British Expert Bashes Padi

[Scuba Laura]

Being a dive shop owner and operator, I hear it all, I see it all. The bashing - from all sides. It never ceases to amaze me. It all comes down to individuals taking their own responsibility AND it takes an Instructor to stress that. I do worry about some of the Instructors out there teaching. I've had "advanced" divers on my boat who have NEVER done a giant stride.

We take our business very serious. We are PADI, and I do have to emphasize that PADI did train us to always be prepared for that one "unfortunate situation". Although we always ask what an indivuduals experience level is, it really means nothing to us, until we actually see them in the water. Everyone is "Jack" until they are in the water. We know that some people tend to strectch the truth, even lie. But, it is our responsibility as operators to protect them from not only the waters, but from themselves.

When we do OW and AOW, we treat our students as if they were one of my family members. How terrible would I feel if I sign off on someone without the proper training to find out something terrible happened to them later on??? It's not about the money, it's about the love of diving.

I don't have to allow anyone on one of my dive charters. Just last week we pulled up to the cruise ship dock to pick up a customer. After waiting for an hour and 10 minutes this person showed up with a beer in hand. My captain went livid. He denied him on the boat. This person said he only had a couple of sips and he was ok to dive. It didn't matter to my captain, as we know, the truth is stretched, and is it worth the benefit of the doubt? Heck no. Go drink your beer buddy and have a very nice day. I don't need your money that bad!

People need to be responsible for themselves. We tell our students that in class, we tell our guests that on our boats. It's common sense people. Naui, SSI, Padi, all say the same thing. We're in this for the same reason (I hope), for the love of diving.

 

[altitudemike]

Scuba Laura you are exactly what I was talking about earlier on this thread. You sound like you still have the passion & love of diving as well as teaching. I went to a few dive shops here in Alberta before I found one that saw me as more than a paycheque.

 

[TheHobster]

I, for one, don't think that what we need is a hard class or even a very long class. What worked well for me was a VERY different class.

When more of the basic mechanics of diving is taught earlier, it all goes easier on the student and the instructor, in my experience. Nor pushups, running or miles and miles of swimming...just learning buoyancy control, the mechanics of trim, gas management, midwater skills done as a buddy team and so forth before going to open water. All that might sound hard to some divers but it isn't when they are taught how. It's just that most classes don't teach it and standards certainly don't require it.

So, not harder material, just different material that makes diving easier, NOT HARDER.

True, very true - are you saying that these skills are not being taught correctly? I have been in this long enough to know that not all instructors do everything they are supposed to, or they skip something that the next person finds important. That means when we get them as AOW that we need to remediate that if necessary. I find the biggest problem is with wetsuits. We teach with 3mm shorties in the pool. Buoyancy is fine; then we do OW with 7mm farmer john/janes and the control goes to hell real fast. In my classes we try and create an environment where we can simulate a "real" diving situation; however, it's a pool and that is sometimes not possible -

Another point, someone made a comment in this competitive world you must meet the challenges and if competitors are offering shorter classes, the you need to as well. Well, that is incorrect. While not a fan of the Y and it's standards, a Y shop in Muncie is the survivor vs a PADI shop. Both had been there a long time, but the 8 week class was not a turn off and they have thrived. So people do not just look at length of class, or price, etc. they actually do look at perceived value as well - hard to believe in the Wal Mart world of ours