How many of you had bad instructors?

[Potapko]

I did my owd course last November. It is pretty cold here in November so I thought we might actually travel south for our first dives in open water. We did the classroom work in two sessions of 2 hours each, and the pool sessions in two sessions, 1 hour the first time and 1.5 the second. My first "4" dives consisted of: the first 2 took 20 minutes combined. Remember I said it is cold here in November? The water temp was around 40-45 and we had 5mm rental wetsuits. We went down, did the mask clear and removal..... after 8 minutes we surfaced. Went back down for another 10 minutes and completed the practice and left the water in a hurry. The second day was a near repeat with us completing the required tasks as soon as possible and getting out of the water before we froze. Visibility was around 6-10 feet, we were kneeling in 6" of silt at the bottom of the quarry. Welcome to Scuba!!!

I would like to hear from some of you others. Crazy as it seems. I couldn't wait to get back in the water and go again :11:
You know what they say: No Brain-No Headache

 

[scuba_frog]

I had my OW cert. last Oct. Air temp was 40, water was 58. I think we were underwater a total of an hour the first day (both dives) and a little shorter the 2nd day. BUT, we had 16 people taking the OW test that day with 2 instructors. Most of our time was spent waiting for our turn. We were playing tic-tak-toe with the divemasters on their slates. It did pass the time.

The course I took was from a local dive club that was giving at one of the high schools. It was a 5 week class. Each class had 2 hours of classroom and 2 hours of pool time. At the end of the 5 weeks, I was VERY comfortable underwater. So by the time we took the OW test, only a few had some real trouble.

I would say if you do not feel confident yet to do a dive, try to fond a neighbors pool and do some testing in it. Since my testing, I have done a few dives, two in Aruba (yes I found a dive buddy who agreed to be my buddy..it was actually a rescue diver from Kentucky...and yes I told him this was my first dive and he was ok wirth it...figured what better dive buddy to have than this) and a couple locally. Every time it gets easier. Always seems to be "challenges" every time I go out. Now I kind of expect the unexpected...no dive is perfect.

 

[Mo2vation]

I would like to hear from some of you others. Crazy as it seems. I couldn't wait to get back in the water and go again :11:
You know what they say: No Brain-No Headache

My OW shop (not defunct) in 1999 was one of those chop shop $99 gets you diving. What did I know - getting my cert was an impulse to surprise my wife with for her B-day (she was certified 10 years before.)

After a weekend of class and pool stuff, Sunday we went to LaJolla cover for the Ocean stuff.

It was surgy and viz wasn't great (La Jolla Cove? Nahhhh) It looked bad to me then, but in retrospect it was pretty mellow compared to some of the stuff we do everyday now.

We get there that morning and meet some older guy as we're gearing up on the grass. Turns out the guy who did the pool training (who was a completely different guy from the guy who did the "classroom stuff") wasn't going to be our ocean guy. So we're handed off again to some guy we've never met. We get down the steps, and manage to crash into the water and get out to the buoy.

Long story short, me and another student ended up pulling the fat, old, lame instructor up the sand. We didn't get in for the second set of skills, called it a day and about a week later our cards showed up.

If I hadn't met the SSI shop 3 years later I'd probably be dead. I learned essentially nothing from these clowns, except how to pull a geezer from the water.

My OW experience sucked.

K

 

[Seabear70]

My OW instructor stood back and watched me almost drown...

Twice.

Once during the ditch and don,

Once when verifyingthat I could find my octopus underwater with my eyes closed...

I survived, and continued on, not through his encouragement, but through grim determination.

 

[MikeFerrara]

This stuff is pretty incredible.

 

[Potapko]

If I hadn't met the SSI shop 3 years later I'd probably be dead. I learned essentially nothing from these clowns, except how to pull a geezer from the water.

My OW experience sucked.

K

This was great!
I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. 1 month after my OWD I went to Egypt and did my AOWD in the Red Sea. From 6 feet visibility to 60 was a nice change. I did the advanced course with a great instructor. Now I get underwater every chance I get.

 

[tndiveinstruct1]

This is not meant to be a troll, but just for my own personal edification:

What agencies did these instructors represent?

Did you report the instructor to the shop?

Was the instructor also the shop owner?

Did you receive a questionnaire after the course?

And if you did, did you send it back to the agency?


Like I said, this isn't meant to be a troll, but I am genuinely curious...

Randy

 

[SueMermaid]

I was certified with one other girl, Anne, back in 93. Anne had trouble clearing her ears, and was taking a long time to get down on the second dive of the checkout weekend. it took her a good 20 minutes to get to 40' on the first dive, but she did it and was fine. Our instructor apparently had someplace to go, so on the second dive, he grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her all the way down to the platform at 35'. She was in excruciating pain for the whole dive, but did her skills and bore it. She surprisingly did not sustain any ear damage, but did have a horrific ear infection and was not able to dive after that for months. She had to re-take her OW checkouts the next year.

 

[DennisW]

Sue, She should have found a shark and then cut the instructor. Now that would have been funny.

My instructor? Horrible. The only reason I didn't switch was that I got free instruction from him.

Actually, I've been very lucky to have a great instructor and many of you know who my instructor is/was. Walter will not let you do your open water dives unless you are ready. Most instructors either don't care or they don't have a clue. (This is not a troll, just a personal observation.)

 

[Iruka]

Whew! So far none of the messages are about ME, ha ha. About 20 years ago doing my AOW course, instead of doing the (then required) night dive, the instructor & other students basically agreed "it's cold out there at night, so if we go inside a shipwreck where it's dark, it's the same thing." So, my first "real" night dive came about 6 years later in Fiji.