Wait time to start open water dive at shop?

[Whitetofu]

Hello, I was just wondering how long did it took you guys to start your open water dive course after filling up the papers and taking note of your sizes of the gears? I did my Padi eLearning online and I'm trying to do the open water course in person. I've been waiting 3 months so far and I'm wondering why is it taking so long. I tried calling them and they said they would call me back and still waiting.

I'm from Canada and winter is coming soon so I don't think I'll start my course before next year.

 

[therookie]

Before considering the alternatives, I would do a face-to-face visit to your local shop(s). I bet you can quickly determine if they’re truly busy or just an unorganized cluster.

If you plan to be a travel diver, then go to Florida and do your OW. But if you think you’ll mostly develop your skills and dive locally, then be patient and do the training at home. As someone else mentioned, you’ll get connected to the local scene to find buddies and experienced divers to help answer questions and take you to good dive spots.

^^ this, 100%
Go in to the shop in person, and speak with the owner directly if possible. If you are planning for most of your post-certification diving to be relatively close to home (like St.Lawrence river or Great Lakes diving) getting certified there is possibly better.

Don't take that as saying you can't get good training in the Caribbean, because I want to emphasize that you absolutely can. There are awesome instructors here and neglecting safety has not been my experience - I received both my PADI OW and AOW certifications on Roatan, from two different shops, and both instructors were excellent. I say "possibly better" to get certified there because while the instructors in this region can certainly take into account the fact that you will be diving in different conditions than what you are being trained in, there are some significant differences in the environments that might throw you for a loop diving at home (especially as a new diver) that they can't exactly train you for here.

As just one example I'm thinking about how much weight you will need - the amount can be totally different diving in the Caribbean Sea using an AL80 tank with possibly no exposure protection whatsoever vs diving in fresh (or brackish) water with a 5 or 7mm wetsuit, gloves, boots, a hood and a steel tank. They can teach (or emphasize the e-Learning) in this region but you won't be able actually experience the difference (and figure out the right number for you) until you dive it.

Don't let your local shop tell you that you can't good instruction in this part of the world though. That sounds to me more like fear-mongering in an attempt to keep your diving dollars local.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I don't understand the current structure for taking OW?
When I did it, I walked into the dive shop and told them I wanted to get certified, "Great! This is what it costs, here is your book - read it cover to cover and do all the knowledge reviews, we'll need this much down, your class starts on this date with this instructor at this location".
Three weeks later I was certified.
How is it so complicated now that people have to fly somewhere just to get a basic OW cert?

 

[therookie]

I don't understand the current structure for taking OW?
When I did it, I walked into the dive shop and told them I wanted to get certified, "Great! This is what it costs, here is your book - read it cover to cover and do all the knowledge reviews, we'll need this much down, your class starts on this date with this instructor at this location".
Three weeks later I was certified.
How is it so complicated now that people have to fly somewhere just to get a basic OW cert?

I think it's not so much "have to" fly somewhere as the OP is having trouble getting his local dive shops to take his money and also provide the service he's paying for in a timely fashion. Which I certainly don't understand either...

 

[PDodson]

Go in. I know the agencies are leaning into the digital age with having people do e-learning before they've even talked to a shop but anyone in the shop should be able to tell you how they run their classes as well as frequency and class size/openings, and get you signed up. If they can't do that, go somewhere else.

 

[TravisD]

That kind of delay smells like a shop that doesn't have access to a pool, or perhaps enough students to make pool rental financially viable.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

This virtual world is killing us.
What happened to face to face interactions!?
Go into the dive shop and sign up.
If it's online class work now instead of the book, fine.
My first contact would be going into the shop and talking to someone face to face. They can't ghost you if you're standing there.
This doing everything online then finding a shop to finish up is ass backwards as far as I'm concerned.
Why are people so phobic about personal interactions these days?

 

[Whitetofu]

I started learning in a club environment (don't know if that is a thing in North America) and they told me the timespan was three months. Which is fair enough as the teaching was by volunteers and pool availability was only during the club's weekly session. But I remember thinking that that felt like a life sentence. Which is why I went to a PADI school instead.

Stuff like this just makes me think if they can't look after you now, they won't look after you later. Plenty of dive schools out there who will. One of things that often gets overlooked is that the post-certification world can be a lonely place if you don't have a regular partner or doing resort diving. New divers can be really reliant on their training facility for diving opportunities afterwards so you want somewhere that has a horizon that's further out than the end of the open-water course.

I started learning in a club environment (don't know if that is a thing in North America) and they told me the timespan was three months. Which is fair enough as the teaching was by volunteers and pool availability was only during the club's weekly session. But I remember thinking that that felt like a life sentence. Which is why I went to a PADI school instead.

