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Home » SSI » Page 2

The New Diver Medical Screening Questionnaire with Dr. Nick Bird

By Tec Clark Leave a Comment

In this episode of The Dive Locker Podcast you will hear from Dr. Nick Bird about the new diver medical screening questionnaire as well as Coronavirus’ possible effects on fitness to dive.   

Welcome To The Show!

Welcome to the dive locker podcast, the podcast for dive professionals where we bring you the latest in diving industry resources that make you excellent at teaching techniques, risk management and dive business.

Hello dive pro’s welcome to another episode of the dive locker podcast during what is frankly the most significant health crisis in modern history.  First, thank you for hanging in there.  It is my hope that you can shed some of the emotional and intellectual burdens that you are dealing with and just for these 40 or so minutes, relax and simply focus on a conversation between two people.  Picture yourself with us and just soak in the information. 

Resources to Get Through These Crazy Times

People and companies are really stepping up to make this time a little more tolerable.  I want to highlight some resources for you.  Kudos to the dive training agencies that are sharing information to help their members and retailers.  Sage Dalton with SSI put on a great webinar for SSI pro’s, where he really showcased how nimble the SSI digital education platform is.  They were able to make immediate changes for their pro’s to help engage students and customers at this time. 

Shout out to Roger Joselyn with PADI for hosting a PADI webinar on how to adjust your training techniques – again highlighting customer contact and elearning options.  And PADI is putting on a webinar series on diving business as well as hosting virtual member forums. 

And DEMA is putting on a webinar on CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program with Tom Ingram. Another area of training resources comes from our industry legend Dan Orr who is offering his webinar called Does Diving Have a Retirement Age? 

Also, world champion freediver Stig Severinsen is making his famous Breathology book free as well as an accompanying online course.  This is great for relaxation and combating stress.  He even teaches that proper daily breathing techniques improve your immune system. 

Speaking of freediving there’s Immersion Freediving’s online courses that I discussed last week. 

And finally, I’m keeping my staff going with virtual in service training, one of the things we are doing is assigning one of the DAN online learning courses each week to our instructors and divemasters on staff, and we are paying them to take those courses, just as if it was on the clock in service training.  I’m sure Patty Seery and Bil Ziefle are happy to hear that.  But seriously everyone, there are so many resources out there for you to better yourself as a dive professional. 

Upcoming Episode on Fitness to Dive

So that’s it for Coronavirus items. Actually one more thing, I’m actually previewing fitness and exercise apps to recommend to you for an upcoming episode. I don’t know about you, but I’m not doing such a great job keeping fit these days. My gym is closed, I can’t do my workouts in the park anymore. So everything has to be at home or in my neighborhood. And, not eating like i used to, and yeah, I might be doing more happy hours now that the commute from my home office to my home bar is ten steps away. No 40 minute commute home! So I’m going to share the programs and apps that I have been trying in an upcoming episode so that when its time to dive again, we can all be in shape.

Interview with Dr. Nick Bird

On today’s episode you’re going to hear about the new diver medical screening form that is coming out. A team of diving physicians, headed up by our guest Dr Nick Bird, assembled two years ago to revise this document that was long overdue for revision. Dr Bird talks about the many changes that have taken place in this soon to be released revision and I even talk with Dr. Bird about the impact of the Coronavirus on future medical screenings. You’ll want to hear that. Dr. Nick Bird was the Chief Medical Officer and CEO of Divers Alert Network, he was also the Regional Medical Director at Duke University, and currently he is the President of the UHMS Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society.

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Thanks For Listening!

That’s it for today, everyone. Thank you so much for listening. Remember to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, that way you’ll be notified of new episodes as soon as they go live and please leave a rating. Items talked about in this episode can be found on the show notes Page at scubaguru.com and there you can also click the microphone and leave us a comment. Thanks again. We’ll see you in the next episode. Safe diving and take good care of my friends.

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Filed Under: The Dive Locker Podcast Tagged With: Breathology, Coronavirus, DAN, Dan Orr, DEMA, Dr. Nick Bird, Immersion Freediving, PADI, SSI, Stig Severinsen, Stream2Sea, UHMS

020 SSI Check-In

By Tec Clark Leave a Comment

In this episode of The Dive Locker podcast we hear from SSI’s National Training Manager Mark Scott about all things SSI.

Welcome to the Dive Locker podcast, the podcast for dive professionals where we bring you the latest in diving industry resources that make you excellent at teaching techniques, risk management and dive business.

I’m your host Tec Clark. Welcome everyone. In today’s episode, we are going to have another training agency check-in. Today we’ll hear from Mark Scott National Training Manager for SSI. Last week we had the NAUI check in and we had the PADI check in in December. Today it’s SSI’s turn. Again, this is special no matter what agency you’re with. You know, how many of you have heard SSI doesn’t have independent instructors? That you must be affiliated with an SSI dive store? Well, you get to hear what that’s actually all about directly from the national training manager. That’s good stuff.

Also, you may remember hearing from Willie Cline back in episode six, Willie produces the Cline’s Diving Industry Survey. Well, he’s gathering the data for the fourth quarter of 2019 to close out his results for the year. This survey asks about trends, increases, decreases in certifications, sales, etc., and it only takes three to four minutes to complete. I’ll put the link to Cline’s 4th Quarter Diving Industry survey in our show notes page. Please go to it and participate in it.

And finally I want to express my condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Wayne Hasson of Aggressor Adventures. In fact, if you were an industry colleague of Wayne’s, you were a friend. Wayne was a former US Marine, then became the first captain of the Cayman Aggressor. He went on to become president of Aggressor Fleet and Aggressor Adventures and dedicated 35 years to that brand. But Wayne also had a heart for giving. He served on the board of directors for both the Sea of Change Foundation and the Oceans for Youth Foundation, both not for profits that bring education about the underwater world to thousands of people. To see how impactful Wayne was to our diving community, just check out his Facebook page where hundreds of comments have been posted.

One thing that stands out to me is from our friend and diving legend Dan Orr. He posted a thing called Remembering: My ashes have left this bow. Remember that I am with you now. I am the waves upon the sea. You’re smiles and tears are full of me. I am the Island winds that blow. I am the evening stars that glow. I am the rainbows in the sky. The morning light, the clouds up high. A part of you I will always be. My name is Wayne. Remember me. Anne our hearts and prayers are with you. Wayne will be missed.

All right, pros, here we go. Let’s hear from Mark Scott for the SSI Check in.

Mark Scott Interview

TEC CLARK:           All right Mark, welcome to the SSI check in. How’s it going?

MARK SCOTT:      It’s going well Tec. I’m a big fan. I’ve got to say, I love the Dive Locker. I love how it’s grown so quickly and thanks for having me.

TEC CLARK:           Thank you. Thank you.  you know, we’re here at DEMA show 2019 in Orlando, Florida. And your booth is bustling. Your seminars are bustling, I have attended a couple of myself and love the content that’s coming out here. It looks like you guys have a lot of energy here. The show is very energetic. I mean, there’s a lot of really positivity going on in the show. But let’s speak specifically about SSI. What are you guys doing and showcasing here at the show?

