GUE Open Water class documentary

"Testing New Waters" GUE Rec1 dive course on Vimeo

I thought this was interesting to watch. The honesty with which they show the divers on the first day, and their dives on the last, was very impressive to me.

This is what ten long days of instruction can produce, in terms of diver skill and comfort in the water. Very few of our students look like this when we're done with them . . . How about anybody else? Anyone willing to sign up for a more than $1000, ten day open water class?

This was a very good video. I enjoyed it. Thank you.

I really enjoyed that - thanks for posting about it.

I would have taken that class in a heartbeat. As for the cost... I spent around that much that by the time I completed OW, AOW, and one "specialty" class, and by the looks of things, I hadn't learned nearly as much as they did in "OW." Their class looks like a better value.

(I have filled in with reading Scubaboard, watching videos, practicing things with my buddy on "fun dives," and another class; but how wonderful to get all that in the first class!)

By the looks of this, it is a lot more intense than the PADI course, a lot of PADI courses are taught through resort-holiday like destinations, meaning that people simply want to "learn to dive and go and see pretty fish" and are maybe not as committed as particular people.

Granted, I have taught people that are really into it, and I find I can teach a much more thorough course with these types of people.

PADI OW : 3-4 days. ADV: 2 days SPEC: 1 day.
You're talking about the same amount of time, and probably same amount of money, the major difference is commitment though, where I work right now, it is very rare someone will be willing to dedicate around 6 days of there holiday, purely moving up the ranks of diving, they want to enjoy themselves and relax. The GUE course is solely intended for committed individuals wanting to essential learn to dive properly in 8 days.

Which may have taken us who went the 'conventional' route a much more significant amount of time and money!


EDIT: P.S Thanks for posting, I also, very much enjoyed this.

TSandM:

http://vimeo.com/34392738
Anyone willing to sign up for a more than $1000, ten day open water class?

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I haven't seen the video, but would consider taking the class if it was offered in the contiguous US.

evad:

I haven't seen the video, but would consider taking the class if it was offered in the contiguous US.

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http://www.gue.com/?q=en/Training/Instructors/index.html should be plenty of opportunities to take it in the U.S., but if you are already certified you likely want to take Primer or Fundamentals not Rec 1. The usual way that GUE courses work is you contact an instructor you want to work with and work out a time. So courses are "offered" when enough people get together to set up a class.

I watched this last night and was really impressed, but I don't know if I would have been ready to invest that amount of time or money at the outset. I did my course in the carribean in a week because it was the only way I had the time to start something I had wanted to do for years. That was 4 years ago. I have continued to do additional training every year but it is probably only now that I can appreciate what that approach has to offer. I would like to try the primer course if there were one in the area (central nj).


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gsk3:

GUE Instructors | Global Underwater Explorers

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There are (were) none listed there.

I am going to download this and watch it through. Thanks for the link. I have taught a few $500 OW courses but that was mostly scheduling factors, and one on one, or free scheduling.

The 'hidden' cost in GUE courses is usually the travel expense needed to take the course. I was staying within a couple of hours of a GUE instructor at one point, but since he scheduled the courses too inconveniently to get and get back to free housing I had access too, the hotel fees (and the rental car at that point) would have in effect doubled the course fee.

Of course I teach mostly people who travel to where I am to take scuba, so I am applying a ridiculous double standard here. I think travel costs are expensive, and yet everyone I teach pays those costs without a second thought.

One thought off the top of my head is that a 10 day $1000 course means the instructor could easily be making just a little more than minimum wage depending on course's headcount.

I was probably much closer to 50 dives before I had my buoyancy that well under control. I don't think I would have invested that much money in the beginning but it certainly seems to be worth it.