Essentials in LA-THANK YOU, UTD

Andrew,

My wife and I just finished the Essential class with Andy and Maciek and I wanted to let you know personally that they were both absolutely AMAZING instructors. I am sure you will see our feedback from the class, but I thought I would let you know directly as well.

My wife and I have taken OW, AOW and some specialty classes through PADI and this Essentails class was so far above and beyond what we learned in those classes that I can't even really put it into words. My wife and I are so happy that we did this. We met some truely great people in the class with us-so we can get a couple of teams together.

The video is KEY. Watching the video and getting feedback right there, and being able to actually see the (in my personal case) awful truth of what I look like in the water was really helpful (and highly embarrassing-not because anyone was making fun, but because I looked like a spastic puppet). But, I now know what I need to work on, how to fix the problems I have, and what I need to do to go to the next level of instruction. I didn't have high expectations for myself as I only have 30 dives, none with Jet fins, or a long hose, or a backplate and wing, but both Andy and Maciek were both supportive and critical-a hard combination to pull off, but as a student incredibly valuable-tell you what your are doing right and how to fix what your not. Honestly, every recreational diver I have ever seen in the water (I have seen quite a few while out on the dive boats) should be taking this class. There is absolutely no good reason not to take this class.

My PADI instruction was not anywhere close to being in the same league as what Andy and Maciek brought to the table. After taking this class I now actually feel cheated by the PADI instruction I got. I am not trying to slam PADI, but they did certify these people who I took classes from and if you compare what I got from them to what I got from the Essentials class, you would see that I am pretty justified in feeling cheated.

A note about Andy. The dive shop where he works recommended I talk to him since I expressed interest in DIR and what it was. I called and talked to him, asked tons of questions and became really motivated to take the Essentails class. As the schedule started to shape up and we signed up for the class, got to look at the class materials etc, if I had a question I would e-mail him and I ALWAYS got a quick response, either by e-mail if it was a quick answer, or if I asked something complicated, my phone would ring and it would be Andy walking me through the answer.

Also, both Andy and Maciek told me at the end/personal review part of the class "if you have any questions, please call or e-mail us" That meant a lot to me. It was NOT like my other classes which were more like "Thanks for taking the class. See you when you sign up for the next class".

I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. I love what UTD is doing and I am really proud to be a part of it.

Thank you for putting together such a great thing for the diving community.

Tim