MARK SCOTT:      For those of us that don’t do too much about SSI, we were founded in 1970 so next year is our 50th birthday. We’ve been around for 49 years. We were purchased in 2014 by the water sports division of Head. A lot of people know they have tennis rackets, tennis balls, snow skis, things like that.  But the water sports division actually purchased SSI and they also own Mares as an equipment manufacturer and also as Revo. And so one of the things that we enjoy by being purchased by such a large entity is that as soon as we were bought and they merged our offices with the Head in the Mares and the Revo facilities worldwide, we became the largest training agency by footprint.  Which is pretty impressive for humble beginnings. And we also became very quickly in the investment in digital, we’ve got over 44 languages that our materials are translated into. We’ve got over 60 programs.  We’re no longer just recreational scuba diving. We’re also extended range or what we call our technical programming.  We’ve also got swim, lifeguard, freediving.  Mermaid, which has been very exciting. I think China did about 13,000 mermaid certifications the first month. It’s very big in a month in China. So that’s a lot of blue, pink and turquoise hair running around there.

MARK SCOTT:      But you know, mainly we’ve been excited to have our dive professionals come to reenergize them. We’ve done some instructor trainer, instructor certifier training to boost the integrity and consistency of our programming and our evaluations.

TEC CLARK:           The first day of the show or pre-show the pre-show Tuesday, and it looked like you had a huge crowd.

MARK SCOTT:      Yes.  At 90 spots in 87 in attendance three people could make it because of flight delays.  but we offer three times a year we bring our instructor trainers and certifiers together just to keep everybody on the same page to keep consistency among the evaluations and instructor training so that way we can ensure worldwide if you get an SSI instructor that you know exactly what you’re getting, how they’ve been trained. And with the internships that we incorporate that with the dive shops and the training centers locally, you’re getting a very well rounded experience, not only as an instructor candidate, but also for future job placement assistance. You’re going to be a well-versed dive instructor.

TEC CLARK:           Outstanding. That’s great. Yeah. Let’s talk about those digital products. I’ve seen them, you know they’re, they’re fantastic. I mean, they really are fantastic. Beautiful. And then the ease of entry. I think that that is remarkable. Talk about that.

MARK SCOTT:      So if you can go to the divessi.com website.  Whether you have an Android device or an iPhone device, you can download the app absolutely free. Once you download that app, all we ask for is it you use an email address and we’ll email you a password to that email address and you can log in and experience four different programs absolutely free so you can see what the content looks like.  You can see our news events in videos, which are exceptional. We have several, 360 degree videos. So you can do like the, the RMS Rhone the wreck is now collapsed, but you can do a swim through of that.

MARK SCOTT:      It’s been a lot of fun when you’re out to eat and the waiter or the waitress says, “Oh, scuba diving. I’ve always wanted to try it.” You just show them these videos while you’re out in public and just tell them to download the app and then affiliates them to a store. And next thing you know, people are trying and scuba diving.

TEC CLARK:           Wow. That is a wild acquisition. I’ve not thought of that.

MARK SCOTT:      Exactly. And that’s how we encourage people to use it. Right? So one of the things that we’ve done is a disservice to SSI as ourselves. You know, a lot of people say, well SSI is not globally known or recognized and it is a misfortunate thing. But the positive of that, and the thing that was most excited about, is that we encouraged our training centers to promote themselves, to promote their dive professionals and to promote their local offerings.

MARK SCOTT:      They have their own set of experiences, unique opportunities, and we want them to really use that, to distinguish themselves in the industry. So what’s nice about that is is we’re actually a larger footprint than what a lot of people have understood in the past. And now that we’ve grown so much over the last five years with our conversion to digital, and it’s a truly digital offering, you can be in airplane mode as long as you’ve downloaded that material to your smartphone or your tablet. You can do the quizzes, the readings, view the videos and everything. Even in an offline environment, which makes that ideal for let’s say a liveaboard. And our liveaboard device is called the SSI Hub. So don’t download that when you’re looking for the app. If you come across the Hub is specifically designed for our liveaboard partners who are getting out of wifi range, allows them to put all of the materials on one device.

MARK SCOTT:      You sync to that device and you can take all of your specialty courses while you’re aboard the liveaboard. And then when you get back into internet range, they simply assign you the kits on your own device and you can download the material after having completed everything on the liveaboard. It’s very cool. And we’ve seen great margins for our training centers. Even our liveaboard partners notice a huge jump because they have the materials there. Yeah, that’s the other thing. There’s no inventory. So we don’t charge you until you assign the kit. Each kit comes with about 44 languages already translated in it. So no matter what your customers are speaking, they can find the materials. And the really cool part is page 16 in every course is exactly the same. So if you’re having a conversation in English about something on page 16, the student can see it in their native language or their preferred language while you’re having the conversation and showing them the information on page 16.

TEC CLARK:           That’s pretty cool. Is that critical information?

MARK SCOTT:      Very critical information. You know, the proper ascent rate. Why equalization is important. When it’s great to dive with a buddy. I always dive with a dive plan. Right?

 TEC CLARK:          That’s neat. One thing that sets SSI apart from- there’s many things of course that sets  SSI apart – but  talk about independent instruction.

MARK SCOTT:      Independent instructors. I  was a pro with another agency for a lot of years and even though I had the ability to be an independent instructor, I was always connected to a dive center. I always, I had to get my air filled somewhere. I had to buy my own equipment from somewhere and I had to go in, you know, quite frankly, I got a discount if I bought the materials from the training center because they were doing in a much larger volume than I ever could.

MARK SCOTT:      So I’m not trying to be insulting to anybody, but I do think independent instructor is more of a fallacy because you are going to be connected to a training center anyway.  Obviously SSI was founded by a group of dive retailers, but we believe that the dive center is the center of the universe. Everybody should be going there to meet their instructors. And then from there, when you develop that relationship with your students, they’re going to prefer to take classes from you because of the way you teach, the experiences you offer, the opportunities that you give them. In all of our materials we tell people, listen, you should buy your own total diving system. You should take continuing education. You should commit to at least 50 log dives when you start your open water adventure. Because those are the people that are going to continue to support and fund the local dive center, the local dive professional and they will travel with you.

MARK SCOTT:      It will go on fun times with you and they will continue to be an important part of your business because of that return customer. They will be a good advertiser for you. They’ll say, “Hey, I love taking classes with Tec. You should come take this class with me.” And next thing you know you’re growing your business and you’re getting a following. So we have a lot of SSI instructors who can affiliate to multiple training centers and move around as they would like, but they have a specific following because they may be a technical diver, they may do caves, they may do specific caverns. And so those are the things that attract people to those dive professionals. Right?

