Trying to get my gal certified in Austin

[driftwood]

BullSharkGator,

To add a few answers to your questions to pvillestang:

UT instructors are not locked into UT, and many of us do teach on the side. riff.diving and myself both teach at Royal Scuba as well.

As for the choice between taking a shop class vs. the UT class:

pvillestang was completely right when he said your girlfriend will get only as much out of the course as she puts into the course. If she comes to class prepared and ready to learn then you can learn just as much from a well-run shop class as from the UT class. The only true difference is the pool we use at UT. By the time she gets to her open water dives she will already have done a number of dives down to 18ft. That being said having to commit to 3 months of class can be daunting for some, plus the cost of the UT class is easily double a shop class. All said you need to figure out what works best for you and most importantly what works best for your girlfriend. Please feel free to ask any other questions you see fit.

A very nice and honest answer! One question your girlfriend needs to answer. Will she have a better class through total immersion in two days or spread out over time?

One thing to add, do her first OP dives at San Marcos and the next at Travis. I personally feel that a diver need to go deeper than the lake in San Marcos allows to be certified.

 

[Joanna.Cordry]

As you've probably gathered by now, there are a lot of instructors in Austin. I've met and/or taken class from and/or have friends who have taken class from all of the instructors who have posted here or been recommended thus far (including Peter), and think they're all capable of doing a good job of teaching your girlfriend to dive safely. I've also never heard of any of them making women uncomfortable w/ excessive breast-eye contact, touching, or disrespect (yeah, these can be issues). AND, I completely agree that how much she gets out of her class depends on how much she puts into it.

That said, I personally think the most important issue is what does your girlfriend want/need from an instructor/class? How much or how quickly does SHE want to get certified? How comfortable is she in the water (this is HUGE), and how athletic is she? Would she prefer a class where she can take things slowly with an instructor who will provide kind nurturing/support/encouragement, or is she a "full speed ahead, damn the torpedos" kind of person? What are her motives for learning to dive - is it something she's "always" wanted to do, or does she want to dive just so she can spend time with you? Is she more interested in "social" diving, or does she think she might want to dive the Andrea Doria some day? Obviously, I'm presenting the extremes, and she's probably somewhere in the middle, but you get the point... An OW scuba class can be a wonderful experience, or it can be a nightmare, depending mainly on how good of a fit there is between student and instructor.