Hi, it's your instructor calling....

[joe8mofo]

So far, all of my dives since my OW certification have been with my instructor; he loves to go diving and I see no better way of learning more than diving with someone more experienced than myself and picking up on "good" habits.

 

[wrybosome]

This thread's been out of circulation for a while, but since the OP reopened it...

I don't call my OW instructor up for dives because all of his for fun dives are beyond my skill level. Mostly wreck dives in NJ and NC, diving doubles, doing deco. I expect to develop my skills but there's no rush. When/if I get there it would be cool to dive with him.

 

[sdiver68]

I haven't called because we live 1000 miles away. Next time I'm in Cancun/Coz/PDC I will call and we'll go diving. I have emailed, and thanked you once again.

 

[idocsteve]

I haven't called because, well, quite frankly...you didn't say the magic word.

 

[Meredith78]

That's so nice; I wish one of my instructors had said that to me after my OW. But then, I haven't bought any major equipment yet, and if they contacted me I'd probably just think they wanted to make money off me. I'm so cynical!

 

[lavachickie]

Any instructor who wants to dive with a n00b for fun... PM ME! =-)

My LDS is a pretty active, tight knit group. You can stop by to hang out, go to monthly meetings, etc. I did most of my OW dives in the PNW cold in December, then finished up in Coz with my instructor, got some dives in that week, and this next weekend will return to the cold PNW waters with a friend I met through the club meetings. I checked her out with my instructor first, asking if she was a good match for me to dive with.

While I've never gotten a specific invite from my instructor or the DMs that helped during class, I know that I can call the shop up and say, "Who's going where this weekend?" and find a place and people to dive with.

 

[Gatorshark]

I was new to the area where I was OW certified and followed up immediately with my Instructor about going diving with him. After a few weeks he finally responded and we met for a boat dive. He was honestly not very "cool" and seemed to be more tolerating of diving with me more than anything else! Whatever, he was a very good instructor and we don't always gel personality wise with everyone! I found plenty of dive buddies since.

 

[Chris12day]

Sad, but I have never dived with my OW instructor, my AOW instructor, or my Nitrox instructor......

I did my OW book work and pool work in Chicago, IL in January two years ago. I did my OW diving via a referral. I think the weather was better....Kona, Hawaii. I purchased my entire SCUBA gear setup from instructor. I only rent tanks and weights.

I did my AOW book work in Chicago, IL with my original OW instructor. I did my dives in various locations over about a month (Florida and California).

My father passed away and wanted to swim with the fishes….he loved the ocean, but never dived. I found a dive operation in Jupiter, Florida that allowed me to charter their boot and lay my father ashes on a reef. Note: My computer failed on dive. I purchased analog gauges from original instructor to back up my integrated computer..

Like my OW and AOW, I did my Nitrox again in Chicago with the same instructor. Nitrox does not require any dives......I have never done a fresh water dive, only salt water.

I have purchased two additional sets of SCUBA gear from my instructor for my two sons (21 and 18 years old) including back-up analog gauges. They did their OW in Jupiter, Florida. The youngest did his AOW with a dive shop in Miami. My oldest just completed his AOW in Key Largo and both sons completed their Nitrox as well.

I have just recently purchased a 19cf pony system from my original OW instructor. I have not yet recieved the equipment, but I am looking forward to learning how to dive with the equipment correctly and safely.

I have been invited to dive with my instructor a number of times, but I typically am traveling due to work and am unable to dive with him. We stay in touch. We discuss various dives and he provides a lot of information. Hopefully, one day I will have an opportunity to dive with my instructor. I am hoping to set up a dive trip with my instructor where I will be able to complete NAUI’s rescue diving. If not, I will find a location where I will be able to do the book work and diving under with the same instructor.

Happy Diving

 

[jphelps9196]

Having moved 1,500 miles away, diving with my OW instructor is no longer an option. When I was in the area, the shop itself was convenient and did a lot of diving year-round.

After certification I was encouraged to come out and dive with them anytime. I was able to go out with my instructor once and had a nice, easy set of dives in a local lake -- all-in-all a great time. Unfortunately, this was the extend of my diving with him. The trouble was with the scheduling. One of the shop's dive masters dove every Friday, but as this would have required taking time off from work I wasn't ever able to make it happen. On the weekends, the diving was almost always class based. Local trips for the certified crowd were available once in a while, but unfortunately there was rarely more then a couple of days notice. (They did send regular emails reminding me of equipment that was on sale and Caribbean vacations that were available to be booked though.) I'd love to be more then a weekend diver, but with a wife (non-diver) and child (still too young, but raring to go) I find that I need to be able to schedule my diving well in advance. Not ideal, but I get a lot more support for my addiction this way.

Having moved back to the mid-west, I'm finding similar challenges out here. Charters and "local" destination trips (Door County, Lake Wazee, Bonne Terre, etc.) are often posted well in advance in order to ensure minimum numbers are met, but there's next to no communication available about less expensive shore diving opportunities.

 

[psychocabbage]

The few times that they send me an advertisement/invitatiion to go somewhere with decent diving, like Florida or Mexico, their price for the trip is so out-of-sight that I lose interest immediately.

This.. and often I find we travel differently. We are 5.. 3 adults and 3 kids that all dive. We rent cars. We rent homes. We go on VACATION to RELAX and DIVE.We dont go to rush it all.. we get wet ASAP and like to be in total control of all the accomodations and whatnot..


If they didnt try and jack the prices up soo much it would make more sense.. but I dont like to just give my money away.