St Louis Dive Schools?

[hudson]

The instructors I know at TGADC are knowledgeable, can communicate well and care a great deal about their students. You won't run into a poorly run operation there. Your best bet, however, would be to speak with the instructor teaching the course. I wouldn't sweat a price difference of <$50.

 

[b1gcountry]

I am working as a DMC with an independent PADI instructor with the Boeing Scuba Club, and going with an independent instructor also has its advantages. The last class we did completed their OW this past weekend. We only had 4 students in the class. We had the instructor and three divemasters along with us on the checkout dives in Jordan Lake, AR. Every student has a LOT of attention from knowledgable DMs and the Instructor, which is something you don't always get from the larger shops in the area unless you pay a bunch extra. We also had two students that could not make the certification dives, so we rescheduled them to have their own checkout dives in two weekends. They basically have private checkout dives with the instructor. Two of the students certified this weekend are also coming along to get some extra experience. Price is similar to other places in the area. About $250 for OW class and dives including all rental equipment, air, and boat fees.

If you go with a local shop, Ykiki, Midwest and TGADC are all decent places. West End sorta rubs me the wrong way, and they have had some bad accidents at their mine during OW dives. Not a great environment to learn to SCUBA in. Of the three, I would go with TGADC just because I know so many of them, and they are good people. Sandy Guire is great, and Terry, and Matt are also very experienced instructors that are very knowledgable. I've heard one story about Midwest where way too many students were crammed into the pool all at once. I know TGADC actually had to send some people elsewhere for training because they did not want to have too many in a single class. This has lost them business, but I think keeping classes to a managable size is a good thing.

Try to figure out who the instructor will be in any case, and give them a phone call beforehand. If you would be interested in taking the class with us (Boeing Club), send me a PM, and I will get you in contact with our instructor.

Tom

 

[MikeFerrara]

There are some threads in the new-toscuba forum that are must-reads for new divers. What you want to know is WHAT they teach. If they teach by the PADI/(agency of your choice) book, it's underwater kneeling. The shops and instructors that are teaching real diving and dive planning are few and far inbetween.

I don't really know any of those folks in St Louis so I can't comment on any of them directly but when I say "few and far inbetween" that's exactly what I mean.

If it were me looking for a class and knowing what I know now, I wouldn't even look at dive shops. I hate to say it but "dive shop" and "good dive training" are almost a contradiction in terms. If for no other reason, because of the nature of the industry. Poor training is the behavior that is financially rewarded.

I know, there are tons of divers around who trained with a dive shop and most of them loved their instructor. That's nice but many of them do a pretty poor job of actually diving...so they aren't really the ones to ask.

how do you find a good one? Again, there are threads here that might help know what to ask but without already knowing something about diving, it's pretty hard.
I guess, I'd gear my questions to specific skills related to MIDWATER skills...mask R&R, free flow breathing ect, ascents, descents, TRIM, gas management and a bunch of others. If they don't teach those things, it's a class in underwater breathing in preperation for underwater tourism and NOT diving. That's what some people want and, to each their own but the people who are really wanting to learn diving are the ones with a tough row to hoe.

 

[SteveC]

If you check their web sites, you will see that they all have about 2 dozen instructors. The instructor you have for your pool and classroom may not be the same as your open water. So it&#8217;s going to be a little potluck on who you get.
I don&#8217;t know many of them personally, but those that I have trained under or have talked to have been great.
My advice would be to think of your C card as a learners permit and don&#8217;t expect to be a proficient diver the same weekend that you get certified. Then read everything you can on diving and start doing progressively more advanced dives until you get more comfortable diving.

 

[MikeFerrara]

My advice would be to think of your C card as a learners permit and don’t expect to be a proficient diver the same weekend that you get certified.

A certification isn't a learners permit. It certifies completion of training and the certified diver should be proficient at that level.

 

[Quarrior]

A certification isn't a learners permit. It certifies completion of training and the certified diver should be proficient at that level.

Well said.

 

[diverbob]

A certification isn't a learners permit. It certifies completion of training and the certified diver should be proficient at that level.

The c-card means you have completed the basics which that agency has set forth for their certification level. The cert teaches the basics, it is up to the diver to gain the experience.

I know instructors at just about all the shops in St.Louis, with the exception of West End, and I will say every shop has good instructors, every shop has okay instructors, and every shop has instructors that should probably get a little more experience first. Like it was mentioned earlier, the best thing to do is visit all the local shops, and find out who you are comfortable with.

I only know 2 independants in the St.Louis area. 1, am good friends with, and the other I wouldnt trust to teach ow to my worst enemy.

 

[b1gcountry]

A certification isn't a learners permit. It certifies completion of training and the certified diver should be proficient at that level.

I disagree. I don't think anyone should ever think of their training as being completed. The PADI program was designed to teach you as much as you can in only four dives (one weekend). I think its a bad idea to try to fit more than two dives in one day, especially considering how long each training dive really lasts, and pushing it beyond two days in a row would be a lot for a new diver. Even "good dive training" would start at basically the same place as a decent OW class. The difference is that it is now up to the student to advance their own skills through additional classes, or with more informal training sessions.

I agree that performing skills on knees is not realistic, and I try to get students to practice skills in midwater, or even without a mask on, but not all students progress that far unfortunately. Still, learning to do a mask flood for the first time should probably be done kneeling. So I guess, no you won't learn all you need to in your OW class, but you will never learn all you need to. Ever. The main difference in my eyes is that a decent 'regular' OW class leaves the next step to the student-with the freedom of continuing on, finding another instructor, or independent learning.

Tom

 

[Wozzer]

Thanks for all the advice folks! I'm doing a discover scuba thing this weekend, and then scheduling my OW cert once I get schedules from the various places...

 

[MsParamedic]

As a former St. Louisian....I would second the votes for Y-Kiki!

Pat