TEC CLARK:           Absolutely. Yeah. I think this is a really good point. The top independent instructors that I know are connected to dive shops and in some cases more than one, they are going to work with their client and really try to satisfy their client needs. So now they might be using two stores that they’ve had a relationship with. And so what I’m hearing is that by the affiliation process you could, as you’re saying, kind of move around in that and be affiliated, but you’re still connected to a dive center. And I also really like the concept. You know, Doug McNeese is on the League of Extraordinary Divers and Doug talked about that. That was one of the foundational things. I think it’s possibly a carry over from NASDS, but you know, here into this logic of, Hey look, if you’re going to be a diver, invest fasting and training, why not invest in equipment? And the full kit, the full package, what does that look like to now be able to call yourself a diver and to make that investment? I think that there is something really special about that you’re seeing. How does that play out in the SSI shop? How does that, how does that work?

MARK SCOTT:      Well, because our materials tell the student, listen, you will be the most comfortable if you buy your own total dining system. Nothing fits like a wet suit that you’ve gone and sized properly with a trained professional in a retail store or an instructor that’s going to make the time to sit down with you and tell you this is what need to buy. Our professionals, we treat them like professionals. 80% of the time, they have the most influence over that student and their buying decisions based off of what the instructor’s wearing. And all we’re asking is as a professional, wouldn’t it be better if you supported your dive center and wore the equipment that your dive center sells and from there your students will support and buy their equipment locally.

MARK SCOTT:      I have nothing, nothing against great deals from longtime online retailers or those that may offer, you know, cheaper options.  Everybody needs a to be aware of their financial resources. But the brilliance of being able to support the local dive center is they can come in, they can touch it, they can feel it, they can size it, and the instructor has the most influence over what gets purchased. And so right from the very beginning, every digital material says you’re going to be most comfortable. And if you’ve ever rented a car, I’ve driven lots of cars, but my car, the mirrors are already set. The seats already set. The radio stations are already there, so I’m having a better time than when I go to an airport, rent a car, and then I’ve got to make all those adjustments on the fly while I’m trying to figure out where I’m going.

MARK SCOTT:      All traffic patterns are different, so maybe you’re stressed out from a flight in or out. All that’s eliminated when you own your own total diving system.

TEC CLARK:           That’s a great point. I love that. It’s almost a sales, a sales talk. You could tell somebody that and they’d go, you’re right.

MARK SCOTT:      But, it’s not high pressure and you know exactly what we’re doing is presenting the opportunity to say, this is why you need these things. Right? And then you can talk about, well, what can you find initially afford? And it’s good for everybody. We’re not trying to put students into high pressure buying situations where they feel intimidated. This is stuff that you need to do. If you were going to go mountain biking or if you were going to go skiing, you would sit down with an expert. They would tell you exactly why you want this bike or why you want these skis or these bindings or these boots. So why are we not doing that in the scuba industry?

TEC CLARK:           Yeah, you’re absolutely right, and we have to remember too that when we call ourselves professionals, that by nature means that we’re not in hobby mode anymore. We are being paid for our programs, our services, the retail experience, all of the things that we’re doing. So we’re transferring knowledge to somebody. We as professionals want to transfer the knowledge of here is what it means to be a diver. Then on and on and on in this as a, just a great tip to, to say that, and I think that a lot of people are a little bashful on the retail experience side of it. Their great instructors, they love teaching. There they are. They’re rock stars in the pool, but then they get sweaty palms when it comes time to this person saying, well, what should I get?

MARK SCOTT:      Yeah, that’s right. Yeah, and so I love the logic of just that it’s clearly laid out, but yeah, no, you’ve heard it from multiple sources that you need to do this. It’s not a high pressure sale. It’s just definitely showcasing why this is a good option.

MARK SCOTT:      Absolutely. Well, how many times have we had that student that looks at you and goes, why did you pick that mask? Why do you like that BCD? Why do you like those regulators? Yeah, so just answer the questions. Yeah. We all have our personal preferences and that’s what makes scuba diving so awesome. Yeah. You know, here’s the DEMA show. We’ve got dive educators, but also dive manufacturers, right? I’ve walked that floor. There are some exciting things in dive manufacturing going on right now. You know the rebreather that doesn’t have a tank, it’s just a totally self contained helmet. And I’m going, we’re getting to the Jetsons era.

TEC CLARK:           I still don’t know about that one. I can’t get my arms around that one does make you think you sit there and go, wait a minute.

MARK SCOTT:      Well, I, I’m not trying to make fun of anybody that’s bought a completely dry snorkel, but at the end of the day it’s like how can a snorkel stay dry if you go under water? Right. So those little scientific advances that we’ve used to improve on the dive equipment has made it so much more fun to go diving, you know, low volume masks. I remember we used to dive with a half of an aquarium on our face? Now those were scary times.

TEC CLARK:           Right, right, right. That’s awesome. Well, Mark, this has been great.  Please tell folks that are listening how they can connect with SSI. They might not even be on the, I’m not saying that you’re an SSI person, but somebody that wants to learn more about what you guys do and how you do it. Just what would you point him to?

MARK SCOTT:      So I would say, listen, just go to our website, divessi.com.  I would say take your smart device and download the app. It’s absolutely free. Costs you an email address and a little bit about five minutes of time. It’ll give you full access to experience SSI’s, digital materials. Everything that we tell students is in every single page and offering. We’ve got blogs, we’ve got news articles, all of our training centers put their events on there.

MARK SCOTT: And that’s exactly what you’re going to see. The videos are absolutely amazing. We put a blend of things on those videos lists, so it’s like how to use the app better, how to use the website better.  some skill demonstrations and we rotate through that content as well as the videos of the diving experience. So many people don’t know what it’s like to go diving and you can show them a video and say, “this is what the fish do, this is what your buddy’s doing, this is what you’ll see and how it sounds.”

MARK SCOTT:      So it’s just a great way to connect to more information. So, like you said, even if you’re not an SSI professional or a student, even if you don’t have SSI on your radar, it’s still just a great diving information tool. And that’s what we want people to do.

TEC CLARK:           Neat. But clarify it. So someone is not an SSI leader, they can still see your educational materials?

MARK SCOTT:      They absolutely can. So when you download the app, one of the things we’ve encouraged all of our training centers and professionals to understand is we’re giving you free material to show people as an acquisition tool. What brings them in? We’ll usually, it’s fear of the unknown. So we’re going to take our try scuba diving, which is our introductory to scuba experience. We’re going to take scuba diver, which is the first three chapters of the open water manual.

MARK SCOTT:      We’re going to give them a try free diving and snorkeling. Now a lot of people and professionals especially will make fun of us because we emphasize snorkeling at SSI. But think about it. There’s seven to 8 million divers on the planet. There’s 15 million snorkelers. So I don’t know which one you want to try to sell to and capture, but snorkeling is a great entry tool. Also our scuba ranger program for eight, nine year olds, you have about a 90% conversion rate for those folks. Those young kids going into the junior open water diver program and they’re not just going to come by themselves. They’re going to bring their friends, their siblings, their parents, their aunts, uncles, they’re probably born into a diving family anyway. So the materials really help you acquire new students and you can share those things. Everything’s connected to Facebook and Twitter and you can say, “I’m going to do a scuba experience. Who wants to come with me?”

