63 replies to this topic

[peterbj7]

Now we're in a new year I can't remember if anyone suggested the Egyptian Red Sea. It may seem a long way, and it certainly will be a long flight, but you'll find many opportunities in Dahab or Sharm. And the diving is absolutely superb. And it may be a great deal cheaper than you imagine.

Edited by peterbj7, 15 January 2006 - 04:39 AM.

[annasea]

Thx for stumbling across my thread again, Peter! While I would love an excuse to return to Egypt, it's not really feasible at this time. (Especially if I don't have an actual instructor recommended to me.)

Speaking of which...

If anyone missed this thread the first time around and has a very skilled and very patient instructor they'd like to recommend, PADI or otherwise, I'm still open to suggestions! (Warm water locations preferred, but not required.)

[gcbryan]

Thx for stumbling across my thread again, Peter! While I would love an excuse to return to Egypt, it's not really feasible at this time. (Especially if I don't have an actual instructor recommended to me.)

Speaking of which...

If anyone missed this thread the first time around and has a very skilled and very patient instructor they'd like to recommend, PADI or otherwise, I'm still open to suggestions! (Warm water locations preferred, but not required.)

I can't believe that there aren't any patient and skilled instructors in a city the size of Vancouver. Rent a drysuit and you will be warm. Do your dives in the cove at Whytecliff Park and you won't have to worry about current or depth.

Come on Vancouver divers find Caetlonn a good instructor

I know you are also on another board where NWGrateful Diver posts a lot. He is an excellent and patient instructor here in Seattle. PM TS&M from that board and ask her about him. She is a newer diver who was and is far from a natural diver and now she is a dive addict

Edited by gcbryan, 16 January 2006 - 03:21 AM.

[annasea]

I can't believe that there aren't any patient and skilled instructors in a city the size of Vancouver. Rent a drysuit and you will be warm. Do your dives in the cove at Whytecliff Park and you won't have to worry about current or depth.

I know you are also on another board where NWGrateful Diver posts a lot. He is an excellent and patient instructor here in Seattle. PM TS&M from that board and ask her about him. She is a newer diver who was and is far from a natural diver and now she is a dive addict

While I'm *somewhat* open to local waters, I'd still much prefer to complete my certification in a warm climate. I don't foresee myself being a local/cold water diver so therefore I'm not all that interested in going through drysuit training solely for the purpose of doing my check-out dives due to water temps.

The only reason I'm now reconsidering training locally is I believe I'll feel less pressure to complete the course since time is not a factor... more or less. If I have to travel to begin and/or complete my OW, and I can only afford two weeks worth of travel at a time, then the pressure is on to be able to complete the course within that timeframe. Hopefully in this situation, all will go well and I'll succeed, but what if it doesn't? I need to know in advance what my alternatives are.

I know of both people that you write of, Gray. Funny that you should mention TSandM... I've skimmed through her dive journal, and based on both her journal and her posts, I must say without a doubt she's my favourite person over there! (NW taught Jerry Garcia to dive, did he not? ) Regardless, I will definitely contact TSandM...

[matts1w]

I can't believe that there aren't any patient and skilled instructors in a city the size of Vancouver. Rent a drysuit and you will be warm. Do your dives in the cove at Whytecliff Park and you won't have to worry about current or depth.

I know you are also on another board where NWGrateful Diver posts a lot. He is an excellent and patient instructor here in Seattle. PM TS&M from that board and ask her about him. She is a newer diver who was and is far from a natural diver and now she is a dive addict

While I'm *somewhat* open to local waters, I'd still much prefer to complete my certification in a warm climate. I don't foresee myself being a local/cold water diver so therefore I'm not all that interested in going through drysuit training solely for the purpose of doing my check-out dives due to water temps.

The only reason I'm now reconsidering training locally is I believe I'll feel less pressure to complete the course since time is not a factor... more or less. If I have to travel to begin and/or complete my OW, and I can only afford two weeks worth of travel at a time, then the pressure is on to be able to complete the course within that timeframe. Hopefully in this situation, all will go well and I'll succeed, but what if it doesn't? I need to know in advance what my alternatives are.

