How to find a good instructor?

[gustavo_albuquerque]

Hello,

I'm a vacation diver (3 yrs but only ~30 dives). I have OW, AOW and Nitrox certs (PADI).
Now I want to be a more frequent diver. In the long run, maybe years from now, my goal is cave diving.

I need to improve my buoyancy, trim and propulsion skills. Then I took the PPB course last month and learned nothing, unfortunately. Very frustrating :/
Very very incomplete poor course. ~1h in class talking about weighting plus little more than 1h is open waters diving through hoops and some "Buddha" hover.

Seems that's a common sense here in the forum to "find a good instructor".

But I don't know how.

How can I know this or that instructor is actually good?
How can I find good instructors?

Those three certs that I have, its from three different dive shops, during my travels.
I never had contact with the instructors before the course. The dive shops sold the courses and assigned an instructor from their staff.


More info:
I live in São Paulo / Brazil. The nearest dive site from me is Ilhabela. A famous dive site in Brazil, a very beautiful island. But I have never dived there yet.

Does anyone who knows Ilhabela could recommend a good dive shop and/or a good instructor there?

Many thanks!

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Sergio R. Schirato is a GUE instructor in Sao Paulo: sergio.schirato@gue.com

His resume is as follows:

Professional

• Managing director of Daemon Investimentos
• Researcher at the laboratory of energetics and theoretical physiology of the Biosciences Institute of the University of Sao Paulo
• More than 20 years of experience in investment banking, F/X, derivatives and quantitative trading
• Active scuba dive instructor since 1998

Education

• BS in Business Administration, Pontifícia Universidade Católica, Sao Paulo - Brazil
• Graduate in Finance, Instituto Brasileiro de Mercado de Capitais - “IBMEC” (currently Insper)
• MBA jointly granted by New York University - Leonard Stern School of Business, London School of Economics and Political Sciences and HEC Paris
• Latu Senso post-graduate in Applied Math
• PhD, University of Sao Paulo (USP)

Diving Qualifications

• Scuba diver since 1988
• More than 3.000 dives
• GUE Fundamentals Instructor
• GUE Tech 2
• GUE Cave 2
• GUE DPV
• GUE Rebreather Diver / CCR Cave
• PADI Open Water Instructor
• NSS Full Cave Diver
• DAN BLS and Advanced Oxygen First Aid Instructor

Publications

• Heart rate variability changes as an indicator of decompression-related physiological stress, UHM 2018, VOL. 45, NO. 2
• Decompression: Revisiting old assumptions, Quest Magazine, VOL. 20, 2019
• Association Between Heart Rate Variability and Decompression-Induced Physiological Stress, Front. Physiol., 11:743.
• Heart Rate Variability: What it is and Why it Matters, InDepth (Heart Rate Variability: What it is and Why it Matters), 8/03/2020

Languages

• English
• Portuguese
• Italian - good understanding

GUE instructors are known for teaching quality trim, buoyancy and propulsion courses and he has the cave diving background to help you reach your goal.

 

[evandroairton]

Hello,

I'm a vacation diver (3 yrs but only ~30 dives). I have OW, AOW and Nitrox certs (PADI).
Now I want to be a more frequent diver. In the long run, maybe years from now, my goal is cave diving.

I need to improve my buoyancy, trim and propulsion skills. Then I took the PPB course last month and learned nothing, unfortunately. Very frustrating :/
Very very incomplete poor course. ~1h in class talking about weighting plus little more than 1h is open waters diving through hoops and some "Buddha" hover.

Seems that's a common sense here in the forum to "find a good instructor".

But I don't know how.

How can I know this or that instructor is actually good?
How can I find good instructors?

Those three certs that I have, its from three different dive shops, during my travels.
I never had contact with the instructors before the course. The dive shops sold the courses and assigned an instructor from their staff.


More info:
I live in São Paulo / Brazil. The nearest dive site from me is Ilhabela. A famous dive site in Brazil, a very beautiful island. But I have never dived there yet.

Does anyone who knows Ilhabela could recommend a good dive shop and/or a good instructor there?

Many thanks!

In Ilhabela i would recommend Leonardo Taboada, but there are some real good instructors near you send me a PM, and i can help you

 

[gustavo_albuquerque]

send me a PM

Oh, I'm too new here in ScubaBoard, the site doesn't allow me to send direct messages until I have 5 public posts.
Can you start a PM with me?

 

[Mergulhador do Delray]

In São Paulo, you can contact SCAFO ABC. They are in Santo Andre, so that might be a bit far They have some good instructors (Edu, Rafa and Luiz come to mind). Scafoabc - Scafo ABC. Scuba Point is in Lapa. I don't know any of the instructors there, but I do know one of their dive masters and someone else who has trained with them. The latter is now quite an accomplished cave and tech diver. Home - Scuba Point.