?? question on instructors??

[Fishkiller]

I have started going around town and talking wih different dive shops and instructors, mostly for fun. Than asked myself would I want to be taught by him or her? so I pose the question to you all. What do like or dislike about your past or present instructor??

 

[cherinere]

Patients is the main thing I would look for in a teacher, I learned out in FL. with a man who had the patients of a saint and would not of made it thru my open water without him. Cher

 

[Tavi]

Fishkiller,

The first time I met my current instructor, he was just closing up the shop. Four and a half hours later we left.
as our conversation went from one topic to the next he answered all of our questions and offered examples from his own experience.
I was Impressed by him being willing to spend this time with us. My wife, son and I have been going there since.
There are four shops within twenty minutes of my house.I wasn't impressed by any of them. We travel an Hour and fifteen minutes to the shop we like. I get the feeling that diving is a whole lot more than just a bussiness to these people, they are eager to share. I didn't get that feeling in the other four shops.
We plan on continuing our training there, it's worth the drive.

Tavi

 

[OceanSpirit]

My first instructor we nicknamed 'Andy the Terrible'. He was an absolute ogre above the water! The first thing he told us was A)they were called fins not flippers because flipper was a F*&^$£ dolphin and B)air came in cylinders, Russians came in tanks and whisky came in bottles. He was an ex Navy guy, you see. Woe betide any student who said the forbidden words!! It was an instant £1 fine which went into the apres dive fund for the pub later on. Mind you, once underwater, he was brilliant. Of course he used to regale us with tales of derring-do and high adventure to the point that some of us were wondering whether affixing limpet mines to warships was a PADI Speciality! (Now there's a thought).

 

[Aegir]

ROFL

 

[haggis]

Like it Ocean Spirit, like it a lot. Still don't get why people get frustrated by the whole fin/flipper thing though!

 

[The Chairman]

Hey All,

My first instructor was too friendly and not firm enough with standards. He let way too many people "slide" and took too many risks. My current instructor is very professional, and is an either you got it, or lets work on it together type. Friendly, but you still have to master the skills. I like that!

Pete from Orlando...

 

[OceanSpirit]

I guess we all will have stories and opinions about instructors but a novice naturally doesn't have the benefit of experience. One of the things that I personally try to advise people is not to learn to dive on holiday. There are three main reasons for this.

1) You have no idea how good/bad/impatient/skilled etc your instructor may be and you are stuck with them.

2)Training agencies will normally specify that a newly qualified diver 'may dive in waters as good as, or better than, those in which they trained'. So training in waters better than those available to you locally is technically not allowed. Supposedly-see below

3)Coming back from qualifying in Cozumel or wherever and diving in Stoney Cove can seriously impair your opinion of UK diving!

This is really temperate water area type opinion but I'm sure you'll get the gist.

 

[WetDane]

Well, I went to a lecture last night with some guys who dove on the Britannic in the Kea strait - 410 feet - these guys were talking about bottles of air (ok, trimix).
The way I figure it, if you got enough brass to get inside that wreck - you can call it bottles all you want - and I might just pick that up...

As far as instructors - just have a chat - it is impossible for a beginner to tell if the person knows what they are talking about - I listened to the language and how comfortable my instructor was talking about anything, I weeded one guy who didn't seem to be able to go throguh a sentence without profanity, not really diving related, but If I don't care for the person, chances are I'm not going to learn much either...

My 2¢ worth.
Terkel