Recommend a technical diving instructor in the Houston TX area?

[MXGratefulDiver]

Being affiliated with a shop goes a long way though, allowing access to shop equipment, rentals, service, daily customers, dive club, travel, industry networking, etc.

... and not being affiliated with a shop gives me access to all of those things through multiple affiliations. What I found when I taught through a shop was that the business put restraints on how I could teach, and what choices I could offer to my students.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Squirrel Girl]

Hey, I don't wanna be left out! I vote for Carl Griffing, too. He's super. I know he teaches a lot of OW classes, but I've been cave diving with him, and really enjoyed it. I know he's qualified for quite a few levels of training.

PS - he's got a great sense of humor, too!

 

[kotik]

Being affiliated with a shop goes a long way though, allowing access to shop equipment, rentals, service, daily customers, dive club, travel, industry networking, etc.

Hi there Moonglow, I'll chime in with a different point of view on this. I'd say my perspective (as a student) is something like this...

I have a favorite local shop, but I can't really claim I'm a fiercely loyal customer to them. I've bought some gear there, but I also buy gear from different places depending on who has what I am looking for, what deals they're offering, etc. The local shop is the one I like to drop by and talk to the people there. I'm sure they'd be okay if I talked less and bought more, but I like the people so they're stuck with me. I've had a few instructors for open water courses at this shop and enjoyed them all.

Technical training though is, to me, a special consideration. It's something you are committing a lot of time, money, and heart to. It's not "stuff" you're buying, but a life experience you're investing yourself in so to speak. Shop affiliation is nice and in my case I'm glad to be able to work with my instructor through my preferred shop, but to me considerations about the shop don't play a role in the decision making. Finding the instructor that's right for you is the only truly important thing. Once you have found that, be sure to consciously recognize your find as a real gem. You may find other teachers you click with here and there in life, but it doesn't happen every day.

So to me, technical training is such a "special" undertaking that if you've found that instructor you click with, that's the only thing that really matters once you strip away everything else. I wouldn't really consider rotating through various shop instructors, all of whom are pretty good, if that's how my favorite shop did things (they don't, this is just an example). If for some reason my favorite instructor lost affiliation with my favorite local shop, I'd think it was a shame, but there wouldn't be any sort of decision I'd have to face because of the event. I'd just follow him to wherever he moved to, and I really wouldn't bat an eye if that did happen to be his garage.

And Moonglow, please understand that when I say "you" above, I don't presume to be schooling "you" yourself, it looks like you've done a looottt more diving than "me". Potential students out there considering this kind of training and reading this, I mean you.

That's my dive philosophy for this month--

 

[Phocus]

Thanks for all the great advice. I will visit and talk to a few of the mentioned instructors and see which one clicks.

 

[divejay]

I will only promote and support a full service dive shop with their own instructors. They are the best because they are teaching everyday and up on all the latest teaching standards. Plus, having a full service dive shop to go and that does this everyday is so much better than some guy working out of his garage in a unclean environment on weekends. Then these full service dive shops promote dive trips which takes their divers around the world to explore their certification level. Be it Kids programs, Rec, Advanced, Tec or Rebreathers.

Being a diver now for 46 years, I vote for Oceanic Ventures in Houston. Eric Keibler has the complete package from training to group trips around the world from a great dive shop.

 

[ctyhallcoolio]

There is a pretty good following of us that have treked up to Austin for some really awesome training from Paul Murphy, with sessions in Cozumel, on the Oriskany, Lake Travis, or where ever its wet and deep.

 

[skankpile]

Depends on what you want to do. If you want technical Carl (PSA) is technical and you can do cave and such. If you want rebreather you'll end up at Oceanic Adventures with Erik(Sentinel, Inspiration, Evolution), Wade (Optima), or David (Meg). Leon Schammerhorn of ISC coming to Houston to do a discover reabreather class at Oceanic Ventures and will be bringing a few predators with him.

If you want trimix or anything boosted you'll likely be stopping by Oceanic Ventures as well.

 

[tripntx]

I'm currently looking for an instructor in the Houston area as well and three different friends have given me three names:

Carl Griffins, Tom Andersen (Island Divers), and Jeff Diamant (Gigglin Marlin)

Want to take Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures.....

 

[kotik]

Hi Tripntx,

That's Carl Griffing-- I along with some friends just made a trip to Florida with him last month. All of us did AN/DP, some of us did some cave classes as well, and one of us also did Extended Range and Normoxic Trimix.We had an absolute blast, but it's always such a bummer making myself come back to the real world after spending some time in cave country and the mill pond.

He's a member here on ScubaBoard (his handle is Phreatic Fanatic). I suggest shooting him a PM and introducing yourself-- tell him what you're considering, ask some of the questions you're sure to have, etc.

Good luck and maybe we'll see each other around sometime!

 

[Phocus]

Been a while since a post, I'm also seeking a technical diving instructor in the Houston area. My main interests are Wreck penetration, decompression, possibly rebreather. My training level currenlty is AOW and Nitrox. These are the instructors I'm looking into:

Eric Keibler (Oceanic Ventures)
Carl Griffing (Maximum Scuba)
Tom Anderson (Island Divers Galveston)
Henry Lo (Pro Scuba)

Any suggestions? Feedback on the above instructors? Other instructors you'd recommend? Thanks in advance for any input.