I definitly took it upon myself and went beyond my instructor. I had a pretty strange OW class in that the instructor that I had is used to being one of the only instructors who works at a very popular lake where lots of people come to learn how to dive, and he is IN IT FOR THE MONEY!!! If you can walk through the door, write a check, swipe a credit card, or have cash you are going to become a certified OW diver and damn fast. Fortuneatly we had a divemaster that was great and he at least made sure that nobody died, and would actually spend time with people who had problems and try to help them. I started off diving the way nobody EVER should, that is I let friends of mine who were divemasters teach me on the fly since I was the one who had a boat. I always begged them to take me down with them, so they insisted that I read the OW book and did the knowledge reviews,then they threw some gear on me and WaLa--Babtism by fire! This is stupid and I know it, but none the less I did it out of ignorance. So then after diving for a couple of months I figured I had better get certified so I could get air fills by myself and when I took the class I already knew how to dive, even though what my divemaster buddies did was probably stupid, they did however teach me how to dive very well before I ever took the class so I had no problems at all, however, some if not most of the other people in the class were unbelievably uncomfortable in the water, let alone scuba gear, and I have no idea how in the hell these people passed the class. This is what made me decide to go for my divemaster cert. and after I get the experience with that I am going on to become an instructor. In my opinion it should be criminal the way my instructor taught the class, and I reported this in a long letter to the agency he is certified with, and believe it or not it is not the one everybody is probably thinking, however I got no response. IMO every diver should take it upon themselves to continue to study and learn on their own, and when they can or if they can afford it they should further their training at least to rescue even if they are only rec divers who don't dive much. This is also why I think you should pick your instructor very carefully and do things such as purchasing training manuals and reading them before you even try to find an instructor, so that you will at least be familiar with what everybody is talking about, and don't be afraid to pick their brains, if they laugh at your questions or seem bothered by them then run the other way. Don't just pick the instructor who is closest to your house, check around, and call around, hang out around dive shops and ask customers who taught them and what they thought. I'm sorry I got off on a rant and I know this is probably not the kind of answer you were looking for, but I just saw it as an oppurtunity to share my thoughts and opinions. And that is exactly what they are, my opinions, and I hope they might help someone else.
