I’m sure there’s no shortage of instructors churning out unprepared divers in these parts either. (The aspirant just has to do his homework. It can be as simple as asking an instructor’s former students and benefiting from their hindsight.) Failing or past that, cut the umbilical cord and find a group to grow with.

A trio of divers who joined us on a dive a month or two after their certification gushed over how our DM was so “thorough” in his briefing (drawing the terrain on a slate, explaining the dive plan, asking us what we wanted to see and what we could expect to see, refreshing us on hand signals and buddy separation, etc.) and -- all that being accustomed procedure -- only got me wondering how it possibly was with their own instructor.

Apparently, their instructor kept bringing them to the same sites (soon dampening their excitement) and, being the jealous type (guarding his business?), didn’t actively link them up with other groups. At that point, our DM was the only other dive professional that they had gotten into the water with, but that one time made them see the difference. They're with us now