Precision Diving

A friend of mine sent me an email earlier. He had strayed from the safe haven of the Precision Diving ranch and took his tanks to a local dive store to get the annual visual inspection on them. When he picked up his tanks, the work order from the repair tech said that he could no longer use them for pre-mixed recreational Nitrox and were good for air only. As I read his email explaining the reason why his tanks were rejected for pre-mixed Nitrox, I just wanted to bang my head against hard objects. (more…)

Like many people, I like to waste my non-diving time by going on various scuba on-line forums and reading scuba diving blogs. As I try to evolve as a scuba diving instructor, I like to read about what other instructors are doing. You never know, someone may have some good ideas about how to run specific drills or how to handle students in a particular way. When I read through a lot of this, much of what people advertise about their classes is that they go above and beyond what the training agency standards say. Heck, I’ve even said this about my own classes and I’m sure it’s written somewhere on my web site. As I’ve grown as an instructor, one thing has become obviously clear, going above the training standards just isn’t enough. (more…)

I recently got back from a scuba diving vacation. While I was there, I was waiting to sign up for some charters at the resort we were staying. One of the lines was for people to sign up for courses while they were on vacation. As I was patiently waiting, I overheard one of the instructors talking to a non-diving customer about signing up for an open water class. If you have been a reader of mine, you’d know that I’m not a big fan of these resort “courses”, but what I overheard scared the tar balls out of me. (more…)

Discounted classes, on-line training and the lack of performance requirements in training agency standards are diluting the belief that it is the instructor, not the agency/dive store, that makes a class good or bad. As scuba diving education moves into the 21st century, there is a very large danger that scuba training is being viewed as a commodity. (more…)