MARK SCOTT:      Diving is a buddy sport and it’s so much more fun and community and we are a really fun community to be involved with. We’re so helpful. You know, every time I’d go diving I tried to put my gear together incorrectly and you’d be surprised at how many people offer to help me correct that situation. You know? And it’s, we’re just warm and helpful, friendly people. Yeah. And it was really fun to hang out with.

TEC CLARK:           So yeah, you know, and I think this is remarkable. So people often come to the DEMA show and they are checking out other agencies because they know they might not want to walk into their competitors’ dive center and flip through the manual pages. You guys have done a different approach. I remember, you know, even Doug with his his… 

MARK SCOTT:      Scuba university?

TEC CLARK:           Yes, yes. He would just invite people. Just come, just come and see what we mean and see what our philosophies are.  And so your openness, like SSI’s had a very, very strong openness. And so I think that that’s a really neat thing that to check out the materials and so forth. And this is a great way to dig in. So I will put all of these links that we’ve talked about here on our show notes page. That way people can check that out.  and go right to what it is that you’re talking about.

MARK SCOTT:      Well, the thing I love about being a dive professional is professionals are always learning, And so we do that. We invest the time and the resources to keep up to date with what’s going on.  the things that we study, these are other tools for our toolbox.

MARK SCOTT:      That’s all they are. And you know, one of the things I love about our dealers summits is we get together at the end of every year and we say, “what are our top 10 dive centers or training centers done that made them their top 10?” And then we ask them, “can we share that information?” And this is how we’re getting more students and this is how we’re selling more continuing education. This is a thing that we’ve done to get more conversions from try scuba’s to open water divers. And all of a sudden now when you share that with the entire dive center base with all the professionals, we’re giving you new ideas, we’re giving fresh perspectives and we’re giving you tips that are verifying to work. And that’s one of the greatest things that we’ve seen. All boats rise in the tide and everybody that takes care of scuba diving contributes. I don’t care what agency you’re in, what your passions are. We’re, we’re just diving together.

TEC CLARK:           That’s really cool. Well put. Well thank you so much Mark. This has been a wonderful check-in and I think you’ve enlightened folks onto what you guys are doing here in showcasing. All the best to you and great success to the rest of the show and into 2020 as well.

MARK SCOTT:      Absolutely. Can’t thank you enough for having me.

TEC CLARK:           Thanks Mark.

MARK SCOTT:      Appreciate you Tec.

I love Mark. He is so down to earth. Head on over to the show notes page at scubaguru.com or you can see a transcript of this episode there. You can also link to SSI or visit them at divessi.com or download the app. Check that out. The app is really good by the way. I will also have a link to Cline’s fourth quarter diving survey for you to participate in this important survey that will only take three to four minutes to complete. Please do that.

Thanks For Listening!

Well that’s it for today everyone. Thanks so much for listening. Remember to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher. That way you’ll be notified of new episodes as soon as they go live, and please leave a rating. Items talked about in this episode can be found on the show notes page at scubaguru.com. There you can also click on the microphone and leave us a comment. Thanks again. We’ll see you in the next episode. Safe diving and take good care my friends.

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Filed Under: The Dive Locker Podcast Tagged With: Mark Scott, SSI

001 Introduction to The Dive Locker Podcast

By Tec Clark Leave a Comment

The Dive Locker Podcast with Tec Clark

Welcome to The Dive Locker podcast, the podcast for dive professionals where we bring you the latest in diving industry resources that make you excellent at teaching techniques, risk management and dive business.

I’m your host Tec Clark and welcome to the very first episode of The Dive Locker podcast. I am so excited to be here and I’m so excited that you are here. Welcome. You know it was put on my heart to create a podcast that was dedicated to dive professionals, divemasters, assistant instructors, instructors, instructor trainers, course directors, faculty. It can be also for dive center owners and managers and operators of dive boats and vessels. Look, if you’re in the diving industry as a leader or a professional, this podcast is for you. Now, what is it that makes this special and why is it relevant to you? It’s because we are going to go over news and information that is for you. Now I’m not talking press releases. There will be some press releases because there are some things that are really good to know in our industry, but not every press release is going to make it onto this podcast.

Why? Because frankly, there are some things that just really don’t need to be expressed to you as a dive professional. It’s need to know, and so if you don’t need to know it, it’s not going to be on here. What we want to do is focus on things that are going to make you better at what you do, and so in this pursuit of excellence, we are going to bring on all kinds of news information and cutting edge topics. We’re going to talk about what is the latest and greatest, but look back at history. What were things that we learned from the past. We’re going to get into even controversial topics at times, things that can be debated and argued and hey look, we’re going to go over that balancing act of the good and the bad of things as well. We’re going to talk to guests and have them come from different agencies, organizations, manufacturers, different businesses.

We’re going to have experts on. They’re giving you their best practices because that is how we are all going to flourish in many, many different areas of what we do in this profession, in this industry, is to hear the best practices and to learn that from the people that are doing it well. And Hey, we may even bring in people from outside the diving industry. If maybe you had expertise in business and it’s a recreational pursuit or whatnot. Hey, we can learn, right? So here’s another thing that’s going to be a unique about this podcast. It’s going to be agency neutral. Now we get really worked up in our industry about our training agencies, right? And we’ve got all this affiliation to one agency or another, or maybe you’ve got a couple under your belt or so forth. The deal is if you’re basing your view on another agency because of, let’s say the dive shop down the road, and the dive shop owner that you don’t particularly care for, or the way that they’re doing things, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s an agency issue, right?

So what we want to do here is we want to bring agencies to the table so that you’ll hear from training directors, from different agencies that will say, “Hey, here’s what we got going on new”. And you can make your opinions and judgments and get information right from the agency’s mouth. And so that is a really great thing to do. We need to avoid some of the rumor mill that goes on in our industry, right? And you know what I’m talking about? So to hear it in this podcast, from the best of the best in our industry and of the agencies and organizations and manufacturers driving the industry is going to be a really key component of this podcast. So what is the episode’s format’s going to be like, well, what we’re going to do is give this to you every week. So every week you’re going to get a 30 minute episode, approximately 30 minutes so that it is timely and it is bite size and to the point, so you’re on your two mile walk or run or whatever.

You can listen to a 30 minute segment on your two mile walk or at the gym or in your car commute to work or wherever it is that you listen to podcasts. So again, every week we’re going to be launching and it will be 30 minute episodes. We’re going to have different segments. And those segments are going to be all kinds of topics within our industry that relate to you as a dive pro. We’re going to talk about training, we’re going to talk about teaching, we’re going to talk about risk management, and of course the business of diving. We’ll bring in travel. We’re in everything that really does matter to you. And those segments are going to be such a vital part of this. And guess what? Some of those things we’re going to wind up hearing from you. And I’m going to tell you about that in a moment, what that means for you to be involved in these.

But there will be segments that come from you that you have suggested to us and so forth. So I’ll, I’ll talk about that later. And then finally, you’ll also hear from sponsors. You know, it costs money to put on a podcast. And to do that we need sponsors. So you will hear from sponsors that we have occasionally and episodes and that is a really appreciated thing to keep us live and going strong for years to come.

