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.

 

[Whitetofu]

Do your elearning through a shop in the Caribbean and then fly down and do your confined and open water dives. The course will be less expensive and you'll be somewhere nice.

Do I really need to redo my eLearning again? I didn't think of doing confined but I did think of getting my rescue diving later on. I'm assuming confined course is good to have for rescue diving? I'm thinking to change careers. I'm getting sick of working in the construction.

I agree, being down South will be nice lol. It will be less expensive too than going to USA.

 

[Whitetofu]

A thing that comes to mind - when you are reading about classes, make sure if they are talking about actual full certification classes and not something like Discover dives, resort courses, or other abbreviated experiences. It can all be good info, but Discover type dives do have a reputation for not always being well done.

I’d also be careful about taking scuba advice from Tripadvisor. Can be a good place for researching resorts and other activities. But it’s not a place where people knowledgable about scuba tend to review courses or dive shops. Often people talking about scuba there don’t seem to know what they’re talking about.

Alright, good to know not to expect getting my open water dive certification in resorts. I've been to an AI resort but I did hear there was some scuba diving done there. I thought maybe they could help me get my certification but it's best to find a diving shop nearby instead. Thanks for the info!

 

[Whitetofu]

I looked briefly at the Sunwing website. I didn’t see a way to filter for resorts with diving, whether included or nearby, but I might have missed it. Lots of the locations aren’t really places well known for scuba diving so if you really want to do a Sunwing package you’ll have to do some digging. Or maybe someone familiar can look at the list and have a suggestion. (I’m not too familiar with Mexico beyond what I read about Cozumel, and have only dove Sea of Cortez.)

AI resorts are a tricky thing for diving.

There are AIs dedicated to diving where you could certainly find a good class and get it done, do some additional non-training dives, and immerse yourself in the experience. They tend to be one offs and not part of chains or offered as charter package deals. And they’re in places with good diving.

Some AIs include diving, but are vacations with some diving, vs dive vacations. Sandals comes to mind, maybe club med, there are others. They can be good for new divers, and may offer certifications. (I think at some you can get a certification good only with their resorts, not what you want.)
(Experienced divers tend to not like diving with these because there are usually a lot of limitations on the diving. Sometimes people even stay at an AI for everything else but do their diving with an outside shop. But you might find one that works for you.)

And many AIs are not useful for diving at all. Like located someplace where there isn’t any decent accessible diving.

Yeah I just recently found out about Sunwing and it's quite cheap to find good AI resorts. I was shocked to see the prices. It's not expensive at all. I'll have to do more research and maybe I might go to a resort and go to a nearby diving shop to do my open water dive certification. Or I might just book everything separately, sleep at a hotel and go to a diving shop instead. Depending w/e is cheaper. Thanks!

 

[Whitetofu]

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.

I wasn't planning to dive locally tbh. It's cold here and visibility is poor underwater I was told. I'm planning to move out of Canada once I feel ready to do so. It might be within the next couple years. I would much prefer diving internationally and build up my experience from there.

There's no instructor in the diving shop from what I noticed last time I went to do the paperwork's and so on. I called again earlier and they didn't really seem to care that I was thinking to look elsewhere with how vague their schedule is. They still have no idea when is the next diving class. The one they didn't include me in is going to end the 26 of September, I was told. Other than that, they didn't seem too bothered I wanted to get my refund later this weekend.

 

[Whitetofu]

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.

Honestly, I'm disappointed with how they organize their schedule. I've had only one call back from them and it was to let me know I would be in the September course. After waiting and waiting, I noticed on their FB page they were doing discover dives for $99 during the last 2 weeks of September. I figured they didn't include me in the open water dive course for w/e reason and they also had available spots for new divers that are curious about diving.

I wished they would have called me and say that they couldn't squeeze me in and would need to put me in a different group, but none of that was done. Idk where I'm at in the list nor do I know when is their next class. It could be next year since winter is coming I was told. It's so vague and it's starting to get annoying being messed around like that.

 

[Whitetofu]

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?

Well I did go to the shop to get my size noted for the equipment. I filled up the paper works and paid for my course in advance. I did my eLearning beforehand and that was the right order of things, I was told in person? I'm guessing you didn't follow the replies.

There's no diving instructor in the shop last time I went. Even after calling them again, they didn't seem to want to let the instructor know that I'm not pleased with how they are unorganized. They just said I'm not forced to do my course with them and I can look elsewhere.