Eco Dive Center Bad Experience for New Diver
- Thread starter bellabubbles
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
OP
bellabubbles
New
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 1
SNorman:
I wondered if that sounded odd. It started above water while assembling. Then at the surface during surface skills. And when we went under water and he mocked me by imitation and pointing when it was my turn. By this point we then went to the surface. The degrading accusations had occured at the surface; however, I wanted to privately address the matter that I had indeed done my preparation. I hope that's more clear. FYI - I witnessed the same behavior while he was instructing another more advanced class when I went into the shop. I suspect it's a personality thing, which is why I felt compelled to prepare any new, hesitant divers. : )
im_a_piranha
Registered
Bella, I had a bad experience with Eco Dive Center as I took my OW class with them. I thought it would be fun at first but I was really stressed out on our first boat dive and at that point, I wasn't sure if diving was really supposed to be that stressful considering that you spend so much money on it. Eco Dive really does sometimes have a problem with saying different things, quoting different things and the like. Their prices could be cheaper but I guess they just always want to make that extra money. They're equipment is expensive (I know where I can get it cheaper now with some very good advice as the owner tells me if I'm wasting my money or not) and so don't buy it from them--which I doubt you will.
Now with their OW class, I have compared it to everyone else and I believe it's fairly reasonable since it is all inclusive and you get to do a boat dive with it I believe. I think it's a pretty good price.
Now, the instructors. I didn't like Ron at all as he is a very cocky guy and you're right, he can make fun of you right in front of the class. I can see that happening. He didn't make my dives that much fun and I was really stressed out the whole time whenever he taught. However, Beth and the others are pretty good instructors especially Brian as he is very very thorough. Sometimes new divers will have to realize that these instructors have a tough job of keeping everyone safe especially when there's a group of 10 people and 2 are shooting up, one is having ear problems etc. I totally understand where their concerns might come from. Back to the instructors, as I look back, only Ron really sucked (for lack of better term) and everyone else was good, but not great. Only Brian (so far) is great in that group. One thing I can tell you though, I think Eco Dive knows their stuff real well...they may not be the best business people but they know their stuff
With that said, though I could have had a better time for my OW class, I still thank Eco for certifying me coz now I know I won't ever go back there ever again and I can just keep diving with other clubs. It just gets more fun, I can guarantee you that Happy diving!
Now with their OW class, I have compared it to everyone else and I believe it's fairly reasonable since it is all inclusive and you get to do a boat dive with it I believe. I think it's a pretty good price.
Now, the instructors. I didn't like Ron at all as he is a very cocky guy and you're right, he can make fun of you right in front of the class. I can see that happening. He didn't make my dives that much fun and I was really stressed out the whole time whenever he taught. However, Beth and the others are pretty good instructors especially Brian as he is very very thorough. Sometimes new divers will have to realize that these instructors have a tough job of keeping everyone safe especially when there's a group of 10 people and 2 are shooting up, one is having ear problems etc. I totally understand where their concerns might come from. Back to the instructors, as I look back, only Ron really sucked (for lack of better term) and everyone else was good, but not great. Only Brian (so far) is great in that group. One thing I can tell you though, I think Eco Dive knows their stuff real well...they may not be the best business people but they know their stuff
With that said, though I could have had a better time for my OW class, I still thank Eco for certifying me coz now I know I won't ever go back there ever again and I can just keep diving with other clubs. It just gets more fun, I can guarantee you that
Happy diving!
im_a_piranha:
I wonder if instructors sometimes forget that? That the first boat dive is SUPER stressfull, at least it was for me. No particular reason, everything went fine, no problems. But as a new diver I dont know exactly what to expect.
Like "hey, strap on 40 lbs of stuff and jump off the boat, you'll be fine"
Yes, I KNOW that to be true, but having never DONE it and it looks like a long 3' to the water, I am feeling a bit stressed about it, so cut me some slack.
or "DOOD!!! DID YOU HEAR THAT BOAT!?!?! IT MUST HAVE BEEN RIGHT ON TOP OF US!"
yeah, not really.
Hapiguy314
Registered
First of all, "Hello!" to the SB Community. New poster as well but extremely addicted to the SB Forums (just don't tell my boss ).
I'm really sorry to hear about your experience, Bella. To some, Ron might come across as inconsiderate and obnoxious. However, I felt that instruction wise, he really is out for the student's best interrest. Unfortunately, there might be times where his "delivery" is lacking some tact, but there is a lot of good intent nonetheless.
