Bad experience with PADI OW cert in Bonaire

[halocline]

I would sure think that there must be some really excellent OW instructors on Bonaire. I mean, the place is a Mecca for recreational diving, and conditions are fantastic for newish divers. The OP just needs to find one of these good instructors and pay him/her whatever the going rate is. Sorry that they got caught up in a less-than-ideal situation.

 

[Jake 10]

Contact Toucan Diving at Plaza Beach and Dive Resort. They have one-on-one instructors that are passionate about teaching.

Contact

Do you have a question or would you like to receive more information about diving, watersports or the marina, please feel free to contact us by phone, e-mail or use the form below. We will respond as

www.toucandiving.com

 

[BlackMargate]

We are now OW and EAN certified!
We were able to get a few dives under our belts, and were already so lucky to see a seahorse and a lettuce sea slug

In the end, we went with Ebby Jules (thanks @rmorgan !). Ebby is an incredibly talented teacher, and a really nice person to deal with; working with him ended up being a lot of fun, and we feel like we actually graduated with confidence in our skills. Some things that helped (several of which you suggested earlier in the thread):

• We started by practicing buoyancy and getting comfortable in the water column, which made us stable in place and made it much faster to practice the skills.
• With buoyancy under control, it was easier to diagnose issues we were having with the gear;
• Ebby was careful to choose reefs with low waves and low traffic for the initial CW exercises, which felt so much more comfortable;
• He was encouraging, mentoring, and adapted to our learning style. This was a huge contrast to the hurried, more rigid style we experienced before.

At the end of the day, it took roughly 4 lightweight days, with 90m in the morning and 90m in the afternoon. This is much less total time than the 3 full days format, even though it’s slightly less compressed on the calendar, but it did feel way more pleasant. The higher cost was well justified by the personalized pace, relaxed atmosphere, and the extra confidence we gained.

I would recommend anyone in our situation to get a few quotes for private instruction, or at the very least see ahead of time how a shop would handle time crunches; having DMs on the side for students that need more help, or being able to offer extra days of instruction (paid separately), etc, so one doesn’t have to just lose all their momentum (and progress and money) if things go sideways.

Thanks again for your leads, for the suggestion to get this resolved sooner so we could have closure, and all the general supportiveness and empathy! We look forward to many happy dives

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Great to hear. Thanks for the update!

 

[gbeasley]

Glad to hear you finally had a pleasant and successful training experience. Welcome to the underwater world. I've always heard good things about Ebby.

 

[Bookworm11]

I did my Scuba Dive certification in Cozumel. We did our basic stimulus in the pool, abandoned then did the dives in the open water. My second dive for Scuba Dive certification was just me and the DM!! There was never any kneeling. Then for OW, I used my local shop in CT and took private lessons for the pool work and did the class work online. Then I did the 2 remaining open water dives in Belize at Ramons Dive Resort alone with 1 DM. That worked really well for me!!

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hallelujah!!!

 

[BlackMargate]

Also, closing up the threads on gear issues from the earlier discussion:

• Bubbles coming up from the regulator into the mask. This was a combination of the regulator hose being too long (so pushing leftward on my mouth) and deforming my face, and the mask strap being too loose, so that bubbles hitting it broke the seal. I needed a substantial tightening of 2 inches of the elastic band before it stopped rattling under the “punching” action from the bubbles and it started directing the flow to the sides of my face. Getting a regulator with a shorter hose fixed the issue completely.
• Instability while kneeling on the seafloor. We were given weights that were uneven on the left/right side in the larger class, and distributing them evenly removed the roll we were experiencing. We also had 5mm boots (for our open-heel fins), which are very positive and don’t like staying on the bottom; a mix of improving our buoyancy control and being allowed to use positions other than kneeling fixed it.

All sorted out now

 

[tursiops]

Also, closing up the threads on gear issues from the earlier discussion:

• Bubbles coming up from the regulator into the mask. This was a combination of the regulator hose being too long (so pushing leftward on my mouth) and deforming my face, and the mask strap being too loose, so that bubbles hitting it broke the seal. I needed a substantial tightening of 2 inches of the elastic band before it stopped rattling under the “punching” action from the bubbles and it started directing the flow to the sides of my face. Getting a regulator with a shorter hose fixed the issue completely.
• Instability while kneeling on the seafloor. We were given weights that were uneven on the left/right side in the larger class, and distributing them evenly removed the roll we were experiencing. We also had 5mm boots (for our open-heel fins), which are very positive and don’t like staying on the bottom; a mix of improving our buoyancy control and being allowed to use positions other than kneeling fixed it.

All sorted out now

I happy you had a good experience. I hope you are reporting all this back to VIP to save the next victim.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

Sorry for your experience. There is a GUE training center in Bonaire. I would get in contact with Mr. G at Area9 Mastery Diving Center and get some proper training.

Proper training can be had from plenty of agencies other than GUE. And if your primary reason for diving is to have relaxed and fun recreational diving experiences in gear that you feel is right for you.....then GUE may not be your best option.