Precision Diving

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…)

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. (more…)

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. (more…)

By reading the title of this post, you’re probably saying “What is this about?” Simply, it’s about how to carry a timing device. I’m not talking about a dive computer, depth gauge or bottom timer. I’m talking about a simple watch. We carry watches as a backup timing device in case our dive computers or depth gauge/bottom timer dies while on a dive. Technical divers will use watches to time their decompression stops if their bottom times do not show time in seconds or have a stopwatch function (like the UWATEC hockey puck bottom timer/depth gauge). Now I know your next statement, “I wear my watch on my wrist.” Certainly that is a logical place to wear a watch, but many times we don’t have that luxury. (more…)