jmb122mp
Registered
I did this for the first time last year with a now ex-girlfriend. We ended up doing local training and destination referral. Here's my experience:
-- Finding a dive shop. The class I wanted her to use was booked for the shop I wanted. So, I had to "interview" other shops as we were having her join me on a trip to Cozumel that I was already booked. All shops will end up having things you like and things you dislike. Of course, you want to maximize the likes and minimize the dislikes. The big dislike for the shop we ended up using was that pool part of the class was done in 2 full days on the weekend. I would have preferred 4 shorter sessions (see next item). Don't expect to be able to join your friend in the class pool sessions... they have a class to teach and you're likely an unknown. They don't know whether you'll want to contradict anything they are teaching.
-- "Additional Pool Sessions". When you are a certified diver, most shops allow pool sessions for certified divers. I utilize this for a pool session prior to every dive trip I take. I get used to my equipment again and being in the water again prior to the trip as well as doing a test (of sorts) that my equipment is still functioning correctly. I made sure with the dive shop that after her initial training and prior to our trip, we could do two pool sessions diving together. At this point, she has completed the class/pool training but has not done her checkout dives so she is not a certified diver yet. I went over with her any skill she wanted to in our two pools sessions. The first session they had an assistant instructor dive with us. The second session they left us alone to do whatever we wanted. During our first session, she had the skills down pretty well but she didn't quite "know it". The second session, she had them down pat and "knew it".
-- Dive Trip. The first two diving days of our trip, I was her dive partner while she did the checkout dives. The rest of the week, I was her partner with our group. She did extremely well with a few minor beginner mistakes.
Hope that helps...
Jim
-- Finding a dive shop. The class I wanted her to use was booked for the shop I wanted. So, I had to "interview" other shops as we were having her join me on a trip to Cozumel that I was already booked. All shops will end up having things you like and things you dislike. Of course, you want to maximize the likes and minimize the dislikes. The big dislike for the shop we ended up using was that pool part of the class was done in 2 full days on the weekend. I would have preferred 4 shorter sessions (see next item). Don't expect to be able to join your friend in the class pool sessions... they have a class to teach and you're likely an unknown. They don't know whether you'll want to contradict anything they are teaching.
-- "Additional Pool Sessions". When you are a certified diver, most shops allow pool sessions for certified divers. I utilize this for a pool session prior to every dive trip I take. I get used to my equipment again and being in the water again prior to the trip as well as doing a test (of sorts) that my equipment is still functioning correctly. I made sure with the dive shop that after her initial training and prior to our trip, we could do two pool sessions diving together. At this point, she has completed the class/pool training but has not done her checkout dives so she is not a certified diver yet. I went over with her any skill she wanted to in our two pools sessions. The first session they had an assistant instructor dive with us. The second session they left us alone to do whatever we wanted. During our first session, she had the skills down pretty well but she didn't quite "know it". The second session, she had them down pat and "knew it".
-- Dive Trip. The first two diving days of our trip, I was her dive partner while she did the checkout dives. The rest of the week, I was her partner with our group. She did extremely well with a few minor beginner mistakes.
Hope that helps...
Jim
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