I know of both people that you write of, Gray. Funny that you should mention TSandM... I've skimmed through her dive journal, and based on both her journal and her posts, I must say without a doubt she's my favourite person over there! (NW taught Jerry Garcia to dive, did he not? ) Regardless, I will definitely contact TSandM...

Hey-

Get a hold of me. There are a couple of names I think would work well if you can consider making a trip to Marathon, FL once the water warms up.

[gcbryan]

I can't believe that there aren't any patient and skilled instructors in a city the size of Vancouver. Rent a drysuit and you will be warm. Do your dives in the cove at Whytecliff Park and you won't have to worry about current or depth.

I know you are also on another board where NWGrateful Diver posts a lot. He is an excellent and patient instructor here in Seattle. PM TS&M from that board and ask her about him. She is a newer diver who was and is far from a natural diver and now she is a dive addict

While I'm *somewhat* open to local waters, I'd still much prefer to complete my certification in a warm climate. I don't foresee myself being a local/cold water diver so therefore I'm not all that interested in going through drysuit training solely for the purpose of doing my check-out dives due to water temps.

The only reason I'm now reconsidering training locally is I believe I'll feel less pressure to complete the course since time is not a factor... more or less. If I have to travel to begin and/or complete my OW, and I can only afford two weeks worth of travel at a time, then the pressure is on to be able to complete the course within that timeframe. Hopefully in this situation, all will go well and I'll succeed, but what if it doesn't? I need to know in advance what my alternatives are.

I know of both people that you write of, Gray. Funny that you should mention TSandM... I've skimmed through her dive journal, and based on both her journal and her posts, I must say without a doubt she's my favourite person over there! (NW taught Jerry Garcia to dive, did he not? ) Regardless, I will definitely contact TSandM...

The drysuit orientation when combined with OW around here is only an extra 1 hour in the pool. If you get checked out locally it is well worth it just for that reason. You will do much better if you are warm.

It's not especially "fun" to do OW checkouts no matter where you do them. Even if you are planning a 2 week warm water vacation the vacation will be more fun and less stressful if you take care of passing your OW checkout before you leave (in my opinion). Then you can just do fun dives on vacation.

[annasea]

The drysuit orientation when combined with OW around here is only an extra 1 hour in the pool.

You haven't seen my attempts at buoyancy, have you?

[gcbryan]

The drysuit orientation when combined with OW around here is only an extra 1 hour in the pool.

You haven't seen my attempts at buoyancy, have you?

I think you are psyching yourself out I had a little learning curve with drysuits due to underweighting, a manual exhaust valve, and poor instruction. I went to another instructor and had no problem from the beginning.

It's all about the instructor. As challenged as you think you are a good instructor has seen every kind of student and knows how to address their particular challenges.

Edited by gcbryan, 17 January 2006 - 01:21 AM.

[6Gill]

If your willing to do it up here I can recomand two instuctors(one female one male) plus get certified in PNW waters I'll take you over to the Sunshine Coast for some boat diving and good vis with lots to see.There has got to be a reason why there are some of us that love diving up here.

Eric

[Walter]

When possible, it's usually better to do your check out dives locally.

[annasea]

It's all about the instructor. As challenged as you think you are a good instructor has seen every kind of student and knows how to address their particular challenges.

I know part of the reason that I wound up feeling so *challenged* was because I did not have a good instructor. Neither times! While they seemed to be adequate for the keeners in the classes, they had very little to offer me. Twice when I had a problem with the RDP, neither of them could explain the solution to me. The second instructor couldn't even figure it out for himself! A DM was nearby and HE provided the answer.

Eric,

While I'm hesitant about being certified here, if all goes well with my potential warm water certification and subsequent dives, I just may (re)consider chilly-willy waters! I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, would you mind sharing your instructor recommendations? If I don't need them for my OW, I may need them for my drysuit orientation.