So let’s talk about why this show. Well, I absolutely love our industry. I’ve made it a career. I’ve been a pro for 30 years. The thing is that as an industry we are competing with other outdoor recreations and as the consumer gets to be a little bit more finicky about all the different things that they can do and with health being at an all time high and the abilities of people, they are exploring more options than ever for outdoor recreation, we need to be competitive in that market.

Underwater exploration is awesome, but we need to make it better. And how we do that is located in the way that we teach, the way that we conduct ourselves in business practices, the way that we handle risk. All of these things are going to be so important to how we flourish as an industry. And that starts with the frontline people. So what do I mean by frontline? Well, that’s going to be you, the dive pro, our retailers, our dive operators. And here’s something to think about. According to DEMA, recreational scuba diving and snorkeling contribute about $11 billion to the US Gross Domestic Product. Now that’s a big industry, but our frontline forces, those retailers and dive operators I have been talking about, you professionals rarely have any business training whatsoever. And so you hear that our sport comes from one that is kind of a grassroots and organically built industry where you have people that are so passionate about sharing the underwater world with others that they become a pro.

And they do that in a supervisory capacity like divemasters or an instructional capacity like instructors. And then what they rise up into saying, “hey, let’s look at doing this full time”. And so that might be as a full time independent instructor or hang a shingle and get a dive shop or a dive boat or a shop with a boat, a dive center. And so when we start to look at how these businesses grow, our frontline folks are the ones that are putting this all out there to the consumer. And as my friend Darcy Kieran says, having a dive center is like having six businesses in one. And if you think about it, it’s very true because we have to be able to serve the needs of diving and we have to do that in so many facets. And so how do we do that? Well is going to be one of the keys to the show.

We’re also going to talk about the risk management side of our industry. Now let’s think about this. Our professional liability insurance is rising every year. The cost of teaching and supervising scuba impacts all of us. Now, why is this? Well, frankly it’s because there are claims and these claims are getting paid out and these payouts are affecting the bottom line of the insurance companies that we do our business with. And so as claims arise, the cost of our professional liability policies is rising. So what does that mean folks? It’s simple. It means tightening up on risk management principles and techniques that will make diving safe and will make training safe and dive supervision safe. Most dive professionals think they are doing good at risk management principles, but obviously there are issues. So what we want to do is uncover some of the best practices of risk management so that we not only can be better ourselves, but if we see things that are just going a little wonky out there with other people, hey look, we need to bring that up.

If we don’t police ourselves, then someone will, or teaching scuba in this industry is just going to be cost prohibitive. Again, we can do better and we will through strategies in this podcast and also we can be better at our teaching techniques. A new diver thinks their instructor hung the moon, but how many times have we seen that a new diver that can’t equalize or they have no neutral buoyancy whatsoever or they are 10 pounds over-weighted come on, we can do better than this! You see, we need to share the best practices that make students great products of our services (teaching). So how we can do it better is going to be a big part of this podcast. Not only is it in the pool, it’s in the open water, it’s on the dive boat and it’s in the dive shop, on the show floor. These are the many things that are going to be a part of this podcast.

So who am I the one that’s leading this as your host? Well, many of you know me from the diving industry. Many of you know me from the League of Extraordinary Divers Podcast and for those that I don’t know, I’m pleased to meet you. Tec is my nickname. Thomas E. Clark, Tec has nothing to do with technical diving or technology or anything like that. It’s just my nickname. And I began diving here in Lauderdale by the Sea at the age of 12. Then I went on to get my PADI open water and advanced open water certifications and promptly went to the University of Florida. And in my sophomore year I had to drop a golf class. There was a table, a drop-add table. And there were some instructors there and they said, “hey, are you to diver?

I said, “yes, I am”. They said, “what level of diver are you?” I said, “I’m an advanced diver”, and they said, “all right, well we’ve got a course that’s called assistant instructor. It’s your next level up. Why don’t you take it and it’s two credit hours.” So sure enough, I joined up, took the class and I joined the University of Florida Academic Diving Program and that semester I learned all there was about academic diving and being an assistant instructor. Loved it and promptly went onto my instructor training course. I became a NAUI instructor, a YMCA instructor, a CMAS instructor, and a PADI instructor all at the University of Florida Academic Diving Program. And that was 1988, a long time ago. And so I was able to teach in auditoriums. I spoke at YMCA conventions, NAUI events, I began writing for Currents – that’s the YMCA’s publication and Sources.  NAUI’s publication.  And that really got me to a point where we started to realize as young men and women at the University of Florida that we were doing some special things and we really were passionate about teaching.

Well, my mom got cancer and I decided to move back home to be with her. When I was back home in Fort Lauderdale, I joined up with a local dive shop called Orbit Marine Sports in Pompano Beach. I was divemastering and I was instructing and working the dive shop, but there was more that I wanted. I was giving up cave diving, I couldn’t cave dive anymore. So I was kinda missing my adrenaline and cool stuff to do. So I joined up with the Broward Sheriff’s Office Dive Rescue Team as a volunteer. And so with that I was able to experience the challenging side of public safety diving, but it was also absolutely fascinating, especially for a 21 year old kid.

And so I did that for a couple of years and my mom got good. She was all better with her cancer and I got an invite from the University of Florida to come back and be the managing director of the Academic Diving Program. So I did that and finished my time there while I graduated spent many years at the University of Florida Academic Diving Program and then I received an internship to the YMCA Scuba Program and I moved to Atlanta and went to the headquarters of YMCA Scuba. And there I was able to be an intern, then roll into a consultant, then roll into the assistant director, then roll into the national director all within a two year period. And that was a rich time being with the YMCA allowed me to go to dive centers all over the country, even internationally and teach and learn from others and visit dive centers as well as YMCAs and colleges and universities and their different dive programs.

I was also able to be a part of the RSTC the Recreational Scuba Training Council. That is the organization that’s a secretary of ANSI. You’ve heard of ANSI before, American National Standards Institute. That’s, you know, you see an ANSI sticker on a bike helmet, right? That’s because there are standards in these type of recreational pursuits. And so the RSTC is who creates the minimum standards in our diving industry. So I was able to serve alongside of SSI, PADI, IDEA, and PDIC. It was a fantastic, fantastic way to see the industry from kind of one of the highest levels of gathering together and creating industry standards. At that same time, I got into freediving. Now I always had been a freediver. But at this time it was really neat because we were with CMAS not only at University of Florida, but also YMCA. The YMCA Scuba program was a sanctioning body for CMAS here in the United States.

And with that, CMAS was also doing records for freediving. So I became a freediving judge with CMAS. And my passion just exploded as I was being a judge for record competitions for people like Tanya Streeter and Mehgan Heaney-Grier and Alejandro Ravello and really great upcoming freedivers at the time that were setting national and world records. Well that led to creating the US  Freediving Team. So Mehgan Heaney-Grier and I in 1996 created the first United States Freediving Team and it was great to see that team flourish, especially the women getting a Gold at the Pacific Cup of freediving in the early 2000’s. I also had a passion for safety and so teaming up with Divers Alert Network and becoming a trainer with them was really important to the mission of dive safety and educating others and higher level areas of rescue and risk management and first aid and treatment.

