Precision Diving

I’ve been an independent instructor for three full years. During this time, I’ve learned quite a lot about the diving industry. As each year passes, I learn more and more. So I’d like to give a few tips to people who are, or contemplating becoming, independent instructors. These are just a few dos and don’ts that I’ve learned to help you become a successful independent scuba instructor. (more…)

Like many Americans, this year has been very tough for my family. Last year I lost my job as a business manager at Motorola. I became a stay at home dad for our two daughters. This year, my wife lost her job as a career coach at Deloitte and Touche. As of this writing, neither of us have found a steady job yet. I’ve been teaching college classes part time for some extra cash. As Christmas approaches, we have had to make hard decisions as to what kind of gifts we will get the girls. As a parent, you want to give your kids everything, but many times that just isn’t possible. As I’ve thought about Christmas for my kids, I’ve thought about other people who are in a similar, or worse, situation than me and how this affects their diving Christmas season. (more…)

I was reading a post on Scubaboard about DIR and the upline. One person argued that DIR divers were forbidden to lay one finger on the upline. I found this comment rather silly. If there is a DIR rule book, I’ve never seen it. So I doubt the argument forbidding DIR divers from using the upline holds much water. As we gain more diving education and experience, we should be moving towards a thinking diver and will start to see that there are some instances where divers to need to use the upline. (more…)

By reading the title of this post, you’re probably saying “What is this about?” Simply, it’s about how to carry a timing device. I’m not talking about a dive computer, depth gauge or bottom timer. I’m talking about a simple watch. We carry watches as a backup timing device in case our dive computers or depth gauge/bottom timer dies while on a dive. Technical divers will use watches to time their decompression stops if their bottom times do not show time in seconds or have a stopwatch function (like the UWATEC hockey puck bottom timer/depth gauge). Now I know your next statement, “I wear my watch on my wrist.” Certainly that is a logical place to wear a watch, but many times we don’t have that luxury. (more…)