Worst trend in Scuba Diving instruction many of us have ever seen...Avoid Groupon!

[captjohnr]

You are taking the PADI Scuba Diver Course also called the Supervised Diver Course see the WRSTC Minimum Standards for the course/certification http://www.wrstc.com/downloads/02 - Supervised Diver.pdf The PADI OPEN WATER Course has additional requirements see WSTC Minimum Standards for Open Water at http://www.wrstc.com/downloads/03 - Open Water Diver.pdf. The course and fees sound like a great deal for you! Thanks for sharing the information and best wishes to you. Welcome to the sport. Enjoy diving.

Your Pal Capt. John Russell info@scubatampa.com http://www.facebook.com/CaptJohnRussell

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[Searcaigh]

Hopefully BHB is not suffering as I plan to visit this site on my next US business trip or possibly in Mid-July, interested in other macro locations too and I guess I will be staying at the Hilton.

 

[iluvtheocean]

I do not think it's an issue with Groupon itself but with womever is offering the deal...treating certifitcation like a cattle call will get you poorly trained divers --i've used groupon to get a deal on a good dive down in the keys -- we spent the extra money we saved on the dive itself on the lodging and food.. which is why we're taking the rv down next time and staying in the secret spot for under $30 a day.

 

[Tigerman]

...

• Members Expelled.............................2
• Members Suspended..........................3
• Members Retrained or Reoriented.......16
• Members Terminated.........................1

Yes, that's how it's printed; some AI in England was evidently Terminated. :shocked2:
...

Uh'oh. PADI has "people" on their payroll who go around "terminating" people?
I wanna know where that PADI Assassin course is held

 

[Divedoggie]

If divers are being "trained" en masse, there are still agency standards which limit the ratio of students to instructor. If Instructors are not observing those standards, then they should be reported. (A discussion of the inadequacy of RSTC minimum standards should be discussed elsewhere.)

The deal$ that the students received through GropeOn can't change the maximum ratios. IMO, If the OW site is clear and calm and there is adequate pool training and classroom work laid as a foundation, the maximum student to Instructor ratios work just fine.

It sounds like the shops involved did not prepare for the popularity of the promotion and were unable to create a system to give adequate training to each individual. It also sounds like the instructors were violating standards. It sounds like mayhem!

While the level of training that these GropeOn customers were receiving appears to be dismal, it is encouraging for the industry, that there is that much interest out there.

 

[scubadada]

I think there is not much anyone can do. Scubaboard has pumped this small place up to be the best place in the world to dive and it is free, shallow, reasonably clear, zero wave action and has easy shore access. Now "hordes" of divers show up and kick the hell out of the place.

Only a couple of years ago, you might see 15 divers at high tide on the weekend, now the number is probably approaching 150? maybe more?

As I said before (in another thread where I was attacked for being a troll), the over promotion of the site on SB and the concomitant onslaught of bottom kicking scuba clowns is far more destructive than a few collectors.

I would never have known about BHB if it were not for ScubaBoard and the several specific threads dedicated to the topic. I have dived BHB exactly once with Kevin Metz on a day the Underwater Explorer could not go out. All I can say is wow, amongst the best 2 hours I've spent underwater. BHB is victim of its own success. A free shallow diving site for classes is too much to pass up.

Good diving, Craig

 

[Absolutbill]

My wife and I used a "living social" deal, very similar to groupon. With out that I would not be a diver. What we did was get a discover scuba pool session for about 15 bucks. That got us hooked. Now we are working towards AOW.

I cannot wait until I get the chance to dive BHB!


Sent from my IPad using Tapatalk

 

[divingsiren]

While I am sorry to hear the troubles faced at BHB, I don't think blaming groupon, or dive shops that take advantage of groupon, is the right way to go either. I have read about BHB on SB, but more so, I've heard about it quite often from fellow divers here in Florida. It has never been a "secret" dive location, but I am sorry to hear that local dive shops in that area are overpopulating BHB with new divers. Then again, I don't think this is limited to just BHB. The last times I've been up to Rainbow River (over on this side of FL) it has been extremely crowded with OW classes. I have been kicked in the face by fins and the clear water has been silted up. However, despite these difficulties, I'm glad people are getting certified more. In fact, it's because of Groupon that *I* got certified...and now I've given lots of $$ to local dive shops, dive spots, and I've found a community I love to be a part of. I think perhaps the BHB overcrowding issue needs to be addressed at a local level? Maybe these dive shops need to hear complaints form others in the diving community about the effects the classes are having on BHB? I'm not sure, but I hope to visit it one day... preferably when it is not full of training classes.

Cheers -Beth

 

[BVickery]

To paraphrase a saying on a different forum I visit.

Blaming Groupon for putting out bad divers is like blaming a spoon for making a person fat.


Dan, I respect you, but the thing is, a lot of times you come across as a zealot when it comes to the BHB. You may think it is great, but the thing about a zealot is they can often make an enemy out of a potential friend.

 

[RonFrank]

I would be surprised if any of the instructors on this forum had perfect results from their students. I have been around plenty of students. Poor trim and buoyancy, and kicking the bottom is typical of new divers. If you believe you are gods gift to newbies, and have somehow avoided students who kick the bottom and have poor trim or buoyancy I'd love to see that. We were all new at one time and 8 hours of pool work is not going to produce perfection.

BHB was so shallow where the students were diving (in the utube video) if you did a flutter kick you were going to stir it up. Fortunately SAND is resistant to silting so vis was surprisingly good regardless of the poor fining technique of the divers on film. If that was most lakes in CO or NM the vis would be toast in seconds. As to critter impact I would think if the critters are still there then the newbies have not totally disrupted the area. They are most likely more resilient than folks believe. As long as people are not hunting them or handling them they should survive.

I would hope that scuba instructors respect the marine life, do their best not to damage an area, and to train new divers to avoid damage as well. I would hope that is part of what they are teaching in a Scuba class. If it is not, it needs to be.