Well that passion rolled into me moving back down to South Florida and becoming a forensic dive accident investigator once my time was done with the YMCA. This was a unique area to be a part of. Yes, this is the CSI of the underwater world. So forensic dive accident investigators work with the insurance companies and attorneys with the insurance companies to process claims and to investigate those claims and to see what can be done and should be done with the dive professionals in the payouts and the claims and potential litigation that goes with that. A really interesting, sometimes very dark side of our sport. Then I was able to join up with Pro Dive, one of the legendary instructor training institutions in the United States and I was able to be a part of a couple of different ownerships of Pro Dive and really look at that company as it grew into a new era.

At that same time, I also was able to launch a ministry in diving. Reef Ministries is a ministry that lookes at the underwater world as the handiwork of God. And so growing up I really had not much of a faith, but getting older and having a wife and kids and just looking at the blessings and the beauty of the underwater world. All of that together just really touched me. And yes, I had a conversion experience and just really resonated with my life as a Christian became something really, really big and important to me. So my faith rose and I decided to turn the gifts that God had given me and diving and kind of help others with that. So I was able to take out church groups and homeschoolers and really explore the underwater world as the handiwork of God. And that was with Reef Ministries and reefministries.com is still going well today.

And then I was able to join up with Nova Southeastern University. Now I took a small gig with them to teach some lessons on the side and all of a sudden the President of the University, Dr. George Hanbury, needed a refresher. So I gave him a refresher and at in his early seventies Dr. Hanbury, I put him through the paces and at the end of our refresher he said, “I learned more in my refresher with you than I learned in my beginning courses. What is that about?” I said, “it’s academic diving and that’s what I did for 10 years at the University of Florida Academic Diving Program. And by the way, Nova Southeastern University with their brilliant oceanographic center should also have an academic diving program too. He said, “write me a proposal.” And seven months later we launched the Nova Southeastern University Academic Diving Program. And that’s what I also do to this day.

Now I don’t say all of this to toot my own horn, what I’m doing to kind of give you my background is to share with you the great experience that I have in this industry has many different legs to it. And seeing the industry from that view allowed me to see what was going on in many corners of the industry, not only the challenges that we constantly hear about, but also the best practices. And so what I want to do is bring the connections and experiences that I’ve made over a 30 year career in this industry and bring this to you in a podcast that highlights the best practices in our industry and that will make all of us better. That will rise the tide which rises all ships. And so that is one of the big, big, big things about this podcast is how we can do best practices.

So I’m going to invite many people that I’ve had the blessing and honor of working with through the years and being in, in different organizations with, and being on different committees with, and they are also going to be a part of this show. So that’s what this is all about. Best Practices. And by being an active listener yourself, you are part of The Dive Locker Nation. You will be a better dive pro. You’ll be better at teaching techniques, better at risk management and better at dive business. Now remember what I said earlier about how you can be involved? Well, this is where you can simply go to www.scubaguru.com and at scubaguru.com you will find the section for The Dive Locker podcast. When you get onto that page for the dive locker podcast, you’re going to see a microphone icon. Those microphones will be different topics. They could be things that are just about a tip or a technique on a certain area.

It could be on what you want to hear for future episodes. It could be about encouragement for the show or what we could do to improve. Just click on the microphones and start talking. You might be on the podcast! Again, that’s over at www.scubaguru.com The Dive Locker is what you’re looking for. So again, my friends, this is the inaugural episode. I am so excited that you’re here. I’m so excited that we’re launching. There’s more great things to come. This is just the preface of what it is and what the show is about. Next episodes, you’re going to hear all kinds of things that we’ve got lined up for you to be better as a dive pro. So again, I thank you for being here. I thank you for being a part of The Dive Locker Nation and I look forward to serving you every week. So thank you everybody and we’ll see you next time. Take good care and safe diving my friends.

Hi Tec, it’s Stephen Frink. I enjoyed the podcast we worked on together for your League of Extraordinary Divers project and now very much looking forward to The Dive Locker. Good luck.

Hi, this is Dan Orr of Dan Orr Consulting and I just wanted to say best of luck to Tec Clark and his new podcast, The Dive Locker. I have no doubt that it’ll be both enjoyable and extremely informative.

Tec, it’s Mermaid Linden from Mermaids in Motion. I just want to congratulate you on the new ScubaGuru podcast. I’m very much looking forward to listening to it and I think it’s going to be “mermific”. Cheers.

This is Grant Graves of Soggy Science and Pod Aquatics. I want to wish Tec an amazing and successful run with The Dive Locker. Good luck buddy.

Hey TC. It’s Kell from Rainbow Reef. Having been shoved into a lot of lockers as a school boy I’m a little nervous about the new podcast, but I know you’re going to kick butt! Break a leg brother.

Hey there. This is Michael Feld from Oceanblue Dive in New York City, wishing Tec Clark the best of luck with his new podcast.

Hey Tec, Ryan over at Born of Water and Spirit Apparel. I just wanted to say congratulations and good luck on the new podcast and I’m looking forward to listening to the new series.

Hey Tec, this Jack Snively at NAUI headquarters in Tampa, Florida. I was really excited when I heard about your new podcast for dive professionals. I have no doubt that you’re going to touch many lives for the better. Thanks buddy. Good luck.

Hey this is Rachel Cushman, your current Scuba Queen USA and ADSO at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. I can’t wait for this new podcast and to listen in on what’s new in The Dive Locker. Good luck!

Aloha. This is Keller Laros, the Manta Man of Kona, Hawaii, and I want to wish Tec Clark great luck with his new podcast, The Dive Locker. Be sure to check it out.

Thanks for Listening!

Thank you for joining me again. Do you want to leave a comment or suggestion for this podcast? Simply record yourself below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The Dive Locker podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! And, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes , Google Play Music , or Stitcher to get automatic updates.

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Filed Under: The Dive Locker Podcast Tagged With: CMAS, DAN, DEMA, IDEA, NAUI, PADI, Reef Ministries, RSTC, SSI, YMCA

LXD 023 : Doug McNeese – President of Scuba Schools International (SSI) Business Development

By Tec Clark Leave a Comment

Doug McNeese

Doug McNeese – President of SSI’s International Business Development

In this podcast episode I chat with Doug McNeese. Doug is President of Scuba Schools International (SSI)’s International Business Development where he travels the world educating dive centers on how to be more successful in their businesses. Well how does one get to do that? It helps when your father owned a dive center! As you’ll hear in this episode Doug was not only raised working in his father’s dive center, he eventually bought it from his father and opened three more highly successful stores called simply, The Dive Shop.

Doug went on to purchase the National Association of Scuba Diving Schools (NASDS). He made remarkable improvements to NASDS and then saw the opportunity to merge with SSI and nearly a decade later he purchased SSI. And most recently he sold SSI to the HEAD Group where it is flourishing and he is still leading professionals with his secrets to success learned from his early days.

