Feedback / Reviews...
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Feedback from Ivan Stanton
Having returned from a diving holiday in Turkey I had decided that I wanted to go pro and would go somewhere in 2012 to do my Dive Master course; but first I had a gear problem to sort out. I needed a mask that sat high on my forehead as I was experiencing problems with pressure, I eventually found my self at the Dive Shop of Northampton Scuba school and talking to Helen, we found a mask that did the job perfectly! We chatted about a few things, including courses. Now at this point I was not intending to do my Rescue Diver Course in the UK but a moment of pure madness over took me and I decided that it would save me some time when I went abroad to do my Dive Master course. I had also sworn I was never going to dive at stoney cove, hahahaha - wrong!
I e-mailed Helen and I was given some dates for training in the pool and a final date for the practical exam at.... Stoney Cove. This consisted of doing my First Response course and rescue theory, which would take two saturdays and 5 pool sessions on a Friday evening and culminating in an open water day at stoney (which I have to say I was not looking forward too).
Now thats how I came to be on the course, and this is what happened. On my first Friday pool session I turned up and met the two guys I would be doing the course with, was given my pack with pocket mask etc and then off in to the pool. The pool sessions consisted of learning the skills that we would require to put into practice on the open water day. Helen is a brilliant instructor, her manner is laid back but firm, she conveys the information you need clearly and precisely and takes the time to listen to questions and answer them. I had an extra session to learn how to dive in a dry suit as I had not used oen before. This was organised and achieved in one evening again with Helen as my instructor. Needless to say I learnt what I needed to for my finale at stoney.
During the weeks that followed I came into contact with many of the instructors/divemasters etc from the school all with out exception were really easy to talk to and friendly, and took time to just chat and share experiences and ideas etc. As I mentioned we had two class room experiances one was our First Response course the other was Rescue theory, both of these were very good and I learnt a lot. We had exams at the end of them and i'm pleased to say that they were not traumatic; although they were not a walk over and we all passed.
Finally came Stoney the one part I was not looking forward to - a cold quarry in the uk. To make it worse a drysuit and the practical part of our course, a chance to show that we had paid attention and learnt our lessons well. So armed with drysuit and woolly bear I made my way down to the water with the other guys, my first dive was about 20 mins and was just a little orientation dive and a chance to actually dive in open water in a drysuit. We took a slow dive around some of the interesting things including going through the block house, taking a look at the nautilus and the cockpit of an aeroplane. I managed to get my buoyancy under control quite soon and was pleasantly surprised that I wasn't freezing my delicate parts off!
So we exited the water and stored our kit tidily out of the way and received our first briefing, we then spent the rest of the day putting in to practice those things we had learned in the pool. The instructors got creative with the scenarios throwing in the odd thing that we had not practiced (after all in real life you could be faced with almost anything if your unlucky!). Our training may not have covered that exact scenario but we had been taught to stop... think ... act, so that's what we did and we dealt with each thing successfully.
The real testimony to the training that we received is that while the day was physically strenuous, getting in and out the water more than a few times, the tasks set were not difficult, we just did what we had been taught and I think its fair to say we did it well no drama and no difficulties other than just getting the job done.
Once the diving was done we got the kit stowed away and retired to the bar, for refreshments and a de-briefing. Everybody that was involved made us feel like we had really achieved something and were genuine in their praise of us. I had a great time, everybody I met was really nice, sociable and really helpful. 3 new Rescue divers were born but I think the glory should go to Helen and all the others that put their time and effort into us and gave us the skills and confidence we needed to succeed. For me Rescue Diver is one step in my journey; I am off to Thailand soon to take my Dive Master and IDC internship, I will do my best to be as good as Helen and the others that helped get me this far.
If you are reading this and are looking at doing any of your dive courses look no further than Northampton Scuba School, if you are not local and its going to be a pain to get here to do it I will say this, if you want the best training and you want to be the best you can be its worth the effort and you will not be disappointed.
