Open Water + Nx = ?

Fellow Instructors,

Has anyone started to intergrate the Open Water Scuba Course with a Nitrox course? I know it can be done. Just wondering if anyone has done it yet. If so, What are you charging now for total classroom and open water dives? What do you pay instructors that do it?

Thanks for any positive input ONLY.

Seem to remember a thread about this not too long ago. You might want to search on Nitrox and see what you get.

Also, any input is positive. It might not be what you want to hear, but that doesn't make it negative.

MD

IANTD has such a program. I haven't really marketed it because people want PADI, they want cheap (so that lets out throughing in nitrox) and I heard IANTD was revamping their OW program and I've been waiting to see what it looks like. I fear they are making it look more like a PADI class. I tried to talk them into making it look more like a DIRF class but nobody care what I think. I told David Mount that nobody can be a better PADI than PADI but GUE doesn't have any competition at all. They have a whole market (small but growing) all to themselves with nobody else even trying to get in. If it were me I'd go after the little guy.

I haven't really set a price because I haven't had to. I am the instructor and get paid nothing. If I teach enough classes there is enough cash flow that the rent gets paid and I get to do it again next month. The only other instructor who works with us is just a PADI instructor and doesn't teach nitrox yet. I think we pay her $6 per student per module (dive OW, pool, classroom). That comes to $72 dollars a student for an OW class. After traveling she has nothing left. After paying her I have nothing left. On the other hand I am burned out and needed a break. I got off the subject a little sorry

By the way I think using nitrox from the start is a great idea. Student get older all the time it seems and N2 doesn't do anybody any good.

Nitrox hasn't been intergrated into OW yet but I do know a shop that is trying to do it,they have also done night diving and one day checkouts.

Less than 1/2 of our people continue on to get nitrox within a year and the other half don't dive enough to where they would notice a difference. They suck air so quick they don't have time to get N2 loaded.

I'd do it in a heart beat if standards allowed it. I'd charge for the extra card and the higher cost of fills other than that, the cost wouldn't increase. My class would change in two ways - another 20 minutes of lecture and students checking their mix. Everything else in the Nitrox class is already in my OW class. Yet another proposal for standards revision.

I'm a PADI, YMCA, and NAUI instructor. NAUI does in fact allow the intergration of the two classes. I just have not used it yet. I am seriously considering it. My instructor JBD is not yet a Nx instructor but I have a feeling he will be before summer gets here. I have no idea if YMCA allows the intergration of the two but I would bet it would be excepted with a few phone calls to Tec Clark. As far as PADI goes, I'm suprised there not doing it yet. Thanks for all the info. everyone is giving me.

Tec resigned a couple of weeks ago. No word yet on who the next director will be.

You're kidding me! What happened? He owed me a favor! Oh well. Let me know what happened if you hear anything. I'm going to get on the horn with Tom Leird. Is Tom still chairman of the board?

Tom is still chairman. Program School scheduled for October has been cancelled. I don't know what happened. I received letters from Tec and from the YMCA of the USA. You didn't get yours?