Doug is highly respected in the diving industry and he was awarded the DEMA Reaching out award in 2017. And as you’ll hear he loves to give back to the industry and he has done this through his efforts with both the Platinum Pro Foundation and Sea of Change Foundation.

Items in this Podcast

  • Learning to dive as a 10 year old in 1962
  • Worked at his father’s dive shop called The Dive Shop
  • Purchasing the National Association of Scuba Diving Schools (NASDS)
  • Merging NASDS with Scuba Schools International (SSI)
  • SSI and the HEAD Group
  • Passion for diving leads to a passion for the business of diving
  • Assisting divers in need
  • Advice for divers

Resources

Scuba Schools International

Platinum Pro Foundation Nomination Form

Sea of Change Foundation

Sponsor

Special thanks to our episode sponsor Aggressor Adventures

Aggressor Adventures

Thanks for Listening!

Thank you for joining me again. Do you want to give a shout out to our guest on this podcast? Leave a note in the comments section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The League of Extraordinary Divers podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! And, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates.

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Filed Under: League of Extraordinary Divers Podcast Tagged With: Doug McNeese, SSI

How to Select the Best Scuba Class

By Tec Clark 3 Comments

dive shop scubaguru
Good scuba training is important to your success as a diver. Do not seek the cheapest and quickest scuba classes.

When deciding to take a scuba class, the non-diver has very limited insight as to what to look for in selecting the right scuba class for him or her. Many people select the cheapest and/or quickest scuba class, but that can be a big mistake. Here we will explain in great detail the areas to consider when selecting a scuba class.

There are definitely some things to look for when selecting a class, dive shop, and/or a scuba instructor. Your question can be broken down into three distinct areas to evaluate, thus it is worthy of three separate articles which I have written. Let’s take a look at each of these areas of consideration:
A. How to Select a Scuba Diving Class
B. How to Select a Dive Shop
C. How to Select a Scuba Instructor

HOW TO SELECT A SCUBA DIVING CLASS
Let’s start here because you will need these items to assist you in selecting a dive shop and/or independent instructor.

WHAT IS SCUBA CERTIFICATION?

To become a scuba diver you must complete proper training and be issued a scuba diving certification, a.k.a. a “c-card”. Your training takes place under the instruction and supervision of a certified and insured scuba diving instructor. This instructor has professional training and credentials with one or more scuba diving training/certification agencies. There are several of these agencies worldwide and they are often referred to by their acronyms. Here are just some of the scuba training/certification agencies:
PADI, SSI, NAUI, SDI, SEI, IDEA, PDIC, IANTD, GUE, PSAI, CMAS, BSAC, and L.A. County to name a few.

Note: Although there are several agencies that offer beginning/basic courses to become a certified scuba diver, it is important to note that they do not all call the class to become a certified scuba diver the same thing – in fact the same named class, for example “Scuba Diver” may have a totally different meaning from one agency to another. Common course terms are Open Water Diver, Scuba Diver, Basic Diver, with most agencies using the term Open Water Diver.

An Open Water Diver scuba class is broken up into three distinct sections of training: academics, confined water and open water. Those areas of training vary by agency, region, dive shop, and instructor. You will find the packaging of this training to be varied as well, especially in pricing and scheduling. Let’s take a close look at each:
1. Academic Training (aka “Classroom Sessions”)
This training refers to the didactic (educational) learning of becoming a scuba diver. The media for academic delivery varies by training agency and instructor but is for the most part a combination of books, videos, and instructor presentations. On-line learning is becoming quite a popular alternative since the pace of learning is up to you and can be done at your leisure. Areas of learning include diving equipment, diving science, diving physiology, dive table usage, and the diving environment.
Tec’s Tips:
1. Think about your personal learning style and then choose the academic medium that fits you.
2. Take a look at a sample textbook.
3. Some agencies will have a demo of their online program that you can check out.
4. Ask how many instructor presentations (classroom sessions) there are. If there are some, you might be able to check out their classroom – is it comfortable and conducive to learning?
5. Try to meet your instructor. Is he or she someone you feel comfortable with learning from? You’re looking for good communication skills, a warm and caring personality, and a genuine passion for wanting to teach you how to scuba dive.
6. If you’re okay with reading, you like the classroom environment, and you like the instructor, then go with the textbooks. If not, then perhaps the online learning would be a better option for you. Students who are very inquisitive and like to understand things at a higher level often do better with more instructor contact hours, such as using the textbook with multiple classroom sessions.
2. Confined Water Training (aka “Pool Sessions”)
Confined water is basically the “pool session” part of a scuba diving class. Confined water training is conducted mostly in pools, however the term also refers to a controlled body of water that has “pool-like” conditions. Confined water training is where you will be introduced to, and practice, your diving skills. Skills include how to breathe underwater, how to clear your regulator, how to monitor your air supply, establishing neutral buoyancy, clearing your mask, entering the water, exiting the water, and how to assist your buddy – just to name a few.
Tec’s Tips:
1. The pool depth can be very beneficial to your training. The deeper the pool, the better. Pools that are 9′, 10′ or 12′ feet are really good depths to train in. Some pools that have deep diving wells 14′ to 18’+ are even better. But small, shallow 6′ pools are not ideal for training.
2. What is the water temperature? You want a heated pool. Some competitive lap swimming pools are a tad too cold for extended time underwater. In some training settings a wetsuit will help. Being chilly during training distracts you and can be problematic.
3. Ask about additional time for practice or skill development. Some people may take longer than others to master a particular skill. Classes have scheduled pool times that may not be enough for you. Find out the details if you need more pool sessions. Don’t race through a course just because that was the schedule. If you need more pool time to be comfortable and confident, that is a good thing.
4. Where is the pool? Sometimes the pool sessions are conveniently located – perhaps at the dive shop, local YMCA or local municipal pool. Other times the pool is quite a distance away. Again, just like the classroom, check out if the pool is convenient, comfortable and conducive to learning.
3. Open Water Training (aka “Checkout Dives”)
In your open water training, you will apply the skills learned in the confined water sessions in an actual diving environment. This open water environment is most often the ocean, but can also be lakes, rivers, quarries, sinkholes, springs and even, in some cases, man-made environments like aquariums. In the open water training you will learn a few new skills such as navigation, beach entries, or dive boat operations; and you will also be evaluated by your instructor to see how well you apply skills on your own such as monitoring your air supply, having proper buoyancy, and being a good dive buddy. Most courses will have you complete four open water scuba dives with perhaps a skin dive as well.
Tec’s Tips:
1. Where are your dives? If possible, try to have your open water dives include ocean dives off a charter dive boat. The reason for this is your c-card will allow you to dive on recreational dives all over the world – the majority of which are coral reefs – in the ocean – where only dive boats can access them! If all your open water training dives take place in a lake, then you have not learned how to set up on a dive boat, dive boat etiquette, listening to briefings, dive boat entry and exits, currents, waves, sea legs, marine life, etc. And to rely on a divemaster to coach you through all that on your first ocean dives after you are certified will be a bad experience – they are just too busy to teach you all that. Yes, there are legitimate logistic considerations that prevent all dive classes from going out on ocean boat dives, so you could consider the next tip…
2. You may consider doing open water referral dives for your open water training dives. Referral dives allow you to travel to another destination and go through your open water training dives with another instructor. This is used quite a bit for northern dive shops in the winter months. They can do the indoor classroom and pool sessions, and when completed the students go to a tropical location with paperwork in hand and finish up their open water training dives. Each agency has guidelines for this, so it is best to work with your original instructor to guide you to locations to complete your referral dives.

