Ok so this guy calls me up and wants to learn to cave dive. I think OK and start to question his motives and his back ground experience. As I talk to him I learn that he and his buddy are not even certified as OW let alone going for full cave. I was amazed at this call, just dumb founded to some degree
Actual Call
So in a short answer My response at that point in time goes something like this:
GDI: Sir, Did I hear you right? You want to be a cave diver and have yet to even learn the basic skills of the sport? You are not a certified scuba diver as of yet and want to do this all in three days?
(pause, deep breath)
Ok Sir it is not going to happen. Cave diving instruction does not happen in this fashion. If you can find an instructor who says they can do it please let me know because I guarantee they will not be teaching it much longer. I do not even teach basic open water classes in three days because I think students need more time to develop then what a three day wonder class can do. A cave class even if you were a certified open water diver would at best take a full eight ( count them= 8) days and that would be only if you had your act completely together. The equipment costs alone are very high, in the thousands of dollars.
Customer: We can do this we are told it takes only three days to learn to dive and we want to learn to cave dive at the same time.
GDI: Sir, NO it's not going to happen because of our standards and procedures. If you want to learn to scuba dive at the basic level I will still take a full week training everyday as a minimum and then we will see if you are anywhere near ready to start to learn to cave dive, I'd say don't count on it.
Customer: Ok I'll find someone else you don't seem to be the instructor I would want.
##*&$!
GDI: Good bye Sir
Now I have placed this here in this forum to point out that each level of diving takes time to learn, correctly. Also to make the point that some people see things on TV or somewhere and think that this is really cool and they want to do that. Diving is not like going out and getting fast food, skill and knowledge mastery, true mastery, takes time and practise. Please take your time to work on your skills and progress/advance smartly. The different agencies at all levles have standards and procedures. Each instructor has their own expectations of those standards and procedures. It appeared that this individual wants to be certified and may have called other cave instructors to which I am sure, had this occurred, the answer and the end result was the same.
The best thing you can do, is find a instructor who will discuss those standards and procedures with you and what the expectations are. Then attempt to match those expectations with your plan to become certified. This instructor should not be willing to just hand out a c-card just because you paid him for a scuba course. So when you are out there talking with your uncertified buddies tell them not to rush it. AS you plan your dive and dive your plan you should also plan your dive training and train to your plan.
In the interest of safety and my expectations I have no problem saying NO to students. But then I'm a ##*&$!
I'm still shaking my head
Actual Call
So in a short answer My response at that point in time goes something like this:
GDI: Sir, Did I hear you right? You want to be a cave diver and have yet to even learn the basic skills of the sport? You are not a certified scuba diver as of yet and want to do this all in three days?
(pause, deep breath)
Ok Sir it is not going to happen. Cave diving instruction does not happen in this fashion. If you can find an instructor who says they can do it please let me know because I guarantee they will not be teaching it much longer. I do not even teach basic open water classes in three days because I think students need more time to develop then what a three day wonder class can do. A cave class even if you were a certified open water diver would at best take a full eight ( count them= 8) days and that would be only if you had your act completely together. The equipment costs alone are very high, in the thousands of dollars.
Customer: We can do this we are told it takes only three days to learn to dive and we want to learn to cave dive at the same time.
GDI: Sir, NO it's not going to happen because of our standards and procedures. If you want to learn to scuba dive at the basic level I will still take a full week training everyday as a minimum and then we will see if you are anywhere near ready to start to learn to cave dive, I'd say don't count on it.
Customer: Ok I'll find someone else you don't seem to be the instructor I would want.
##*&$!
GDI: Good bye Sir
Now I have placed this here in this forum to point out that each level of diving takes time to learn, correctly. Also to make the point that some people see things on TV or somewhere and think that this is really cool and they want to do that. Diving is not like going out and getting fast food, skill and knowledge mastery, true mastery, takes time and practise. Please take your time to work on your skills and progress/advance smartly. The different agencies at all levles have standards and procedures. Each instructor has their own expectations of those standards and procedures. It appeared that this individual wants to be certified and may have called other cave instructors to which I am sure, had this occurred, the answer and the end result was the same.
The best thing you can do, is find a instructor who will discuss those standards and procedures with you and what the expectations are. Then attempt to match those expectations with your plan to become certified. This instructor should not be willing to just hand out a c-card just because you paid him for a scuba course. So when you are out there talking with your uncertified buddies tell them not to rush it. AS you plan your dive and dive your plan you should also plan your dive training and train to your plan.
In the interest of safety and my expectations I have no problem saying NO to students. But then I'm a ##*&$!
I'm still shaking my head
