How to find an excellent SCUBA class

[Octopusprime]

I would add one more question... What time does the class start? If you get a direct answer like, classroom starts at 6pm, open swim starts at 7 pm. ... I have seen many instructors that say "I can be there around 630 pm and do not show up till 7.

Professionalism is is not cheep. If your instructor is serious about their students, they will be punctual and prepared..

 

[BradMM]

I have not read the entire thread but I was wanting suggestions for really good NAUI certification training beyond Masters. I'd travel if the class was everyday until complete. If not, then I'd be stuck with what is within driving distance of my home.

Thanks

 

[REVAN]

...Do your students swim with their hands? This will let you know if the instructor pays attention to details. Good divers do not use their hands for swimming.

Do you work on trim? Divers should usually be horizontal in the water. Good instructors will see that students are striving towards good trim. Poor instructors often neglect it.

Do you overweight your students? Many instructors overweight students. It is not a good practice.

...

While weight and trim are often glossed over, the hands thing is something I disagree with. Most divers have hands and it is not a crime or a sign of a lack of skill to use them for whatever is needed. What is the point of teaching someone to only dive with their hands folded across the chest, or in front of them? Put them in a streamline position when you are swimming forward, and when you are not swimming forward, it doesn't really matter much where you have them, so use them for whatever you want. Often this teaching of 'no hands' diving just leads to an obsessive compulsive use of inefficient diving fins and swimming techniques that are suboptimized for cave or wreck diving and inappropriate for the types of diving the students will actually be doing.

On weight and trim, I think divers should be first taught to dive in a simple harness. Then, proper weighting cannot be ignored. It is probably the single most important skill in diving and it is often never really learned by the student.

A BC is a specialty device that is treated as though it is necessary equipment. However, for many dives a BC is just a piece of equipment that creates a need for itself. If you are diving with one, then you will need to use it because of the excess air it traps inside. If you don't have one, you just get your weight right at the beginning of the dive and then you don't have to bother with adding and removing air from this thing that keeps changing buoyancy with depth and, therefore, needs to be buoyancy compensated.

Perhaps a good question to ask an instructor is "Do you require your students to demonstrate an ability to swim in their diving gear, or to just be able to breath and float with it". Personally, I think that if a recreational diver cannot swim 20m underwater with the air valve turned off, they have not actually been taught to how to dive, only how to operate scuba equipment. There is a big difference between the two, and most graduating OW students would not meet this definition of someone who actually knows how to dive. Most are not divers, just certified floaters.

 

[The Chairman]

What is the point of teaching someone to only dive with their hands folded across the chest, or in front of them?

Sculling destroys trim, destroys buoyancy control, requires additional weight and scares the fishies. It's a horrible habit and I do my best to not let it take hold in any of my students. If you require your students to swim and turn with their feet only, you'll find they develop great finning techniques PDQ.

 

[REVAN]

Sculling destroys trim, destroys buoyancy control, requires additional weight and scares the fishies. It's a horrible habit and I do my best to not let it take hold in any of my students. If you require your students to swim and turn with their feet only, you'll find they develop great finning techniques PDQ.

There is nothing wrong with using hands to aid in maneuvering. If I'm swimming forward and want to turn to look at something, I think extending a hand to the side to brake and spin me around is an effective maneuvering tool. I don't skull the water with my hands, there is no point. Compared to fins, hands are not effective for bulk water movement, but they can be useful in many ways. However, crossing your arms over your chest as is taught by many agencies is kinda dumb. It makes unnecessary drag for no reason. The outcome is dives that use excess energy. What should be taught is how to dive using less energy to achieve the desired in-water movements. Divers should feel comfortable using all the tools at their disposal to achieve this, including hands.

 

[The Chairman]

There is nothing wrong with using hands to aid in maneuvering.

I completely disagree on this and see it as horrible form. I can pivot, go forward and even backward far more efficiently with my fins than my hands. Hands are to hold equipment or each other. If you're worried about the effect drag has on hand placement, then you're going way too fast for me. Hey, it's OK to teach differently and it's best for prospective students to understand the differences before they take a class. My class is a definitely no kneeling, lying, or standing on the bottom and certainly no hand swimming kind of class. Unless you've lost the use of your legs and then we'll adapt. I'll adapt with you.

 

[Edward3c]

There is nothing wrong with using hands to aid in maneuvering. If I'm swimming forward and want to turn to look at something, I think extending a hand to the side to brake and spin me around is an effective maneuvering tool. I don't skull the water with my hands, there is no point. Compared to fins, hands are not effective for bulk water movement, but they can be useful in many ways. However, crossing your arms over your chest as is taught by many agencies is kinda dumb. It makes unnecessary drag for no reason. The outcome is dives that use excess energy. What should be taught is how to dive using less energy to achieve the desired in-water movements. Divers should feel comfortable using all the tools at their disposal to achieve this, including hands.

I'm with NetDoc on this one.

If my students get into the habit of using their hands its going to hinder their enjoyment of diving in the future when they decide to take a camera or dive when buoyancy and trim need to be second nature, like holding stops. In addition if their using their hands during the buoyancy assessment they will fail.

 

[REVAN]

I'm not surprised guys. There are many ways to dive, and like NetDoc says, I go way too fast for him. I'm all about efficiency in the water and that makes me a lot faster swimmer than most other divers which also changes maneuvering requirements. Just don't make students feel self conscious about using hands when it makes sense to do so. A diver with obsessive compulsive quirkes is not going to be a good diver, just very consistent in their quirks.

I still carry cameras, but I do it efficiently so that it doesn't interfere with my swimming. Other divers suboptimize their swimming techniques so that their diving doesn't interfere with their camera.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I am one of the slowest under water swimmers you will ever see in scuba gear. Many people I dive with make this observation. It's not because I can't go fast, with a modified frog kick I can out pace most of the people I dive with. Kick into a flutter and I'll smoke em. I just don't want to. Unless I am rushing to assist someone there is absolutely no reason in my mind to try and go fast. I see more stuff going slow. My air consumption is better. Even in a dry suit I don't notice any extra drag. Diving is supposed to be relaxing. Swimming fast does not relax me.

I have an OW class starting tomorrow. First night in the pool. All swimming, snorkeling, and skin diving skills. Students will be required to swim as slow as their buddy. Fast swimmers don't get any extra points. In fact I may point out that as they were lapping or out distancing their buddy, their buddy cramped up and is now drowning or in danger of drowning.

If I dive with someone that I constantly need to work to keep up with they get two fin tugs. After that , bye bye. Do what you want. I'll finish the dive solo.

 

[Edward3c]

I'm not surprised guys. There are many ways to dive, and like NetDoc says, I go way too fast for him. I'm all about efficiency in the water and that makes me a lot faster swimmer than most other divers which also changes maneuvering requirements. Just don't make students feel self conscious about using hands when it makes sense to do so. A diver with obsessive compulsive quirkes is not going to be a good diver, just very consistent in their quirks.

I still carry cameras, but I do it efficiently so that it doesn't interfere with my swimming. Other divers suboptimize their swimming techniques so that their diving doesn't interfere with their camera.

When you move fast in the water you miss the really interesting life. When I'm buddied with a fast swimmer I clip a buddy-line to them so they can tow me round - most never notice.