A list of instuction going over and above the minimum training standards...

[haumana ronin]

A few months ago I started this thread http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ba...-where-can-someone-get-advanced-training.html to ask where one can get "better than normal" training. I got a few helpful answers, some vague answers, and of course Fundies.

So this time, let me be more specific. Could we start a list of contacts for instructors and dive shops who go over and above the standards in teaching courses? As I stated in a previous thread, I like lists. This could be anything from truly challenging versions of the base classes(or non-required extensions for the padi folks), Rescue2, Advanced AOW, ppb with super-duper-ppb, OW plus skills, UW low-viz orientiering (I heard this used to be part of DM training but no longer), skills tune-up/make-up, slow-learner course extension at whatever level, UW instinct, panic management-with or without UW panic experience, various gas management options and schools of thought with practicum, double equipment failure resolution, or anything else that will make you better and/or safer. A distinctive specailty that covers this is ok, but say where it is. I'll even open it up to those who want to suggest fundies, though it has to be fundies+ somehow. Like in school, justify your answer.

It would be better if the way the course you list is different by syllabus and be repeatable and measurable and not just an instructor giving a pointer or two in a "normal" class, though those always help. If you took said course with an independent instructor, please ask them before you post their contact info. I assume a shop with an online presence is ok with posting their info. Its ok to spam yourself in this thread since its not really spam if I am asking for it.

And yeah, I realize that an enhanced course will probably come with an enhanced visa bill...

:zen:

 

[mdax]

You can't go wrong with the GUE fundamental course. Pretty much all the instructors teach at the levels you seek.
Here is a description and all the details you seek.

 

[Splitlip]

Ernie Jabour

My daughter's open water instructor. I attended all of her pool work, though I was not permitted on the dives. Ernie spent oodles of tIme with the struggling students. They did not advance if they did not cut it (seen it), but Ernie worked so hard with them.

 

[lowviz]

...//...And yeah, I realize that an enhanced course will probably come with an enhanced visa bill... ...//...

Not always: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/te...mething-completely-different.html#post6300043

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I have posted my class set ups and teaching methods many times. You can also go to my website and see more about my philosophy and prices for courses. Which incidentally are not that much different than the ones you are trying to avoid. My OW course is 6-8 weeks and ends up being a 45 -50 hour course including checkout dives. My AOW is the one I wrote myself after getting fed up with AOW courses that do not teach advanced skills or knowledge and are more of a taste of so-called advanced dives. I have my own standards above agency ones for issuing certs. They are earned not bought. Training is guaranteed. Certification is not.

If you want an indepth look at all my methods and philosophy buy my book. It's all in there as well.

 

[mathauck0814]

You can't go wrong with the GUE fundamental course. Pretty much all the instructors teach at the levels you seek.
Here is a description and all the details you seek.

Wait - I thought that GUE's charter was that they all taught to a standard, and that standard was higher than most others. However, the OP asked who taught above the standard. My understanding is that none of the Fundies instructors are teaching above the Fundies' standards - rather that they are teaching exactly to the Fundies standard - that would violate the whole idea, no?

 

[haumana ronin]

Wait - I thought that GUE's charter was that they all taught to a standard, and that standard was higher than most others. However, the OP asked who taught above the standard. My understanding is that none of the Fundies instructors are teaching above the Fundies' standards - rather that they are teaching exactly to the Fundies standard - that would violate the whole idea, no?

I'll even open it up to those who want to suggest fundies, though it has to be fundies+ somehow. Like in school, justify your answer.

Fundies+

:zen:

 

[Pullmyfinger]

Wait - I thought that GUE's charter was that they all taught to a standard, and that standard was higher than most others. However, the OP asked who taught above the standard. My understanding is that none of the Fundies instructors are teaching above the Fundies' standards - rather that they are teaching exactly to the Fundies standard - that would violate the whole idea, no?

I believe the point was that the GUE standard is higher that the standard taught elsewhere. Therefore it's "above standard", using the frame of reference the OP seemed to be coming from.

