Why choose GUE Rec-1?

[jadairiii]

I have been an avid diver since 1975 but never pushed the sport on my daughter, she was happy to paddle board and snorkel. When she came home from college this summer she told us that she would like to get scuba certified. Mind you, she had NEVER tried any of my scuba gear in the pool or out in the ocean, no "trust me" dives ever.

To me there was only one option, GUE Rec 1, I wanted her to have the best tools available if she was going to get certified. You have GUE instructors, that are exploration divers, teaching the new students to use basically same gear, gear configuration ,same skills and techniques that they use so they learn how it is done by exploration level divers from day one. Should the student decide later take more advanced training, there is no need to change gear or configuration. It does take more time and skill from the instructor, and student, but students are immensely better off. It was an intensive 6 days for her (and her buddy), morning to night and I had the good fortune to observe since I acted as "dive master", logistics person, boat monkey and sandwich maker for the 6 days.

By day 3, her trim was just about perfect, she and her buddy conducted the basic 5 drills and S drills within Tech perimeters (1 1/2 feet of target depth, recreational is 3 ft) , it was amazing to watch her adjust buoyancy, deal with problems, clean up after drills without ever touching the bottom or losing buoyancy control. She would adjust her wing as if she had been diving for 5 years, not one day. On day 5 conditions were not great, seas were rough and a "sporting" current on the reef, but there they went, like it was nothing, and their ascent on the down line at the end of the dive, in the current, was amazing, neither even held on to the line since their trim was so good.

I even felt bad once, during the SMB deployment drill, I thought her instructor would hand her is SMB/Spool, but instead, she went to her side pocket (which is not easy, its a tight pocket) and removed the SMB/spool I had put in there, it was a POS, but she removed it, cleaned up the pocket, attached the spool to the SMB and shot it to the surface without moving a bit. On the boat she did chide me a bit for my crappy SMB . She completed the course with great buoyancy skills, awesome trim, 3 different forward kicks, a backward kick and the ability to competently rescue herself and a buddy without ever losing buoyancy or trim. Not bad for a beginner.

I could go on and on but proof is in the picture, this is her, second day in open water. If you want to have that trim and control, not have your fins kicking the reef, then there is only one choice.

 

[SandyRobinson]

Your story is almost the same as with my youngest daughter. Four years ago at 21, she did a discovery dive in Tulum and promptly told me, "I can not believe you did not push this on me sooner." I told her it was always her decision and not mine (her older sister started diving at 12). I gave her several options, and she chose GUE. She was far ahead of me and her sister in skills, trim, etc than when we finished our OW classes in 1980 and 2003. Heck you can include AOW and Cavern in that statement too. I was impressed with her and her buddies training video involving blowing a bag, safety /deco stops, trim, buoyancy, etc from the instructor. Not including checkout dives, she has about 60 dives and is scheduled to take Rec 2 next spring.

I do have to say that there are non-GUE instructors in cave country who can teach OW divers to protect the reef too.

 

[wnissen]

Your experience is why I am so frustrated that there appears to be no organized instruction except GUE that is focused on producing better diving, at least in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is unfathomable (pun intended) to me that PADI pushes some "master diver" thing that is entirely worthless, GUE is "our way or the highway", no one is offering a course that helps you become a good to excellent diver in your own gear. Glad your daughter had such a good experience.

 

[txgoose]

I didn't see any reference on the GUE website. For budgeting sake, what did the course have for fees?
That is a great write up.

 

[runsongas]

Your experience is why I am so frustrated that there appears to be no organized instruction except GUE that is focused on producing better diving, at least in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is unfathomable (pun intended) to me that PADI pushes some "master diver" thing that is entirely worthless, GUE is "our way or the highway", no one is offering a course that helps you become a good to excellent diver in your own gear. Glad your daughter had such a good experience.

other agencies like tdi are more flexible on gear config, but not as high a bar of quality control on instruction. the main issue the large recreational agencies won't change to be like GUE is money. they would have to kick out a large proportion of their instructors and certify fewer people which would cause their revenue to drop hard.

 

[SandyRobinson]

I didn't see any reference on the GUE website. For budgeting sake, what did the course have for fees?
That is a great write up.

Going off 3 year memory, I think 6 days of instruction (basically sunup to sundown and then some) was 1200 plus another 300? for instructor travel/dive fees. For my daughter, there were also lodging and food expenses for a week, boat fees for two days, and equipment purchased. Overall, it was higher than other courses but a good value. Nitrox was part of instruction too.

In addition to 4 boat dives, there was a LOT of dive time in the OW of some Florida springs - easily another 10 dives. My daughter was instructed by Meredith Tanquay, owner of wetrocksdiving.com

 

[txgoose]

Going off 3 year memory, I think 6 days of instruction (basically sunup to sundown and then some) was 1200 plus another 300? for instructor travel/dive fees. For my daughter, there were also lodging and food expenses for a week, boat fees for two days, and equipment purchased. Overall, it was higher than other courses but a good value. Nitrox was part of instruction too.

In addition to 4 boat dives, there was a LOT of dive time in the OW of some Florida springs - easily another 10 dives. My daughter was instructed by Meredith Tanquay, owner of wetrocksdiving.com

That is more than the splash and dash courses, but strikes me as pretty reasonable for the goal and the deliverables. Thank you!

 

[Hartattack]

Your experience is why I am so frustrated that there appears to be no organized instruction except GUE that is focused on producing better diving, at least in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is unfathomable (pun intended) to me that PADI pushes some "master diver" thing that is entirely worthless, GUE is "our way or the highway", no one is offering a course that helps you become a good to an excellent diver in your own gear. Glad your daughter had such a good experience.

To be fair, there is more to the standardized gear configuration than just "my way or the highway."

 

[johndiver999]

I...... If you want to have that trim and control, not have your fins kicking the reef, then there is only one choice.

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I was with you until the last sentence....Only once choice... LOL. I bet just about any instructor who taught a semi-private class for 6 straight days - would have a good portion of their students exhibiting control and not kicking the reef.

However, I don't disagree with your decision to enroll the daughter in an intense class and then "tag along" just to make sure things don't go awry. Congratulations! Sounds like you have a new dive buddy that you can trust to be safe and allow you to enjoy yourself during the dive.

 

[jadairiii]

.....Only once choice... LOL.....

I am currently unaware of any recognized training agency that conducts their entry level scuba course like GUE. Not saying there are not great "non GUE" instructors out there teaching and teaching above their agency standards, just that there are no other options with the same standards as GUE Rec 1.