Recreational Scuba Training
Although I focus mostly on cavern and cave training, I love teaching recreational scuba too. There is nothing I enjoy more than the look on a students face the first time they breathe from a regulator underwater!
Having taught recreational scuba in an academic setting for almost a decade, my perspective on how to teach scuba differs from most dive shops.
- Beware the “Cheap Class”
Many shops advertise that they will turn you into a diver with as little as one weekend of training, but then they put you in a class with 8 students.
I firmly believe that in a setting of 8 students, an instructor cannot properly coach a student that is struggling. Something has to give, and usually the quality of the course is what suffers. Students that get caught in the “Cheap Class” usually never get completely comfortable in the water and tend to lose interest and drop out of the sport.
You can spot these courses easily because they have cheap prices but make up for the cost of instruction through volume. It’s like McDonald’s. the burgers are cheap, but they’re not very tasty.
- My approach to teaching
I think you’re worth more than being a part of some assembly line approach to scuba diving. Like a skilled craftsman, I’m more concerned about the quality of “my output” than the quantity of my output.
I would rather create 15 great divers in a year than 100 mediocre ones.
To achieve this, I have a simple approach to teaching recreational scuba. It can be summarized with the following concepts:
1. No more than four students in a class. I would prefer to have no more than two, but will take up to four to accommodate families that wish to pursue the sport together.
2. No “quick classes.” The beginning recreational scuba course is a minimum of four days, and most likely five or six. Compared to a two day course with 8 students, this gives us more one on one time to develop skills and technique.
3. Simplified fee schedule. I charge $300 a day for my time teaching. I charge a fair and reasonable amount, and will treat you professionally. My daily fee does not include equipment, books, entrance fees, or fills. Yes, that means a private introductory scuba class with one student is more expensive than the budget class elsewhere, but I tend to think you’re worth it.
Course duration
Beginning Scuba (“Scuba Diver”) – 4 days minimum, likely 5, sometimes 6.
Advanced Scuba Diver – 3 days minimum.