From my experience, he really grilled me as well. I would ask simple questions that would probably require simple one-sentence answers but he would spin it around to make me think really hard about my question to the point that it almost feel that he was insulting my curiousity - as though I didn't read the material. However, the more I thought about it, I do appreciate that he really made me think of my own question that I ended up coming up with the answer to my own question. As far as the "getting narc'd" story, during my class - he addressed it more as something not to do since he started of his statement as "I was really stupid one time and ..." But we all know in the class that students get "narc'd" at certain depths and this is shown from his stories when he asked his students to do a puzzle at great depths and some could not pull it off
After our first dive on the way back, he also informed me of his concerns. He even went as far as I need more pool dives and he doesn't feel that I am ready for my second open water dive. I really felt that I knew the skills that was required of us at that time, but maybe, I wasn't able to exemplify this as well as I should. So during the week between our first weekend dive and the following weekend, I swam at the Culver City pool for four days after work (with and without mask/fins) and re-read my book. I made myself more aware of the things I need to always do in the water - controlled deep breaths, equalization, know when to inflate (a little when descending), and deflate (empty out and just fin when surfacing after the safety stop), and that my lungs were my best BCD. I really felt challenged and I think it's good to rise to the challenge - for me anyway. This is regarding our safety after all...
Some students may be repulsed with his approach and it's unfortunate. Furthermore, I'm not going to say that EDC do not have certain areas they can improve on (unfortunately, I had to purchase my gear elsewhere - I don't make 6 figures yet to not care how much I pay for my dive gear - although I wish I can support them, but at the moment, I have to be practical with $$ :shakehead ). But I really feel that he brought the best out of me and honed in on my skills that I needed to improve on. Coupled with Beth, Brian and the rest of the DM crew - I believe that EDC is one of the best schools in LA as long as you don't let your emotions get the best of you. Some schools would only have 1 instructor per 4-5 students. EDC will have 1 instructor plus 2-3 dive masters supervising every 3-5 students. I think that's amazing.
I love diving even more than I initially started. I'm always open to other forms of teaching and am currenlty signed up for my AOW at Malibu Divers. I just really want to have a broad experience in terms of instructions across the community. Maybe I'll try Sports Chalet for my Rescue Diver. I also heard a lot of good things about Hollywood Divers and it's even closer to my house. But who knows, maybe I'll cross paths with EDC again
Bottomline, I'm glad you continued to dive. It truly is an amazing sport/activity. More kudos for you being able to find a suitable instructor you can enjoy your classes with. I'm doing quite a few beach dives lately as trips to Catalina can be a bit too pricey when done every weekend. Unfortunately, last weekend's beach dive at Veteran's park was like brail diving as I visibility was very poor - boy am I spoiled by the clear waters of Catalina :lol: . Someday, I'd like to attain a Dive Master level so I can be a better buddy as well as help some of the LDS fascilitate their classes.
Cheers,
Chris
PS
Hello again to SB
).I'm really sorry to hear about your experience, Bella. To some, Ron might come across as inconsiderate and obnoxious. However, I felt that instruction wise, he really is out for the student's best interrest. Unfortunately, there might be times where his "delivery" is lacking some tact, but there is a lot of good intent nonetheless.
From my experience, he really grilled me as well. I would ask simple questions that would probably require simple one-sentence answers but he would spin it around to make me think really hard about my question to the point that it almost feel that he was insulting my curiousity - as though I didn't read the material. However, the more I thought about it, I do appreciate that he really made me think of my own question that I ended up coming up with the answer to my own question. As far as the "getting narc'd" story, during my class - he addressed it more as something not to do since he started of his statement as "I was really stupid one time and ..." But we all know in the class that students get "narc'd" at certain depths and this is shown from his stories when he asked his students to do a puzzle at great depths and some could not pull it off
After our first dive on the way back, he also informed me of his concerns. He even went as far as I need more pool dives and he doesn't feel that I am ready for my second open water dive. I really felt that I knew the skills that was required of us at that time, but maybe, I wasn't able to exemplify this as well as I should. So during the week between our first weekend dive and the following weekend, I swam at the Culver City pool for four days after work (with and without mask/fins) and re-read my book. I made myself more aware of the things I need to always do in the water - controlled deep breaths, equalization, know when to inflate (a little when descending), and deflate (empty out and just fin when surfacing after the safety stop), and that my lungs were my best BCD. I really felt challenged and I think it's good to rise to the challenge - for me anyway. This is regarding our safety after all...
