Training in Mexico

[bladerunner]

I have trained extensively in Mexico and need to respond to this thread. My cave certification was here in Florida. The level of training that I have had in Mexico has been extraordinary and had the effect of transforming my cave diving to the highest levels of possibility. I have found my mentors and teachers in Mexico to be true masters of the discipline. At no time did I ever feel that I was put in a position where my life was being risked by techniques or drills that were poorly constructed or needlessly carried out for trivial reasons. In fact, what I have learned over the last three years from my instructors in Mexico far surpasses any of the cave instruction that I have had here in the USA. Additionally, the instruction and mentoring has made it possible for me to dive the caves that a few years ago I could only dream about. I would, without hesitation, highly recommend my mentors in Mexico and look forward to diving with them again this coming summer. I would be glad to pass on my instructors name to anyone who might be interested in state of the art training. PM me.


Pete deLannoy

[inverted_bear]

I'm sure that all the instructors in a country can accurately be generalized. It's not like there are dozens of good and bad instructors around the world.

[rddvet]

I'm sure that all the instructors in a country can accurately be generalized. It's not like there are dozens of good and bad instructors around the world.

That's very true. Generalization isn't realistic and leads to bad things. I think if you took courses from the top 5% of instructors from either country you can't go wrong. And you can find an equally horrible number of piss poor instructors in both countries. Yet, I think if you sat as a fly on the wall and observed the classes of those top instructors from each country and objectively reviewed them you would see a big difference in how they teach as well as the quality to which they teach. And I don't mean whether they tug your regs out of your mouth or shove a finger up your bum to stress you out.

[bamafan]

Saying all instructors in Mexico are the best is in my opinion a big stretch since one just lost a student while diving. There are good instructors and divers in both places and there are horrible ones in both places.

[LiteHedded]

I've seen terrible divers trained in both places. This is just silly

[JohnAd]

Saying all instructors in Mexico are the best is in my opinion a big stretch since one just lost a student while diving.

I am not totally clear on this. Are you saying that during a course an instructor lost track of a student who died? It sure seems like it.

That is one damned serious charge. I assume you have all the details of this to back it up and prove it. I am sure you are not one of those horrible rumor mongers who would destroy an individual's reputation by spreading false rumors through social media, so it must be true. Right?

I think most people reading this thread know that in the past couple of years, cave instructors have been scurrilously attacked in social media (including CDF) for supposedly culpable actions that turned out in the long run to be completely false. Those attacks have been like feeding frenzies, destroying all in the path. Heck, I was even torn apart in one such attack, and I was not even remotely involved.

But since you know all of this yourself and would not want to be part of spreading such unfounded and destructive rumors, I am sure you must have solid evidence upon which you make such charges. I do know the incident of which you speak, but I have no idea about the details that led to the charges being leveled here. I don't even know the name of the instructor. I cannot wait, therefore, for you to fill in the details. What was the class the student was taking when the instructor lost track of her? How was the victim lost? What is the source of your information?

I know that you, like all of us, so not want a repeat of the unfortunate false accusations that have occurred in the last few years, so I trust you will be forthcoming with the details so we all know your information is legitimate. After all, none of us want to be the victim of unsubstantiated rumors.

[phillip1]

I thought the recent fatality at Gran cenote was of a full cave diver being guided by a recently certified cave instructor not an actual cave class.

[bamafan]

I have heard it was a sidemount class and the paperwork was forged to make it look like the class had been completed. I have also heard it was the first dive after the class. Either way the guy was an instructor and she was his student. I have heard several theories and some of them are beyond disturbing. I am sure the this will get swept under the rug just like most other accidents that are bad for business. How would you propose that an instructor lost a student in a fairly benign cave environment and the trained student was unable to find their way out on their own? We are talking a shallow cave with almost unlimited viz here. Wouldn't you think they could follow the line back out? Did the instructor pull the jump spools leaving the student without a continous guideline to the surface? Did the not cookie their jumps? Why would someone especially an instructor pull the jumps if they weren't 100% certain that the other diver was out of the cave? If these things happened what might be the motivation? There are lots of rumors and I don't see anyway that the instructor wasn't at a minimum grossly negligent. I am guessing the truth will never come out but I hope it does as it seems there are some lessons to be learned.

This is who I have been told the instructor was.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008768388398

He is IANTD and on their website it appears to me he is not even a full cave instructor. So the recently certified instructor part could be valid. I don't know and like I said there are lots of rumors and somthing really doesn't make sense with this incident.

[phillip1]

If that is true it would be great if he gets sanctioned but unfortunately as is the case 100% of the time everywhere in the world with all agencies nothing will happen.
I am not sure if anything happened to the instructor who killed her student at blue grotto but aparently nothing in that or any other case either not to mention the myriad of full cave instructors getting unsuspecting open water clients killed by violating every single safety standard and going into the cave.
Again this is by ALL agencies not just IANTD

[bamafan]

IANTD passes out instructor cards like they are candy so I doubt they even investigate the incident. It might cost them money if they actually looked into this.