Its all about the instructor.That said , if you are planning to complete the required pool and academics with this "friend" thats all ok, but, are you taking a referral for the ow dives? Be sure there is either an IDEA instructor where you are going , or check if a universal referral would work. Another concern is the price that was quoted..Remember that you usually get what you pay for. If the price is unbelieveably low, as it is,(you wrote $70.) then I would really question it and ask what is missing..remember there are books/video/dive planners etc required as well as classroom academic time and usually a minimum of 7-8 hours of pool time.Even if this guy completes EVERYTHING ,academics-pool-4 training dives in lets say 14 hours,he is making $5. an hour, per person,minus what he pays for pool time,and certification materials..What about his transportation costs, insurance,etc..IT WINDS UP COSTING THIS GUY $$$ TO TEACH YOU..Hell,just the learning materials alone for a PADI ow course that consist of a crew pack that has textbook-log book- eRDPml dive planner and DVD video for cost more (about $105.) than the total what this guy quoted you. Price quoted you is too good to be true, and if it sounds that way,its usually not true and no good.I hope that this is the correct thread to be starting a post in, if not I apologize.
With that, the subject of this post pretty well sums it up. I am completely new to scuba diving, though I am no new to the idea. I have spent countless hours reading and researching the ins and out of scuba diving and have finally decided to go through with getting my certifications and purchasing my own dive equipment. That being said, I have ran into a bit of a problem. My husband who will also be getting his certs with me has a good friend who is currently certified through the I.D.E.A agency and had referred my husband to his instructor for us to get our certs though.We would be responsible for our own equipment and paying for the charters to do your 4 exit water dives. Though I love the price I am no really sure how I feel about being certified through I.D.E.A. I have read multipul thread on here other sites stating that they have never had an issue dive shops/charters/ect recognizing their certs, but whenever I read anything about getting certified in scuba the only agency that are refered to are ones like P.A.D.I, N.A.U.I, and S.S.I. Eventually I would like to be able to get my Advanced Open Water Cert, Wreck Diver Cert, and maybe even my Rescue Diver Cert but no where on any site have I seen that I.D.E.A offers any course like that. I know that all three of the others previously listed DO in fact offer classes for them. Does anyone know if I would be able to be certified in more than just the Open Water Diver if I go through with the I.D.E.A cert? Most P.A.D.I classes, are about 400$/person which is quite a bit more but if I am going to be able to further my education pretaining to diving then it would be well worth the money. BUT if I can still do that through I.D.E.A then that will probably be the route I go.Because we are friends with this guy the instructor quotes us at 70$/person to get our open water dive cert.
Next, I have read that most angency wont let you jump from Cert to Cert with out completely their training. Example: I get my I.D.E.A cert and then decide that I want to be P.A.D.I certified, do I have retake P.A.D.I's course? Or can I like cross certifications?
Thanks in advance for any replys. The more I read this the more it sounds as clear as muddy water.
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