John worked as an instructor at a small mountain dive shop in VA and shared his love of diving with the community through teaching as an Instructor Trainer, running trips, and equipping divers. He now projects this passion by working for International Training. His favorite class to teach is still SDI Open Water, helping to introduce people to the underwater world for the first time. In his spare time John loves diving in North Florida caves and Florida Keys shipwrecks.
Instructors! 5 Tips on how to shine at your dive shop
These tips for instructors will not only make you a better instructor but they’ll also help bring you returning students. Instructors who see their students as people and not as another number are instructors we want teaching under the SDI brand. There are many ways to do this but these five reasons hit the major points.
Top 5 most productive things to do if the store is slow
Things are slow in dive shops around the world right now. You might be looking for activities to do to stay busy during these slow times. You’re in the “ready to run” stage of quarantine. We have five things you can do to stay productive during quarantine.
Overhead environments – Cave vs. Advanced Wreck
While it might seem obvious, do you know the differences and similarities of cave diving and advanced wreck diving? To call them the same but different would be an understatement. Both very worth the training to experience their unique wonders.
New eLearning Signup Process
We've revamped our eLearning sign up process to make it easier on all parties involved and to help everyone out as we transition into this new process we made some videos to walk you through our new sign-up process.
KISS Rebreather Course: A Student and Instructor Perspective
Ready to jump into rebreather diving? Not sure what to expect? Are you sure you're doing it for the right reasons? Take a look into this unique perspective of a student and instructor going through a KISS rebreather course. It might just make you think a little longer about making sure you're REALLY ready to enter the world of rebreather diving.
Can you Climb a Boat Ladder in Sidemount?
Sidemount is mainstream as a gear configuration and it works well for lots of people. While it originated in cave sites, it’s a common sight on dive boats, local quarries, and shore sites in present day. For good reasons, some people are hesitant about sidemount boat diving. This is due to two main reasons, both involving the wide surface profile of sidemount.
I Want To Be A Tech Diver. Where Do I Start?
Television, magazines, stories from a friend – it doesn’t matter the source, exploring the underwater world and escaping the surface is enticing and exciting. So how do we keep exploring? What exactly is technical diving?
Got bad Buoyancy? Who cares?
But really why does it matter SO much?! You see so many divers on social media kneeling on the bottom, posing for photos without any regard to what surrounds them and what's under them for that matter. Buoyancy isn't just another skill to learn in diving it's THE skill you need to master.
That’s Wrong: Misconceptions on Overhead Diving
Crusing the internet for cave diving info is an interesting situation because like anything else you're finding the info could be really awesome or uh... well not so awesome. This is where trouble begins, divers reading misinformation and not confirming it's accuracy. We crusied the fourms and are tackling to misconceptions in overhead diving.
That’s Wrong: Technical Diving Misconceptions
Have you been on the diving forums lately? Heard a few interesting theories? While sometimes this is a good place to start for basic questions, it can also lead you down a very wrong plan to misinformation. We cruised the forums and picked out a few things we saw and now we're setting the record straight.
Battery Technology in Diving
Do you know the different types of batteries we use in diving? Do you know why they're different? Their uses? We're telling you all of the above and more!
LED Lighting in Technical Diving
Which lights are right for you? And what's the difference between them? We're breaking it down for you, types of LEDs what they're used for, how they came about and more.
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