Some students may be repulsed with his approach and it's unfortunate. Furthermore, I'm not going to say that EDC do not have certain areas they can improve on (unfortunately, I had to purchase my gear elsewhere - I don't make 6 figures yet to not care how much I pay for my dive gear - although I wish I can support them, but at the moment, I have to be practical with $$ :shakehead ). But I really feel that he brought the best out of me and honed in on my skills that I needed to improve on. Coupled with Beth, Brian and the rest of the DM crew - I believe that EDC is one of the best schools in LA as long as you don't let your emotions get the best of you. Some schools would only have 1 instructor per 4-5 students. EDC will have 1 instructor plus 2-3 dive masters supervising every 3-5 students. I think that's amazing.
I love diving even more than I initially started. I'm always open to other forms of teaching and am currenlty signed up for my AOW at Malibu Divers. I just really want to have a broad experience in terms of instructions across the community. Maybe I'll try Sports Chalet for my Rescue Diver. I also heard a lot of good things about Hollywood Divers and it's even closer to my house. But who knows, maybe I'll cross paths with EDC again
Bottomline, I'm glad you continued to dive. It truly is an amazing sport/activity. More kudos for you being able to find a suitable instructor you can enjoy your classes with. I'm doing quite a few beach dives lately as trips to Catalina can be a bit too pricey when done every weekend
. Unfortunately, last weekend's beach dive at Veteran's park was like brail diving as I visibility was very poor - boy am I spoiled by the clear waters of Catalina :lol: . Someday, I'd like to attain a Dive Master level so I can be a better buddy as well as help some of the LDS fascilitate their classes.Cheers,
Chris
PS
Hello again to SB
RVD
New
Hey Everyone,
I thought I'd update this thread with some more recent information. I recently did my Open Water certification at Eco Dive Center and overall I had a very positive experience.
The price was on par with all of the other local dive shops. In fact, I live literally one block away from another dive shop that is also very highly regarded but I chose Eco because Eco just seemed like a well run shop and their Open Water certification comes with free annual refreshers so that seems like a great deal.
I don't necessarily plan to scuba dive as a lifestyle (i.e. planning weekend diving trips locally, etc.) so I will probably just go diving maybe once a year at most and mostly if I travel to the tropics. So for someone like me, the annual refreshers are going to come in very handy.
The shop is very active in the local diving community and they host a monthly gathering where they have speakers, etc.
The people at the shop are all avid divers so it's pretty easy see people take a class, get hooked, and start attending the dive trips organized by the shop. It's really a nice way to get into the sport because you take the certification class and you immediately know some instructors and classmates so you can just naturally get into participating in local dive trips if you want to. In that sense, it's great.
The website does say that everything is included in the price for the class and it is. They do highly recommend that you at least buy your personal gear...mask, snorkel, fins, gloves, and boots. You don't have to buy that stuff but if you plan to dive anyway, you probably should since you'll need at least a mask, snorkel, boots, and fins no matter where you go.
They do offer some great discounts on merchandise (especially if they know you're taking a class). Like most people in this day and age, I compare prices online and these guys are very competitive (usually similar price but more often than not, they are cheaper than prices you find online).
I'm not sure what the class sizes are usually like but my class was pretty small...there were only 6 of us. Ron said that most students seem to like getting a female instructor and luckily I got a female instructor who was awesome. She made sure that we were all very comfortable in the pool so that by the time we got into the open water, we knew what we were doing. After the initial shock of being in open water, within about 10 minutes, we were all feeling good and comfortable.
We had our first class at the shop and for awhile we went over all of the different equipment. They also offered us a great discount on buying our own wetsuits so most of us in our class ended up buying wetsuits that day.
By the second class, half of my class got so into it that they bought their own gear...BCD, 1st/2nd stage regulators, octopus, computer, weights, tank, bag, knife, etc. so they had everything.
I ended up enjoying it so much that I went back to the shop after my certification to buy some gear and they still gave me a great discount (better than any prices online) for my BCD, 1st/2nd stage regulators, octopus, etc. Since I didn't get to try out my stuff in open water, they offered to let me go to their pool to try out my new equipment. I thought this was a cool gesture so that I can try out my stuff before I jump into the ocean.
In short, this is a great local dive shop and everyone is friendly enough to get you right into the sport.
