RAD Diver:
Hey DrSteve, whats up with Dive Quarters.
The first part of this is based on first hand observation. The second story is annecdotal but from a source I personally believe.
First part. Last summer I was going to dive at Rawlings with a guy from Scuba Board after he completed his AOW cert. We arranged to meet at 12 and he would be diving by 2. At 2pm...he had yet to do his dives. The instructor was too busy eating pringles. He kept blowing my buddy-to-be off (along with the other 3 guys in the course). Eventually he signed off on their cards based on the following:
1. A deep dive to 30 feet. 2 of the bozos hadn't bothered to bring anything other than 3mm shorties. Technically a deep dive as we know is deeper than you have gone before or 60+ feet (for an adult). Go figure.
2. These guys swam their own triangle course for the navigation exercise.
The instructors location? He couldn't even see the lake! It's up to my buddy to fight this one - but as far as I am concerned he was advanced standard so he only lost on the formal testing.
The second one was an instructor from DQ who either moved to another shop or did some part-time instructing for them. Again at Lake Rawlings, he was seen enough times to cause a complaint to the shop, that he was drunk out of his skull while camping over. OK everyone can chose to do what they want. But...would you want to complete your OW cert with an instructor who did that on Saturday night? He was given the option to take the instructors exams at the shop to prove his knowledge...but he left...wonder why?
My personal beef with DQ is their prices are way higher than everywhere else, the staff is most unhelpful and don't seem to give a damn.
As for Chesapeake Bay...good teaching, good shop (although I purchase mostly through the internet), but as you said damned awkward to get to.
