Scuba Training

[Agu]

For my birthday my wife gave me a "blank check" to get certified. Rocky recommended one place, but I'm looking for alternatives (cheaper so I can spend the difference on equipment). I'm a strong swimmer and experienced snorkler so I don't need someone who is going to "baby" me through the process. Any recommendations ??

Agu


BTW, Thanks Rocky for letting the Mrs know what reef related item I wanted for my birthday. I owe you :D !!!

[luminary]

Originally posted by Agu
For my birthday my wife gave me a "blank check" to get certified. Rocky recommended one place, but I'm looking for alternatives (cheaper so I can spend the difference on equipment). I'm a strong swimmer and experienced snorkler so I don't need someone who is going to "baby" me through the process. Any recommendations ??

Agu


BTW, Thanks Rocky for letting the Mrs know what reef related item I wanted for my birthday. I owe you :D !!!

Unfortunately, I don't know any local places. I do all of my local diving through Mac's Sports (www.macssports.com), but I've never used any of their instructors. I'm PADI cert'd and they're an SSI shop. Not saying they're bad, but I've never used their instructors, so I can't recommend them.

The best instructors I've ever worked with are down in the keys. Jen and I did our AOW down there and plan on returning to do our Rescue early next year. If you're interested in that route, the total cost will probably come to around $600 if it's just you getting cert'd. When we did our AOW, our trip came to just about $900 for two AOW courses, three nights of hotel, food and gas.

If you stay local, here's a few things that I strongly recommend looking at.

1. Be sure that your checkout dives are off a boat and in the Gulf. Jen did her OW through a small local shop here and they did their cert dives up in Ginnie springs. Apparently, alot of local shops do their class dives up in one of the springs. IMO, this is absolutely insufficient. Two big reasons:

- 95% of the diving you will do will be off a boat. It's imperative that you know the proper procedures for doing so.

- A vast majority of the dives that you do will be below 30 or 35 feet. The deepest Jen hit on her cert dives was 19 feet.

Those two reasons caused Jen to be VERY nervous with her first few dives after getting her certification. It's always good to have your certification dives in the conditions that you will be diving in after getting certified.

2. Try and get a class that's smaller. Obviously, the less people there are in the class, the more attention the instructor will pay to you.

3. Don't be overconfident in your swimming ability. Strong swimming is important, but there is alot more to diving than just that. I've known too many divers that approached it with the attitude of "I can swim, just give me my card". Those are the ones you read about in the newspaper :).

4. Don't just walk in somewhere. Go somewhere recommended.

Good luck and have fun! Get cert'ed and lets go blow some bubbles!

[stevemc]

Agu, scuba quest is the big shop for instruction in Sarasota County. In Venice they are down south on 41 right across from Bill Buck Chevrolet. Alex is the manager, good guy too. In sarasota they are just north of Bahia Vista st on 41. Eric is the manager, good guy also, just real young. I took him to the Keys this summer,diving, tell him I sent you(Steve McAdoo). I think classes are about 200 dollars, but I dont know if that includes boat trip fees. They do go into gulf and limit size of class. They take you to 50 or so feet of water. I work with several of their boat captains. I think they are PADI. I'll see you this weekend and we'll talk. Steve.