Scuba Diving Lessons

[tarheelmjfan]

DH & I are considering purchasing DS diving lessons for Christmas. The company we're considering using said DS would need to take the book work prior to starting the diving instruction. The price they quoted doesn't include that. The instructor recommended a PADI e-certification. What is the best site to take that course on? Is there another option that may be cheaper or is that the cheapest option? A Google search didn't help much, because I don't really know what I'm looking for.

 

[Micca]

Cool gift idea. Hope you get some answers but...I wouldn't hold my breath*

*lame diving joke.

 

[Turn the Page]

https://www.padi.com/

You can start here. The information you are looking at is probably here.

How old is your DS?

 

[tarheelmjfan]

https://www.padi.com/

You can start here. The information you are looking at is probably here.

How old is your DS?

He's 26.

 

[Turn the Page]

He's 26.

Oh then that's probably ok then. If he was 12 I would say it may be better to have him do the book work in a classroom setting but he should be fine doing it online.

 

[powellrj]

Is he close to college age? My DS took it as his college PE class.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

For clarification on my OP, I've found online prices ranging from $99.95 to $132.95. The diving instructor we would be using told DH the course would be $129.95. I want to get the best price possible, while making sure I get the right certification. That's why I was wondering, if anyone had personal experience & could offer a recommendation. As I mentioned above, I really don't know anything about diving & am not sure I know what I'm looking for.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Is he close to college age? My DS took it as his college PE class.

That would have been awesome. He's already graduated with his undergrad & moved on to grad school. It's probably too late for him to do that.

 

[Turn the Page]

For clarification on my OP, I've found online prices ranging from $99.95 to $132.95. The diving instructor we would be using told DH the course would be $129.95. I want to get the best price possible, while making sure I get the right certification. That's why I was wondering, if anyone had personal experience & could offer a recommendation. As I mentioned above, I really don't know anything about diving & am not sure I know what I'm looking for.

Ok. What you are looking for is called an Open Water Certification course. That is the basic, entry level certification class. There are more advanced courses to take in the future if he wants but this will get him started and qualify him to dive most of the sites available to recreational divers.

If you click on the Education tab in the link I provided it will lead you to information about the certification process as well as a link to the online portion of the course.

The price on the PADI website is $185 for the online portion plus whatever the instructor you contacted is going to charge. Price notwithstanding, I would really not recommend taking the course anywhere but through the official PADI website. You never know if PADI would accept that certification.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the entire course includes the online classroom work, the pool training that the instructor will do, and two check out dives to complete the course. The check out dives are basically the final exam to prove that you can successfully perform the basic skills taught. There is normally an extra fee for those, usually around $100 each so $200 total. Be sure to clarify with the instructor if the price he quoted you includes the check out dives or not.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Ok. What you are looking for is called an Open Water Certification course. That is the basic, entry level certification class. There are more advanced courses to take in the future if he wants but this will get him started and qualify him to dive most of the sites available to recreational divers.

If you click on the Education tab in the link I provided it will lead you to information about the certification process as well as a link to the online portion of the course.

The price on the PADI website is $185 for the online portion plus whatever the instructor you contacted is going to charge. Price notwithstanding, I would really not recommend taking the course anywhere but through the official PADI website. You never know if PADI would accept that certification.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the entire course includes the online classroom work, the pool training that the instructor will do, and two check out dives to complete the course. The check out dives are basically the final exam to prove that you can successfully perform the basic skills taught. There is normally an extra fee for those, usually around $100 each so $200 total. Be sure to clarify with the instructor if the price he quoted you includes the check out dives or not.

