Search results

The scale of the problem is far greater than I realized. Thank you @Searcaigh for posting. I'm no scientist, but my understanding is that a priority of managing an ecosystem requires ensuring the apex predator is thriving, because if that predator is thriving, then everything in the food...

Was teaching your only source of income? I had the same policy, but I was teaching because I enjoyed it, not for the money. I made less than minimum wage teaching for shops. The problem is that people are flaky and/or kaka happens. There has to be reservations. Can you imagine a system of...

If you wish to become a PADI pro only if you wish to become a dive pro with another agency. A bigger question (and this really should be in a separate thread) is what are your goals? Why do you want to do this? Have you considered the financial aspect of this? As dive instructors are...

So I've taught for several ships. There is a difference in equipment being used. I never taught at 8 and have no affiliation with the shop. It was extremely frustrating with a student being given a poorly fitted dry suit that made acclimating to diving dry impossible. My last statement is...

Do you really want to compare the quality of rental dry suits? Or the quality of instruction? Nobody at 8 teaches on the knees. Most area shops and instructors are not of good quality.

Go to 8 Diving in Des Moines. I live in Kirkland, and if I were starting over, I'd drive there. The only other shop in the area I would recommend is Jade Scuba in Port Orchard. Tacoma Scuba seems to be good, but I don't have personal experience with them.

Can't imagine why.

Spending my summers in Greece it was always souvlaki me pita. The first gyro I saw was in the United States. I started seeing gyros in Greece later when I traveled with friends to places more popular with foreign tourists. Since then, I see gyros more often, but still it is mostly pork souvlaki...

if you change your mind, let me know. Chios is not a touristic island. Plus it is pretty far from Athens. As opposed to the Kyklades where you can take a ferry that lasts just a few hours, the boat to Chios is an overnighter (or an hour flight). Also, many of the Greek shipping magnate...

Sorry, I should have pointed you to the second blog post. But I'm glad you got something out of the first one. So here's an offer. Come to the Greek island of Chios the first two weeks of August. I'll be there with my family for my nephew's baptism. We'll be staying at the Golden Sand Hotel...

No such thing

I don't know about others, but I feel this is one of your best comments on ScubaBoard. It really drives the point home. To me at least. We can talk about adapting to the student, but that takes time and/or ingenuity, and sometimes a bit of luck. My attitude has always been if the student...

More likely to be attacked by sharks (kidding, not kidding). In all seriousness, I think snorkeling is a great way to start. Now if even that makes them nervous, then I'd recommend the mask/snorkel skills that are derived from what @Peter Guy taught me. Teaching Neutrally Buoyant and Trimmed -

I think I have been fed the same FUD. But after repeated challenges from people like John, I've come to the realization that it was FUD. I've learned to question the source of everything, including things I want to be true (to fight against my own confirmation bias).

My favorite time to teach was mid September to mid October, as the temperatures have come down (no students cooking in dry suits as they would in summer) but not so much that they freeze their keisters either, viz has improved, water is close to its "warmest". If I was to certify my daughter...

That's just about the time that days get long enough to get an algoe bloom. It is a gamble. See pnwdiving. You are better off getting viz reports on various FB groups.

If a drysuit is used, then he'd be okay. That's the problem with beat up 7 mils and on the knees instruction. Students spend most of their time on their knees freezing. That is no fun. Drysuit combined with being neutrally buoyant the entire time means being active and generating some heat...

Just make sure wherever you go, the course is taught completely neutrally buoyant and trimmed. Even in the start of the first pool session. it actually isn't hard to teach this way, but unfortunately, it is not the common case.

In my book, the degree of inappropriateness certainly goes up if he's old enough to be her father or grandfather. That doesn't mean its okay for a guy the same age to be touching her without her consent.