Posted by Wayne on July 28, 2002 at 17:56:01:
In Reply to: Re: I owe an apology. I saw bad things in a class at the Avalon Dive park. posted by strfsh on July 28, 2002 at 01:08:00:
Sounds like you did not have the instructor I saw on Saturday! First of all let em say that your instructor sounds like he or she took you on a planned beach dive and taught beach dive techniques. That is good.
Any class that approaches the max number of students looks like a herd, and that is not necessarily bad. It is important fo rthe instructor and assistants to keep the class close and under control for safety's sake. But there is more to an Open Water class that just getting certified safely. In a large class, it is harder to take the time with an individual student as they perfect their skills. A six student group is a lot different that a 10 student group in the water in terms of getting plenty of time to work on skills before the airpigs of the group hit 500 PSI. We are reducing the class sizes in public elementary schools to increase individual attention. A smaller group in the ocean affords the same thing.
Let me give you some free advice worth every penny you pay for it. Take your advanced instruction at a different place than your original Open Water. In your case it sounds like your instructor was fine, but you want to be exposed to many instructors and their unique perspectives that they bring to the class. There are many dive shops and instructors out there. Look for ones who are older rather than younger -- all else being equal. Look for many years of diving -- I would say never less than 5. Look for an instructor who is mature and pleasant in his/her demeaner. Look for an inner calmness that will translate to patience in working with you. remember that what you want is to gain ALL the information you can. Just hitting the marks and picking up a C-card is not enough. You will be happier for many years to come if you follow this advice.
While I am on the advice bit, dive with a lot of different divers. Go out with fun groups of divers!
Wayne