Thanks for the additional information & certification warning. We'll have the instructor approve the e-certification course, before we pay for it. He did tell DH the price he quoted includes the two dives. We may need to buy a wet suit. I'm not sure. The quoted price includes everything else. We'll leave it up to DS to decide, if he likes it well enough to buy his own equipment later.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

About 15 years ago I took lessons through a padi certified dive shop. Cost me $300 for the course (all books, materials and instruction) plus the cost of traveling to the open water site of the class since it was cold in Idaho when I took the course. I also had to purchase a mask, snorkel and fins which came to about another $300

Wasn’t cheap but it was well worth it. Diving is so much fun.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

About 15 years ago I took lessons through a padi certified dive shop. Cost me $300 for the course (all books, materials and instruction) plus the cost of traveling to the open water site of the class since it was cold in Idaho when I took the course. I also had to purchase a mask, snorkel and fins which came to about another $300

Wasn’t cheap but it was well worth it. Diving is so much fun.

This place normally charges $400 for the beginner class, but we can get a better price through Groupon. Several of the dive shops are offering a special "winter" deal through them. Neither the original nor Groupon price includes the book work. It does include the use of a mask, snorkel, fins, etc. Transportation isn't much of a consideration, because we live very close to the ocean in South Florida.

 

[barkley]

Is he close to college age? My DS took it as his college PE class.

That would have been awesome. He's already graduated with his undergrad & moved on to grad school. It's probably too late for him to do that.

if he's taking classes at a college that offers it then depending on how many units he's taking it could be free (you hit a point w/units per quarter/semester and additional units can cost no more up to a certain credit load). even if his school doesn't offer it there might be a program through another local to him school-and it will include all the equipment and everything else (all spelled out before enrollment). they will also be very transparent on the dates for any outside travel (dive shops don't work around your work/grad school scheduled so it's nice to be able to see the scheduled dates for several months in advance vs. it being announced a week out to know if you can commit to it or not).

dh got certified years ago and the base price sounded great until we added on all the extras.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

if he's taking classes at a college that offers it then depending on how many units he's taking it could be free (you hit a point w/units per quarter/semester and additional units can cost no more up to a certain credit load). even if his school doesn't offer it there might be a program through another local to him school-and it will include all the equipment and everything else (all spelled out before enrollment). they will also be very transparent on the dates for any outside travel (dive shops don't work around your work/grad school scheduled so it's nice to be able to see the scheduled dates for several months in advance vs. it being announced a week out to know if you can commit to it or not).

dh got certified years ago and the base price sounded great until we added on all the extras.

I don't know how to find out, if that's an option, without asking DS. That would ruin the surprise. The dive shop DH prefers allows you to to take all the classes on the weekends.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

Ok. What you are looking for is called an Open Water Certification course. That is the basic, entry level certification class. There are more advanced courses to take in the future if he wants but this will get him started and qualify him to dive most of the sites available to recreational divers.

If you click on the Education tab in the link I provided it will lead you to information about the certification process as well as a link to the online portion of the course.

The price on the PADI website is $185 for the online portion plus whatever the instructor you contacted is going to charge. Price notwithstanding, I would really not recommend taking the course anywhere but through the official PADI website. You never know if PADI would accept that certification.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the entire course includes the online classroom work, the pool training that the instructor will do, and two check out dives to complete the course. The check out dives are basically the final exam to prove that you can successfully perform the basic skills taught. There is normally an extra fee for those, usually around $100 each so $200 total. Be sure to clarify with the instructor if the price he quoted you includes the check out dives or not.

This place normally charges $400 for the beginner class, but we can get a better price through Groupon. Several of the dive shops are offering a special "winter" deal through them. Neither the original nor Groupon price includes the book work. It does include the use of a mask, snorkel, fins, etc. Transportation isn't much of a consideration, because we live very close to the ocean in South Florida.

You’ll just want to make sure that he’s doing PADI bookwork if the shop does PADI certification. There are several scuba certification organizations (PADI, NAUI, SSI, SDI, etc.) that all vary slightly so don’t do NAUI bookwork for a PADI course, for example. The organization matters a lot less than the specific instructor IMO. The course work is just the beginning as diving is not a cheap hobby lol.

