The three-day entry level diver course

We used to run five-day entry level diver courses; in my view, everyone was a winner. The instructor was not under the pump for the duration of the course; furthermore, the instructor had guaranteed employment for the week. The dive students were not rushed adding to their personal stress, the students had a week's worth of exposure to the dive facility with retail opportunities frequently presenting and everybody winning. Everyone got to know each other and relationships and friendships were forged.

The instructor was happy, the divers were happy and the store owner was happy; so what happened? The dive certification agencies pursued the shortened entry dive level courses recruiting a major dive centre in every strategic area, once your competition was offering shortened courses, you eventually were forced to follow. In all fairness, the certification agencies are in competition with each other, one agency forces change and if the other agencies do not counter their move, they too risk being rendered obsolete.

So who is the winner here? The student receives a faster condensed course, is that better? My opinion is no, the longer exposure to skills and more importantly, in-water practice is lost leading to only the bare minimum standard being attained.

The instructor, certainly not - now every course is conducted at break-neck speed. What about the dive centre then? To a degree yes, wages bills are down and they have the ability to run two courses per week during peak periods without running two courses concurrently requiring one instructor only and one set of hire equipment. The downside is less opportunity to up-sell as time is limited, new divers lessen their interactions with shop staff and relationships are less likely to be built.

Ok, that leads us to the certification agency - the clear winner. Shorter courses, they still receive their certification fees from the newly minted diver, they still receive the dive centre/resort annual registration and they sell all the required learning materials with absolutely no discounts for shortened times. This is a pretty good business model for them.