What Is Your Opinion Of A Cavern Instructor - - -

I agree with the consensus: the instructor acted properly. Your son-in-law should aim his anger at Mother Nature.

Russell

[kgault]

Oh, I agree. If the course isn't completed, you don't get certified.

It just would've made more sense to reschedule the class when you knew that an impending hurricane wasn't going to cut it short. It rained practically the entire time they were there.

Rain doesn't cancel classes in these parts, or we would never complete classes. The Hurricane was not expected to be as large as it was (wrong time of the season; it even surprised the forecasters) and was not predicted to hit the west coast of central Florida. We were considering evacuating to the Peacock area to get in some diving until the info on Saturday was posted to this site.

Are you upset that the Instructor could not see the future?

Keith

[CaptainSpeleo]

I'm not upset at all. I think we can put this post to rest. I have no further comments.

[Jim Wyatt]

It just would've made more sense to reschedule the class when you knew that an impending hurricane wasn't going to cut it short.

Why didn't your son-in-law call & cancel?

I charge $275 for a cavern course if 2 or more take it. If one student enrolls I charge $325.

[CaptainSpeleo]

Jim:

He's been wanting to get Cavern-certified for several months, but his plans always fell through. He wasn't about to cancel out on going, unless the instructor cancelled the class. Anyway, he's gotten over being upset and plans to return to Peacock Springs this upcoming weekend to finish the last 2 training dives, if the park is open.

I took Cavern and Intro Cave in 1987 and paid $75.00 for each of those 2-day courses. I took Full Cave in 1989 and paid $250.00 for the 4-day course. What a difference 18 years makes!

[Caver95]

back when I was a kid, i remember when one could go to the movies for a quater. then we walked there through 12 ft of snow up hill, both ways. and that was in the middle of summer.

[novadiver]

I normally stay out of threads like this but felt adding my two cents might help.

the cavern course teaches the very basics of cave diving , and that makes it the most important course for safety. Miss a step here and it could be fatal down the road. The instructor did your son-in-law right. It's the knowledge and skills that are important at this stage, not the card. I wish him the best

[Tegg]

There are 2 sides to this story, just like all the other stories...

This post was not warranted.

[CaptainSpeleo]

Tegg:

I just received an E-mail from one of the other students in the Cavern class who apparently got word of this post and read it. According to him, this is what REALLY happened:

My son-in-law was supposed to read 2 books prior to the class(which he didn't do) and he was supposed to meet with the instructor and other students on Friday night(which he didn't do).

The plan was to make 2 of the training dives at Ginnie Springs and 3 of the training dives at Peacock Springs, but because Ginnie Springs was closed, it was decided to make all of the training dives at Peacock Springs.

Because my son-in-law had failed to read the books before-hand, it delayed the entire class on Saturday and they were unable to make any training dives until Sunday.

After they made 3 training dives at Peacock Springs on Sunday, the instructor was approached by the ranger and advised the park was closing early because of the impending bad weather, so the class was unable to complete all the training dives.

As you said, there are 2 sides to every story, and I unfortunately chose to believe what my son-in-law had told me.

If the instructor has read this post, you have my apologies.

[Jim Wyatt]

Tegg:


My son-in-law was supposed to read 2 books prior to the class(which he didn't do) and he was supposed to meet with the instructor and other students on Friday night(which he didn't do).


If the instructor has read this post, you have my apologies.

Damn--don't ya wish you could "un-ring the bell"?