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...]

One of the best benefits I get from teaching scuba diving classes, is that I get to go diving. I’ve never understood why many instructors (and dive store owners) choose not to dive or just barely get in the water when required. I’m in the process of putting together one of my buoyancy courses for this summer and I’ve been looking over the standards. As I read through, I noticed that there are references to indirect supervision. I’ve never been a fan of this practice and let me tell you why. [Read more...]

I can still remember it like it was yesterday. My friend Roy’s first words to me were “This sucker could take your head off” as he held up his Rambo dive knife. I met Roy when he took his Advanced Open Water course. He had a quirky sense of humor. Probably why we hit it off right away. Roy loved diving. He continued his diving education and eventually became a scuba instructor. That was when his life took a turn for the worse. [Read more...]

I field a lot of questions from people who want to become certified scuba divers. Many of the questions they have are in regards to the structure of the class. Many of the people I have talked to feel frustrated by the dive stores and instructors who simply copy and paste the course outline from PADI’s web site onto their own. So for those of you who are thinking about becoming a certified diver, let me describe for you what a good open water course consists of. [Read more...]