Cheapest OW Certs Possible, FL, Kids, Ideas?

[rob.mwpropane]

I guess if you don't really like your kids, go ahead and do it as cheaply as possible.

I mean...if we're being honest

In all seriousness I love my kids...let's get the plastic and go explore.

Last year I took them snorkeling to see how they would do...its amazing watching your offspring fall in love with the underwater world as much as I have.

I'm not sure what to say. Your comment honestly made me laugh. Kudos to you sir!

 

[Rob9876]

@rob.mwpropane I just thought to check Divers Supply's Jacksonville, FL location, and they offer SDI Open Water using e-learning for $330 including checkout dives at the Florida springs: Scuba Lessons in Jacksonville

 

[Pao]

Late to the party but the question caught my eye. Definitely not the question you should be asking. As with everything else, you get what you pay for. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

In retrospect I should have labeled this thread differently, but I've still got some amazing ideas so far. I've sent out a few emails to different ds, just waiting to hear back. Still searching.

 

[Oldbear]

Biggybacking on @Eric Sedletzky thread here;
Is dive certification really necessary?

If you feel the need to roast me, go for it. I have 4 younger boys ages 22, 16, 14, and 9 (Edit; he's 11...not sure where 9 came from, lol). After diving for the last couple years I have taken them all diving at least a few times whether in the pool or in the local mud hole. They all love it. We've gone over the basics, the really important stuff, and I never go diving with more than 1 at a time. Obviously the older the kid the less "babysitting" I do, but I can always see them, and the dives are very benign. The deepest I've gone with one was the 22 yr old, and that was 28'. I get them to setup their own gear as much as they can always going over the why's and the how's and watch them the entire time. I've had some of the best conversations with my kids after a 10' dive just floating around on the surface talking.

I am not an instructor, nor do I want to be, but my kids are getting to the point where it's time to get them certified. To me, it really is just a card to start learning or continue learning without having to hide. They're all young enough (except for the 22 yr old) that they would only ever go diving with me, which is basically what we're doing now. I don't feel like they're going to get anything out of a class except maybe some experience and confidence doing it with someone else.

With that said, I want to get them all certified the absolute cheapest route that I can. To me the plastic card at the end is the same so why not. I know that I could pay good money and have them all look like little frog men coming out of the class, but honestly they're not interested in that. They just want to dive and have fun.

We're driving to FL in a couple months and I was thinking about signing them up while we're there as there own little group. It would be a good memory for them all to have. So far I've got a price of $500 / kid for everything including charter / checkout dives. This would be 1-2 days of pool stuff and then the OW checkout dives on day 3.

Looking for some other options / opinions / even some criticisms if you like. I know this whole idea is a bit taboo, so I'm ready for it.

I've had the privilege to dive and talk to a lot of instructors in the last few years. Some of you are amazing, but some of you quite frankly just got a piece of plastic yourself. Not impressive at all. I once had an instructor with over 1200 dives argue with me why an AL80 is far superior to a steel 100HP in every way.... to dive to 120' now I know that's not the norm on SB. If you're here, you're probably really into diving, but they are out there.

I'm not 100% committed to this, it's just an idea that I have rolling around in my head. Part of me thinks it'll eat up too much time from our trip, but part of me says it would be fun for them to do during the day together...kind of like a group activity that will let the wife and I stroll the beach or something....thoughts?

Get them a PlayStation 5...within your budget, provides family fun times and much less riskier than diving on compressed gas under the water.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Get them a PlayStation 5...within your budget, provides family fun times and much less riskier than diving on compressed gas under the water.

It's amazing how much the world has changed in the last 20-30 years, and I don't think all in good ways. Your suggestion of sitting at home and viewing the world through the lens of a tv is a huge issue that we have in the US. There is an inherent risk anytime we walk out the door, driving, boating, riding dirt bikes....should we stop all those too?

If I had a choice between my kid owning a crotch rocket or diving, I'd choose the latter every time.

What is it that you find so "risky" about diving that you would suggest not to do it?

P.S. - in our house, we also go over why participation trophies are stupid and they don't mean anything. I know I'm going against the grain here...but my house, my rules

 

[ofg-1]

The obvious answer is to forge their certification cards. I am sure that you can get a good facsimile printed at a office depot, hell, just make up your own certification agency. How about "CDCA", for Cheap Dad Certification Agency? Print "WRSTC" member on the card, and if anyone asks, ell them that it stands for "Wanted Reduced and Salepriced Training & Certification". Find a random picture of some type of cute fish to put on the card, and you're done. No hagfish, too much slime.

 

[Oldbear]

It might be my interpretation of your original post, but what I find risky is your cavalier attitude towards diving. And you willingness to allow your children to participate in diving without appropriate supervision.

I am grateful they were not injured. The lack of injury does not mean there were not risks that they were exposed to.

I am not against looking for the best value for your family to learn diving. If you want great conversations with your children just talk with them. You yourself admitted your not an instructor and not qualified.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

It might be my interpretation of your original post, but what I find risky is your cavalier attitude towards diving. And you willingness to allow your children to participate in diving without appropriate supervision.

I am grateful they were not injured. The lack of injury does not mean there were not risks that they were exposed to.

I am not against looking for the best value for your family to learn diving. If you want great conversations with your children just talk with them. You yourself admitted your not an instructor and not qualified.

But they've all done discover scuba under the "appropriate supervision". That's how they started, and that was 3 years ago. We then moved to a pool for about a year (4.5 deep), then a friends 8' pool, and then very limited quarry / shore diving. I don't think I could be moving slower in this process. If I had them certified 3 years ago we'd be in the same place we are now, doing the same things we do now. Moving slow.

