Confessions of the Scuba Anti-Hero: Part 1

Your Scuba Anti-Hero

Many people haven’t been able to get to know the real me. Many have accused me of being egotistical and other nonsense. Unless you’ve been around me for quite some time, you may not know a few truths about my diving and views on diving. In this series, I want to give a few “confessions” to help people get to know me a little more better. Check back often for more of my confessions. [Read more...]

Going Above the Standards: The Fallacy

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. [Read more...]

How to Prepare for a Technical Diving Class

Duane Johnson - Tech Instructor

Duane Johnson - Tech Instructor

As a technical diving instructor, I get asked many times how people can prepare for their technical diving classes. Certainly there are skills that one could practice. However, there are certain things that people really need to think about prior to signing up for that technical diving course. Below is a quick list of a few topics that I tell people. I give two lists, one for in-water skills and the other more mental skills. [Read more...]

Mastery – What Should you Expect from a Tech Instructor?

Duane Johnson - Tech Instructor

Duane Johnson - Tech Instructor

I was chatting with some friends on the west coast recently and we got into a discussion about technical diving education and whether it is in a state of decline, quality wise, like recreational diving (arguably). This got me reminiscing about my experiences in the past as well as some of the things I’ve seen other people experience.

I think back to my experiences as a tech student. Even though I learned the skills and was able to not kill myself or my buddy, I quickly learned that there had to be something more than my current performance. After a hard look at my skills, I quickly realized that I should not be diving on helium to 200+ feet, regardless of certification. This started my journey, my search for mastery. [Read more...]