Thank you! Here's how the 13 days went in a nutshell.
It went great. The EASE program really had us prepared.
http://www.easedivepro.com/ All meals and lodging transportation around Vero Beach etc. is included. The pool and fresh tanks are always right outside the back door. The course directors Dianne Carter and Pam Bradley were wonderful and Phillippe who teaches all the tech stuff really loves that. DSAT tech diving with multiple stages etc. plus blending instructor if your interested (Michael
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The IDC was the toughest. We started on Thursday night the 29th at 6 p.m. Class was over at 10 p.m. and study until midnight. Up at 6 the next morning, class at 8, an hour for lunch, an hour for dinner, out of class around 8 or 9, study until midnight and repeat. Friday was only a half day, with the remainder of the time for IE prep. Between the assignments, practice in the pool right outside the back door and study, we never got into bed before midnight. They have a wonderful program, a couple in the class started with DM and are still there getting their MSDT prep and one is doing Dive Industry Specialist which includes up to MSDT prep plus all the DAN programs, VIP and Aqualung reg service and repair.
The IE started on Saturday morning at 7:15 a.m. at the Vero Beach Fl. Our IE was Archie Archibald. An hour of so of Orientation and received our assignment. My confined water presentations were no mask swim and the make up would be reg recovery, but first our skill circuit. Reg recovery, fin pivot either method, alternate air stationary, CESA and Free flow reg. I got all 5's except fin pivot when I touched the bottom on one of the pivots and it was a 3. 5's on the brief and debrief, caught the problems quickly and correctly, but I had put on contacts to read the slate so I had to keep my eyes closed on the swim and one of my knees touched the bottom while I was swimming so ended up with a 4.7.
There were 7 in our group from EASE, 3 from Pro America, and 3 from another dive shop in Ga., plus one crazy guy who told Arch he only needs to work on his anger issues, at the IE. So half had the standards test, half had the theory exams. I took my entire 90 minutes on the standards exam using the digital version of the manual. I made a 92 on that one and then the theory all 100's except I missed one on equipment due to reading the entire question but those went well.
Sunday morning, we met at the small lake we at EASE had been using all week so we were familiar with it. It was in the upper 40's that morning so we did our briefings before suiting up. My two assigned skills were Neutral buoyancy, hover OW4 and efficient fin kicks PPB. We were broken into 4 groups with one group doing rescue, one doing their OW assignments, and the 3 and 4 groups on shore. We were in the second group. When our turn came, my group did the rescue part first which went fine as we had practiced exactly how he wanted it done all week. Then the skills and problem solving. We all did our best but he gave no indication of his opinion at that time. We all just knew we had missed something but got out and waited our turn to give our debrief, and of course by luck of the draw, I was the very last one. As each person completed their debrief, he called them away from the group, and either congratulated them or told them what areas had to be repeated. Everyone in our group was congratulated, and then it was my turn. I gave my debriefing and away we went, nervous and sweating. He turned around and said "Excellent job Mr. PADI Instructor" That's really all I remember from his debrief. He then handed out the IE completion certificates and debriefed. I think 3 people, 2 from 1 shop and 1 from another shop, had to repeat either written test or open water stuff.
Back to EASE campus, lunch, then we finished up EFR/CFC/AED instructor, then at 10 p.m. started Enriched air instructor and ended at 1 a.m. I was due to take the rest of the MSDT prep but had problems equalizing all weekend in the 10 foot pool so I cancelled the Deep, Wreck, Nav and night courses.
Monday, while the other 5 were in class all day, Me and a young Brit who lives in St. Kitts, lazed around the pool, read books other than scuba and drank a few beers, and I flew home yesterday.
Wonderful experience and aside from a local IDC where you take it one step at a time, I highly recommend the Eastern Academy of Scuba Education in Vero Beach Florida for all classes from rescue on up to Course Director if that's where you want to go.
