Great Rescue Class

[akscuba]

Rainer and I just took a rescue class (7/27-7/29) from Rob (Dive-aholic) and Jen Neto of Southwest Scuba. The class was at Lake Pleasant in AZ, and we camped out there for two nights. When we got there Friday night, we went over two knowledge reviews with Jen, and then watched the first two sections of the video. Saturday and Sunday, we got up and did out of water work (knowledge reviews, discussion, final exam) in the morning when it was slightly cooler, and then spent essentially the rest of the day in the water, learning skills and running scenarios.

The class was amazing. It was just the two of us, so we had a 1:1 student-instructor ratio, with both Rob and Jen in the water with us almost all of the time. Also, since we were camping AT the class location, we got lots of hours of instruction (Friday 6-9pm, Saturday 8-5:30, Sunday 8-2) and spent a ton of time in the water. Even lunch breaks were class sessions, as we never knew when they'd throw another training scenario at us (nights, however, were for relaxing and hanging out). [We also mangaged to sneak in "fun" dives on Friday night and after the class on Sunday afternoon.]

Basically, we really recommend this class to everyone in the Florida area, since Rob and Jen are unfortunately moving there from AZ to be closer to the caves. Pass the word on, we're trying to let as many people as possible know just how great the course was.

 

[letsgodiving]

Where are they moving to?

 

[Rainer]

We can't recommend this class enough. Rob and Jen were a lot of fun to be around. They're very active divers (that is, they are divers who also happen to teach, not instructors who happen to dive), with great passion for diving. Both are friendly, encouraging, funny, and really worked hard to get us to do better. Furthermore, Jen and Rob both work in the medical field, which is a huge plus for a rescue class. They were able to answer specific questions that many instructors might not have had answers for due to their professional training.

Also, we really appreciated that they are technically trained (full cave, deco, trimix), which meant that they were using similar gear to us (BP/W, hog harness, long hose, etc), had similar attitudes about diving, and allowed us to conduct rescues of divers in both singles and doubles. I recently completed GUE-F, and this rescue class was a great follow up to that course. While Rob and Jen don't dive DIR, they basically have the same gear and roughly similar attitudes. Further, they were happy to have us dive DIR.

We drove a little over six hours from San Diego to do this course with them, and it was well worth the time and energy. I couldn't be more pleased with the instructors or the course format. We had a great time. I recommend this class without reservation.

 

[Rainer]

Where are they moving to?

I believe the Chipola area (North Florida).

 

[Dive-aholic]

Thanks for the kind words. We had a great time teaching the class and just hanging out with the 2 of you Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Since we've been diving and teaching, we've been fortunate enough to meet a few other couples who are as fanatic about diving as we are. We stay in touch with them by e-mail and phone. I think the same will happen here. And who knows...you two may end up moving to Florida in the future.....

letsgodiving, we're moving to the Marianna area, an hour from Panama City, 2 hours from Pensacola. We'll be teaching at Morrison, Mill Pond, Vortex, and probably Panama City Beach St. Andrews jetties. More sites may open up once we become familiar with them.

 

[shark.byte.usa]

Great Friends and Instructors, I'm gonna miss 'em .