DIR-F....I give up

HammerNoMore · Jan 8, 2005

Since there has never been a DIR-F class anywhere near me, I decided last year that this spring I would take a trip down to Akumal for a class...

Zero Gravity:
If you let us know your date for May, we will block 3 days to conduct DIR-F. We will try to get a few more students to join the class for the same dates.

James Goddard:
Ok, if possible I'd like to do the class May 8,9&10. The 8th is Mothers Day so I don't know if that works out for you, if not 9-11th.

Zero Gravity:
The only dates that we have now available for DIR-F is: May 5 to May 7 or May 16 to 18. Will any of these dates work for you?

James Goddard:
Nope, sorry. I'm there from the 7-14th.

Zero Gravity:
If you want to experience cavern diving, we can organize that for you.

I give up. I've been holding off on cave training so I could go the GUE route. But it's just not worth it anymore. The major lack of GUE instructors in the middle of the country makes it impossible for me to continue to consider this route....

James

P.S. GDI...we should talk

.

Spectre · Jan 8, 2005

How far is Brando? I'm surprised you wouldn't be able to get a few folks interested and bring Brandon down...

boomx5 · Jan 8, 2005

I know of about five GUE instructors who would fly and do the class if there were students.

HammerNoMore · Jan 8, 2005

Too be honest with you, I've tried to drum up interest in a local DIR-F class with local divers. I either get "What's DIR" or "Isn't that stuff really controversial."

When I try to explain that the class doesn't really teach you to do any super cool new kind of diving, that it's just about being a better diver....interest wains.

There was one guy on SB who managed to get a class together about a year ago. It was 4 hours from me and I would have made the trip, but he planned it on a weekend I absolutly couldn't make it. Vacation time is too limited to go somewhere on my own and my wife doesn't want to go to High Springs on vacation...Akumal was perfect, I just should have made sure they *really* had the dates before I book the trip instead of relying on the "we will schedule a class around you" promise...

At any rate, I'm done delaying cave waiting for the opportunity to "do it right".

James

divad · Jan 8, 2005

I can't find the schedule, but Brownies Southport Divers in Ft Lauderdale seems to have a regularly scheduled DIR-F class every other weekend. Maybe your wife would go to Ft Lauderale. Cheap flights, warm water, cheap shore dives.

HammerNoMore · Jan 8, 2005

evad:
I can't find the schedule, but Brownies Southport Divers in Ft Lauderdale seems to have a regularly scheduled DIR-F class every other weekend. Maybe your wife would go to Ft Lauderale. Cheap flights, warm water, cheap shore dives.

Maybe, who knows. But I planned my DIR-F trip a year ago. A month ago I was told I could schedule my own class, now I'm told I wasted my time...I'm a little jaded at the moment

.

I didn't fail DIR-F it failed me. (And no I'm not bashing DIR, I think it's great, but I'm fed up trying to get training). Should I plan a trip to FL to get the training I just spent a lot of money on a trip to get or should I plan a trip to FL to get the next phase....

James

fishnchips · Jan 9, 2005

James Goddard:
Should I plan a trip to FL to get the training I just spent a lot of money on a trip to get or should I plan a trip to FL to get the next phase....

James

James,

No need to stress over it. Just a humble suggestion, Why not spend the money on a dive trip and get more diving experience? Since you are DM level, maybe spend the money for instructor class. Most dive resorts prefer to hire instructor instead of DM as dive guide.

Alternatively, if time allow, I would recommend take some time off, go to Caribbean, Asia Pacific or Central America and find a dive guide job and work for 6 mo to a year at a paradise resort. 2 to 4 dives a day, 6 mo later, diving will be a second nature to you. With that experience, comes confidence, and an understanding that different location, different condition, different situation can mean different gear setup. Real life experience may be better than a few days of crash course.

Tavi · Jan 9, 2005

Hi James,

Just a thought here. Perhaps NAUI training would be an option. They now offer Cave training. My tech instructor said that in NAUI's Trimix classes the only difference in standards between NAUI and GUE is that NAUI uses the RGBM Tables. I'm sure Cave standards would be similar too.

Just for an example. When I was preparing for my NAUI Technical Diver course, we were directed to GUE's Anatomy of a Technical Diver web page for gear configuration. (This was before NAUI's standard configuration was released). Also my training was very DIR.

NAUI Tec Instructors are listed on the NAUI tec online website. Click Here

edit: The website hasn't been updated yet to reflect changes in courses and standards

OE2X · Jan 9, 2005

James - why don't you see if you can do one out here in Seattle? They start up in the spring and then you can stay with myself or perhaps someone else on the board. Get in touch with the guys at 5th Dimension.

reubencahn · Jan 9, 2005

James Goddard:
Maybe, who knows. But I planned my DIR-F trip a year ago. A month ago I was told I could schedule my own class, now I'm told I wasted my time...I'm a little jaded at the moment .

I didn't fail DIR-F it failed me. (And no I'm not bashing DIR, I think it's great, but I'm fed up trying to get training). Should I plan a trip to FL to get the training I just spent a lot of money on a trip to get or should I plan a trip to FL to get the next phase....

James

FWIW, Brownies has a great setup for DIR-F with classrooms right across the street from the shop, the boat right behind the shop, rentals of any gear you need inc. doubles and a great instructor in Dean Marshall. There are also lots of hotels/motels and restaurants within walking distance and right now USAir, Delta, JetBlue and Spririt Air are all offering very cheap flights to FLL from lots of locations.

DIR-F....I give up

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