As for Ron, he's a cool and funny guy. He has a lot of experience and he's great at balancing safety (where he's going to be very serious) and fun (because it's supposed to be fun right?). He helped me pick out my personal stuff before my first class. He also taught the beginner class when I was taking my 2nd weekend (certification) and he was passing out bonine to anyone in his class who needs it, etc.
Finally, if you aren't comfortable and ready, they will not certify you. This is good because you don't want any false sense of security. However, they will work with you to get you ready through some separate personal attention, etc. Out of our 6 people, 1 switched to a referral based class because they were having problems in the open water. One person was just not comfortable in there (she freaked out when jumping in) so she turned back and said that she wanted to do the pool sessions and study sessions only and complete the open water portion in the tropics (where she had a vacation planned anyway). Another person was referral only from the beginning so she only participated in the first week's dive.
I thought I'd update this thread with some more recent information. I recently did my Open Water certification at Eco Dive Center and overall I had a very positive experience.
The price was on par with all of the other local dive shops. In fact, I live literally one block away from another dive shop that is also very highly regarded but I chose Eco because Eco just seemed like a well run shop and their Open Water certification comes with free annual refreshers so that seems like a great deal.
I don't necessarily plan to scuba dive as a lifestyle (i.e. planning weekend diving trips locally, etc.) so I will probably just go diving maybe once a year at most and mostly if I travel to the tropics. So for someone like me, the annual refreshers are going to come in very handy.
The shop is very active in the local diving community and they host a monthly gathering where they have speakers, etc.
The people at the shop are all avid divers so it's pretty easy see people take a class, get hooked, and start attending the dive trips organized by the shop. It's really a nice way to get into the sport because you take the certification class and you immediately know some instructors and classmates so you can just naturally get into participating in local dive trips if you want to. In that sense, it's great.
The website does say that everything is included in the price for the class and it is. They do highly recommend that you at least buy your personal gear...mask, snorkel, fins, gloves, and boots. You don't have to buy that stuff but if you plan to dive anyway, you probably should since you'll need at least a mask, snorkel, boots, and fins no matter where you go.
They do offer some great discounts on merchandise (especially if they know you're taking a class). Like most people in this day and age, I compare prices online and these guys are very competitive (usually similar price but more often than not, they are cheaper than prices you find online).
I'm not sure what the class sizes are usually like but my class was pretty small...there were only 6 of us. Ron said that most students seem to like getting a female instructor and luckily I got a female instructor who was awesome. She made sure that we were all very comfortable in the pool so that by the time we got into the open water, we knew what we were doing. After the initial shock of being in open water, within about 10 minutes, we were all feeling good and comfortable.
We had our first class at the shop and for awhile we went over all of the different equipment. They also offered us a great discount on buying our own wetsuits so most of us in our class ended up buying wetsuits that day.
By the second class, half of my class got so into it that they bought their own gear...BCD, 1st/2nd stage regulators, octopus, computer, weights, tank, bag, knife, etc. so they had everything.
I ended up enjoying it so much that I went back to the shop after my certification to buy some gear and they still gave me a great discount (better than any prices online) for my BCD, 1st/2nd stage regulators, octopus, etc. Since I didn't get to try out my stuff in open water, they offered to let me go to their pool to try out my new equipment. I thought this was a cool gesture so that I can try out my stuff before I jump into the ocean.
In short, this is a great local dive shop and everyone is friendly enough to get you right into the sport.
As for Ron, he's a cool and funny guy. He has a lot of experience and he's great at balancing safety (where he's going to be very serious) and fun (because it's supposed to be fun right?). He helped me pick out my personal stuff before my first class. He also taught the beginner class when I was taking my 2nd weekend (certification) and he was passing out bonine to anyone in his class who needs it, etc.
Finally, if you aren't comfortable and ready, they will not certify you. This is good because you don't want any false sense of security. However, they will work with you to get you ready through some separate personal attention, etc. Out of our 6 people, 1 switched to a referral based class because they were having problems in the open water. One person was just not comfortable in there (she freaked out when jumping in) so she turned back and said that she wanted to do the pool sessions and study sessions only and complete the open water portion in the tropics (where she had a vacation planned anyway). Another person was referral only from the beginning so she only participated in the first week's dive.
H2Ocean
Contributor
If you got the money that's not a big deal, ask Ron for a private class. He'd handle that. Being thinned skin in a group of students happens, it's rare. But pointing to a shop or an instructor and bad mouthing them in public from a learning diver happens and is rare also. Now that you're an "advancing diver" in a small community go diving and have fun, LEARN. Don't shoot yourself in the foot. If you experience "ANY" more trouble, take up golf.
