Cavern/Intro Class near Tampa?

[Dectek]

My daughter moved to Clearwater and invited us down for a vacation this winter and I wanted to get Certified.
Is there anywhere local where this could happen or would it be a daily 3 hour drive?
I did not find too much doing searches for caves in Pinellas County.
If I have to drive that far every day, vacation will either be in Tulum or I will be visiting that damn mouse and diving open water.
Thanks for any information you can give.

 

[johnny_bravo]

You could do it at Hudson Grotto with Scuba West:

Hudson Grotto

http://www.scubawest.net/

Cheers.

-J.-

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

You could call Burt Wilcher at Tampa Adventure Sports (Tampa Adventure Sports). He's an outstanding cave instructor. You'd probably have to drive to Paradise Springs or Blue Grotto but the viz would be better than Hudson Grotto. Just my 2 cents.

 

[eandiver]

No matter what if you are going to do intro/basic cave the closest site would be Ginnie or Peacock Springs. Cavern would be Hudson/Paradise or Blue Grotto and depending on the agency you would make 2 dives at different sites.

Example:
I did Cavern/Basic with Johnny Richards up in High Springs. 4 days, 2 cavern dives in two different caverns (Ballroom and Devils Ear) 4 cave dives in two different location (Devils Ear and Peacock 1) and the certifying agency was NSS-CDS.

Narcosis did his with Paul Heinerth at Hudson Grotto and Peacock 1.

 

[Divergirl4U]

My vote goes with Jim he is a private instructor who can work with your schedule 813-368-4617 Tell em Kim P said hi
Tampa Adventure Sports is also a good choice
KP

 

[Dectek]

Thanks for the input... Cavetek PMed me right after I posted the Question and Told me the same thing......Nothing Local.... Looks like this next vacation will be Mexico or "The Mouse"

 

[Caver95]

If you want to be sure you have the finest possible training in the world, you can fly me to mexico for your private instruction

 

[DiveBandit]

They have a great Cave/Cavern instructor at Scuba West, but as far as I know he only does some open water work at the Grotto, not the whole class. The rest is done in the Peacock springs area.

 

[Dectek]

If you want to be sure you have the finest possible training in the world, you can fly me to mexico for your private instruction

Help me talk my non-diving wife into separate vacations and we may have a deal

I am good with a bed, AC, and local cuisine but she loves the All-Inclusives.

 

[carriemak]

Hey, I'm in Clearwater, have an all-inclusive dive trip to Little Cayman in June, with spots available. Would that help?