Letter of Complaint for Splash DiveCenter, Alexandria Virginia

[Randy g]

Dive season's kickin off here in VB guys. Come on down! The waters fine!

And Hatteras in 3 weeks!

 

[HIGHwing]

I have a very mixed reaction to the post.

I don't know why you are so unhappy with your DM training, and there may be a great deal more to it than the two specific incidents. But it is definitely true that the goal of the instructor supervising your DM class is to produce someone who can safely assist with classes and guide dives, and if the instructors felt that your performance in general was consistently better than satisfactory, that there was no need to hold up your certification over nitpicky details.

True. You nailed it. There is much more going on here. Jeff signed up for the course which is taught in quarterly sessions, according to the owner, but then Jeff subsequently went on extended holiday half way around the world. The "policy" at Splash is that if you can't meet the schedule, you must pay for a private class. That detail caused the owners a bit of stress, and believe me they wanted compensation for their inconvenience. But even that is hardly the whole story. The Instructor (and co-owner) in question was motivated to process DM certs because of his need for a few more pro-certs for his upcoming Course Director slot. [Opinion Statements Removed] Interesting, if Jeff honestly seeks out remedial training, that will make 100% of the recent "graduates" trained under this instructor having felt under prepared. During the most recent go-around, many of the DM/Cs reached out to me privately for help and in some cases I snuck them into pools and worked on skills for free out of sympathy. For me, I had to make a decision about how I go forward as a professional, and my associations. I decided to make the most ethical decision for myself and my family. I learned a long time ago the guys doing it right, do it right when no one is looking over their shoulder. Jeff should make his own decision regarding additional training, but I must admit I'm disappointed I couldn't conduct his DM training sequence.

Regarding the overhead environment, I spoke to the student in question at length. Standing under a wooden pier that has four feet of airspace under it is hardly an overhead environment. Sounds to me like the Instructor who was managing the exercise should have yelled at himself. If an Instructor has two DMCs and an OW student doing a Nav exercise and you end up in the wrong place, who's at fault?? No brainer in my mind. The only dive professional actually present, in teaching status, and insured is the Instructor. Period. Yell at yourself, take the walk of shame, do whatever you need to do, but the feedback should have been, "See how easy it is to get turned around. Before you take a student, let's assure ourselves we're oriented, and we know the hazards". That's all that needed to happen, but the Instructor in question is more worried about asserting himself as the all-knowing, all-being ass at every opportunity.

I think this situation will self-resolve, as the customers are literally boycotting the shop and making sure they spend absolutely no money on gear, or training. As a land-locked dive shop, it's gonna be difficult to exist if every review you have on the Internet includes the word, "Shiesty", and you can't sell gear and/or Continuing Education.

I'm not sure Jeff's approach here was the most appropriate action, however he's certainly entitled to share his thoughts and opinions. Sadly, there's nothing new in this article, the comments on every review site about Splash speak for themselves and have for several years. You don't need to be Yelp'er to know what's up in just a few seconds. I'm sure the owner will instantly file some sort of legal action against Jeff for slander in a moment of hot-headedness - completely oblivious to source of the problem (despite having been told repeatedly, even in writing). So this is case closed, let's stop talking about diving, and start let's blow some bubbles!

 

[hypertech]

No matter what caused it, having a student leave so dissapointed from what should be a great experience is unfortunate. When I was looking to do my DM training, I stopped in at Splash and didn't get the best impression from Janet. That is not to say that there aren't good instructors there - there may be, but it wasn't the right place for me. I attended a Go Pro night at The Dive Shop - VA and met some great people and signed up for the DM course there. I had an excellent mentor and really enjoyed working on my DM course. If you do do remedial training, hopefully you will get that experience.

 

[TartanFrog]

I have been diving at Rawlings many times. I did my OW, AOW, and Rescue there. Before I really understood the danger, I went under the dock many times and used the area to work on buoyancy since it is very shallow and out of the way. As HIGHwing stated, the dock is not really an overhead environment. The risk I see in going under the dock is twofold; there is a potential for entanglement and there is also the potential for someone to drop in ontop of you as you are going in or if you come out from under the dock at the wrong place at the wrong time.

I am very aware of the event mentioned because I was there at the time, was sharing the same pavillion with them, and am friends with a couple of the DMCs that were going through training. Oh and the DMCs, now DMs, were involved in my Rescue scenarios. As some have said, there is a LOT more going on than just what was stated in the letter of complaint. But in my mind this is not the forum for that discussion.

 

[offthewall1]

Sadly, I suspect this is the type of training offered to divemasters in many locations. DM training now seems to just be another way for a dive shop to get your money. I've seen dive shops encourage nearly every customer to take the DM course - telling them it's a great way to improve their skills and comfort in the water.

The reality is that Dive Masters aren't much more than tank sherpas. They generally help with classes, carry tanks etc... but very few if any are true leaders. They are followers. In most resorts, a DM can't even get a job. What are known as DM's in most resorts are actually instructors who double as DM's for leading dives on sites.

I think my point here is simple. I have been around the industry for about 15 years now and I have never observed what I would call a good DM or a good DM program. Unfortunately this is the stepping stone to Instructor... so if you want to become a leader AKA an Instructor - you have to do it.... but my advice would be to just move on. Take your DM rating and get yourself into a quality Instructor program. You'll find far more good Instructor programs than you will DM programs.

 

[hypertech]

I have been around the industry for about 15 years now and I have never observed what I would call a good DM or a good DM program. Unfortunately this is the stepping stone to Instructor... so if you want to become a leader AKA an Instructor - you have to do it.... but my advice would be to just move on. Take your DM rating and get yourself into a quality Instructor program. You'll find far more good Instructor programs than you will DM programs.

If you've been around 15 years and haven't found a good DM or DM program you aren't looking. There are plenty of good DMs with good leadership skills running around and some have no interest whatsoever in being an instructor. Your title says you are an instructor. Have you not certified a DM? If you have, you wouldn't have certified a bad DM in a bad DM program would you?

 

[Katch]

Very sad Irony...

The OP may have a valid point about his concerns of this dive shop...

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ac...cident-lake-rawlings-sunday-05-27-2012-a.html

Her instructor was David Hays, an instructor and owner of Splash Dive Center in Alexandria, VA.

R.I.P.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Goddamit, now I know why the name of the dive center was familiar. This sucks big time.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[hypertech]

To follow up from the other thread. It seems David Hays has now been expelled from PADI.

http://www.padi.com/scuba/about-pad...umer-alerts/expelled-divemasters-instructors/

 

[DukeAMO]

The shop too: http://www.padi.com/scuba/about-pad...onsumer-alerts/special-advisories/Dive-Shops/

Splash Dive Center S-2626

Alexandria

VA, USA

Is not an authorized PADI Dive Center at any level. (7 June 2012)

Strange that it shows up on the Special Advisories page but not on the Expelled Dive Centers page.