Beginner starting with UTD?

[ocdb8r]

Just wanted to get the community's thoughts on starting out with UTD? I live in San Diego fairly close to their HQ in Sorrento Valley and the idea of starting with a locally grown organization that focuses on sound technical skills appeals to me. I would also have the advantage of having them right in my backyard should I invest heavily in equipment. That said, I have only done an intro/experience dive and I don't know how far I'll want to go with my training. I know I will always be purely a recreational diver, but I want to be a very technically proficient diver so I can make the most of my dives.

My only real concern is whether or not I will have issues getting my initial training and certification with a program that doesn't "map" on to the main PADI/SSI certs. Am I likely to encounter charters that would struggle to recognize my training with UTD and allow me on more advanced dives? Apologies if this is an ignorant question...I have certainly got the sense that what is really critical are the skills you actually have (regardless of what program you have learned them through...or even if just learned through some private training). However, I also get the sense that there are some dive operators that are going to ask to see certifications in order to let you on their trips.

Regardless of which side of the fence you sit on, any suggestions for good instructors in the San Diego area (UTD or otherwise)?

Thanks!

 

[decompression]

First off, I can be considered to be a bit biased. I've been teaching PADI/SDI/TDI for over 10 years and UTD recently. The training you get from agencies like UTD and GUE are worlds above what others offer. You will learn the real basics that a lot of instructors (certainly recreational) aren't aware of. Rest assured the training is top notch. As far as being recognized, I've yet to hear of an issue from anywhere in the world. And certainly when the dive op sees your skill level they will know your abilities. That said, there are UTD affiliated shops all over the world and they would certainly recognize the qualifications. If there is any question at a shop, they can simply check the course standards online as UTD posts all course standards on their website. You will be hard pressed to find a bad UTD instructor and maybe lucky enough to have Andrew or Jeff (the founders of UTD) teach the course. I hope this helps, if you have any questions at all please feel free to pm me. Enjoy the under water world!

Jay Schier

 

[Kitty_Kat]

You shouldn't have a problem going from UTD to any of the other agencies. I used to work for another shop in San Diego and this same question came up when someone wanted to sign up for our con-ed classes, having done UTD's introductory class. The question went to our course director and a PADI rep who happened to be around and they decided that UTD's class more then met the standards so there was no problem. I wouldn't see why you would run into problems with any of the other agencies either. If you were traveling somewhere remote, you might get questions about the agency since it is not as well known, but it shouldn't be hard to show that you received satisfactory training.

As for where you should get training in San Diego... Here's my $0.02 for what it's worth....

I have heard very good things about the UTD instructors there, and have many friends who swear by their training and dive with them frequently. Most of the people I know who use UTD in San Diego are interested in sidemount though, which very few other shops in the area specialize in.

If you are thinking of going with another agency, Ocean Enterprises (PADI) has many excellent instructors (Curt, Ed, Scott, Jason, Kym to name a few), as does House of Scuba (PADI), and the Point Loma Sport Chalet (PADI). San Diego Divers (also in Sorrento Valley) has an excellent selection of gear (especially BP/W) and offers NAUI and GUE courses. Joakim Hjelm is the GUE instructor in the area and he is excellent! I have had less interaction with IB Divers (and their new La Jolla location) so I can't tell you much about their training. There are also a magnitude of independent instructors in the area who are very good (eg. Bill Powers - Power Scuba)

Chances are you won't go wrong with picking an instructor in the area! The dive community in San Diego is great so enjoy!

 

[C Dub]

Any good UTD instructors in Orange County?

 

[decompression]

http://www.unifiedteamdiving.com/page/usa-mexico-canada-based-utd

 

[SanDiegoSidemount]

Like @decompression, I am somewhat biased, but I do think that UTD Open Water training is some of the the best open water instruction you can get. Also, because of the competitiveness of the scuba instruction market in San Diego, it ends up being a ridiculously good deal to take a class here at HQ.

For a total cost of around $199 for the course (coupon/Groupon price) + $99 for textbook/materials + cost of good quality personal gear ($200-$400) you can expect to finish your OW certification with 24-32 hours of total instruction, and the actual confidence to plan and execute your own open water dives. Nobody else locally offers this amount of classroom, pool and ocean time and the same depth of instruction for such a low price.