Having returned from a diving holiday in Turkey I had decided that I wanted to go pro and would go somewhere in 2012 to do my Dive Master course; but first I had a gear problem to sort out. I needed a mask that sat high on my forehead as I was experiencing problems with pressure, I eventually found my self at the Dive Shop of Northampton Scuba school and talking to Helen, we found a mask that did the job perfectly! We chatted about a few things, including courses. Now at this point I was not intending to do my Rescue Diver Course in the UK but a moment of pure madness over took me and I decided that it would save me some time when I went abroad to do my Dive Master course. I had also sworn I was never going to dive at stoney cove, hahahaha - wrong!
I e-mailed Helen and I was given some dates for training in the pool and a final date for the practical exam at.... Stoney Cove. This consisted of doing my First Response course and rescue theory, which would take two saturdays and 5 pool sessions on a Friday evening and culminating in an open water day at stoney (which I have to say I was not looking forward too).
Now thats how I came to be on the course, and this is what happened. On my first Friday pool session I turned up and met the two guys I would be doing the course with, was given my pack with pocket mask etc and then off in to the pool. The pool sessions consisted of learning the skills that we would require to put into practice on the open water day. Helen is a brilliant instructor, her manner is laid back but firm, she conveys the information you need clearly and precisely and takes the time to listen to questions and answer them. I had an extra session to learn how to dive in a dry suit as I had not used oen before. This was organised and achieved in one evening again with Helen as my instructor. Needless to say I learnt what I needed to for my finale at stoney.
During the weeks that followed I came into contact with many of the instructors/divemasters etc from the school all with out exception were really easy to talk to and friendly, and took time to just chat and share experiences and ideas etc. As I mentioned we had two class room experiances one was our First Response course the other was Rescue theory, both of these were very good and I learnt a lot. We had exams at the end of them and i'm pleased to say that they were not traumatic; although they were not a walk over and we all passed.
Finally came Stoney the one part I was not looking forward to - a cold quarry in the uk. To make it worse a drysuit and the practical part of our course, a chance to show that we had paid attention and learnt our lessons well. So armed with drysuit and woolly bear I made my way down to the water with the other guys, my first dive was about 20 mins and was just a little orientation dive and a chance to actually dive in open water in a drysuit. We took a slow dive around some of the interesting things including going through the block house, taking a look at the nautilus and the cockpit of an aeroplane. I managed to get my buoyancy under control quite soon and was pleasantly surprised that I wasn't freezing my delicate parts off!
So we exited the water and stored our kit tidily out of the way and received our first briefing, we then spent the rest of the day putting in to practice those things we had learned in the pool. The instructors got creative with the scenarios throwing in the odd thing that we had not practiced (after all in real life you could be faced with almost anything if your unlucky!). Our training may not have covered that exact scenario but we had been taught to stop... think ... act, so that's what we did and we dealt with each thing successfully.
The real testimony to the training that we received is that while the day was physically strenuous, getting in and out the water more than a few times, the tasks set were not difficult, we just did what we had been taught and I think its fair to say we did it well no drama and no difficulties other than just getting the job done.
Once the diving was done we got the kit stowed away and retired to the bar, for refreshments and a de-briefing. Everybody that was involved made us feel like we had really achieved something and were genuine in their praise of us. I had a great time, everybody I met was really nice, sociable and really helpful. 3 new Rescue divers were born but I think the glory should go to Helen and all the others that put their time and effort into us and gave us the skills and confidence we needed to succeed. For me Rescue Diver is one step in my journey; I am off to Thailand soon to take my Dive Master and IDC internship, I will do my best to be as good as Helen and the others that helped get me this far.
If you are reading this and are looking at doing any of your dive courses look no further than Northampton Scuba School, if you are not local and its going to be a pain to get here to do it I will say this, if you want the best training and you want to be the best you can be its worth the effort and you will not be disappointed.
To get in touch with us:
Email - info@northamptonscubaschool.co.uk
Tel - School - 01604 785251 Shop - 01604 755888
Through the "Contact us" page or find us on Facebook
Email - info@northamptonscubaschool.co.uk
Tel - School - 01604 785251 Shop - 01604 755888
Through the "Contact us" page or find us on Facebook