---------- Post Merged at 01:24 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 01:20 AM ----------
Ron's scuba shop and training is not only rated as excellent, if you look around and see what they're all about, you'd definately wanna get that shot foot worked on, for your benefit!
---------- Post Merged at 01:24 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 01:20 AM ----------
Ron's scuba shop and training is not only rated as excellent, if you look around and see what they're all about, you'd definately wanna get that shot foot worked on, for your benefit!
fnfalman
Contributor
Zombie thread!!!
sampark74
Registered
Zombie thread or not, I have nothing but praise for Eco Dive Center, also.
My wife and I just completed OW at EDC. We were probably not the easiest students/customers, either, and probably will not be, but they have been absolutely great.
First, we signed up for the class a day before the class 2 weeks ago. Beth, co-owner, made all the arrangements for me and my wife. We did the elearning same day and class was great.
As for being difficult, I had a lot of equipment issues during the first weekend, in pool and open water. My wife was sea sick every time on the boat. Hood/vest was 2 size too small when we got to the ocean(my wife's and mine got mixed up) and I ended up not being able to breath much at all, and on top of that, water free flowed into my goggles, probably from the hood getting in the way. I tried really hard to get the hair(I thought it was my hair) out of the way, but ended up coming back to boat, because of the water gushing into the goggles. By the time the dive master threw the goggle back into the water to me, my wife was crawling up on the boat, and I followed her up. My wife was sea sick on 6ft waves on surface. Aside from the goggles, I wasn't able to breath a full lung at all. I sounded like a dying old man on his death bed with short gasps. Even though, I ditched the hooded vest, I was traumatized. I did the 2 dives after that fine without the hooded vest, I couldn't escape the feeling of being constricted. After talking to another instructor from EDC, AJ, I went to the shop during the week to get myself my own gears. Did I tell you my wife was sea sick every time on surface or boat?
I did ten hours of research including this forum(btw, I think this forum is a bit biased towards bp/w), off I went to get a BDC. I was pretty set on knighthawk or express tech. Both AJ and Zac, my instructor, recommended knighthawk, throughout. Pretty strong recommendations, but we went through bcd after bdc after bdc in the shop trying them on, with and without tanks. I remind you that I was pretty traumatized still at this point. After trying on biolite and express tech, I was really didn't care too much about knighthawk(as good and contoured fit as it was, it had too many places touching me). Jimmy even brought in his own bp/w setup to have me try on. After all three of them gave me their share of 4 hours, I ended ordering hollis bp/w(bp/w heavily influenced by this forum), with hefty discount and titanium line cutter thrown in.
After our 2nd pool, we noticed that my wife had difficulty transition from deep end of the pool(9') to shallow without poking top of her head out of the water. She didn't have that problem in the water and also in the open water. Zac recommended we get some more pool time for her to help her with confidence. She really didn't have any problem once in the deep end. Our schedule wasn't very good for next month or so, but we made arrangements for late night pool time. My wife was mostly concerned that she failed the class. After that, I started to thinking about a lot of stuff like problems she's having, confidence, schedule, etc.. and went back to the shop, talk to Jimmy a little. I wanted to get her lotus i3 bcd to help her dump air out in any orientation, ask about buoyancy control in the shallows(I noticed a significant change in buoyancy as we come up, also), and talk to Zac about the idea of doing open water dive next day as scheduled.
So, we bought, with hefty discount and a free knife, redid the weights and swapped out to steel tanks. Zac thought she can benefit from additional pool time, but he said we can come finish the dives. On the way out the shop, Jimmy gave her some great tips on how to prevent sea sickness.
On the second boat trip, we had so much fun. She even took the camera from me on 2nd and 3rd dives. We swam a lot, through the kelp and along the reefs. The whole time, she had a perfect experience. She didn't notice how good trim was until asked about it. It was natural with that bdc. That i3 system on lotus was her favorite. I was little concerned she might use it backwards(inflate and ascend out of control) but level allows her to release and inflate at the rate she wants. We dove max 50' and did 3min safety stops. I think I had harder time finding neutral buoyancy at safey stop than her. She was ecstatic about the BCD and the whole experience getting certified that she said we have to go on yelp and every other review sites and share how great everyone was at the Eco Dive Center.
So, whether zombie thread or not, here's my contribution on my wife's behalf.
Sam the noob w/ 5 dives.
