Regardless of agency, you get good instructors and bad instructors. Not all instructors working out of a shop are great, and not all instructors who work independently are bad.
However, (in my experience) most bad instructors are independent. I guess that's because if they start to let their standards slip, they don't have a team around them to see them go and help pull them back up...
Word of mouth is a great tool. Talk to experienced divers in the area, and not recently certified OW divers ('cos they're just so overawed by the fact they're now divers they usually don't know whether they had a good or bad instructor!)
However, (in my experience) most bad instructors are independent. I guess that's because if they start to let their standards slip, they don't have a team around them to see them go and help pull them back up...
Word of mouth is a great tool. Talk to experienced divers in the area, and not recently certified OW divers ('cos they're just so overawed by the fact they're now divers they usually don't know whether they had a good or bad instructor!)
