About to take the dive and take classes

[cpreefguy]

Hello, I have wanted to get my certification for sometime now and am finally going to take classes. I found a dive shop really close to me in San Antonio called Deep Blue Adventures and they offer PADI certification. Does $300 sound reasonable for the classes? I have not gone anywhere else to compare prices. It includes everything except the Mask, fins, snorkel, and boots. What do you guys recommend as far as these go. Price is not really an object as I would like to have the best of what's out there.
Thanks,
I'm looking forward to getting to know the members on this board!

 

[Wildcard]

Congrats on your decision! I tried for years to get my cert and finaly said screw it and paid for private lessons. Best thing I ever did. Does that price include the book/video? If so, it sounds fair. Get a package deal for your soft gear. You should be able to get top of the line stuff for about $300. It is money well spent. Enjoy!

Hello, I have wanted to get my certification for sometime now and am finally going to take classes. I found a dive shop really close to me in San Antonio called Deep Blue Adventures and they offer PADI certification. Does $300 sound reasonable for the classes? I have not gone anywhere else to compare prices. It includes everything except the Mask, fins, snorkel, and boots. What do you guys recommend as far as these go. Price is not really an object as I would like to have the best of what's out there.
Thanks,
I'm looking forward to getting to know the members on this board!

 

[alijtaylor]

Go for it, I have no idea about prices as I come from a different hemisphere. After thinking about it for a decade, I took classes here expecting to basically be a vacation diver but I am out every weekend I can. Another wonderful universe.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

That's a fair price. Did you meet the instructor? Get an idea of how much pool time you'd have? Ever talk to any former students of this instructor or shop? All that matters.

 

[The Kraken]

cpreefguy,
You may want to consider purchasing your basic gear on-line. You can save a bundle.

 

[Boat]

Price sounds high to me, I just got my cert here on Guam in April and it was all inclusive for $159 (gear/books/air). I'd look for a place that has several dive shops, thus forcing some "friendly" price competition. More importantly than price, is the instructors. I know mine were fantastic and very thorough. I went back to the same instructors for my EAN/Nitrox training as well. Good luck and congrats!

 

[JC Fedorczyk]

300 is what we are paying for our lessons. Includes everything except for the basic gear. I posted my first day of OW HERE

One thing I would definitely suggest that helps a TON.... Read through these forums a lot. I've been looking through these for about 3 weeks now and the amount of information here is just astounding. I would say that I learned close to the same amount if not more knowledge here on the forum then I did in the PADI book.

 

[RonDawg]

Price sounds high to me, I just got my cert here on Guam in April and it was all inclusive for $159 (gear/books/air). I'd look for a place that has several dive shops, thus forcing some "friendly" price competition. More importantly than price, is the instructors. I know mine were fantastic and very thorough. I went back to the same instructors for my EAN/Nitrox training as well. Good luck and congrats!

$300 doesn't seem all that high for an all-inclusive package.

In Hawaii, where I first learned, the going rate was $350-400 for the three-day course, everything included.

Here in the greater LA area, Sport Chalet (a sporting goods chain) charges roughly $150 for the class, another $35 for the textbook, about $50 for a complete set of rental gear for the duration of the certification, and $75-100 for the boat fee depending on which boat they can get you on.

If you only paid $159 that is indeed an awesome deal.

 

[Don Burke]

Hello, I have wanted to get my certification for sometime now and am finally going to take classes. I found a dive shop really close to me in San Antonio called Deep Blue Adventures and they offer PADI certification. Does $300 sound reasonable for the classes? I have not gone anywhere else to compare prices. It includes everything except the Mask, fins, snorkel, and boots. What do you guys recommend as far as these go. Price is not really an object as I would like to have the best of what's out there.
Thanks,
I'm looking forward to getting to know the members on this board!

"Includes everything" has several interpretations.

You need to know where gear rental and dive trips fall into the picture.

There is one shop around here that advertises $99, but that doesn't include gear rental and you buy your own hood and weight belt.

Another shop was advertising something like $160, including gear rental, and they loan you a hood and weight belt with weights for the course.

Even if all of these items come up even, there may be a big difference in trip expenses.

 

[cpreefguy]

Thanks for the replies. I met with the instructor, he is really nice and patient with me and all my questions. The $300 is classes, books gear etc. Everything except mask, fins, and snorkel. I cant wait to get started!