teach:   Auditing a complete IDC is probably best, because you’ll see how a full PADI Instructor Development Course is conducted and you’ll get the opportunity to evaluate and critique real instructor candidates.   Option B, teaching all components of a PADI Assistant Instructor course might be better if you have time restrictions and can’t audit a complete IDC.

* Materials:   You will need a PADI Course Director Manual, evaluation slates for confined and open water as well as all materials required for an instructor candidate.

Contact me for more details about IDC Staff Instructor.

Are you a dive leader that wants to make sure your divers are safe?   Becoming a DAN Instructor is definitely the way to go.

DAN Instructors are trained to teach programs specifically for diving related accidents.  If you’re a scuba instructor, these are great programs to complement your Rescue Diver training.   Divemasters can become DAN Instructors and offer additional training to the divers they supervise and they’ll also have more opportunities working with instructors.

The DAN Instructor Qualification Course is made up of two or more segments.   The first is the core segment that covers topics general to all DAN courses.   The additional segments are course-specific and may include:

Basic Life Support & First Aid

Oxygen First Aid for Scuba (including Advanced skills such as a bag valve mask, BVM, and a manually triggered ventillator, MTV)

Hazardous Marine Life Injuries

On-Site Neurological Exam for Divers

Dive Medicine for Divers (three levels)

…and several others.

[Note: this list has been revised to reflect DAN's new training curriculum launched in 2011.]

What does it cost?   Anywhere from $250 up to $1500, depending on classes and materials.

What are the prerequisites?    Dive Leader (Divemaster, DiveCon or higher), CPR/First Aid Instructor (or complete the Basic Life Support/First Aid module).

I’m currently offering several programs during 2012 (and one more before the end of 2011).   Consult the course schedule to the right, or click here.    Please contact me if you have any questions.

Here’s the 2012 PADI Instructor Development and DAN Instructor Qualification course schedule.   It is subject to change, and, if it doesn’t quite meet your needs, then let me know and we’ll figure something out.  Instructor Development, Emergency First Response and Divers Alert Network courses are all taught at Dive Utah (4679 S 2225 E, Holladay, UT)

January 6-13   PADI Instructor Development Course(IDC) and Emergency First Response Instructor Course

January 14&15  PADI Instructor Exam, Homestead Resort, Midway, UT

February 3-5   Divers Alert Network (DAN) Instructor Qualification Course

Feb 17-19, 24-26 and March 2-4  PADI Instructor Development Course(IDC) and Emergency First Response Instructor Course

March 10&11 PADI Instructor Exam, Homestead Resort, Midway, UT

May 4-6  DAN  Instructor Qualification Course (DAN IQC)

June 2&3 and 9&10  Master Scuba Diver Trainer Program (MSDT)

June 29- July 5  Instructor Development Course(IDC) and Emergency First Response Instructor Course

July 7 &8  PADI Instructor Exam, Homestead Resort, Midway, UT

July 27-29  Divers Alert Network Instructor Qualification Course  (DAN IQC)

August 24-26, Aug 31-Sept 2, Sept 7-9  Instructor Development Course(IDC) and Emergency First Response Instructor Course

September 15 & 16 PADI Instructor Exam, Homestead Resort, Midway, UT

September 28-30  Divers Alert Network Instructor Qualification Course (DAN IQC)

Oct 6&7 + 13&14   Master Scuba Diver Trainer Program (MSDT)

To learn more about the PADI Instructor Development Course, DAN Instructor Qualification course or other courses, please contact Jon.

DAN-Physiological Aspects of Breath-hold diving

DAN-Medical issues in Closed Circuit Diving

DAN-PFO & the Risk of DCS

PADI-GoPro nights

DAN-Toxicological Aspects of Marine Life

DAN-Demystifying Hyperbaric Treatment of Divers

Breath-hold diving isn’t as benign as we might like to think.   I’ve taught recreational skin diving and had a reasonable understanding of the hypoxia of ascent (sometimes called shallow-water blackout).   The explanations in this seminar, though, really put it all together.   The key points are: you can black out with ZERO warning, and even after ascending and taking a breath at the surface, you can still black-out.   What does that mean?   Have adequate support–a buddy or other support team that can come get you if you are in trouble.  Have your buddy observe you after you are on the surface–remember, you can still black out after you hit the surface.

Closed-circuit:   This is probably the most prolific new item at the show.  Closed-circuit rebreathers, both for technical and recreational diving.   That also means there are issues we need to start looking at.   Rebreathers are not designed for rapid ascents and descents.   They are complicated devices and they have to adjust your breathing gas mix as you dive.   It’s possible for the gas mix to not have enough oxygen in it as you ascend, which could lead to hypoxia and loss-of-consciousness.   Proper training and equipment maintenance are essential.

Break from the seminars to walk the floor…   Lots of stuff to see, but as I mentioned above, rebreathers are the hot new toy this season.   The good news is that we’ll probably see them drop in price so they’ll become more accessible for divers.

I spent some time at the DAN booth:

Some cool new toys (soft-side O2 kits, First Aid Kits, O2+First Aid kits) and their business membership is evolving into their new Industry Partner Program.   That will open it up to others in the diving world that aren’t just brick & mortar dive shops.

I also hung out at the Project AWARE booth, talking to Ania and Jenny about how to better integrate Project AWARE into scuba programs and non-diving programs.

I’ve you’ve not already, please sign the Shark petition (right side of this page).

