Daughter had bad experiences in pool / too big a class size/ more questions

[shmuggy]

The good news is she lives in Florida- so after she gets certified- and I agree with the other posts how she should go about that- she should do a lot of diving in your local waters before the Honduras trip. Hopefully she can get comfortable with diving before then- there are lots of dive shops there and lots of instructors who will be more than happy to go out with her one on one while she gets up to speed.

 

[NavyGuyAN]

I agree with "DivemasterDennis" and "oly5050user." Whats the dive agency your using?...18 and then 20 students the next day, just doesnt sound right to begin with. Cutting corners, faulty equipment and not proper communication due to the number of students in the water. I'd say do a little research into another place and try that out and see how that works. And she's not a failure, just keep trying and never give up.

PADI Standards:

Student Diver-Instructor ratio: 8 students to 1 instructor (8:1) or 12
maximum with two certified assistants.

 

[beaverdivers]

As NavyGuyAN pointed out, training standards were probably violated.

Moreover, your daughter should not have been " passed on " to Open Water ( OW ) if she is not ready.

This procedure of passing on students to OW is just wrong.

I believe that there has been at the very least an ethical violation!

 

[Hawkwood]

I agree with "DivemasterDennis" and "oly5050user." Whats the dive agency your using?...18 and then 20 students the next day, just doesnt sound right to begin with. Cutting corners, faulty equipment and not proper communication due to the number of students in the water. I'd say do a little research into another place and try that out and see how that works. And she's not a failure, just keep trying and never give up.

PADI Standards:

Student Diver-Instructor ratio: 8 students to 1 instructor (8:1) or 12
maximum with two certified assistants.

Just to clarify.

There are different ratios for the Confined Water Dives and the Open Water Dives. You quoted the Open Water Dive ratios.

The ratios do not affect the sizes of the classroom. I read the OP as having two days of classroom - first day with 18, second day with 20.

The third day was in the pool with 20 students, 1 instructor, 3 assistants. The ratio of student to instructor in CW is 10:1 with an additional 4 per CA. There is no restriction in the Standards on the number of CAs for CW dives. Therefore, the instructor was within Standards.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

In order to try and help them avoid a repeat experience I emailed the OP a pdf copy of my book this morning. Hopefully it will guide them towards finding better instruction.

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And just because it may be within standards does not make it wise when dealing with a large number and variety of students. Some of whom may require more individual attention.