Edited to add you don’t have to stick with one either. I got my open water in a shop that did NAUI, Advanced open water through PADI and Nitrox certification with NAUI. They’re all really considered equivalent so if he wants to take more classes later it can be anywhere really.

If you’re near the Palm Beach area feel free to PM me about any of the dive shops (I’m not sure of the rules here on things like that). I’ve been out with a bunch of them if you’d like any opinions on first hand experience.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

You’ll just want to make sure that he’s doing PADI bookwork if the shop does PADI certification. There are several scuba certification organizations (PADI, NAUI, SSI, SDI, etc.) that all vary slightly so don’t do NAUI bookwork for a PADI course, for example. The organization matters a lot less than the specific instructor IMO. The course work is just the beginning as diving is not a cheap hobby lol.

Edited to add you don’t have to stick with one either. I got my open water in a shop that did NAUI, Advanced open water through PADI and Nitrox certification with NAUI. They’re all really considered equivalent so if he wants to take more classes later it can be anywhere really.

If you’re near the Palm Beach area feel free to PM me about any of the dive shops (I’m not sure of the rules here on things like that). I’ve been out with a bunch of them if you’d like any opinions on first hand experience.

Thanks for the great info. We live in south Broward County.

 

[amberpi]

This is such a cool idea.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

Thanks for the great info. We live in south Broward County.

Ah ok, so probably not the shops I know. But once he gets certified, I highly recommend he make the drive up to Palm Beach and do a dive a Blue Heron Bridge, it’s amazing!

The only advice I have is to go with a shop that has their own boat if that’s an option and pricing is comparable. They’ll have more freedom of choosing dive sites for students and generally more flexibility. This can make a difference diving S. Florida because there’s quite a specific current so the boats tend to drop you off the actual dive site and you do what’s called a negative entry (where you start sinking as soon as you hit the water-no air in bcd) so you catch the current and end up where you’re meant to go. With a group of students this can be tough if anybody has a problem or ear issues as you end up way off course.

When the shop has a group of students and it’s their boat, there’s more ability to cater to pickups and re-drops. It’s not like a danger situation, but it’s much less stressful being on the dive shop’s boat or a specific charter boat than a student and instructor on a boat from another shop.

I hope that makes sense lol.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Ah ok, so probably not the shops I know. But once he gets certified, I highly recommend he make the drive up to Palm Beach and do a dive a Blue Heron Bridge, it’s amazing!

The only advice I have is to go with a shop that has their own boat if that’s an option and pricing is comparable. They’ll have more freedom of choosing dive sites for students and generally more flexibility. This can make a difference diving S. Florida because there’s quite a specific current so the boats tend to drop you off the actual dive site and you do what’s called a negative entry (where you start sinking as soon as you hit the water-no air in bcd) so you catch the current and end up where you’re meant to go. With a group of students this can be tough if anybody has a problem or ear issues as you end up way off course.

When the shop has a group of students and it’s their boat, there’s more ability to cater to pickups and re-drops. It’s not like a danger situation, but it’s much less stressful being on the dive shop’s boat or a specific charter boat than a student and instructor on a boat from another shop.

I hope that makes sense lol.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll try to remember Blue Heron Bridge, when he gets certified.

We bought the lessons from a place that gets great reviews online. Hopefully, we made a good choice. When DH called the guy back today, he found out we have to buy the test from him. Obviously, we should have clarified that, before I wasted everyone's time on test suggestions here. Sorry about that everyone.

I have to admit your second paragraph concerns me, so I'm going to try to pretend I didn't see it.

 

[georgina]

Thanks for the additional information & certification warning. We'll have the instructor approve the e-certification course, before we pay for it. He did tell DH the price he quoted includes the two dives. We may need to buy a wet suit. I'm not sure. The quoted price includes everything else. We'll leave it up to DS to decide, if he likes it well enough to buy his own equipment later.

Wetsuits can be rented short-term (at least around here). DH and both DDs are certified. The open water dives are done in a quarry since we are far from any larger bodies of water!