How To Pick A Cave Diving Instructor.
Choosing the right instructor for you is quite important. The instructor you select will have a big influence on your attitude toward cave diving, style of diving, configuration, & gear selection. Receiving training from an instructor whose philosophy you don?t agree with can cost you in each of these areas, but especially in dive gear. Once you have selected a dive instructor, instructor loyalty is important. So choose wisely.
2+2=4 at the local community college just like it does at Harvard. My point is that you don?t necessarily have to go with any specific organization or instructor to get good training, because in its most basic form, they all teach the five rules of accident analysis & how to avoid them. I know that NSS-CDS?s, NACD?s, & IANTD?s courses are structured about the same. The only organization that stands out from this mold is Global Underwater Explorers (see GUE) whose training is the most comprehensive of those in existence. There are some things you need to be aware of.
You can go about Instructor selection in one of two ways. Either select the organization whom you want to go through and let that reduce your options, or choose your instructor individually. If you can choose your instructor individually, then you really don?t need to be reading this article - go get trained. But if you have no idea, there are several places to start.
Ask around on the internet. Word of mouth through experience is the best source of info. I know of both good and bad instructors. Most people will give their opinion when asked, but make them explain the reason for the opinion they have developed. If a particular instructor is not preferable, have the former student tell what about his/her teaching did he not like. Don?t be afraid to be instructed by women either. Two of my four instructors were women.
It?s very important that you check into how much cave diving that instructor does. You NEED someone who does it for fun and often. You need someone who lives near the caves and has access to them on their personal time. PADI has a new Rec-To-Tech Program which includes cave. This is a new program, so until its standards have been scrutinized, I?d be careful with this option. PADI has developed the reputation of getting divers through the rec process without real regard to whether the diver has sufficient skill. How often have you heard of a diver failing a PADI course who really was trying to pass it? I have heard that if you are an instructor and have at least 10 dives in a particular specialty that you can teach that course (at least in rec anyway). This isn?t the route you want to take.
Now, I don?t suspect PADI went out and trained a bunch of rec instructors for their tech programs. I?m sure they tapped into some of the instructors that are out there already teaching. Some instructors are active instructors in more than one training agency. It?s entirely possible to go to one instructor and apply for both a NSS-CDS and NACD C-card, assuming the instructor is with both agencies. I would even recommend paying the extra admin fee to get both cards.
The instructor you choose is going to play a large role in your gear selection. When I took intro, my instructor dove with double 95?s. So when I went to purchase my tanks, I bought double 95?s. Had I researched it enough, I would have chosen the 104?s. This can go in your favor or against. So do your homework.
You also want to check into what dive philosophy your instructor believes in. You have the old school who believes in butt-mounting your light and stowing your 7-foot hose. Then you have the Hogarthian style where you side mount your canister, and breathe from your 7-footer. And then you have the DIR which takes the Hogarthian configuration and improves upon it in many ways. I recommend doing some research into DIR, because the difference between it and the old school, is like night and day. Whether or not you agree with the DIR philosophy will have a major impact on the instructor you choose.
If you're already trained and chose the wrong one, don?t worry too much about it. Just like in open water courses, that C-card is just a license to learn more. So even if you messed up and chose the wrong instructor or don?t have many options, you can do additional independent study afterwards to hone in what you believe, what you use, and the way you dive. Case in point ? WKPP does not require its divers to be GUE certified, only that you have a willingness to learn the DIR way.