CLASS PRICING

Unfortunately, this is the most complex part in the decision making process. The reason for this is class pricing varies greatly by what is included in the class and what is required to purchase additionally by the student. Avoid sticker shock – a $500 class may be the same as a $199 class! Some classes are “all-inclusive” and others are not. The details are in what is included. I have created a Scuba Class Pricing Checklist PDF for you to download FREE. Fill out this checklist as you research class prices either by calling or visiting the dive shop, or doing internet research. Then get out your calculator and add up the items on this list for a true cost comparison.
Tec’s Tips:
1. Books and Materials – are they included in the class price or are they separate? Books and materials are often bundled in a kit or pack. If you have to buy them they could be $40 to $85.
2. Online Learning – if you go with online learning, do you pay for that separately or is that included? This type of academic learning could cost $100 to $150, and you may still need to purchase supplemental materials (like dive tables and log books) to go along with it.
3. Skin Diving Equipment – Most dive shops want you to own your mask, snorkel and fins. These are very personal pieces of equipment where fit and comfort are key to their proper functioning. It is a very good practice to have your own mask, snorkel and fins rather than use rental ones. Find out if the dive shop will give you a discount for the purchase of your skin diving equipment. A 10% to 15% discount is often given to a dive shop’s students. Other shops may give a discount in the “bundling” of gear – for example mask, snorkel, fins, booties, bag, and defog solution. Prices on bundled skin diving gear range from $150 to $275.
4. Other Required Equipment – Some dive shops will require you to purchase other items in addition to the skin diving equipment. These items may include lead weights, weight belt, wetsuit, bottom timing device, dive slate, dive knife, signaling devices, and/or gloves. Although these can add up quickly, don’t look at it as a bad thing. Most dive centers that are requiring these items take diving seriously and are looking to equip you to be a more prepared diver, rather than trying to make more money on you. Chances are you will purchase most of these items soon after being a certified diver anyhow.
5. Rental Equipment – Many classes include the major pieces of rental equipment such as tanks, BCD’s and regulators throughout the entirety of confined water and open water training. Some also include wetsuits and weights. However, there are some dive shops that will include the rental equipment for the confined water sessions only, but will charge you the rental prices for the open water training dives. And, there are other places that will require you to rent an item like a wetsuit and give you an option to buy it at the end of your training.
6. Confined Water Sessions – Most dive centers will include the costs for confined water sessions (pool sessions). But there are some that may have you pay the facility entrance fee for each pool session.
7. Open Water Dives – Some dive centers will include the costs for open water dives and others will not. For example, the instructor fees and equipment fees may be built into the class pricing, but you may be responsible for paying the charter dive boat fees or dive site admission fees such as at a lake or a state park.
8. Certification Fees – Money is sent to the training agency for the processing of your c-card. Some dive shops include that in the pricing and others will require you to pay that fee. You may need to provide a passport photo or equivalent on your own, or the instructor/dive shop may take a photo of you.
9. Make-up Sessions – Find out what the costs are (if any) if you have to make up a confined water pool session or an open water training dive.
10. Miscellaneous Fees – You may find that you have to pay for parking for each pool session, classroom session or at a dive site. You may also have unique needs that could increase the cost of your training such as prescription lenses for your mask or you chill very easily and need a better wetsuit than what is offered in the rental line. And there are also tips to consider. Tipping the crew of a dive boat is customary, and many people like to tip their instructor nicely.

SCHEDULING
Look at the overall schedule of the class. Does it work for you? If not, you may need private instruction. But you want a nice, even pace between classroom, pool and open water sessions. Now, I know I am going to upset may dive professionals when I say this, but I have strong convictions based on decades of diver training and observation – AVOID SHORT, THREE DAY SCUBA CLASSES. Instead go for classes that are less rushed and offer MORE training time – especially more confined water pool time. Can an entire scuba class be taught in three days (one weekend)? Well, according to some agency standards, it can. But should it? That time frame does not work for everyone. I have seen this and even taught it on few occasions and I can say that it is overwhelming for most students. To do morning pool sessions and then get on a dive boat in the afternoon – and then do it again the next day forces important skill sets to be squeezed into too little time. It is simply too much to process adequately. Again, please consider a scuba class that is spread out over two, three or four weeks or weekends. Slowing down a scuba class lets each session “sink-in” prior to the next session. You will think of questions to ask in between the sessions as you naturally contemplate the wonderful items learned in the previous session.

On My Soapbox: AVOID CHEAP AND QUICK SCUBA LESSONS
 You have to properly complete all of the required standards for training for each of the above areas. It is not hard, but it does require attention, focus and patience. Your end goal is NOT to get a c-card, your end goal is to be a good and safe scuba diver. For that reason you want to pay attention to what is being offered in each of the three areas of training. Cutting corners may have a negative effect on how good of a scuba diver you will be. I have seen so many divers take a class, go diving a couple times and then barely ever dive again. When you peel back the excuses, often you will find that a person was never a “comfortable” diver. They were told in their short class that, “they will calm down with time”, their “breathing rate will improve”, their “buoyancy will get better the more they dive”. But it does not because those items are the fine-tuning that develops under good teaching, not during the fast-paced-two-tank-dive-trip in the Florida Keys on your own as a new diver. Your confidence and comfort are very important to your enjoyment of the sport, so avoid the cheap and quick route to becoming a scuba diver, you will pay for it in the end. The more you invest in your scuba training, the more enjoyable scuba diving will be for you. Trust me.

Next article “How to Select a Dive Shop”

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Filed Under: Blog, Training Tagged With: BSAC, c-card, certification fees, classroom, CMAS, confined water, GUE, IDEA, NAUI, online learning, open water diver, open water dives, PADI, PDIC, rental equipment, required equipment, scuba class, SDI, SEI, SSI, YMCA

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About Tec Clark

Tec Clark is a diving industry expert who has held very elite positions in the dive industry including Managing Director of the University of Florida’s Academic Diving Program and National Director of the YMCA Scuba Program. He holds over 40 professional certifications with over 15 diving agencies. Tec has received numerous honors for his instructional abilities and has co-edited several diving texts. He also appeared as a diving expert on A&E, The Learning Channel, and Outdoor Life Network. He was Captain of the US Freediving Team and is the founder of both Reef Ministries and ScubaGuru.com. Tec is the Associate Director for Aquatics and Scuba Diving at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Read More…

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Welcome to ScubaGuru.com!  The ScubaGuru brand is dedicated to giving dive professionals tools and techniques to be GREAT LEADERS – leaders in the classroom, leaders underwater, and leaders in their diving businesses.  With unique leadership skill-sets, the dive professional can create:

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Sincerely,

Tec Clark

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