DIR- GUE Fundies in Mexico

[crofrog]

FWIW, I've reached out to Stretch Altenhein to take Fundies February 17-21 in High Springs. If I'm accepted we'll be looking for a teammate or two...

Stretch is an amazing human and diver.

 

[the_one_who_waits]

I just got back from a week of training with Laurent. I'm returning in mid October for some more training and, hopefully a tech upgrade. The shop is great, the people friendly. They have nice rooms and a cafe onsite. Laurent is a great instructor.

Another plug for Laurent. He is a stellar instructor and epitomizes GUE

 

[ScubaSamScubaStevesFather]

Home » Third Dimension Diving

www.thirddimensiondiving.com

You’ll never hear a bad word about the group at 3D. You’ll walk away with excellent skills and a group of people you’ll want to go back and see over and over again.
We met Kelvin 12 years ago when he was stuck doing some guided dives with us through Protec. We’ve been good friends with him and his wife Anabel since. He is an honest instructor. When you suck he will be honest and tell you in a way that’s motivating and makes you want to be better. You don’t want an instructor who’s a cheerleader. You want someone who is equally willing to tell you exactly what you’re doing both right and wrong.
I know I cant say enough good things about everyone there and I have a suspicion you will hear the same from others.
Clearly zero gravity is an option but over the years it’s become a sterile, non inviting place to go. You will not be treated poorly there and you will get exceptional instruction. But there’s a clear reason so many people are choosing 3D over zero g. It’s just the personal touches and friendly environment that makes 3 d different than zero g. Don’t take that as me speaking poorly of zero g. It’s just not the same place it was 10 years ago imo.

Just wrote a huge response disagreeing with this post mostly, but then decided I don't want to risk doxxing myself so I deleted it (I might train with them again). All I can say is:
1) I didn't train w/ Kelvin
2) I did more than just a short course
3) The training was some of the best I ever had, but the comment about "when you suck [they] will be honest with you" is absolutely true and the comment "in a way that's motivating and makes you want to be better" is definitely not true, in my experience.

There is a huge difference between mature, professional, constructive criticism and tactless, overly-emotional and frustrated feedback. The icing on the cake was being nickel-and-dimed like 10-15 bucks after spending a considerable money...

Takeaway here is 3D is excellent training but you should be tough skinned and able to handle difficult personalities. Personally, I'll be checking out a different GUE-influenced shop next time I'm in Tulum.

 

[crofrog]

2) I did more than just a short course

Was it fundies I feel like just a few weeks ago you were posting about getting ready for fundies?

 

[Lorenzoid]

The icing on the cake was being nickel-and-dimed like 10-15 bucks after spending a considerable money...

Although I enjoyed my week of fun-diving with 3D, I didn't care for 3D's pricing structure. On the last day we had to go through a long list of items (in electronic form that was tough on my old eyes--no printout available) to check that the total was correct, and there were a couple of errors or disagreements we had to work out with Anabel. Nevertheless, the total worked out to what we expected.

 

[ScubaSamScubaStevesFather]

Was it fundies I feel like just a few weeks ago you were posting about getting ready for fundies?

No. Haven’t done fundies yet. I did post earlier about drysuit vs wetsuit. Likely will do wetsuit in Tulum and will check out ZG

 

[rddvet]

Just wrote a huge response disagreeing with this post mostly, but then decided I don't want to risk doxxing myself so I deleted it (I might train with them again). All I can say is:
1) I didn't train w/ Kelvin
2) I did more than just a short course
3) The training was some of the best I ever had, but the comment about "when you suck [they] will be honest with you" is absolutely true and the comment "in a way that's motivating and makes you want to be better" is definitely not true, in my experience.

There is a huge difference between mature, professional, constructive criticism and tactless, overly-emotional and frustrated feedback. The icing on the cake was being nickel-and-dimed like 10-15 bucks after spending a considerable money...

Takeaway here is 3D is excellent training but you should be tough skinned and able to handle difficult personalities. Personally, I'll be checking out a different GUE-influenced shop next time I'm in Tulum.

