This former Blogger draft was fully rewritten, fact-checked and updated in July 2026.
A large dive count can be useful, but it does not automatically create a good instructor. Experience matters when it improves observation, communication, planning and the willingness to make conservative decisions.
The question is not simply “How many dives has this instructor made?” It is “What have those dives taught them, and can they teach me today?”
Current competence
An instructor should be in active teaching status, familiar with current standards and recently engaged with the course or environment being taught. Ten years of history do not compensate for outdated procedures or no recent practice.
Observation
Experienced instructors learn to notice small changes: a student who stops asking questions, rapid breathing, a mask strap causing discomfort, an unusual body position or someone agreeing too quickly because they do not want to delay the group.
Adaptation without lowering the standard
The performance requirement remains the same, but the explanation, demonstration or sequence can change. One student learns from a visual demonstration, another from a physical analogy and another by repeating the skill in smaller steps.
Judgment and humility
Experience should make an instructor more comfortable saying “we will not dive here today,” not more determined to prove that conditions can be overcome. It should also make them willing to ask another professional for advice and to recognise when a student needs medical evaluation or a different specialist.
A high dive count is not the whole story
My 3,600+ logged dives and more than 1,200 students provide a large base of experience, but the value is not the number itself. The value is remembering situations, recognising patterns and continuing to learn rather than assuming the number makes every decision correct.
What the student should feel
A good instructor creates calm without hiding risk, applies standards without humiliation and makes it easy to communicate a problem. The student should leave with independent skills, not dependence on the instructor’s personality.
