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Probably spoke too strongly. I'm not an attorney, but I tend to err on the side of caution. Maybe it adds liability, maybe it doesn't. But I'm guessing you'd at least have a potential legal headache to deal with, even if not liable in the dive boat scenario. Still, I should have left that...

I was worried about students using ChatGPT to get help on a take-home senior undergraduate=level biostats course I taught. So just for kicks I gave it one of my questions. It's first try required information it didn't have (a population variance, when all I gave they had a sample variance). I...

As a scientists, I'd say it gets a little dicey. Just because I say something is my opinion doesn't mean it's my considered scientific opinion or even whether I'm the right person to get a considered scientific opinion from. I'll tell you a story from the way back machine, when I was in grad...

Not a captain, but a friend of mine was a retired Coast Guard Commander (and CO on the Alert) who ended up working for our state ferry system. Because of union rules combined with his unlimited masters' license, he'd show up to work and might be cleaning heads, or might be driving the boat...

I think you might find that in some countries rules exist around diving. Even in the USA, we have rules about hydro testing cylinders before driving down the highway. But beyond that, there's limited rules. I suspect it's similar to rock climbing or other terrestrial pursuits. You're...

I think this one is current. On PAs/Nurse Practitioners, etc: I think PADI's guidance on this has changed. In the past, I called and asked about this since the form said "physician" and they said no, it had to be a doc. So MD or DO is fine. I think the rationale at the time was that PAs...

Thanks for the clarification. Of course, if you're not a SDI instructor you can't teach an SDI course. I've seen a PADI shop issue NAUI (and others from time to time) certifications with the appropriate instructor, but the context was a shop with a lot of traffic (at least for the area) and...

Several thoughts: 1. Insurance is likely irrelevant. You're paying one policy as an instructor, not likely two because you have two cards. Either it's on you or it's on the shop, and that'll be agency-independent. 2. I think Tursiops had great advice: Look at what shops are certifying in...

I like to think of it as "horizontal viz integrated over a vertical gradient." :wink:

Secchi disks are an old favorite, but the results can be highly variable from user to user. You tend to see it deeper with more experience....

That could work if you took measurements at a few different depths. You can then find the "coefficient of extinction" which tells you how turbid the water is. The basic equation is Iz=Io*e**(-kz) Iz=light intensity at depth z (you measure this with your light meter) Io=light intensity at the...

I do have experience, but not with a handheld unit. What I'll say is that they're pretty worthless for leaving deployed to collect data. Some random bit of debris gets into the gap between light source and sensor and you get low viz from that point on. At least from the gauges perspective...

It can be a lot of fun. Creatures come out at night that hide in the day, including octopus, crab, shrimp, etc.. Where I live, seals often accompany night divers and use the light to hunt prey that hides during the day. I had a student who had serious anxiety issues about diving (for good...

That's how you should do nav. Well, at least compass navigation. The elements you learn are things like this: 1. How many kick cycles does it take you to go 100'/30 m? 2. Starting at a fixed point (maybe the instructor?) you swim out and back using a compass. 3. Starting at a fixed...

What's the abbreviation to go from true to compass? Something like TVMDC? True, Variation, Magnetic, Deviation, Compass? And as long as I'm on a tangent, I had friends who worked on Devon Island in the late 1980's. In the 1920's a compass on Devon would have pointed SW. By the time they...

Not sure outside the USA, but DAN in the USA can be evaluated using Charity Navigator. Here's a link: https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/561696689

Can't speak for DAN Europe, however consider my employer is not an insurance company but our Human Resources Department has tabs labelled insurance on their web site. Insurance is a little like the shipping industry. Somebody owns the vessel, and leases it to somebody else, who hires a third...

Experience is a strange thing. Doing the same dive 100 times is not the same as diving 100 times in multiple locations, with different goals, and with different groups of people. In my neck of the woods you could dive a half dozen popular sites for a total of 100 dives, then try a different...

Got a source for that? I'm genuinely curious. I tried searching the Instructor Manual. Unfortunately my Guide to Teaching is not where I can get it right now. I've heard (no source) that 3 years is the legal liability cutoff in most situations in my area. There's an exception for minor...

By 2001 PADI, NAUI, and YMCA (and likely others I'm not familiar with) had digitized all records. Even in the days of paper records, the paper was collected at the agency headquarters. It wasn't just kept in the local shop. As for a more sympathetic look at The Whaler: If their shop burned...