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"Once you get to a certain part of your diving education, it is the
diver who should take the initiative to search out other sources,
read other books... in short, find all that they can about the
subject." - Shek Exley
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Main Menu
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I believe that the most important trait of a diving instructor is passion. Diving
educators must have excellent diving skills, knowledge, and experience. It is
the passion for diving that drives the best instructors to excel, not only as a
diving educator, but in their own recreational diving as well. Diving instructors
must continually raise the bar for their own diving abilities. To do this, they
must seek to continue their own diving education and they must continue to
dive for their own recreation. This will allow the diving instructor to gain new
experiences. Diving instructors who have a majority of dives to 20 feet for 20
minutes on a training platform are not allowing themselves to gain important,
new experiences to share with their students.
Many dive stores will assign you to a class without giving you any knowledge
about the instructor. This instructor may not be the best fit for you. If your goal
is to explore the magnificent shipwrecks in Lake Michigan, would you want an
instructor whose only wreck diving experiences are the sunken house boats in
the local quarries? If you wanted to learn the skills to dive deep, would you
want an instructor who has never been below 100 feet? I only teach the type of
courses in which I dive for my own recreation. So you can rest assure that the
skills you want to learn are practiced over and over again, in a real world
environment, by your instructor.
In order to maximize their profits, many dive stores will try to put as many
students into one class as possible. The instructors may also spend the
minimum time possible with you. I only accept a maximum of four (4) students
per class. This maximizes the time a student can spend with me for an
optimal learning experience. For wreck and deep diver training courses, I only
accept two students per class. This will maximize your learning experience
while providing you with a safer environment to learn. I go above and beyond
the minimum standards. For example, my open water training program
consists of six (6) open water dives. Most training agency standards say that
four (4) is sufficient. I use the extra two dives to give students a buoyancy
workshop. This gives you more time in the water to gain confidence and
increase your comfort levels.
I am committed to diving and dive safety. I expect the same from the people I
dive with and the people whom I train to dive. If you are committed to learning
to dive safely, then I may be the instructor for you.
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