Looking for a good tech instructor

[Willdiveforhugs]

I have emailed them regarding schedule, excited to see if I can piece something together.

 

[Nick_Radov]

I would suggest you look at TDI instructors (rather than PADI). The progression for TDI is to take Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures concurrently. GUI does not allow sidemount and anything over 100 feet is supposed to be trimix. Unless you have excess cash burning a hole in your pocket, the price of helium can be eyewatering

GUE does offer sidemount training but it's more of a cave thing for specialized applications. It doesn't really make sense for entry level ocean tech diving conducted as part of an integrated team. Backmount doubles with a manifold give you more options and are logistically easier to manage on boats.

Cave Sidemount | GUE

www.gue.com

Diving deeper than about 100ft without helium is not a great idea, especially for newer divers. You need to be mentally sharp to absorb the training lessons and manage emergencies. We can argue about exactly where to draw the line, but as a training agency TDI continues to teach deep air courses to 180ft. There are certainly some excellent, safe TDI instructors out there but new tech divers seeking training should be cautious due to the irresponsible approach promoted by TDI leadership.

Yes, helium is expensive. So is the rest of tech diving.

 

[sheeper]

The community of true elite tech instructors is a pretty small world. So many instructors "claim" to be tech but have little to no practical experience outside of teaching and training. I would definitely go TDI.
That said, presuming that you don't want to come to Florida, i would recommend you look at Scuba Training and Technology in Lake Havasu, Arizona. Senior tech staff there are TDI Instructor-Trainers and evaluators at the highest levels in the industry.

Or come to Florida and we'll hook ya up!

 

[grantctobin]

That said, presuming that you don't want to come to Florida, i would recommend you look at Scuba Training and Technology in Lake Havasu, Arizona. Senior tech staff there are TDI Instructor-Trainers and evaluators at the highest levels in the industry.

And one of the difficulties of asking for this online, is that you get opinions like the above, and it’s generally impossible for the person asking the question to differentiate who is who and what excellent looks like. There are ITs in IANTD, TDI, and others that are a liability to the industry as a whole, both across the recreational and technical realm. Are some good? Sure.

 

[Boarderguy]

I've heard pretty good things about Ashley from Jade Scuba Diving is a good tech instructor. I have no experience with her other than interactions at dive sites and 2nd hand from friends that have dove with or been instructed by her.

 

[JohnN]

And one of the difficulties of asking for this online, is that you get opinions like the above, and it’s generally impossible for the person asking the question to differentiate who is who and what excellent looks like. There are ITs in IANTD, TDI, and others that are a liability to the industry as a whole, both across the recreational and technical realm. Are some good? Sure.

If only they had the purity of GUE ???

 

[JohnN]

GUE does offer sidemount training but it's more of a cave thing for specialized applications. It doesn't really make sense for entry level ocean tech diving conducted as part of an integrated team. Backmount doubles with a manifold give you more options and are logistically easier to manage on boats.

Cave Sidemount | GUE

www.gue.com

Diving deeper than about 100ft without helium is not a great idea, especially for newer divers. You need to be mentally sharp to absorb the training lessons and manage emergencies. We can argue about exactly where to draw the line, but as a training agency TDI continues to teach deep air courses to 180ft. There are certainly some excellent, safe TDI instructors out there but new tech divers seeking training should be cautious due to the irresponsible approach promoted by TDI leadership.

Yes, helium is expensive. So is the rest of tech diving.

So you're saying that no one should dive deeper than 100 ft without tri-mix?

 

[Boarderguy]

So you're saying that no one should dive deeper than 100 ft without tri-mix?

That's the GUE mantra... doubles and trimix for anything below 100

 

[lostsheep]

It doesn't really make sense for entry level ocean tech diving conducted as part of an integrated team.

SM works just fine UNLESS you’re going off of a boat.

SM is arguably better than doubles when the approach involves a slippery boat ramp or traversing an excessively steep beach. If you’re setting a float anyways for a deco bottle or a scooter, what’s one more trip?

I have zero idea what you are insinuating about negative impacts to a team approach. There’s absolutely nothing that prevents a team from adopting the same configuration and many SM divers seem to have adopted the Boegarthian method which emulates the standard BM configuration.

FWIW, I dive both and will be on my BM doubles this weekend; I just don’t like the FUD surrounding SM.

 

[Nick_Radov]

So you're saying that no one should dive deeper than 100 ft without tri-mix?

Divers can do whatever they like, and any specific depth limit is inherently arbitrary. We have decades of incident reports showing that there is a clear increase in risk in going much deeper than 100ft / 30m without helium.

For tech training (the subject of this discussion), students obviously can't learn effectively when they're anesthetized. Plus there are the issues with WOB and gas weight.