Stuff like this just makes me think if they can't look after you now, they won't look after you later. Plenty of dive schools out there who will. One of things that often gets overlooked is that the post-certification world can be a lonely place if you don't have a regular partner or doing resort diving. New divers can be really reliant on their training facility for diving opportunities afterwards so you want somewhere that has a horizon that's further out than the end of the open-water course.

My diving shop isn't dependent on volunteer scuba divers. At this point I'm better off looking else where in Mexico tbh. Scuba diving is an expensive hobby so I don't mind if I don't have a partner with me haha. I met one at the gym and who wanted to be partners if I ever get my open water dive. I haven't seen him at the gym anymore after a while. Idk what happened tbh. He gave me some good advices where to start and all but I can't reach out to him anymore sadly.

 

[Whitetofu]

Who told you that, your local shop? It’s BS. There are excellent instructors in Mexico (and some not so good ones) just like anywhere else in the world. Some of the best OW instructors I’ve ever met are in tropical locations where they are constantly training new divers.

You just need to get a good recommendation from someone on this board. It’s been years since I was involved in OW dive training so I’m not the best person to ask. But….if someone I loved was looking for OW instruction, I would ask for a recommendation for an OW instructor from Nat at Under the jungle. She has high standards and knows everyone down there.

I’m sure there are excellent instructors in Cozumel, Bonaire, Roatan. And if you can afford the time, you could stay and dive in clear warm water for a week after your class to practice your new skills in an easy, forgiving environment. That’s the best way to start training IMO. Then, if you want to dive in cold water at home, you can take some further instruction there.

No, just a quick Google search and saw some random comments there and there. I actually called my local diving shop just earlier after they didn't call me back after 2 days. Long story short they said I'm not forced to do my course with them so nothing should be stopping me to look elsewhere. That's what the lady said on the phone... They definitely don't seem to care much and monopolize the industry. They are the only scuba diving shop in my city. If I want to go to a different shop, I need to go to a different city. And I still haven't got a call back from them either after leaving a voicemail.

Mexico seems the better option. I'll look up Nat and Cozumel later. Thanks for sharing! Much appreciated.

 

[Whitetofu]

Take a vacation to Cozumel or Florida ( Fort Lauderdale to Jupiter). Lots of professional, well run dive shops. You deserve better treatment than you are getting from your local shop.

I'll definitely look into that later. Seems like you are not the only one recommending Cozumel. Thanks!

 

[Whitetofu]

Like others who took the course before eLearning, the knowledge (bookwork) part and the confined pool work ran concurrently - one night a week for 6 weeks (as I recall.) We would meet at the dive store for the traditional classroom work and then drive to an indoor pool for the pool work. We also had preplanned a trip (Grand Cayman) where we would complete our 4 open water dives to complete our certification - the dive shop helped set this up so the dive sop in GC expected us. Since, I have completed 2 eLearning courses and both of those were concurrent with me being at the place where I could do the water work as I did the bookwork - I did AOW in Mexico.

Did you not have pool sessions through a dive shop set up before completing the eLearning? Again, as others have suggested, I would call other shops in your area and explain that you've completed the eLearning and need to complete the confined pool work. I would also suggest that as you get the confined pool work completed, you also already know where you will complete the 4 open water dives - the dive shop should offer those also - you can decide whether to do those in the conditions where you live or in the conditions of a nice tropical location .

If Mexico is truly an option (I've met many Canadians in Cozumel, MX in the winter) there is nothing wrong with that. Been to both the east and west coast of Mexico and safety/dive instruction is not an issue. Dive ops there are happy to take your money just like anywhere else - except maybe where you are, lol. Already having the eLearning, you would probably be able to go through the pool/open water pretty easily and be certified after a few days.

Patience, but I agree with you!

6 weeks? That's long but at least it's for one night a week. I wasn't told anything about a pre-planned trip. I was told there would be classes, practice in pool and then we would drive to wherever lake that the instructor wanted to go. I was told it could have been a 2 hour drive one way...

I did my eLearning beforehand before going to the diving shop. I didn't get any pool sessions before doing my online course, no. I guess it's different here? They didn't seem to have any issues with me doing my eLearning beforehand. I signed some papers and tried their gears to take note of the sizes for the upcoming pool sessions and paid. So far, I feel like I'm being messed around. I'll go get my refund later this weekend. I'll look into traveling to Mexico this winter. Thanks for replying! Seems like doing my eLearning beforehand will make the course quicker in Mexico