Earlier this summer I had a situation arise that gave me cause for concern. Certainly this wasn’t the first time it has happened to me, but it was the WHO that caused me grief. One of the things that concerns me is that this type of thing may start to creep up and occur more frequently, especially considering there are more and more independent instructors cropping up out there. [Read more...]

Recently, I wrote about how current methods of scuba diving are failing. I had a few people write me about the safety of scuba diving. Some of the questions evolved around the safety record that scuba diving has. I believe that that safety record isn’t a good measurement of the actual safety of scuba diving. But that doesn’t mean I feel scuba diving is unsafe. [Read more...]

You do it for your waitress/waiter. You do it to the person making your $10 cup of coffee. You do it for the person pouring your beer. Do you do it for your scuba instructor? What I’m talking about is giving some kind of material gratuity to the person teaching you to scuba dive. Should instructors accept tips? Should you even offer to give something to your scuba instructor? [Read more...]

I clearly remember my decision to become an independent scuba instructor. I was teaching out of a dive store and was rather unhappy. Things were shoddy and falling through the cracks. Student quality wasn’t very good. Of course it wouldn’t be when divemaster candidates were teaching confined water. I wanted to do something better. The first thought that came to mind when I first contemplated going off on my own was that my days would be numbered as a scuba diving instructor and my run wouldn’t last long. For one of the rare times in my life, I was right. [Read more...]