Hi,
I wanted to provide some feedback from a truly excellent experience in the Caribbean for all those who may be "DIR inquisitive". Also, I wanted to take the time to thank Doc Intrepid for answering my endless questions and providing me with information that I am sure he has been asked hundreds of times before.
I just returned from a week's vacation in Bonaire with my wife, my brother and his wife, and a cousin. My brother just completed his OW course 2 weeks before here in the PNW and the rest of us were already pretty active divers from OW qualified (cousin) to Instructor (me). Last summer I started asking questions about just what DIR was and then I found SB and everyone on the board was absolutely fantastic providing me the information I was looking for. I knew we were travelling to Bonaire in the coming months and found a solitary GUE instructor there. I asked what people on SB thought about taking the Fundamentals course in Bonaire and most people thought it would be better to take it here in the PNW in diving conditions similar to what I dive in regularly. I registered for the next available course I could find. In the meantime, I also met some of the local DIR community and started to dive with them. This absolutely convinced me that I was headed down the correct path.
Enter my trip to Bonaire and meeting the GUE instructor, Benji Schaub. After my experiences with DIR trained divers here, I knew I wanted my brother and cousin to be introduced to GUE training. My brother's 6th dive in his life was an intro to DIR class where I got him out of his brand-new BC jacket and into a BPW and long hose. With no bad habits or muscle memory developed, his response was "where do I sell my jacket BC". My cousin was buying all new equipment and just before he did, he took my advice and showed up in Bonaire with a BPW. We met Benji and right away, his passion for instruction and the GUE/DIR approach to diving was very clear. We arranged to take an "intro to DIR" dive and what I expected would be a 30 minute dive began with a 1 1/2 hour presentation including whiteboard and equipment demo. Then we fitted my brother and my cousin with their BPW and after some more surface demonstration, we found ourselves in 10' of 81 degree water.
The next 45 minutes were probably the most valuable 45 minutes of my scuba life to date (since 1982). Benji demonstrated and we attempted. It was pretty amazing to watch my brother, with so little experience, take to frog kicking and proper trim like a real champ. I really wish that this sort of example could be set for all OW students so that they could see what they could accomplish if they wanted to try. I was familiar with most of the skills (based on my diving with DIR divers here) but I actually think I was actually starting to move backwards when I tried to
. I spent the next two afternoons in the water with Benji and continued to work on basic propulsion and buoyancy even more. I used to think I had my act squared away, but I decided to pretty much break down everything back to basics and start from the beginning. I think my brother and cousin had that part a little easier with no learned bad habits to correct.
I can't stress enough how valuable the time spent with GUE instructor Benji Schaub was for all of us. I watched my brother go from absolute nervous newbie to someone who appeared calm and collected in the water and you would never have guessed as to his experience level.
My DIRF class starts next week and I am very much looking forward to it. My brother and cousin have no real plans to dive cold water but we have already made plans to travel back to Bonaire this summer so they could take the complete DIRF course with Benji. If anyone has anyone truly wishes to increase their diving skill level, dive with some DIR trained divers. If that example doesn't help you then I don't know what will. If you want a sunny warm vacation and don't see cold water, wrecks, or caves in you future, and you want to glide over tropical reefs effortlessly, plan your next vacation to Bonaire and take the dive with Benji. But make sure you leave enough time to arrange a DIRF course on the same trip, or you will also be heading back to Bonaire.
Thanks again to everyone who has patiently answered my questions, and especially to Doc Intrepid. Stand by for a DIRF class report. Hope I don't &$*&@ the pooch too badly in the class next week
I wanted to provide some feedback from a truly excellent experience in the Caribbean for all those who may be "DIR inquisitive". Also, I wanted to take the time to thank Doc Intrepid for answering my endless questions and providing me with information that I am sure he has been asked hundreds of times before.
I just returned from a week's vacation in Bonaire with my wife, my brother and his wife, and a cousin. My brother just completed his OW course 2 weeks before here in the PNW and the rest of us were already pretty active divers from OW qualified (cousin) to Instructor (me). Last summer I started asking questions about just what DIR was and then I found SB and everyone on the board was absolutely fantastic providing me the information I was looking for. I knew we were travelling to Bonaire in the coming months and found a solitary GUE instructor there. I asked what people on SB thought about taking the Fundamentals course in Bonaire and most people thought it would be better to take it here in the PNW in diving conditions similar to what I dive in regularly. I registered for the next available course I could find. In the meantime, I also met some of the local DIR community and started to dive with them. This absolutely convinced me that I was headed down the correct path.
Enter my trip to Bonaire and meeting the GUE instructor, Benji Schaub. After my experiences with DIR trained divers here, I knew I wanted my brother and cousin to be introduced to GUE training. My brother's 6th dive in his life was an intro to DIR class where I got him out of his brand-new BC jacket and into a BPW and long hose. With no bad habits or muscle memory developed, his response was "where do I sell my jacket BC". My cousin was buying all new equipment and just before he did, he took my advice and showed up in Bonaire with a BPW. We met Benji and right away, his passion for instruction and the GUE/DIR approach to diving was very clear. We arranged to take an "intro to DIR" dive and what I expected would be a 30 minute dive began with a 1 1/2 hour presentation including whiteboard and equipment demo. Then we fitted my brother and my cousin with their BPW and after some more surface demonstration, we found ourselves in 10' of 81 degree water.
The next 45 minutes were probably the most valuable 45 minutes of my scuba life to date (since 1982). Benji demonstrated and we attempted. It was pretty amazing to watch my brother, with so little experience, take to frog kicking and proper trim like a real champ. I really wish that this sort of example could be set for all OW students so that they could see what they could accomplish if they wanted to try. I was familiar with most of the skills (based on my diving with DIR divers here) but I actually think I was actually starting to move backwards when I tried to
. I spent the next two afternoons in the water with Benji and continued to work on basic propulsion and buoyancy even more. I used to think I had my act squared away, but I decided to pretty much break down everything back to basics and start from the beginning. I think my brother and cousin had that part a little easier with no learned bad habits to correct. I can't stress enough how valuable the time spent with GUE instructor Benji Schaub was for all of us. I watched my brother go from absolute nervous newbie to someone who appeared calm and collected in the water and you would never have guessed as to his experience level.
My DIRF class starts next week and I am very much looking forward to it. My brother and cousin have no real plans to dive cold water but we have already made plans to travel back to Bonaire this summer so they could take the complete DIRF course with Benji. If anyone has anyone truly wishes to increase their diving skill level, dive with some DIR trained divers. If that example doesn't help you then I don't know what will. If you want a sunny warm vacation and don't see cold water, wrecks, or caves in you future, and you want to glide over tropical reefs effortlessly, plan your next vacation to Bonaire and take the dive with Benji. But make sure you leave enough time to arrange a DIRF course on the same trip, or you will also be heading back to Bonaire.
Thanks again to everyone who has patiently answered my questions, and especially to Doc Intrepid. Stand by for a DIRF class report. Hope I don't &$*&@ the pooch too badly in the class next week