And I never said I wanted to continue with them diving without getting a certification. I said I'd like to get them all certified...just for less.

Have you ever, in your life, before you were a certified instructor let someone breath from your regulator underwater before they themselves were a certified diver? A girlfriend, a spouse? Not asking you to answer publicly, just to think about it. If the answer is yes, then you're no different than I. I'm not the 1st, and I surely won't be the last. I'm sure there are a ton even on here that will ridicule me publicly, but privately do the same thing because "they know better".

I know I have gone against the grain. I know it's not what PADI would want.... but it's not wrong, it's not illegal. It's really no different than teaching my kids to drive cars or ride motorcycles. I don't have a motorcycle license... does that mean I can't teach my kids to ride a dirt bike? Just because a band of lawyers have got a hold of a sport and defined what "needs" to happen to certify someone does not mean it's the "only" way. And at some point I knew I would have to adhere to the "rules"....and here I am.

 

[Angelo Farina]

I am and my wife are both instructors. We started bringing (or, better, PUSHING) our sons underwater (in the pool) around 6 months, leaving them to swim up. They never drink water, as small babies still have the mammalian reflex closing their epiglottis. Around 10 months both our sons were "swimming" using small fins and inflatables on their arms, and at one year, when they were not walking yet, they were jumping in the pool head-down and with open eyes after dog-walking towards the water.
All this activity was done in a special pool for babies, with very warm water, and with one instructor (either me or my wife) taking care of the baby, while an assistant was surveying, ready to intervene. This activity was organized by the local diving club, with proper insurance, medical clearance, etc..
Around 18 months we gave them mask and snorkels, and they started controlling their mouth breathing, diving underwater for catching plastic animals and other toys from the bottom of the pool, and clearing the snorkel when emerging. They did also start equalizing, albeit at that age it was not easy to explain.
At 2 years they had their first small air tank. The kicking technique was already quite good, and they had enough thrust for reaching back the surface despite the weight of the tank. They also had experience snorkeling in the sea, but not yet free diving (for safety reason we did give them a buoyant shorty suit and no weights, impeding them, at the sea, to dive more than 1m, although of course they were trying to go deeper).
Around 3 years they were "ready" and they used for the first time their small tank in the sea, at a maximum depth of 3 meters. They did already proof to always exhale when emerging without reg, and to equalize properly. They did learn to clear water from the mask while doing these short dives at the sea, in Sardinia.
Everything very very slow, one progress after the other, one week after the other. At 5 years old they both had something as 12-15 dives in the sea, and possibly 100 or even 200 hours breathing underwater in the pool and making any kind of exercise and playing games. For example, the instructor of the club did mount for them a plastic underwater castle, so they started getting used to overhead environments, both freediving and with the small tank.
So, at 6 years, again in Sardinia, at Capo Caccia, they had their first experience with small caverns and passageways. At the beginning vary shallow, and no real risk, but in a couple of years they could go in real small caverns, and dive down to 7-8 meters with confidence.
Here you see one of them inside a small cavern, at 7 years:

We continued teaching them very slowly. We did allow them to get certified only at 12 years, and after following a real OW course at the diving center of the Hotel Capo caccia, in Sardinia.
Then we went for one month in Australia, doing a 3-days LOB trip in Cairns, and after 10 dives, they were certified AOW.
However, I, and particularly my wife, were absolutely NOT happy of the PADI training they received in these two diving centers. So the following year we inscribed them at a real CMAS course, here in Parma, lasting three months and with real exams at the end, so they are now also CMAS-certified.
It is very important that children are trained properly. Slowly. Carefully. Leaving nothing to the fate. By instructors with proper experience and certification for small babies (my wife is enabled to teach since three years, but the instructor at the local club which did follow us during earlier years was certified for teaching to children since 6 months up).
Can all this be cheap? No, if you rely on a commercial organization such as PADI. In our case, it was incredibly cheap, as most of this activity was organized by our diving club. Once parents pay the annual association fee (which includes insurance), you have unlimited access to the pool, and these courses for babies have just a nominal fee of 50 euros every 3 months (there are two of them per year).
The activity at the sea was also very cheap, using our own small Zodiac MK-2 inflatable boat and our own equipment. Only cost was filling the tanks, ridicolous...
Even certification was quite cheap. The Italian diving center did make a good discount, as we were filling our tanks at them since more than 10 years, and they did see my sons progressing from small babies up to youngsters. And Pro Dive Cairns did in practice give us the AOW certification for free, being done within the 10-dives LOB package.
Conclusion of this long post: yes, it is far better if your children are properly certified, but first of all they must be properly trained. As you are NOT an instructor, you cannot do it yourself entirely (albeit you can provide some good basic stuff). And albeit I and my wife are instructors, in the end we inscribed our sons to a final real course (CMAS, not PADI), and with a well renowned instructor, who did not know them in advance, so they had to follow his authority. Not always parents can really push their sons to do something...
Last point: the time spent in water with my sons was by far the best time of my life, and possibly also of their ones. We continuously recall funny or dangerous moments happened to us during the last 30 years. Intense moments. So all the effort and the money and the time dedicated to this was fully repaid by these emotions.
We also did teach our son other "dangerous" sports, such as downhill, alpine ski, motocross, trial, free climbing, etc. But diving had definitely been the most intense experience.
So, please, do not try to save some money with a super-fast certification, lacking some proper good training. Allocate the time and the money required, it is all fully worth the result!