With UTD, sidemount is not a requirement, but the configuration does provides some nice benefits for shore and boat diving around San Diego. It also integrates very nicely with the way that the UTD courses are taught. However, you can choose to take your OW class in backmount gear if you want.

My story with UTD is that I used to be a NAUI and AAUS instructor from 1988 to 1997. In 1997, I moved to Colorado and stopped diving except every now and then on vacation.

When I moved to San Diego in 2007, I was excited to resume scuba diving and teaching. While I did resume diving, I found that I had no interest in teaching the types of OW courses I was seeing taught by the local San Diego dive shops. Most OW classes I observed were "student mills", with large groups (10+ students per class), turning out divers after minimal class time, with minimal knowledge and skills.

I also sat in and watched first-hand as my own wife and son were certified through a recommended San Diego LDS. Even their expensive "private class" only taught the bare minimum.

I originally made my way to UTD to get sidemount training, since they are one of the only places in SoCal you can learn sidemount, or buy sidemount gear. What I discovered in the process was an organization committed to the highest quality training I'd ever seen. (I've since learned about GUE, which has similarly high standards.) The level at which UTD Open Water graduates dive is like no other.

And this is how UTD got me interested in teaching scuba diving again, after 15 years "out of the game". They actually ran the kind of open water class I was interested in teaching. Even as a cross-over instructor from another agency, the IDC was no joke. It took me over 6 months to get all my pre-requisites in shape and get my skills up to UTD standards. And this is just certification to teach "foundational" classes, not the more advanced technical courses.

So I can vouch for the quality of UTD dive instruction, and the organization's commitment to the highest standards, even at (or especially at) the beginning Open Water level. UTD Open Water divers are some of the best trained new divers out there.

 

[ryjoph89]

UTD is pretty amazing teaching. I was certified with PADI and from day one felt the requirements were sub-par. I advanced to rescue diver and helped serve as assistant to several open water classes and watched first hand instructors sign off on certifications that I felt were no where near safe enough to dive on their own. I was afraid of hearing of these divers having a fatal accident because of lack of training. When you have 4+ students to every instructor in a class of 12 how can you get individual attention.
After 2 years of diving I wanted to start getting into tech diving and researched agencies in the Seattle area and found UTD. A friend of mine took their tech 1 class and I had always been impressed with his skills so I contacted the instructors in my area and signed up. UTD's instructors are impressive at how well they teach, the courses are much more based on being able to proficiently do skills not just can you flounder and pass. If there is an area you struggle with they keep working on it with you not sign off because it is a 2 week class and it's the last day. The courses focus on more advanced diving even from the beginning and include rock bottom pressure (the Minimum PSI to maintain for 2 divers to safely deal with an emergency) instead of '500 PSI when you get back'...so when do you turn the dive?!
I find that UTD teaches safer diving that other agencies and is much less about the money as it is about making a thinking diver.
And when your courses are all built on each other (your configuration for recreational diving is exactly like cave/wreck diving just with a few less parts) you don't have to relearn like I did switching from PADI. They incorporate the hogathorian setup which has had years and years of research and discussions to have the safest setup with the most common sense details.
Go whichever way you want...UTD, PADI, NAUI, etc but definitely take a UTD class eventually and you will find its way better. Just my .02 about it.

 

[thez_yo]

Here's my experience:

I certified OW and AOW back to back with PADI, and then did Essentials of Rec 2-4 dives later with UTD, to start off my certifications. I would do it all the same, because the PADI cert is recognized all over the world already because they're an older agency, and also you get to see how 'everyone else' dives so you aren't lost with instabuddies' techniques and gear when you go out into the 'real world'. Most people don't certify with GUE/UTD, based on the dive buddies I have, although they ran groupon specials all of last year, so maybe there's more UTD divers out there now? Anyway, then the Essentials of Rec with UTD will help with buoyancy control, trim and propulsion, and give you a more in-depth explanation of everything (NDLs, weighting, etc.). Just keep your mind open if you choose that route because the approach each agency takes, in my experience, is different.