Why did you do the course with your instructor?

[jbd]

Yep thats most of it. The material was good, but the training was severely lacking in quality. Like Mike Fererra said I have spent a long time learning on my own what I should have learned in the course. I'm out of the hole I was left in but I wonder how much better diver I could be or what level of training I could have by now if I had proper instruction in the beginning.

Hopefully I will soon be an instructor and I pray sincerely that I never let a student feel unsatisfied with the quality of the training I provide them.

 

[chiara]

I got hooked in Australia on a day on the Barrier, but didn't have time (and honestly money) to go through the course.

So I came home and a few months later was booked into the course.

The instructor was good in the pool, but a disastrous first try at my first certification open water dive made it impossible for me to ever dive with him outside a pool.

A few months later, out of incomprehensions with the macho attitude of the club (CMAS) I switched to PADI where some of the guys from the first club had gone too.

At the time, with very little experience, I was happy with the instructor with whom I took my AOW, now I have to reconsider, and it can't be just me, since he fled from Belgium because of serious financial problems.

Rescue I took in Egypt with someone who was 15 years my junior, at first I thought he was a bit too young, but he was good.

Nitrox was with someone I trusted as a friend, no problem with the course either.

Dive Master I asked the LDS, but before signing up I did some training in the pool and a couple dives to see if I was happy to become a pro through him.

It's a pity I cannot do my IDC (far into the future, January 2006) with him, anyway I would never do it in cold, dark murky Belgian quarries, the idea is to go back to where it all began, Australia!

 

[AliKat]

I was clueless! Had just gotten orders to Guam, and saw a poster in the Navy hospital where I worked in SOCAL offering a class on the nearby Marine Corps base. If I knew then what I know, PADI would have gotten a letter about that instructor.

When I did advanced on Guam, I didn't so much decide to do AOW and then look for an instructor, but ran into a really great instructor and decided to AOW.

 

[DennisW]

Walter was my instructor. He is thorough and patient. Since he is my brother, my wife and I got private lessons for the best price. Was I lucky, no, I know my brother very well and he will not short change a student, even when it's a freebie. All of his certified divers are trained well.

 

[KZMAN]

With my father a career Navy man, we always lived close to water. I grew up as a fish. I always knew other divers that would always take me out to dive, (illegally )Loan me gear, and keep an eye on me. I always wanted to get certified, but as I got older, my carreer, time, excuses, etc...kept me from it. Finally I had a vacation to Fla. coming up and I decided, this was the time. After some basic long distance research, I picked a place out of convience by location. This particular shop happened to rotate their instuctors on a weekly basis, which in my case was not good, as my initial instuctor was absolutly awesome, on my 3rd OW ocean dive, I could not equalize, due to an ear infection, which delayed my finish another 2 weeks. Now I had a new instructor, which was an 180* from the original. Fortunatly, I had completed 98% of my skills with the "Pro", that all I had to perform with this "new" one was navigation, which BTW, she forgot the compasses, so we faked it! . I basically, hung out while she delt with "her" class, very poorly, most of them could not complete the skills,(2 of them, had no clue, with problems, that I as a student help them to get through, while she rushed through, which one of them never could "Get It". But she signed everyone off no problem. But even with my little experience, I knew in my heart that at least 2 of her students, should never had been cert. at that time. Sorry!, for the book, but I just wanted to share that I experienced both ends of the spectrum, from the same shop. This proves that it is the individual, and not neccesarly the LDS!

 

[mtdivegirl]

One pony is SSI training the other is PADI..i opted for PADI..and thats where my selection process ended. My instructor is nice and seems patient but I have a number of friends who live out of state who are either instructors of DMs and the advice i get from them seems much more seasoned. I get the feeling that my instructor isnt as complete and that there are too many students in my class (10 students, 1 instructor and 1 dm).

 

[lobaugh]

I heard a commercial on the radio that our LDS was doing 2 for 1 lessons. We signed up because of that and went with whatever instructor was teaching for the weekend that worked best for our busy calendar.

 

[Louie]

When I did my open water dives, I picked the diveshop with the most prominent website. It was one-on-one with the instructor (good, personalised service - I thought). I had nothing to compare to so I did, I passed etc.
More than a year later (while doing another course at the same shop), I was told that the instructor with whom I did OW had been sacked - just a couple of months after I did the dives - for "overly-militaristic style" and generally poor methods.

Moral of the story: try to get some recommendations or advice before you buy.

 

[Welshman]

Like Mike N I was on holiday lying on a beach in Krabi and getting bored so I walked along the beach and spoke to the 3 dive shops with offices and signed my wife and I up for a try dive with the one instructor who inspired the most trust at first meeting. It was a good choice and he took me through my OW.

This year we were looking for a dive shop near our hotel and through researching their web sites and asking lots of questions went with the shop which was the most helpful in their replies. Again an excellent choice since their commitment to high quality service was apparent from their response to my questions.

 

[chiara]

Welshman,

whom did you dive with in Krabi?