Welcome to ScubaBoard, an online scuba diving forum community where you can join over 100,000 divers from around the world discussing all things related to Scuba Diving. To gain full access to ScubaBoard you must register for a free account.
As a registered member you will be able to:
Participate in over 500 dive topic forums and browse from over 3,000,000 posts.
Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
Post your own photos or view from 80,000 user submitted images.
Gain access to our free classifieds marketplace to buy, sell and trade gear, travel and services.
Use the calendar to organize your events and enroll in other members' events.
All this and much more is available to you absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact the ScubaBoard Support Team.
Near Misses and Lessons LearnedHere is a forum to discuss those incidents that ended well but could easily have ended badly, and the lessons learned from them.
I'm very interested in finding out what happens to this psychotic animal passing himself as an instructor.
Me too!!
Quote:
MOD - After PADI handles their end of things (hopefully they will be swift and effective) and all legal/other actions are finished, would it be possible then to get the names etc so we can make sure that regardless of PADI's actions, this guy doesn't get a chance to endanger anyone again?
Thanks all,
George
PADI MSDT
It seems PADI have done absolutely nothing about this instructor as he is still running his shop, still "teaching" and presumably still putting peoples' lives at risk, so I have decided to let you all know details.
The dive shop is in Cartagena, Colombia, and it's called 'Buzos de Baru'. The instructor's name is Juan Jose Chavarriaga and his Padi OWSI no. is 177004. Here's their website: Buceo en Cartagena - BUZOS DE BARU
If anyone knows of any way to get PADI to take this seriously it would be appreciated.
What a joke that PADI did nothing to this person after he endangered your life. I am starting to believe more and more what everyone says PADI stands for. Put Another Dollar In and thats probaly what this guy did.
It seems PADI have done absolutely nothing about this instructor as he is still running his shop, still "teaching" and presumably still putting peoples' lives at risk, so I have decided to let you all know details.
The dive shop is in Cartagena, Colombia, and it's called 'Buzos de Baru'. The instructor's name is Juan Jose Chavarriaga and his Padi OWSI no. is 177004. Here's their website: Buceo en Cartagena - BUZOS DE BARU
If anyone knows of any way to get PADI to take this seriously it would be appreciated.
That's really typical of Padi and agencies in general. They publish rules, but seldom enforce them - and if the consumer has a problem, they don't want to get in the middle.
Buyer Beware, always! Search the net, search SB, in advance...!
"You realize you just became a target for the internet version of the scuba police who will descry your diving practices, your gear, and your personal life. They will proceed to point out your diving faults and your faults as a person." Adurso
PADI is not completely toothless. The undersea journal publishes a list of suspended and expelled members every quarter, but one complaint, no matter how grievious will not get someone expelled. Rest assured that your complaint has been entered into his file, and ALL of his students will be recieving QA surveys. If the surveys indicate that this is his standard modus operandi PADI will take action.
What's interesting to me is that everyone who posted on this thread was willing to condemn this instructor without any sort of question about the accuracy of the OP's description of events.
If a PADI instructor behaved in the manner she described with her and her boyfriend, it's almost certain that he would behave in a similar manner with other students, and there would have been many, many complaints leading to his dismissal. The events that she described (no CW sessions and no knowledge review sessions prior to OW1) are somewhat unbelievable to me. I'm a little surprised that nobody else appears to have reacted that way to this story.
To tutifruti, please don't take this the wrong way, because I have absolutely no way of knowing if your description of events is accurate. It just doesn't sound plausible, given the fact that the instructor's behavior as you describe it is so far beyond breaking standards that he would be immediately dismissed from PADI if he were in fact doing the things you accused him of. Sending OW students in his certification class to do OW dives 3 and 4 without any instructor? It just does not make sense.
These 3 members have said "Thank you." to mattboy for this useful post:
PADI is not completely toothless. The undersea journal publishes a list of suspended and expelled members every quarter, but one complaint, no matter how grievious will not get someone expelled. Rest assured that your complaint has been entered into his file, and ALL of his students will be recieving QA surveys. If the surveys indicate that this is his standard modus operandi PADI will take action.
Thanks for the info. How are those surveys delivered to the students and back to Padi? If thru direct mail both ways, I can see some merit - if the Inst doesn't intercept them somehow? If the Inst distributes them with other paperwork, I can imagine problems at least - even if mailed to Padi separately. And how many bad reports does it take to inspire actions?
Quote:
Originally Posted by mattboy
What's interesting to me is that everyone who posted on this thread was willing to condemn this instructor without any sort of question about the accuracy of the OP's description of events.
If a PADI instructor behaved in the manner she described with her and her boyfriend, it's almost certain that he would behave in a similar manner with other students, and there would have been many, many complaints leading to his dismissal. The events that she described (no CW sessions and no knowledge review sessions prior to OW1) are somewhat unbelievable to me. I'm a little surprised that nobody else appears to have reacted that way to this story.
To tutifruti, please don't take this the wrong way, because I have absolutely no way of knowing if your description of events is accurate. It just doesn't sound plausible, given the fact that the instructor's behavior as you describe it is so far beyond breaking standards that he would be immediately dismissed from PADI if he were in fact doing the things you accused him of. Sending OW students in his certification class to do OW dives 3 and 4 without any instructor? It just does not make sense.
If Tutifruti had listed the Inst name etc at first, I'm sure he would have been invited to reply here. Since 7 months passed between the original discussion and this revelation, there is little reason to doubt the story - but who knows?
I've seen what passes for Padi-Standards outside of the US enough to find stories all too easy to accept I suppose.
"You realize you just became a target for the internet version of the scuba police who will descry your diving practices, your gear, and your personal life. They will proceed to point out your diving faults and your faults as a person." Adurso
...The undersea journal publishes a list of suspended and expelled members every quarter, but one complaint, no matter how grievious will not get someone expelled...
Steve, are you sure that one complaint does not get someone expelled? I know an instructor that got expelled from PADI nearly 3 years ago due to a sexual complaint from a student. PADI investigated and he was expelled about one month later and his name and number were published in the Undersea Journal. None of my friends who were his students got QA surveys at the time or after, but I'm not sure about any students during that particular o/w weekend.
It seems like one complaint plus an investigation into the complaint and any corroborating witnesses would allow PADI to expel a member if grievous enough.
__________________
Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. B.F. Skinner
I just think that they haven't investigated enough... or maybe, as mattboy says, the series of events is just so absolutely ridiculous that PADI don't believe it! However, the one proof that the instructor would have been able to show would be disclaimer and medical forms signed by us, which we didn't sign. Also he would have been able to provide PADI with the chapter exams done by us, which again, he won't have.
Mattboy I can see your point, it IS hard to believe - but then again, why would I join this forum just to post about this experience if it was a lie? There's nothing to gain from it!
Also, mods, if you would like to invite this person on to the board, now that his name is on here, feel free to do so.
This member has said "Thank you." to tutifruti for this useful post:
KEVIN 
Linear Mode
