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Not a bad idea! The diving in NZ is better and you won't spend your entire time travelling through endless fields of indistinguiishable crops!!!! To be honest, though, NZ also presents you some key logistical challenges in terms of getting around. It is a strange place - if you drive 100km at...

Bottom line for me is this - if you are planning to teach, you should do your instructor course in the environment you are going to teach in. If you are going to be teaching in Stoney Cove or Gildenburgh - then Koh Tao is not the place to do your instructor course. When you head back to the...

Agreed - website is lacking substance. Nothing on it that would provide me any inclination to crossover - or choose to do a diver level course. And the price of the crossover just makes me downright suspicious.

Personally, I hate it. I find the buttons fiddly, and the Uwatec menu sequences confusing. That's more of a user-issue than a comment on the 2G. I've never got my head around Uwatecs. Worst of the bunch has to be the SmartCOM, holy moley.... so many alarms that you can't work out how to switch...

We all make choices in life - I can respect your choice to smoke (though please don't do it near me), but you have to respect someone's choice to not accept smokers. I'd ask yourself "why do you want to do Fundies?". There are alternatives. A good Intro to Tech class may be an option -...

Thanks, Dennis. Whilst I agree - there is a huge gap between the dives conducted at the SDI Wreck course and the TDI Advanced Wreck course. At the moment, I teach a specialty that sits in that gap through another agency, that's the one things that is currently stopping my dropping my membership...

A quick question - for the SDI Wreck Course, are there any restrictions on conducting air sharing drills during penetration?

If redundancy is everything, and everything is redundant..... just get a second boat if you are diving from an unattended boat. It'll be fine.

You might want to re-ask this question in the "Going Pro" section, rather than the SDI/TDI/ERDI section - you'll get a broader range of responses. Personally, I would very much suggest doing the training as close to home as possible - even if it's cool water. It's way easier to transition from...

How are you going to limit it geopgraphically? For example, June, July and August are very quiet months for me. Typically, if I do two students in those three months then it's a lot. Meanwhile, those will be peak months in the northern hemisphere. Yet some places (tropical resorts) will be busy...

To answer the last question first, I'm not sure about the exact details of platinum status - but every other PADI status is based pretty much on number of certifications acheived. For platinum CD, there may be something else to do with IDC pass rates - but I am guessing. It's really just a...

The guys at D!T will definitely look after you. April 2011 is a little less far away now, you must be excited!? I will know in February what my committments are through until June, so can give you an idea of whether I'm free or not.

I would second the option to do both, though it would kinda of depend on your previous diving. Even though December is summer here, the water is still quite cool. I would expect it to be around 18-19 degreesC. It's still 7mm wetsuit temperature - if you're used to thicker suits and heavier...

All power to you, I wasn't being "confrontational".... but I think your idealism will fade after a certain number of courses. If it were going to cost you, would you think differently?

Doesn't it? Don't forget to factor in the previous training to meet the pre-requisites.... plus the dives... plus the 10 days lost income from taking leave to complete the ITC... plus the membership fees that aren't included in the course price... the examination fee... plus travel and...

I think it's more symbiotic.... the reputation of the agency depends on the integrity of the instructors, and the integrity of the agency creates a reputation for the instructors. An exceptional instructor can create their own reputation (in time), but it's a lot of hard work. In an ideal...

I'm going to call BS on this! Not intending to be confrontational, just pragmatic. Just to become a completely standard recreational instructor probably costs a person around $10k. To become a tech or cave instructor you can add at least that again - more if you want to do it properly. Add in...

I think we are saying the same thing, aren't we? I'm suggesting agency is at least as important as reputation - so therefore the choice of agency is crucial. Then I wouldn't waste your time. Teaching diving is a job - whilst it provides it's own rewards, it still reduces the amount of dive...

Good luck with that. Whilst it's feasible, it's a long slog to develop that reputation and some people will never even give you a chance. Let's say, for the sake of argument, you became a PADI instructor. It doesn't matter how good your courses are, how well you engage with your students or...

I think the latter is a very important point. As I understand the history, GUE was a somewhat reluctant training agency and the organisation and classes only came about as a result of people clamouring for courses that would help learn the skills they saw the WKPP team having. Part of the remit...