Wow - UnderSeaBumbleBee - you are LIGHTNING fast on the keys!
For everyone's benefit, the quick answers to your questions are below. You and I can chat via email or phone to handle more details and see if this is something your team of divers wants to do.
The minimum number is two students, but that puts their cost at $750 each. Three or four students is $500 each. My own maximum number of students is four. Some GUE instructors will take up to six (the agency max), but right now I like to give as much attention to each person as possible. The class runs four (full) days, so booking it is usually a matter of when the committed students can work it into their calendars. For my part, it can be any combination of days of the week. Usually it includes a weekend, but that is not a requirement on my end. Students must also pay for my travel, which is auto fuel or a plane ticket, lodging, tank fills, and admission to dive sites. For example, the three students in NC paid $125 each to cover travel. I would guess for me to come to SC it would be only a little more than that if I drove.
As for what to do to prepare, how many dives / what kind of experience to have, it really is basic. Anyone who has an open water certification can participate. In many cases, those with less dives/experience get the most out of it because they are less likely to have engrained problems that are hard to break. No advance in-water training is necessary; it is all reading and written exercise completion. Students must have their scuba equipment configured for the class; you can see the details by going to the bottom of the "Equipment" page on
my website.
Those who want to sign up should also be aware that good basic physical fitness is a requirement. Divers must be non-smokers, and their is a fitness evaluation in the form of a swim test (300 yards in 14 minutes or less to pass) and a 50 ft breath-hold swim.
I can answer more detailed questions for anyone via a PM to me.
Thanks for your interest, and again, let me know what questions I can answer to help anyone along their diving path.
