Question Looking for recommendations for dedicated certification trip

[Hitman731]

Good morning,

My family just got back from a cruise in Caribbean. We did a discover scuba trip and my son loved it and is hooked. I am looking for recommendations for a trip to get our Open water certification. We live in Ohio and we decided that we would want to do a dedicated trip to either FL or somewhere in Caribbean to get our certification. Who has done this and does anyone have recommendations of specific dive center to go with ?

 

[tursiops]

Good morning,

My family just got back from a cruise in Caribbean. We did a discover scuba trip and my son loved it and is hooked. I am looking for recommendations for a trip to get our Open water certification. We live in Ohio and we decided that we would want to do a dedicated trip to either FL or somewhere in Caribbean to get our certification. Who has done this and does anyone have recommendations of specific dive center to go with ?

All dive centers everywhere can do this. You should choose your location based on where you want to go, and then look for diver centers in that location. Also, you may find it beneficial to do your classroom or eLearning and pool work at home, before you travel, and do your open-water-water referral dives at that distant location. Less stress, more time enjoying the ocean that way.
So:

(1) pick where you want to go;​

(2) choose a resort/dive-operator at that location (which will thus choose what agency you are certifying with, e.g. PADI, SSI, SDI, et);​

(3) find a local dive shop with that same agency;​

(4) set up with the local shop for classroom or eLearning and confined-water pool work;​

(5) have that shop set you up with referrals at your selected Caribbean location;​

(6) go on vacation and enjoy.​

If there is a problem finding a local dive shop that matches agencies with your selected location/agency in the islands, iterate on steps (2) and (3) until you find a match, or reverse the order of steps (2) and (3).

 

[NothingClever]

I encourage you to purchase the book below and save yourself dozens (maybe hundreds) of hours spent on ScubaBoard trying to make sense of what should otherwise be a straightforward process.

There are literally thousands of dive instructors in Florida. Unfortunately, not all are created equal and even the saaviest consumer can get drawn into spending a ton of money on sloppy, inadequate training. As a new diver, it's very difficult to discern whether one is getting quality instruction or not and it's not unusual for the thrill of entering a new domain to lull us into thinking we're getting the best training possible.

I have no business or personal relation to the author Darcy Kieran of the Business of Diving Institute but I do value and respect his efforts to tighten up the dive industry.

How to Learn to Dive? How To Get My Scuba Diving Certification? - Business of Diving Institute

The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide To Scuba Diving. Safety, performance & fun in learning to dive the right way. ISO international dive training standards.

www.businessofdiving.com

ETA: Good gravy....$15 for the audiobook is a total bargain!

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

I'd suggest Bonaire and either Buddy Dive or Captain Dons.......mainly because their operations are solid and their house reefs are excellent. Also, I would do all of my OW academics and confined water work ahead of time.

 

[arew+4]

Plus one on Bonaire, we got our three kids certified through Buddy's, did online work at home, "pool" and checkouts at Buddy's.

I recommend Bonaire, and Curacao above all the other Caribbean spots and Florida because of the diving and the weather. Never had a day on either when the diving was interrupted. There may be 15-30 days in the last twenty plus years where weather was an issue.

 

[Comm]

I am familiar with the Cincinnati Dive shops. Check out Central Coast (they are in northern Kentucky) or Scuba Unlimited. Both are pretty good shops (Central Coast has its own pool) - and they often have location specific cert trips (bonaire, cancun, cayman, bahamas, etc.)

 

[lowwall]

(1) pick where you want to go;

(2) choose a resort/dive-operator at that location (which will thus choose what agency you are certifying with, e.g. PADI, SSI, SDI, et);​

(3) find a local dive shop with that same agency;​

(4) set up with the local shop for classroom or eLearning and confined-water pool work;​

(5) have that shop set you up with referrals at your selected Caribbean location;​

(6) go on vacation and enjoy.​

If there is a problem finding a local dive shop that matches agencies with your selected location/agency in the islands, iterate on steps (2) and (3) until you find a match, or reverse the order of steps (2) and (3).

This is how I did it 25 years ago, but IMO the ability to do all the classroom work ahead of time on a computer (eLearning) has made it preferable to avoid the referral system and do all the diving with your destination dive op.

Where you do the confined-water (pool or calm and shallow beach) skills work is the only difference now between a referral course and doing it all at your destination. In most cases this will be completed in a day, so you only "lose" one day of ocean diving. At the most 1.5 days if you need a lot of work on basic skills like mask clearing.

What you gain is that you don't have to figure out two shops instead of one and you don't have to fit the training into your normal schedule instead of leaving it for the vacation. More importantly, if you do the confined water work at your destination, you will get a chance to get familiar with the instructor and gear you'll be using before your open water dives. It can be quite daunting to be a few weeks from your last pool dive, show up to a shop in a different country, and be expected to drop off a boat for your first open water dive after only a brief review session with a new instructor.

So here's my suggested steps:

(1) pick where you want to go;

(2) choose a resort/dive-operator at that location (which will thus choose what agency you are certifying with, e.g. PADI, SSI, SDI, et);

(3) Schedule the course with them. Part of this will include creation of an online account with their affiliated training agency (PADI and SSI are the two largest) and giving you access to the agencies' eLearning materials. Note that PADI charges at least $100 more for eLearning access than other agencies. The exact price will depend on what the operator decides to pass on, but when you are looking at pricing of your course, make sure you include any additional e-learning costs.

IMO, SSI does a better job with its e-learning materials. That along with their lower cost would lead me to prefer an SSI operator if everything else is the same.

Note that there's no practical difference in the training between the mainline for-profit training agencies for the Open Water course. They all follow the same international standard as far as the skills taught and are equally accepted everywhere. You can also switch between agencies for your more advanced recreational classes (tech and professional are a different story).

(4) Do all eLearning before arriving at your destination. This is very important.

(5) go on vacation and enjoy.

As to the destination, I've watched my friends and family get certified in Boynton Beach, FL, Cozumel, and Kata Beach in Phuket Thailand. The weather issues mentioned above are real for the first two. Sometimes you can't get out at all. I'll happily recommend Kata Beach and Phuket during the dive season of November through April if you have the ability to take that much time off.

 

[BoltSnap]

Openwater in Bonaire or Curacao, but the classroom/online knowledge development and confined water locally before you go to Bonaire or Curacao.

(Do I hear an echo here )

 

[TNEngineer]

Another vote for Buddy Dive on Bonaire. We literally just did this for my BIL in February. Second choice would be Anthony's Key on Roatan.

 

[rick00001967]

i would think you should support your local businesses by finding a good dive shop in your area. you can do all your academics thru them as well as the pool work.
then you can choose to go away ona dive trip (if your local shop runs them) or if they dont, or if they dont go anywhere you would be interested in, then you can get a referral and do your open water dives witha different shop on your vacation.