How Should Price Affect Your Scuba Training Decision

Is Course Pricing Important?

I get about 5-10 calls and emails a week asking about my courses. Of course, one of the first questions I get asked is “How much?” Typically after they find out the price of my class, the conversation usually ends. However, I have had a few people ask why my classes are priced so high. I’m not going to discuss how I justify my course prices, I’ll leave that for another time. What I’m seeing is that the price of a course is being put as a higher priority than other, more important topics. So that begs the questions, just how much should the price of a scuba diving course be a factor when deciding where to take your class from? [Read more...]

What It Takes to Be a Great Diver

By Duane Johnson | Feature Posts, Knowledge Base

Riding an Diver Propulsion Vehicle (DPV)

Leaders are Made

If you are a regular reader of this site, you’ll know that my primary goal is to help you improve your diving skills. Many of you have written to me saying that your diving enjoyment has increased due to some of my tips. I know occasionally I’ll go off on a tangent and babble about things that have nothing to do with your in-water abilities, but the goal stays the same for me. The title line for the home page of this site says “Helping Divers Build Exceptional Diving Skills“. This isn’t some marketing scheme or catch phrase, it’s what motivates me to teach and publish articles on this site. Now I want to give you the Holy Grail of diving education. I want to tell you the one thing that will make you a great scuba diver. [Read more...]

Practical Application: The Forgotten Component of Scuba Training

By Duane Johnson | Training

Tech Instructor - Duane Johnson

The week leading up to each class I teach is always hectic for me. Not only do I need to go over my gear and get it ready, but I have to get organized as to the structure of the class, schedule of lecture topics, order of skills/drills and the list goes on. One of the final components to all of my classes are experience dives. On these dives, my students put into practice what they have learned in the class. At this point, I’m just a spectator and watch them plan and conduct the dives. This is one area that I’m not seeing in many scuba diving classes. [Read more...]

Scuba Courtesy: What’s Wrong with Scuba Instructors?

By Duane Johnson | Training

Just a little warning before you read further, this post isn’t for the faint of heart. This post can be rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America. You may find the following contents offensive.

Recently, I was teaching a class at my local quarry. Our quarry has a bunch of platforms installed so students, supposedly, won’t get into the muck during their training dives. One rule of the quarry is that training platforms are on a first come, first served basis with no reserving them. Basically if another class or group of divers is on a platform, then others need to find a new platform, wait until the platform is free, or possibly share the platform such that you are not interfering with each other. For the second time this year, some ~~douche bag~~ diving instructor decided it was smart to drop his class of open water students on top of my class. He had about eight or more students compared to my three. This isn’t some random occurrence. This regularly happens to me at least two or more times each year. [Read more...]