I could be wrong.

It would not be the first time.

-Mitch

 

[BluewaterSail]

Well, on the subject of Fundies, there are actually 2 levels, technical and recreational. Any particular class might have students trying for one or both. Its not unusual for someone trying for a technical pass to end up with a recreational pass and a list of things to keep working on. I have never seen a class listed as specifically for rec or tech, though.

I took fundies twice. Once was a mixed class, and the other only people hoping for a rec pass. There are some skills only required for a tech pass. In the rec oriented class those skills were only glossed over, more like demonstrated, and the time was spent on improving more basic skills. My experience might not always be the case, as each instructor needs to use his judgement how best to use the time towards the goal of student development.

So actually, there is a fundies+.

I find that GUE instructors listen carefully to what the goals of the students are. If someone wants "+" and they can define it, they will probably find a GUE instructor who will provide. Of course even a rec pass in fundies is so far above the average classes you see around, no more plus might be needed.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I'll try to address the OP's request for a list ... in this case for the NAUI Advanced Scuba Diver class I teach, which is above standards.

First, the philosophy ... I teach to class objectives, however long that takes. I set a schedule, but if we need to go beyond the schedule to meet objectives, we lengthen the class. Mastering a skill doesn't mean doing it once ... it must be done in a manner that's repeatable and looks comfortable. If that means doing the skill multiple times, that's what we do. If that means doing more dives, that's what we do.

My class consists, at a baseline, of 10-12 hours of classwork followed by six dives. The classwork has, in some classes taken as much as 16 hours, and I've done as many as 14 dives, depending on the student, to meet class objectives.

The class material comes from a handbook that I wrote, along with another instructor who used to be NAUI and now teaches for UTD. It goes in-depth on the topics of dive planning, gas management, buoyancy control/trim, propulsion, and navigation. There are also sections pertaining to low-vis and deep diving which lead to in-depth discussions on how to plan and execute these types of dives. We also spend some time on search and recovery, but this is the one section where I think the NAUI materials did a reasonably good job, so we use the NAUI Advanced Scuba Diver materials for that part.

The dives are each skills-based, and there are no electives. There are six planned dives, each building on skills learned in the previous dives. If the objectives of a given dive aren't to my satisfaction, we repeat that dive until they are. The dives focus heavily on navigational techniques, learning how to measure your gas consumption under different conditions, and how to apply that to planning how much gas you'll need for a given dive. All skills are done while hovering ... one dive is done completely mid-water, where the bottom is not visible and you must maintain a specified depth while navigating a course ... one buddy monitoring depth and time while the other uses the compass to plot the course. The students learn and practice DSMB deployment, how to use lift bags to raise an object from the bottom, how to use a reel to perform certain types of search and recovery patterns, and how to build a "mental map" during a dive for navigating back to your starting point after a complex dive. Prior to the deep dive the students must work from a dive plan to calculate how much gas they'll need for the dive, and after the dive we calculate how much they actually used and compare it to their predicted usage ... which leads to a discussion about what factors can impact your gas usage that you may not be able to predict ... and what to do if you should encounter them. The "narcosis test" is an OOA scenario ... to test how you would respond to a worst-case situation at 100 feet.

By the time this class is over, students will have learned how to research a dive site, plan a dive based on conditions and profile while assuring appropriate equipment and gas supply, execute the dive as a buddy team that knows how to position themselves and communicate well together, descend without touching the bottom, manage their buoyancy during the dive, ascend comfortably while holding stops wherever and for as long as they please, navigate well enough to find their way back to their entry point ... even in very low visibility conditions, deploy an SMB at depth and manage the line while ascending, and perhaps most importantly ... manage a task-loading situation while maintaining their awareness of what else is going on around them.

It's a challenging class. I've been teaching it this way for about eight years now and have yet to hear anyone complain that they didn't get their money's worth ... the class currently costs $400.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)