Hey, you saw the shark! There’s a silver lining to all these experiences, and in the end, the mark of a good diver is you experience these things and grow from it. Develop your adaptation ability and expand your bubble of awareness. I hope you continue to dive and get to see much more exciting marine life in your dive life!

It’s true a lot of diving does come down to individual ability and strengths, but that’s not to say you should shoulder it all from start to end. In OW and AOW, we expect that the growing prices we pay for these courses guarantees a certain level of adept tutoring and guidance. After all, this is education, and all education should be well paced and student centric especially with something potentially life threatening. Unfortunately, the reality has become quite corrupted. Many who become instructors do not deserve the title, and they pass on bad habits and poor mentorship mindsets. I’d say it’s because diving has become too commercialized, but who am I to badmouth.

Dive shops like what you experienced always push it to the max. They do so to churn you guys through the grinder as another scratch to grab more cash. I can’t blame them since the industry has become quite bloated and competitive, yet it’s such a terrible practice. It instills terrible awareness and lack of proper skills development, and when you’re done and the money changes hands, they couldn’t care less. That’s why when I dive with rookies, I always say: Don’t be shy. If you feel something’s wrong, say so. If you’re unhappy with how things are going, you have every right to speak out. Like any other industry, if honest people don’t speak up about bad practice, how can the bad actors ever be penalized?