captjohnr:
Anyone that would use my website as bad advice is a Jackass, I do not know this person and he does not know me, but using my site as a bad example shows his incompetence. What courses does he teach? Is he an instructor? I think he is just a "deadhead" fan that dives, so anyone that would take his advice is a Jackass, likewise. Scubatampa.com
Ah ... Captain John, I just responded to your PM. No wonder I didn't know what thread you were referring to ... you just revived a conversation that's been dead for more than two years.
To answer your questions ... I am an instructor. I teach courses from OW through Divemaster.
And I firmly believe that 2-day courses are a bad idea regardless of who offers them ... and this isn't an agency-specific comment.
It's also not a slam on your business ... as you say, we don't know each other. It's an honest opinion based on my own experiences both as a diver and a scuba instructor.
There are people out there with the requisite skills and motivation to learn to dive this way ... but they are a small minority. They would have to start out being pretty comfortable in the water, and rather self-disciplined in order to learn and apply everything an open water should teach in such a short time frame.
Of course, you're free to disagree ... I would like to see a more rational discourse, however. It would also be interesting to see the skill level of your OW "graduates". Do they come out of the course with any reasonable level of bouyancy control? Do they have any real understanding of what they are doing, and why? Or are they those divers everyone likes to complain about because they're destroying the very reefs they go down to look at?
How much can you really teach someone by having them watch a CD, then spend a couple days doing pool and OW work? I'm skeptical that it's adequate ... based on my own experience teaching people how to dive.
Oh ... and yes ... I am most definitely a deadhead fan that dives ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)