Oh, just one more thing about lotus i3. It performed beautifully, but after the first dive, the bungee holding the wing together behind came off the plastic clip on the right side. It worked great and added the illusion that there was a bat-ray on my wife's back, but still... QC issue.
My wife and I just completed OW at EDC. We were probably not the easiest students/customers, either, and probably will not be, but they have been absolutely great.
First, we signed up for the class a day before the class 2 weeks ago. Beth, co-owner, made all the arrangements for me and my wife. We did the elearning same day and class was great.
As for being difficult, I had a lot of equipment issues during the first weekend, in pool and open water. My wife was sea sick every time on the boat. Hood/vest was 2 size too small when we got to the ocean(my wife's and mine got mixed up) and I ended up not being able to breath much at all, and on top of that, water free flowed into my goggles, probably from the hood getting in the way. I tried really hard to get the hair(I thought it was my hair) out of the way, but ended up coming back to boat, because of the water gushing into the goggles. By the time the dive master threw the goggle back into the water to me, my wife was crawling up on the boat, and I followed her up. My wife was sea sick on 6ft waves on surface. Aside from the goggles, I wasn't able to breath a full lung at all. I sounded like a dying old man on his death bed with short gasps. Even though, I ditched the hooded vest, I was traumatized. I did the 2 dives after that fine without the hooded vest, I couldn't escape the feeling of being constricted. After talking to another instructor from EDC, AJ, I went to the shop during the week to get myself my own gears. Did I tell you my wife was sea sick every time on surface or boat?
I did ten hours of research including this forum(btw, I think this forum is a bit biased towards bp/w), off I went to get a BDC. I was pretty set on knighthawk or express tech. Both AJ and Zac, my instructor, recommended knighthawk, throughout. Pretty strong recommendations, but we went through bcd after bdc after bdc in the shop trying them on, with and without tanks. I remind you that I was pretty traumatized still at this point. After trying on biolite and express tech, I was really didn't care too much about knighthawk(as good and contoured fit as it was, it had too many places touching me). Jimmy even brought in his own bp/w setup to have me try on. After all three of them gave me their share of 4 hours, I ended ordering hollis bp/w(bp/w heavily influenced by this forum), with hefty discount and titanium line cutter thrown in.
After our 2nd pool, we noticed that my wife had difficulty transition from deep end of the pool(9') to shallow without poking top of her head out of the water. She didn't have that problem in the water and also in the open water. Zac recommended we get some more pool time for her to help her with confidence. She really didn't have any problem once in the deep end. Our schedule wasn't very good for next month or so, but we made arrangements for late night pool time. My wife was mostly concerned that she failed the class. After that, I started to thinking about a lot of stuff like problems she's having, confidence, schedule, etc.. and went back to the shop, talk to Jimmy a little. I wanted to get her lotus i3 bcd to help her dump air out in any orientation, ask about buoyancy control in the shallows(I noticed a significant change in buoyancy as we come up, also), and talk to Zac about the idea of doing open water dive next day as scheduled.
So, we bought, with hefty discount and a free knife, redid the weights and swapped out to steel tanks. Zac thought she can benefit from additional pool time, but he said we can come finish the dives. On the way out the shop, Jimmy gave her some great tips on how to prevent sea sickness.
On the second boat trip, we had so much fun. She even took the camera from me on 2nd and 3rd dives. We swam a lot, through the kelp and along the reefs. The whole time, she had a perfect experience. She didn't notice how good trim was until asked about it. It was natural with that bdc. That i3 system on lotus was her favorite. I was little concerned she might use it backwards(inflate and ascend out of control) but level allows her to release and inflate at the rate she wants. We dove max 50' and did 3min safety stops. I think I had harder time finding neutral buoyancy at safey stop than her. She was ecstatic about the BCD and the whole experience getting certified that she said we have to go on yelp and every other review sites and share how great everyone was at the Eco Dive Center.
So, whether zombie thread or not, here's my contribution on my wife's behalf.
Sam the noob w/ 5 dives.
Oh, just one more thing about lotus i3. It performed beautifully, but after the first dive, the bungee holding the wing together behind came off the plastic clip on the right side. It worked great and added the illusion that there was a bat-ray on my wife's back, but still... QC issue.
Interesting SamPark....for a person who kust got certified, you seem comfortable throwing around alot of SCUBA terms and acronyms. Also being on your OW Dives 1-4 (getting certified)....no Instructor should allow that student to have a camera with them.
Similar threads
