Pat Watson
Dive safe,
Celia
Welcome to the Cave Diver's Forum.
Yes
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There was only one course when I took it
There were no courses/instructors when I learned to cave dive
Other
Pat Watson
Dive safe,
Celia
"Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others."
...Buddha
''Life's tough, pilgrim, and it’s even tougher if you're stupid.''
- John Wayne
Different Instructors
I used a different instructor for cavern, intro, and then one instructor for Apprentice and finally Cave. Each level had many dives between and many months, I stayed at the apprentice level the full year before going full cave. I believe I learn more and certainly different skills from each instructor. And as a bonus I have 3 friends in the cave instructor business instead of one.
'You can say what you want about the South, but I ain't never heard of anyone wanting to retire to the North'
I had a great cavern/intro instructor in Florida. Very strict and he taught me a lot.
There were a couple reasons that I went with another instructor for full cave. The two people that I did intro with were not really all that keen on continuing on to full cave and I was. I ended up becoming friends with a tech instructor and diving with her at a few places. She brought up heading down to Missouri for a long weekend of cave diving with another friend of mine to finish up the training. It was easier and much cheaper to go down to Missouri and I had grown to really respect her so it was a no-brainer for me to get my training through her. It was nice training and getting experience in the different areas.
Everyone spends the first nine months of life in water. The lucky ones make frequent return visits.
I'll be completing Full in about two and a half weeks, all with Rich Courtney.
Went with him originally because he's just about the nicest guy on the planet, and I knew him well after buying all sorts of stuff from East. Wanted to go with him for Apprentice, but he was busy, and I was going to go with a different instructor (hadn't picked one yet) when he managed to get two days off just before classes started for Fall semester.
About 50 dives between each level (excluding Cavern as I did Cavern/Basic) over several months.
Rich knows me and my diving well, so he knows where to push me hard to improve and where I am already a good diver. He also stays involved in my diving--he'll ask me about the dives I'm doing if he hears rumors. He's always there to give advice and help when it's needed.
Hmm.... interesting question. My Cavern/Intro was with Michael O'Leary. I then did 30 cave dives. I went back and finished with Michael earning a cave diver certification. I am very glad I did my 30 dives between, it made a world of difference. My dive buddy didn't make the 30 dives and it was clear when we went back.
I then moved to Mexico and did about 14 days of training with Steve Bogaerts. Those 14 days were spread out over 10 months. Each course built on the prior. Between training sessions, I went out and practiced the skills I learned. We covered: Basic Sidemount, Advanced Sidemount, Survey, DPV, and Stage/Multiple Stage. I think the most interesting part of progressive training is that as I progressed through the courses, the instructor would raise the bar till I hit or just exceeded my ability. I would fail the skill or make a mistake and learn from the mistake. Each time I came away with a bunch of homework, or skills that I needed to practice. The bar was regularly raised and I would have to work to reach the new level.
On top of that I audited two courses, one intro course with Michael and my wife's full cave with Steve. I did my CCR/Trimix training with Andrew Driver. And on a day to day basis I dive with a full cave instructor, Patrick Widmann. Actually, all my dive buddies here in Mexico are dive instructors, some technical some not.
I believe that a plurality of ideas is essential to surviving. Each one of those people, plus many others, have really influenced my ideas and procedures. I am glad that I mixed it up, I think I really benefited from it. And I think my dive buddies have benefited from it. I have been able to bring ideas from each of my instructors back to the group and everyone gets to try them out, if they chose. I am grateful to have had an opportunity to learn from each of them.
Hans
Well, it seems like there is a bit more support for getting different angles from different people. That was my take on things even before I got started. Why not mix&match and see what is different too.
I wonder though if one thing about not changing instructors is fear that once you found one good one you do not want to take a risk with the next one? I know for sure that not living anywhere near where one could actively interact with cave divers and instructors, it’s hard to pick. Every time one asks for references dozen names come up. (And 2 dozen people tell how great everyone is – and 4 dozen people on TDS tell how many lousy instructors pass people with no skills, heh.)
Some names are coming up more than others but not knowing the ones giving references makes it hard to rate. Basing choices on internet board opinions can be a bit hairy. Talking to the instructors is good for scoping out but it’s somewhat limited way of getting information too. How would instructors know how their style compares to others? (Well, I guess some at least know whether they are self-proclaimed hard-asses which is fairly descriptive…) And asking your previous instructor who might be good 'next instructor’ might just lead you to very similar instructor…
If one was looking for good but for slightly different type of an instructor how to refine the search other than talking to different instructors? Best ones to compare would probably be ex-students who have had your instructor for one of theirs?
Don't forget Steve Forman.....
'I assure you, it is not jealousy'
Used Different Instructors
Two of the masters -
Cavern - Basic w/ Bill Oestrich
Apprentice - Cave w/ Johnny Richards
Mix - w/ Bill Oestrich
Only meantioned Mix because we did it exclusively in caves....
How did you take mix before meOriginally Posted by CaveCrazyJax
How was class? Terrifying I hope! lol
Elisha Gibson
PADI OW Instructor
NACD Full Cave
"Backmount takes the most flexible part of your body and makes it inflexible" - Me
fun, exhilerating, deep, lots of work for relatively short bottom times......worth it!
JH
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