Your Best Instructor and Why:

[kidspot]

Uncle Pug.

Because he showed me where my skills were lacking without belittling me.
Because he showed me how to improve those skills without being condescending.
Because he told me where I needed to improve without making me feel stupid.
Because he answered my questions without making me feel like an idiot.
Because he was patient despite my own frustration.
Because he took the time to help me.

regardless of subject matter - good principles to follow in teaching... and a nice way of wording it Snowbear.

I'm really enjoying reading everyones comments -

 

[MB]

Finally, I took Nitrox from a man with whom I sometimes team teach. Frankly, I taught myself nitrox long before I broke down and took the course. Mike Brady (MB on this board) was aware I already understood nitrox. He adapted his course to not only test my knowledge and to push me, but also to make sure I would have no trouble transitioning into teaching Nitrox. When I took my Nitrox Instructor course from Joel Silverstein (who wrote the nitrox text for NAUI, YMCA and the nitrox section of the NOAA Diving Manual), all I really needed was the transition to Y standards.

hehehe... I never told you that I just made that stuff up!

 

[redtide]

My OW instructor, Anke, who was a German girl working in Malta, because she got me totally hooked on scuba for life! She explained things so naturally and I never felt fear, nor did I not take the situation too lightly, yet I had loads of fun.

 

[dive]

Ron Benson from http://www.goingunder.net/ He is very professional and Knowledgeable. Mr. Benson runs a first class, full service operation that will take the time to help you with anything you need.

 

[TSandM]

I have been so lucky . . . My first instructors, Tim Perrault and Dennis Baum, were patient and encouraging and, despite my absolute klutziness about everything, always kept me feeling that things were going to work out fine in the end, and they did.

Steve White, my Fundies instructor, has been a wonderful teacher. He has an amazing ability to intervene and instruct while UNDER the water, which I think is very hard to do. He also has mastered the art of telling you exactly where you fall short, without it being painful. I don't know how he does that And he gives of his own time to his students, to continue the process.

But I owe the most to Bob, NW Grateful Diver. Bob took me under his wing when I was still doing all my descents on my back (when I got down at all) and was rototilling and corking to the surface at unpredictable intervals. With patience and a methodical approach, he helped me fix my weighting and my trim, taught me better kicks, and introduced me to a team approach to diving. He lent me equipment (all of which has cost me money in the long run ) and he continues to spend time working on my shortcomings.

I have been a very lucky person.

 

[BigBoB]

Larry Klinehoffer.

He taught me to teach.....and like it.

 

[Cacia]

My best Instructor was a NAUI Navy Seal who made my open water class so difficult, I barely passed. I was 15 and I remember doff and don of all equipment at the bottom of the pool, and buddy breathing deep in a quarry in a wetsuit in a freezing water. About a third of the class failed his math portion of gas physics. I try harder when the class is difficult.

I know I should not say this, but I seem to remember him making me hate his guts bad enough to consider failing as unacceptable. he definitly got my attention.

No one who passed would ever have a problem with a flooded mask.

 

[skybird]

Uncle Pug.

Because he showed me where my skills were lacking without belittling me.
Because he showed me how to improve those skills without being condescending.
Because he told me where I needed to improve without making me feel stupid.
Because he answered my questions without making me feel like an idiot.
Because he was patient despite my own frustration.
Because he took the time to help me.

WOW sounds like you are talking about Tony my instructor here at the quarry.

I was going to post, but this said so much more than I could have

 

[Chad Carney]

Many of my best instructors were my students.
Others were dive Captains.
And some were actually instructors.
A lot were just divers.

I've come away with so many pieces of the puzzle from all of them!

Chad

 

[boomx5]

Andrew Georgitsis. Because he's been a wealth of knowledge and his skill and his ability to teach in and out of the water have been second to none... IMHO.