Back to the seminars…

PFO & DCS:   Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) is an opening between the sides of the heart that we all have as a fetus and for most of us eventually seals up by about age 2.   It’s thought that PFO’s might predispose divers to having Decompression Sickness(DCS).   Why, you might ask, is that?   Well, about 20-30% of people continue to have this opening throughout their life and it has the potential for allowing bubbles to cross from the venous circulation to arterial, which might lead to serious neurological DCS if the bubbles head to the brain.    The interesting thing is, while 20-30% of people have PFO’s, 40% of people with DCS seem to have them.   The key thing here is, PFO’s don’t cause DCS–bubbles do!   So, even if you have a PFO, if you can avoid bubble-producing dives (e.g., extreme dives), and dive conservatively, you could be fine.   PFO’s have gotten a lot of diving-related press.   From this seminar, I’d agree with the speaker–unless you’ve had multiple DCS hits that seem unreasonable for the dives, it’s not worth worrying about.

In order to get to the PADI GoPro seminar, I had to leave the PFO seminar a bit early.   The PADI GoPro seminar was excellent.   If you’ve never heard James Morgan from PADI speak, you’ll know why.  If not, you’re missing out.   James gave us a lot of incentive to have GoPro nights and while the events are targeted towards becoming a dive professional, that doesn’t mean we should solely talk to Rescue Divers and Divemasters.    As dive professionals, we have the best job in the world.  Others want our jobs.   To get there, though, requires training.   For dive shops, resorts and instructors–even if you’re not involved in creating Divemasters and Instructors–there is a lot to do to get those divers ready to become a Pro.    All-in-all, this is a great thing for our industry.

Back to the DAN seminars…

Toxicological aspects of marine life injuries.   Sounds pretty complex, right?   In some respects, perhaps.   The cool aspect, for me, was some of the explanations of why we treat certain injuries the way we do.   Some injuries are incredibly painful–but not fatal.   Some envenomations are painless, but carry a neurotoxin that can be lethal.   For example, the Blue Ring Octopus.  Painless bite, but the neurotoxin can be deadly.   The toxin, though, primarily hits the respiratory system.   That means that if recognized early, with adequate manual ventillations, a patient can make it to advanced care and survive.  I could include a lot more, but taking a DAN Hazardous Marine Life Injuries course would be a better option.   [Contact me!]

Demystifying Hyperbaric Treatment–this was pretty cool.   After having completed my Diver Medic training and been in a chamber tending patients, this was an interesting presentation.   Different types of chambers (multi-place and mono-place, aka many vs single patient), what they can & can’t do and how patients are treated were discussed.   Treatment tables (how long, what depth, etc) were also covered.   I think DAN has a webinar on this and I’ll see if we can run it at Dive Utah when I get back.

All-in-all, a great day and lots of info (and a stack of notes from the seminars).   Time for a break from DEMA today with a trip to the Kennedy Space Center.

This was the plan:

9-11am DAN Instructor/Trainer update

11am-Noon  PADI Public Safety Diver Program

Noon-1245   Walk the show floor

1245-1345 DAN Controversies of in-water recompression

1400-1500 DAN Diving Emergencies

1500-1630  PADI Risk management

1630-1730  DAN   Electronically recorded dive profiles

What happened:

The DAN Instructor/Trainer update was excellent!   The course revisions look great.   Good direction with course updates and course consolidation, making the materials more diver-friendly and updates based on feedback from DAN Examiners, Trainers and Instructors.   The short version:   The DAN Oxygen and Advanced Oxygen courses are merging.   The AED for Scuba course is going away, being replaced by their full Basic Life Support/First Aid (BLSFA) program that includes the AED skills in a logical sequence of primary care.   The DEMP (Diving Emergency Management Provider) program now includes the revised O2 course, BLSFA, Hazardous Marine Life Injuries and Neurological Exam for Scuba.    Hazardous Marine Life is also being revised to include freshwater aquatic life hazards.

PADI Public Safety Diver–WOW!!!   PADI is partnering with the pros at Underwater Criminal Investigations to expand this program from the first program (a basic intro) to expanding it into comprehensive training including evidence recovery, body recovery (yes, bodies), vehicle recovery and much more.   From an instructional point of view, this looks to be an awesome evolution.

DAN programs:   In-water recompression was an eye-opener.   I knew of some of the hazards based on my Diver Medic training and the obvious needs for better support during recompression therapy.   Good case studies and questions.   The Dive Emergency planning seminar was awesome.   I’m happy to say I’ve included some of their ideas when I teach my Rescue Diver courses, but I learned a lot.   For example, an Emergency Assistance Plan isn’t just “where is the nearest chamber?”   From a accident history problem, we’re more likely to run into a medical or trauma problem that is due to heart problems than a truly diving-related problem.   Think about it.  If someone has a heart attack while playing golf, it’s not a “golfing accident.”   If they have a heart attack while diving, though, it’s almost always a “diving accident.”   We need to plan for more than just diving problems.   As with all other emergency scenarios, training is crucial.   We need to practice what to do during an emergency.   For those of you that went through Rescue Diver a while ago, think about taking a refresher!

Ok…at that point, I figured I need to walk the show and see some of my friends, so I skipped PADI’s Risk Management seminar.  [I figured I just had a small dose of risk management in the DAN seminars.]   Walked the show for a while, talked to folks at DAN, PADI, Project AWARE, saw my friends from points south–TJ in the Caymans, Patty from Roatan, etc.

Back to the training…What can we learn from electronically recorded dive profiles?   A lot–and probably the most important, that we don’t know enough yet!   Combine this presentation and the others earlier in the day and the nutshell version is “Dive conservatively!”    Another way to say it, “don’t dive stupid.”   There are lots of profiles that seem to be very low risk.   There are also a lot of profiles that seem high-risk.   Diving really deep, staying long, missing decompression and safety stops, running out of air and making fast or “explosive” ascents, etc.  can lead to a really, really poor outcome.