Question for instructors!

[HamTrainChickenLaser]

People travel to dive places - including the Great Lakes, for training, for conferences, and for trade shows. I've known James since UTD was founded in 2006 or 7 ish

That's awesome, and I didn't realize that UTD went back that far.

It looks like your area has great places to dive as well; one of the very first cold water diving videos that I found on youtube was of the Port Hardy area.

 

[rjack321]

That's awesome, and I didn't realize that UTD went back that far.

It looks like your area has great places to dive as well; one of the very first cold water diving videos that I found on youtube was of the Port Hardy area.

He was one of the original ~12 UTD instructor corps along with some local buddies of mine. He has a lot of good passion for Great Lakes and cold water diving in general. Plus two+ decades of teaching experience in cold water. You couldn't ask for a better cold water transition.

I have no experience with the "scuba tuneup" course, that post-dates my UTD experience (I am a long expired never insured DM with them). In general I would say the UTD (online) course materials have always been solid and well crafted to me. They are never making excuses why something in the book dates from 1995.

 

[HamTrainChickenLaser]

I think all the member agencies adhere to this.

https://wrstc.com/downloads/01%20-%20Introductory%20Scuba%20Experience.pdf

So maybe he was trying to go above and beyond. I did tell him that it was prep for our open water and that we just wanted to get comfortable with the equipment and skills. He was a super-nice guy and it's hard to fault him for what happened, but then again I wonder if other instructors would have handled it differently. I don't know. I do know that one instructor said that the try scuba or discover scuba courses are just too fast-paced because of the very low price and that ends up causing issues when someone is struggling with a skill.

 

[HamTrainChickenLaser]

He was one of the original ~12 UTD instructor corps along with some local buddies of mine. He has a lot of good passion for Great Lakes and cold water diving in general. Plus two+ decades of teaching experience in cold water. You couldn't ask for a better cold water transition.

I have no experience with the "scuba tuneup" course, that post-dates my UTD experience (I am a long expired never insured DM with them). In general I would say the UTD (online) course materials have always been solid and well crafted to me. They are never making excuses why something in the book dates from 1995.

That is all good to hear. I didn't think that the PADI open water coursework was very impressive. Some passages were written by people who didn't really focus on trying to explain the concepts to someone who is completely unfamiliar with the topic. For an agency that certifies such a large number of divers, that's not acceptable.

 

[HamTrainChickenLaser]

I had to upload a picture because my Scuba Max lycra hood came today. I've informed my wife that I will be wearing that and my Shearwater Teric everywhere I go from now in- including in the airport. She laughed hard.

Wow it's just past midnight here in Ohio so that means we leave TONIGHT to drive to the aiport in Detroit to fly to Cancun. Wish me luck! I will report back on my experience.

I wake up crazy early in the morning to finish the currect batches of product that I'll deliver tomorrow afternoon, then just some last-minute packing. This is my first official dive vacation.