My Humble intro:

[Cave Ranger]

Congrats!Jill is an awesome instructor.I did intro and apprentice with her.She was busy when I did full so did that with Paul Heinerth.He is cool as hell himself.Super nice guy.Glad you enjoyed it.

Cool?!?! NICE?!?!!! ENJOYED IT?!?!?!!!!!!!!
What kind of Mr Rogers Neighborhood cave class did you take?
I feared for my life the entire time. I wasn't allowed to sleep and was fed nothing but stale Wonder bread, and sewer greens. I did manage to get a little extra by straining mosquito larva through my teeth during deco but only when no one was looking.
My instructor.....(To protect his identity I will call him Ralph D) threatened me with a machete both in and out of the water and caned me with a bamboo switch at the end of each dive. 2 lashes for every time he heard my tanks clang the ceiling or for every puff of silt my fins alledgedly kicked up. He recorded each indescretion on a slate. I think he fudged the numbers cause I didn't hear or see that many.
After he begrudgingly passed me he shook my hand and then kneed me in the groin so that I would, as he put it "always remember who he is and that he can still cause me pain if he catches me screwing up the cave".
I've since had my man grapes replaced with a silcon coated brass bearings as a precaution. They play hell with my trim though.

Congrats on your Full Cave Dsix36. From the number of days, dives and locations, I guess you went from Cavern to Full all in one week?
It sounded like a pretty hectic schedule.
Congrats again!

Merle Stokes

[Wendy Thurman]

Cool?!?! NICE?!?!!! ENJOYED IT?!?!?!!!!!!!!
What kind of Mr Rogers Neighborhood cave class did you take?
I feared for my life the entire time. I wasn't allowed to sleep and was fed nothing but stale Wonder bread, and sewer greens. I did manage to get a little extra by straining mosquito larva through my teeth during deco but only when no one was looking.
My instructor.....(To protect his identity I will call him Ralph D) threatened me with a machete both in and out of the water and caned me with a bamboo switch at the end of each dive. 2 lashes for every time he heard my tanks clang the ceiling or for every puff of silt my fins alledgedly kicked up. He recorded each indescretion on a slate. I think he fudged the numbers cause I didn't hear or see that many.
After he begrudgingly passed me he shook my hand and then kneed me in the groin so that I would, as he put it "always remember who he is and that he can still cause me pain if he catches me screwing up the cave".
I've since had my man grapes replaced with a silcon coated brass bearings as a precaution. They play hell with my trim though.

Congrats on your Full Cave Dsix36. From the number of days, dives and locations, I guess you went from Cavern to Full all in one week?
It sounded like a pretty hectic schedule.
Congrats again!

Merle Stokes

Congratulations to the OP and thanks for an informative post!

My instructor (we'll call him Tom Dayo to protect his identity) yelled and screamed himself hoarse during my ordeal. The threats, sardonic remarks (I never knew what "sardonic" meant until I encountered this guy; I had to break out my Roget's Thesaurus), and general belittling beratement drove me to wondering how I might manage to slit my wrists with a Z-knife. Scraping together the remnants of my self-respect, I determined to outlast him and we dove a killer schedule last July- Cavern, Intro, Advanced Nitrox, and Deco in a week. I don't know how I managed it but I do know I learned a lot from this sadist. The most rewarding part of the whole experience wasn't having passed, but having him say "I'll not schedule a week like that again."

I thought I was going to die in the Little River parking lot suiting up, and I've been in the Middle East which is WAY hotter than Florida, so I can relate to the OP's anguish.

Knowing that suffering builds character, I am down for a (horror movie sequel sort of thing) return with the arch-fiend described herein for my Full Cave course in a couple of months. And I wouldn't have it any other way- I dove as a divemaster in the Caribbean for two years and learned more from TJ than I ever taught any open-water diver.

W

[deepdiver4]

jill is awesome hats off to ya

[stairman]

Mr.Rogers neighborhood?come on now,It wasent all that warm and fuzzy but it werent no boot camp eather.If Id have screwed up Id have gotten an ass chewin,but all went smooth.I dove with Paul 2 days with my daughter and her cavern class.Then I did 2 more days for full.We ate together and swapped lies and like I said he a nice guy.I dove with him a few weeks ago and havent changed my mind of the ole boy.We didnt go to make believe land or have a puppet show.Hes a wealth of Knowledge and isnt stuck up or jaded.If you want to be beat up for class dont call him.Im hanging up my sweater now,the fishhhhh have been fed.