During the spring and summer months, I get around one to three phone calls and emails from people wanting to learn to scuba dive. While I tell them about my open water course in detail, the number of people who actually reply or sign up for the class has been zero, at least in the past year. While I attribute this failure rate mostly due to the high price of my class, I also believe that many people seeking scuba diving instruction don’t know the subtle differences when dealing with an independent scuba instructor versus a dive store. [Read more...]
How to Manage the Long Hose
As divers are seeing the benefit of diving the long hose, more and more scuba divers are switching from short hoses to the long hose configuration. While it is very important to understand how to dive the long hose, it is equally important to know how to manage the long hose when you actually have to deploy it. Many divers new to the long hose have no clue how to actually deploy it, let alone how to manage it once it is fully deployed during an air share. [Read more...]
The GUE vs. UTD Situation
I received an email recently from a reader asking about my thoughts on the GUE vs. UTD situation. I sent a reply simply asking “What situation?”. He wanted to know which agency I thought was better, GUE or UTD. It’s a very thought provoking question given the history that exists between these two agencies. Given the fact that both agencies have their roots in the DIR philosophy, these two agencies are similar but have unique differences. The agency that I throw my support behind is [Read more...]
Teaching Buoyancy in Open Water Classes
I will be the first to admit it. When I took my open water class, being neutrally buoyant was anything but comfortable. It wasn’t a normal feeling. What made me the most uncomfortable was that I wasn’t able to plant my self and become stable. When my instructor had us perform all of our skills kneeling, I was back in my comfort zone. I was stable and it was easier for me to perform those skills. Not too long ago, I wrote about my displeasure about how buoyancy was taught during open water courses. That article generated a good number of comments and quite a few emails, many from instructors who believed it was too hard or took too long to have students do all skills while in trim and neutrally buoyant. The truth is, teaching buoyancy control to new divers is easier than you think. [Read more...]
