suggest good DM for 11 year old Jr. cert?

[Cozdreamer]

It's been 3 summers since we've made it to the island. This summer we will be bringing our 11 year old son and he's interested in following in our diving "footsteps". We've dove with numerous dive ops over the past 10 trips we've made to the island. BUT NOW WE NEED ONE THAT HAS A GOOD DM FOR A NEW JR DIVER.... (which we have never needed to consider in our dive op choices.)

Please cheerlead who we should look into and consider. Contact info would be greatly appreciated

 

[DandyDon]

Is he certified? If not, you need an Instructor.

 

[Ron Lee]

Where are you staying? You may find a fine instructor/DM at your hotel depending on his certification status.

 

[Captain Bil]

Out of curiosity, why wouldn't you dive with your child (provided he has a cert, of course)? I'd want my child under my care, not a stranger. But then again, I wouldn't let an eleven year old child dive anyway, so maybe my point is moot.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 2

 

[cicopo]

There has been at least one similar post but it may be from over a year ago. Assuming you're looking for the right instructor for someone that young Blanca at Blue Project, both Matt's at Blue Angel or Scuba Tony come to mind.

 

[stevenq99]

We had Blanca train our 11 year old daughter and would highly recomend her. She did a great job and our daughter now 15 has bloomed into a very good diver for her amount of experance.

 

[kentmorrdave]

Tonya,my friend Jeremy at http://www.livingunderwater.com I have seen him work with kids and he does a great job. Your gonna love diving with your kid!

 

[Darol]

Liquid Blue, Instructor Hector Reyes.

 

[njones259]

Matt at Blue Angel worked with my grandson when he was 10 and helped him become the outstanding diver he is today. Hope to dive with you guys again one day.

 

[mstevens]

Sandro Quijada Huerta is a very good instructor and divemaster currently working at Deep Blue. He would be, and has been, my instructor of choice for people I care about. He worked with my son from a young age through a number of junior and adult certifications. Gabriel Santana Perez, who is currently the Operations Manager at Del Mar Aquatics, has also worked with my son and other family members.

We've followed Sandro and Gabriel through a number of different dive shops over the years. They're both calm, unflappable, and skilled with the ability to build knowledge and skills in a way that builds enthusiasm. My son has had a couple of almost comically disastrous equipment failures at depth, one of which could easily have been fatal at the age of 16. When we were reviewing that particularly terrifying incident afterwards he said he "just tried to think like Sandro".

There are other great instructors on the island, but these are the ones I can recommend from personal experience of their work with younger divers.

If you need personal contact info I'd prefer not to post mobile numbers in a public forum, but I can provide them via PM. They're easily reachable through their respective current shops. They're also both on Facebook.