HELP: Before my First class monday: HELP

[Dxtreme]

After reading thru this forum, i became more wise about htie whole thing.

I been to the dive shop where i am taking lessons from but I HAVENT EVEN MET THE INSTRUCTOR YET !!!

This is the only Dive Shop in town so its either him or the highway. The highway means 1 1/2 hour drive to Memphis.

The Instructor would be in the Dive shop next monday lunch time. The class starts that evening at 5:30 pm, its a classroom session. Currently there are 2 guys and 1 gal enrolled.

SHould i Go to the shop that afternoon to meet and talk with the Instructor ?? or should i just enroll and get on with it regardless ??

By first impression how do you rate a good or bad instructor ??

 

[art.chick]

This is a tough question, D! You almost have to have been diving for a while to know why certain questions are important & others irrelevant. It is not just the instructor but the program. How close are you to the dive sites you will be visiting anyway? If you are going to have t drive to a coastal town to do the dives anyway, perhaps the bigger city is a good choice.

How long is the program? Are they snowing you with the notion that you don't need classroom instruction if you get the video & watch it ahead of time? (The videos ARE good, but a new person is going to have questions that deviate form the pre-fab format.) Do you get a number of dives in different local conditions or is this just a set-up to sell you trips chartered thru the shop? (If you are rich, this does not matter, but to be a GOOD diver, you need to dive as much as possible, even if this means in quarries.)

I have not dived in Tenn., so I do not know what this gorgeous state offers to underwater types, but you may want to look up some sites in your locale & find out what type of diving you will need to learn to stay wet between trips to the Caymans. IE: do you need to know altitude diving because all of the good local sites are in mountain lakes? Do you need to know how to manage yourself in a thick-ish wetsuit (presents the need to develope good buoyancy skills over time.) Is shore diving an option (will save you TONS of money in the long run) or are boats the only way to access your local sites?

I took a long course (multiple months) when I began, but I have friends who took short courses (a weekend!) I would have washed out if I tried to "sink or swim" in a tight amount of time. Also, some very short courses may sound like a bargain, but the idea is to sell you more classes (as you will not have the confidence level to be independent from your instructor after the first 1, 2, or 3 classes.) If the saleman (instructor) has a cavalier attitude about the amount of time it takes to go from being a student to a diver, he may be more into the sale than your safety.

I have a great time with this sport & support anyone who wants to get wet, but I won't lie about the learning curve; some people catch on very quickly due to previous watersport experience, but it is impossible to know which of your own primal fears may emerge in the process of learning. NObody can rush you to stop being scared; you just need time with a very calm person. Look for eye contact - expereinced instructors are practically mimes underwater. Sense sensitivity to the emotional needs of others. I would not send my worst enemy to a "macho" guy because the dynamic of daredevil-ness in inappropriate situations is contagious. Ego is universal in instructors. They really HAVE saved lives, so don't be too put off if they brag a bit. HOwever, this is about YOU; if they talk of past students only in a trophy sense, they are not connecting well with humans & only thinking of their own standing in the diving community.

Sorry so verbose. I wish there was an easy zen-like answer. Too bad you don't live in Florida; I'd say "call Walter."

 

[Ber Rabbit]

It can't hurt that's for sure. Art.chick has raised some valid points and I second her opinion.

Trust your "gut feeling" when you talk to this person. Find out what their teaching philosophy is. Most scuba instructors teach because they love it and this will show when they talk about anything scuba. Remember, you are entrusting your life to this person. A bad "gut feeling" means you should make the drive to Memphis.

Hope everything works out! Just remember there are more good instructors than bad instructors out there! Find the person you are comfortable with.
Ber

 

[ERP]

Just my 2c.

In my experience of both martial arts and scuba I think it is somewhere between hard and impossible to judge the quality of an instructor from the point of view of a student.

However you can talk to the instructor and detemine if you think he will be a good teacher. At least in my experience the better teachers are relaxed and not full of themselves, they are honest about the problems you might have and will be reassuring about taking extra time to deal with them if you need it.

I took my open water course over a 2 week period 2 days a week + 2 days for the open water dives. The same diveshop does a weekend course, I could not imagine trying to squeeze in the contents of our course and having enough time to absorb the material in that time.

I'm sure the vast majority of people here went into there OW course without knowing if the instructor was good or bad, some of us got lucky and others didn't.

Just remember if you do start the course and you don't feel comfortable with the instructor you can always walk out.

 

[MadReefer]

D,

1.5 hrs to Memphis...are you in Oxford or Grenada?

Meet the DI. Visit with him/her. Let your "gut" be your guide. I agree with the above statement that a student has very little insight on how good or bad an instructor would or could be.

They(the DI and DM) are insured and if you find that they are asking you to do something that is just plain stupid, DON'T DO IT!!!

For the most part, the DI and the DM are just showing you the very most basic of instruction. You will gain a ton of experience while actually diving. Whether that diving is in the briney blue or the Tombigbee, dive with experianced Divers...they wil really teach you.

just my two cents worth...

MadReefer
(originally from Columbus Ms.)

 

[Walter]

I don't have the links handy, but I'll look them up for you late tonight (dive club meeting, so it won't be early) and post them for you. In the meantime, go to diverlink.com and click on directory. From there you can find tons of useful information. Specifically look at the new diver section. The new diver section has information on how to choose an instructor. You are interviewing this guy for a job. You need to decide if you want to hire him or not. If you decide not to hire him, you probably have options you haven't considered. This may be the only "shop" within 1 ½ hours, but that doesn't mean there aren't other instructors in your area. Diverlink also has links to various agencies from its site. Those agencies usually have a page to assist you in finding their instructors in your area. YMCA, NAUI and others (SSI instructors are never independent, so there's no point looking for independents on their site, although there may be a nearby shop with which you are not familiar))are likely to have independent instructors nearby.

I highly recommend taking a class from a patient instructor who gives the most comprehensive class you can find. The longer it takes to complete the class (time in classroom and time in pool) the better prepared you'kll be.

Good luck and keep us informed.

 

[MissAmberDiva]

Trust your gut. If you feel uncomfortable or uneasy with the instructor and feel like the class or anything he is doing is unsafe, then it probably is. It's better to make a 2 hour drive and feel like you are good hands than to stay where you are if you feel like you are being put in danger.

Talk to the instructor. Ask as many questions as you want to. No questions are dumb. That's what he's there for. You are there to learn .If he doesn't want to answer them or makes you feel stupid, then bail.

 

[Dee]

...to Diverlink's New Diver Information.

As Walter mentioned, there's alot of information there that will answer most of your questions.

 

[Dxtreme]

I went to the Scuba Store last evening to "check out" the instructor ans sat through his first class.

He had 20 years of diving exp and 10 years as instructor. He was really nice and answered all of my questions as well as the other people's questions & concerns.

Although i am going to miss most of the classroom sessions (work), i would definitly trust and have faith with this guy. His classroom lectures was so interesting that i was 120% focus and remembered all that he said and talked about.

One thing that i really like is that he really emphasize on SAFETY and he will make sure we all know WHAT WE ARE DOING before going on the Check Dive. We are targeting around 4 pool sessions (in which they scheduled it so i would not miss it) and he will add more if he thinks we needed it.

There are only 3 students "this time of the year" and thats where i think we gonna have more one on one attention.

I cant wait for the FIRST pool session and if Scuba is for me i definetly would take more advanced classes with him !

P/S: He was trained by the MIlitary and he kept on talking about having us give 110% effort evertime in the pool ;-0

BOOT CAMP !!!!!!!!!

 

[Walter]

Unfortunately most classes these days only have 4 pool sessions.