Looking for instructor - Cavern/Intro to Cave - Mexico Nov 2010

[Qnape]

My daughter and I completed the cavern course with Dennis this April; I would recommend him to anyone seeking quality instruction. We gave up enjoying the caverns on a rec "tour" to learn how to properly dive there - we will be back again to dive the cenotes and and the sacrifice was well worth it for the knowledge we gained. Somehow, "rec" touring the cenotes with a cave certified guide while having little or no overhead experience ourselves did not seem wise to us, lol.

My only issue - has anyone contacted Dennis lately? We had a SNAFU processing our certifications with NACD, and his website (diablo divers) seems to be down/garbled. Not sure he is getting his emails. Any new contact infomation would be appreciated. Aside from completing the certifications, we will want to contact him when we return next year for some advice and guidance.

 

[TSandM]

There are, per my recent conversation with Debra Green, at least nine people awaiting cards which can't be processed due to missing paperwork. I don't know what's going on with Dennis, but he doesn't answer my e-mails or PMs from various sites, or pick up the telephone, either. It's very frustrating. This has been going on since November, and I even spoke to him in person about it when I was down there in April.

 

[ucfdiver]

There are, per my recent conversation with Debra Green, at least nine people awaiting cards which can't be processed due to missing paperwork. I don't know what's going on with Dennis, but he doesn't answer my e-mails or PMs from various sites, or pick up the telephone, either. It's very frustrating. This has been going on since November, and I even spoke to him in person about it when I was down there in April.

What on earth did he have to say for himself?

What paperwork is missing? When you completed full cave didn't you get a copy of your paperwork? IIRC the NACD's paperwork is a 2 page form like a receipt, where the ink goes through....

 

[Qnape]

What on earth did he have to say for himself?

What paperwork is missing? When you completed full cave didn't you get a copy of your paperwork? IIRC the NACD's paperwork is a 2 page form like a receipt, where the ink goes through....

As for me, my daughter and I took NACD Cavern with Dennis. No, we did not get a copy of our paperwork at the time, which was obviously a severe error on my part - i simply never thought of this. I have 2 emails in to him, and trust he will respond when he works out whatever is happening - his website also seems untended at the moment. In any case I am leaving for a week and will try again to reach out for him upon my return. As for his instruction - I was certainly impressed, and feel we learned a lot. We worked hard and made good progress; we feel confident that we made a good decision in working with him. His strict but patient style worked well for us; in talking with a few others we feel he demanded more of us than strictly required for cavern but we are not complaining. The paperwork for me is secondary as we will not be moving on to cave in the near future but merely wanted to gain the skills to dive the cenotes safely and confidently as we travel to the area with some regularity. He advised us in any case to dive the caverns for some time, gain experience and work more on skills before considering moving on.

That said, we worked hard, and my daughter especially wants her card, lol.

 

[Scuba Video Services]

Hola Andreas,
just spent a week assisting Nando from Protec, during a cave course and I can only highly recommend him as a very, very good instructor.
He just received the prestigious rating of Tec Cave Instructor Trainer for IANTD and can be reached at protecplaya@gmail.com
Good luck with this Andreas

 

[rongoodman]

Nando is a good guy, glad to hear about his instructor upgrade. Assuming all goes well with Adv Nitrox/Deco Procs in Florida next month, I'm going to speak with them about doing the Tec version of Full Cave when I return in the spring.

 

[Scuba Video Services]

The guys at Protec are real good - very knowledgeable - and passionate about their job, real water dogs!
Both of them, Nando and Patrick are very active in the region, if they are not at work they are in a hole filled with water!

See you around then