Ginnie Cave DPV

[bamafan]

Thanks for the clarification. I haven't seen the CDS claim to be the best, matter of fact I haven't seen anybody playing king of the mountain. What I do like from the CDS and former NACD, was that instructor candidates had to intern with several different instructors, and then they had to pass an institute that had peer review. The advantage here is that a future instructor has had contact with many instructors before they are signed off on, versus some agencies which can be from one instructor -trainer only.

Just ask Wyatt he seems to like to post that regularly.

[Draker]

When you go to Mexico the guys there laugh at most Florida instructors

Wait! You mean to tell me that those guys weren?t laughing WITH me?


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[TotDoc]

Wait... You mean I had to go all the way to Mexico if I wanted to get good cave training? Could I possibly have gotten quality instruction if my guy has BEEN to Mexico?! I'm just sad to hear that my cards are worthless now...

[Germie]

Oops, I learned cavediving in Thailand, that will be bad then, the opposite site of the world.

[divingabe]

Am I ok I learned in Florida but my instructor is from the UK????

[FW]

...When you go to Mexico the guys there laugh at most Florida instructors...

One of the big problems with cave diving training is most instructors only train divers to dive in the local area. This is true in Florida, Mexico, and anywhere else cave diving training is done. A couple examples are Florida cave diving instructors not allowing northern divers to train using gloves. I say "why not?". They will be diving in gloves when they go home. On the other hand, Mexican instructors only teach aluminum 80s, and any US diver that trains there will probably be diving steel tanks in the US.

[cavekrazi]

Oh no...Ginnie Cave Glove certification. Is that required for gloves with fingers cut out or just full cave gloves???


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[bamafan]

Forrest I agree with what you are saying some what and that is an issue. I would argue that often times it is that way because the instructor only knows one way. This is a failure of the instructor. If they don't know they should say so or maybe send the student to an instructor who could better serve them. A prime example of this was when I changed over from bm to sidemount. I knew absolutely nothing about sidemount and thus went to a highly recommend instructor who was supposedly the sm guru of North Florida. I took a sm class and was sold an SMS 100. I asked about several other sm rigs and the instructor told me they were all a pos. The instructor now posts pictures of himself diving one of the rigs I asked about and he told me it was a pos. Was this the instructor just pushing a product that he sold? Was it ignorance? I don't know but as a professional who I was paying to take a class from he should have told me the truth not pushed gear. I asked about traveling with the SMS and diving Al 80's too. I was told oh you don't need another bc just slap a 2 or 3lb weight on the cam band. I did exactly 1 trip like that and when I came back I told him that this sucked. The guy looked at me and said yeah I know. Wtf? This is a professional? Don't even get me started on Florida instructors who can't even frog kick. Just go to Gennie or Peacock on a busy weekend and can anyone honestly not say that there isn't a problem. People can attack me and I never said that all Florida instructors are that way and certainly there are some crappy instructors in Mexico too but I definitely feel that the Stealth or Razor guys turn out better looking students than a lot of the Florida instructors. Oh and if you are taking your Florida style sm rig to Mexico with weights on the cam bands they will definitely laugh at you and you are just reinforcing their belief that most Florida cave divers look like crap in the water.

Can anyone who has spent time in Mexico honestly say that this isn't true? I have seen it and have had other who have told me that too. Why don't the Florida centric agencies do something about this?

[rddvet]

Forrest I agree with what you are saying some what and that is an issue. I would argue that often times it is that way because the instructor only knows one way. This is a failure of the instructor. If they don't know they should say so or maybe send the student to an instructor who could better serve them. A prime example of this was when I changed over from bm to sidemount. I knew absolutely nothing about sidemount and thus went to a highly recommend instructor who was supposedly the sm guru of North Florida. I took a sm class and was sold an SMS 100. I asked about several other sm rigs and the instructor told me they were all a pos. The instructor now posts pictures of himself diving one of the rigs I asked about and he told me it was a pos. Was this the instructor just pushing a product that he sold? Was it ignorance? I don't know but as a professional who I was paying to take a class from he should have told me the truth not pushed gear. I asked about traveling with the SMS and diving Al 80's too. I was told oh you don't need another bc just slap a 2 or 3lb weight on the cam band. I did exactly 1 trip like that and when I came back I told him that this sucked. The guy looked at me and said yeah I know. Wtf? This is a professional? Don't even get me started on Florida instructors who can't even frog kick. Just go to Gennie or Peacock on a busy weekend and can anyone honestly not say that there isn't a problem. People can attack me and I never said that all Florida instructors are that way and certainly there are some crappy instructors in Mexico too but I definitely feel that the Stealth or Razor guys turn out better looking students than a lot of the Florida instructors. Oh and if you are taking your Florida style sm rig to Mexico with weights on the cam bands they will definitely laugh at you and you are just reinforcing their belief that most Florida cave divers look like crap in the water.

Can anyone who has spent time in Mexico honestly say that this isn't true? I have seen it and have had other who have told me that too. Why don't the Florida centric agencies do something about this?

There's definitely some truth to what you're saying. It doesn't mean Mexican instructors are better, but I have found a larger group of instructors I trust and respect in Mexico more than that which I've found in Florida. The shops I frequent in Mexico are a hell of a lot better run than those in cave country. I also find a lot more open-mindedness from the instructors I know in Mexico to different ideas and ways of diving than I have found here.
At the same time there is a strong group of really good instructors here that aren't closed minded. The problem is that I see people being trained by a number of people I don't think should be training at all almost every time I'm in cave country.

I get what you're saying for sure. It's just hard to express fully without making it sound like you're saying all Florida instructors suck compared to those in Mexico. There's just some things in the instruction community down there that would be nice to see more of here.

[bamafan]

I agree Rddvet. I did a few dives with a new cave diver in North Florida a few weeks ago. This is someone who has less than 100 dives total and took a class from HP. I honestly wasn't expecting much but I was honestly impressed and would say this intro diver with just a few dives looked better than many full cave divers.