[6Gill]

It appears the one that is challanged is the instuctor...its hard to truly teach something that one doesn't understand.The sad part is that there is a good chance this 'instuctor' was taught by someone who also didn't truly get it and will go on with the monkey see monkey do style of teaching/learning.I bet I can teach you use and have a basic understanding of the RPD in less than 20min.Now this isn't because I'm a brilliant teacher but because its really not that hard(there are folks here that can probably teach it to you in less time than I would take).
When your ready to dive up here...and it is worth it cause I'd hate to think I've managed to fool myself...we'll talk.
I still think that you should cert up here for several reasons plus do it in a drysuit they aren't that hard to figure out(I managed it).
My recomandation for an instuctor for you is Ashley at Ocean Quest 604-4361157 Todd is the manager there tell him I sent you.Tell Todd that I think Ashely should be your instuctor and you'd like to interview her to see if she is what your looking for(along with being a scuba instructor she teaches for a living as a real job)

Eric

[annasea]

It appears the one that is challanged is the instuctor...its hard to truly teach something that one doesn't understand.The sad part is that there is a good chance this 'instuctor' was taught by someone who also didn't truly get it and will go on with the monkey see monkey do style of teaching/learning.I bet I can teach you use and have a basic understanding of the RPD in less than 20min.Now this isn't because I'm a brilliant teacher but because its really not that hard(there are folks here that can probably teach it to you in less time than I would take).
When your ready to dive up here...and it is worth it cause I'd hate to think I've managed to fool myself...we'll talk.
I still think that you should cert up here for several reasons plus do it in a drysuit they aren't that hard to figure out(I managed it).
My recomandation for an instuctor for you is Ashley at Ocean Quest 604-4361157 Todd is the manager there tell him I sent you.Tell Todd that I think Ashely should be your instuctor and you'd like to interview her to see if she is what your looking for(along with being a scuba instructor she teaches for a living as a real job)

Eric

Thx for the name, Eric! And a woman, too! I actually did my Discover Scuba course with Ocean Quest -- they teach one of their OWs at the Y during August. Because the Y is right downtown and therefore convenient, I was considering doing my OW training with them but the guy they sent to teach the Discover class was pretty lame so I decided against it. I'm still hoping I won't *need* to train locally, but if I do wind up going that route (my PADI referral expires in September), I'll definitiely give Todd a call.

As for the RDP, I didn't think it should be so difficult either but I'm really bad with numbers and logic. (No poker for me! ) I understood the examples perfectly that the RDP booklet described, but once it came time to the tests and the questions were worded differently -- multiple dives were part of the problem, I think -- I was lost.

[gcbryan]

...
As for the RDP, I didn't think it should be so difficult either but I'm really bad with numbers and logic. (No poker for me! ) I understood the examples perfectly that the RDP booklet described, but once it came time to the tests and the questions were worded differently -- multiple dives were part of the problem, I think -- I was lost.

You might want to check out this link from scubatoys.com. It a free shareware RDP program to practice with.

" Or maybe you need a brush up on your Dive Tables. You can do that by downloading the shareware version of The Computerized Table Tutor. This PC based software lets you practice doing first table, surface interval, repetitive dive and missing surface interval questions for 9 different dive tables - metric or imperial. And you can even input your own questions! "

http://www.aquaholic...down/Tables.exe

[annasea]

You might want to check out this link from scubatoys.com. It a free shareware RDP program to practice with.

" Or maybe you need a brush up on your Dive Tables. You can do that by downloading the shareware version of The Computerized Table Tutor. This PC based software lets you practice doing first table, surface interval, repetitive dive and missing surface interval questions for 9 different dive tables - metric or imperial. And you can even input your own questions! "

http://www.aquaholic...down/Tables.exe

Thx, Gray, but I'm a bit lost... are you talking about two different forms of software? (Your scubatoys link isn't active.)

I'll take a look at the aquaholic link on Monday... I'm done work for the week (where I have access to a PC) and I (happily) don't have a PC at home... *Just* a far superior Mac!