Sorry to hear that. I’ve honestly never heard a negative from anyone I know who’s used them. I’d be interested to hear more, but respect you not wanting to bad-mouth them here.
No judgement on my end. Every person and instructor have individual personalities and not all personalities work well together. Even though I have never had any negative feelings about how my diving was assessed, that may not be the same for all people. I will be honest one friend took a course us and it was their first time at 3d or meeting any of them. They didn’t perform well initially in the class and felt talked down to. The two of us that were also in class disagreed and explained to the person that the instructor was being direct and straightforward with them. But they should not be afraid to ask more questions or talk with the instructor. To be honest it was this person’s first step into the technical world and I think the big issue was coming from the ow world they weren’t used to being told directly what they had done poorly and how to fix it. After that conversation with the two of us that were also in he class, the other person saw the critiques of performance in a different light and has been back and taken multiple courses there. Not saying it’s your case, but sometimes the step into the technical work can be stressful and if you’re hard on yourself, sometimes constructive criticism looks more like rudeness than being constructive. That was the case with my co-student.
Feel free to message me if you like. I love everyone at d3 but everyone is different, so no judgement and I would not share any of it with anyone. I will say that there is a newer instructor working with d3 I met for the first time last month and know nothing about. Seemed like a nice guy but I simply said hello to him for a couple of minutes. So it’s possible you had him. No idea, but sorry to hear you weren’t super happy

 

[rddvet]

Although I enjoyed my week of fun-diving with 3D, I didn't care for 3D's pricing structure. On the last day we had to go through a long list of items (in electronic form that was tough on my old eyes--no printout available) to check that the total was correct, and there were a couple of errors or disagreements we had to work out with Anabel. Nevertheless, the total worked out to what we expected.

I’ll be honest this year was the first time I experienced the new tracking system. It left some room for improvement in my mind. I think it’s been instituted due to them becoming more popular and having more divers in and out. A lot of us get keys to the facility and can come and go as we please, so it works well for people who never see Annabelle or another staff member to insure things aren’t missed. But it isn’t an awesome system to be honest.
I’ve never felt nickel and dimed though. But I also rarely look at the bill and tend to leave a substantial tip

 

[rddvet]

There is a huge difference between mature, professional, constructive criticism and tactless, overly-emotional and frustrated feedback.

On a side note there is an instructor in MX (not-gue) that is one I refer to as a Kave Kardashian, super popular on the internet, everything you read is nothing but sunshine and roses. This particular instructor is very busy due their internet personality. I personally would never take their class after years of seeing their classes at dive sites. In particular during my most recent trip to MX this particular instructor was laying into a student, belittling the student, saying their spouse (who wasn't present or in the class) was a liar, and just generally being a complete a-hole. I could also tell the student was a very huge pain in the a-- that potentially deserved it, but the instructor should have handled it much better.
Point is there are so many factors at play when you are connecting differing personalities in a very stressful class/environment. You will only know how you will mesh with an instructor after spending time with them.

 

[h2o_hamilton]

Sorry to hear that. I’ve honestly never heard a negative from anyone I know who’s used them. I’d be interested to hear more, but respect you not wanting to bad-mouth them here.
No judgement on my end. Every person and instructor have individual personalities and not all personalities work well together. Even though I have never had any negative feelings about how my diving was assessed, that may not be the same for all people. I will be honest one friend took a course us and it was their first time at 3d or meeting any of them. They didn’t perform well initially in the class and felt talked down to. The two of us that were also in class disagreed and explained to the person that the instructor was being direct and straightforward with them. But they should not be afraid to ask more questions or talk with the instructor. To be honest it was this person’s first step into the technical world and I think the big issue was coming from the ow world they weren’t used to being told directly what they had done poorly and how to fix it. After that conversation with the two of us that were also in he class, the other person saw the critiques of performance in a different light and has been back and taken multiple courses there. Not saying it’s your case, but sometimes the step into the technical work can be stressful and if you’re hard on yourself, sometimes constructive criticism looks more like rudeness than being constructive. That was the case with my co-student.
Feel free to message me if you like. I love everyone at d3 but everyone is different, so no judgement and I would not share any of it with anyone. I will say that there is a newer instructor working with d3 I met for the first time last month and know nothing about. Seemed like a nice guy but I simply said hello to him for a couple of minutes. So it’s possible you had him. No idea, but sorry to hear you weren’t super happy

Good post. It was a bit shocking to me in my fundies class how- let’s say “direct”- the feedback can be. Totally different than the OW SDI/PADI/NAUI (fill in the agency) world.