As a diver, I know how hard it is to find a quality dive instructor, regardless of the certification agency someone chooses. The real difference in the quality of dive instruction and the experience you have during your class solely depends on the quality of the dive instructor you have. That is why I thought sharing my experience during my wife’s dive certification courses was important.
My wife, Lindsey, recently got Open Water Certified (August 2021) with our local dive shop that I regularly use, Dan’s Dive Shop and we were lucky enough to have the Tiktok and YouTube rising star and influencer Chris Foisey from Modern Diver Channel to be her instructor. Since the experience was so great with Chris during her open water checkout dive, we asked him to teach her Advanced Open Water certification in January 2022.
My Background
I was originally certified as an open-water diver in the summer of 2009 in a resort in Mexico while on vacation, which ignited my passion for diving. Upon arriving back home in Toronto, Canada, I went to a dive shop that marketed a lot with a few thousand dollars in hand and said, “I want everything I need to go diving.” Luckily, I had walked into Scuba 2000 with Alec Peirce, who could see I was full of enthusiasm but not a lot of experience. After a few questions, Alec said, “Hey, I am not going to sell you anything today, but how about you go on one of our local dive trips to Tobermory, and after diving into your local cold water, if you still want to dive, I’ll sell you what you want and need.” After that trip, I realized that even though I was open-water certified, I still had a lot to learn. From there, I went on to get my AOW with Divers Den in Tobermory, Canada. Next I completed my Rescue course again with Scuba 2000. I also did my emergency first responder, rescue diver for a second time, and my Dive Master with another shop, which is now closed down. I have also gone on to attempt my Intro To Tech, Cavern Diver and the Dive Propulsion course. These courses have all been with several different instructors. So all that to say, I have had experience with great instructors, mediocre instructors and people who just shouldn’t be teaching diving. That is why sharing my wife’s experience with Chris Foicey of Modern Diver Channel was important. Even though Chris wasn’t instructing me, I was my wife’s buddy for her AOW and a “helicopter diver” for her OWD course. And if you’re looking for great instruction from an enthusiastic, competent instructor, you will not go wrong with Chris Foisey.
The pool portions of Lindsey’s open water were two days of about two to three hours in the pool. Dan’s Dive Shop had Four instructors present because it was a very large class. The instructors were Mat Madziuk (the shop owner), Grace Marquez (Please check out Grace’s studio by clicking on the link here), Fawn Messer and Chris Foisey, along with one Dive Master, Jamie. Matt requested that the class be broken into smaller groups of 3 students per instructor to facilitate their progressive program where buoyancy and trim are focused on along with all the required skills to meet the PADI requirements. For the first two pool sessions, Lindsey was instructed by Fawn and Grace, and the second day was Fawn and Chris. Fawn and Grace were very good and patient instructors, giving the students plenty of time to learn and practice all the required skills before their open-water dive. The Open water dives is where they will have to Demonstrate proficiency in the core PADI skills, meeting the progressive standard that Dan’s dive shops set.
Why you should get instructions from Chris Foisey of Modern Diver
- Very patient
- Communicates skills and expectations clearly
- Has a real passion for diving
- values his time with students
- Very high diving standards
- Very frequent Diver
The Open water dive
The four open-water dives were done in the Welland Canal over two days. On both days, Chris did a great job communicating what was expected of each diver before the dive. He made sure there was lots of time to answer the students’ last-minute questions before the dive, along with giving some of the most thorough dive briefings I have ever heard. This really supports student learning as there should be a minimum of surprises before and during the dive.
Chris would take time to explain what the dive site entry will be like, what hazards to be aware of, and why we are choosing the shore entry they did. Then Chris would go through each skill that was going to be demonstrated underwater and how he would demonstrate it first and then ask the student to demonstrate said skill. Once in the water, Chris would demonstrate the skills and assess each student in the same order and pace, exactly like he said he would in the dive brief. This was very impressive to me as in so many of my courses, even with “good” instructors, I often find that the brief will be adequate, but once underwater, the brief gets completely thrown out the window, and none of the students know what’s expected and the instructor hovers in the water emphatically flashing hand signals that one has to decipher because none of it relates to the briefing done on the surface.
Throughout the four open-water dives, I could see the open-water students, including Lindsey, grow into open-water divers. They would be more and more confident at the end of each dive. I feel this is directly related to Chris’s patient, passionate, and calm demeanour during the whole of the open water program. Chris conducted himself like there was nowhere he would rather be than teaching new divers how to be safe and comfortable in this incredible underwater world that he is trying to introduce as many people as possible to.
Chris would continue with his impeccable dive briefings at the end of each dive. He would go through what was done well, what needs improvement, and HOW to improve on something. I would see Chris speaking to individual students and coaching them if they needed some specific pointers. Even though this particular open water was conducted in relatively cold water in what some would say is poor visibility, about 10-15 feet, he was able to bestow confidence in his students and support them so that they were proficient in meeting the requirements to complete the Open water certification without leaving any students behind.
Lindsey’s Open water with Chris went so well that she wanted to do her advanced Open water six months later when we realized that Chris was hosting a dive trip we booked through Dan’s Dive shop to Anthony’s key Roatan Honduras.
Chris was great even before we started the course. He was very upfront about what equipment Lindsey would need to buy to be able to complete the advanced Open water. ( a reel, compass, light and DSMB) so there were no surprise expenses. Chris was excited to hear what adventures in diving Lindsey would pick as she had to do the standard deep dive, navigation dive, and night dive, and she chose underwater photography dive to capitalize on having lessons from a TiktoK star
Chris was an excellent support as the instructor on all the dives for this AOW. He would give very thorough dive briefings and was willing to practice any of the skills on land as much as Lindsey needed. Being the Modern Diver, Chris had some very helpful tips on what setting to use on the GoPro Camera that Lindsey was about to use, how to pan to capture subjects in an interesting way, how to save battery life on the GoPro and tips on managing file sizes as they can get huge if you film the whole dive as one continuous shot.
On the last dive of Lindsey’s Advanced Open Water, she was to demonstrate her navigational skills. We planned to do this via a shore dive. Anthony Keys Dive Resort had a very underrated shore dive as the entry is very easy and the amount to see on the reef is incredible. The reef had a canyon area that Chris felt would be a good place for Lindsey to demonstrate her 100’ft reciprocal heading skill with her compass. Once that skill was completed with proficiency, Chris moved on with the dive plan, and we swam to a sandy area where Lindsey was to perform her 100ft square using the compass. While Lindsey was very focused on navigating and ensuring she was doing the best job she could, a huge Devil Ray joined us on the dive. Lindsey was so focused she could barely acknowledge the beautiful encounter, but Chris and I were totally taken by how great the moment was. To sum up, Chris really led a course focused on adding value through good instructions and consistent support of his students.
Chris always demonstrates a very calm and proficient demeanour. He takes his time to make sure that each student understands what’s being asked. Chris never gets frustrated if asked to demonstrate something several times or if a student is showing difficulty grasping a certain skill. I have seen him work with students that were in excess of 70 years old and very uncomfortable in the water, and after some extra support in the pool, he successfully certified the divers as Scuba Diver (slightly different than Open water Diver). This was a really strong example for me of how proficient Chris is as a scuba diving instructor.
I would have no hesitation recommending Chris to anyone who is looking to get scuba-certified. More importantly, Chris is great to hire just for scuba training if you’re looking to improve on some recreational diving skills or you’re preparing to advance into the technical world and need a diver who can give you positive feedback on how and what to improve on Chris should be on the top of your list of considerations.
