Cert. question

[billmach]

Hi all I have always had a desire to dive since I was in my teens but life complications,
cost of living, marriage, and kids kept me from pursuing my dreams. well now i am divorced and I sadly no longer have the responablility of kids I have found the desire to dive in me has never died. So . am going to get my cert and have a few questions i hope you all can answer.whats best? padi,naui,ssi,ymca?
I have recived offers to do the class work online and then I only need to get
my pool and open water. is this legit? online courses for the class part of diving?
I have recently purchased all of the equiptment minus a tank thats next.
I am not big into group things does anyone know of a personal dive trainer certifier
in the phoenix az. area?
thanks
Bill :06:

 

[triton94949]

A personal dive trainer ... that is called "private lessons." Most stores offer them. Obviously this costs more. Problem is that you normally would need to bring your own dive buddy with you, which is normally what most such students do.

Forgive me for saying this in the following manner, but you are going about this scuba thing all wrong. Better would be to find a good dive store close by where you live or work, and get to know the staff and your fellow students. The dive store may also be able to refer you to a local dive club. Between the two, you will meet new people and make friends and travel to really great places in groups. There are always several people in each group that need a dive buddy. And that is the key. You need to find dive buddies.

Going out into the open water with scuba gear alone is not something that you will be qualified to do by yourself for several years. In the meantime, you need to dive with others. It is also more fun to dive with groups of others.

Regarding your other question, you can learn to scuba with either NAUI, YMCA, SSI, PADI , SDI-TDI, ANDI, etc. Be prepared to take at least 2 consecutive scuba courses before you are fully trained, however. Today's courses are quite short and fast, and therefore Basic Open Water should be followed quickly with Advanced Open Water. Between the two, that normally gives you 9 to 12 supervised scuba dives, and that is what it really takes to properly learn scuba.

 

[kent_1848]

The dive cert. doesn't matter, (although, you will get many different opinions, and my preference would be NAUI) any of those will be accepted anywhere. The class work online is OK, but if you have any questions, they will just have to wait. You might want to go with a group though, as you will need a buddy when you dive, and maybe you can meet one there, or several there. Anyway, congrats on your getting certified, and welcome to the board.

 

[Ann Marie]

whats best? padi,naui,ssi,ymca? That is like which came first, chicken or egg. Everyone has an opinion. More important, in my opinion, is instructor. Go to a dive shop, get the phone numbers to the instructors, call and talk to them. Find the instructor you like and go that route.

I have recived offers to do the class work online and then I only need to get
my pool and open water. is this legit? online courses for the class part of diving? Home study. Yep, it is legit. Myself, I like studying something and then discussing the subject incase I have misunderstood anything or need a little clarification.

I have recently purchased all of the equiptment minus a tank thats next. Might be putting the cart before the horse. Hope you made some educated decisions before ploping down your money.

I am not big into group things does anyone know of a personal dive trainer certifier
in the phoenix az. area? You are looking for private instruction. All instructors should offer that. Check with the dive shops. Some offer small classes.

Good luck! I waited until I was 35 to start diving, sorry I waited but raising a family was my first priority. I love diving and am so glad I jumped in!

Good luck with your classes!

 

[hdtran]

Hi all I have always had a desire to dive since I was in my teens but life complications,
cost of living, marriage, and kids kept me from pursuing my dreams. well now i am divorced and I sadly no longer have the responablility of kids I have found the desire to dive in me has never died. So . am going to get my cert and have a few questions i hope you all can answer.whats best? padi,naui,ssi,ymca?
I have recived offers to do the class work online and then I only need to get
my pool and open water. is this legit? online courses for the class part of diving?
I have recently purchased all of the equiptment minus a tank thats next.
I am not big into group things does anyone know of a personal dive trainer certifier
in the phoenix az. area?
thanks
Bill :06:

First of all, even though I'm not an official greeter, WELCOME TO SCUBABOARD!!!

Secondly, certification agencies: PADI, NAUI, etc. are all fine. What you really want is a store or instructor that you are comfortable with.

Third, yes, it is quite possible to do self-study or online study for the classroom work, especially if you're good at that sort of thing. If your learning style is more interactive, you may want to find an old-fashioned class.

Fourth, if you travel, you may wish to do a certification at a resort location in off-season. You may well wind up with a private instructor

I've observed many places now offer a "2 weekend" certification option. First weekend is classwork (self-study at home; review & quizzes in class) followed by pool work; second weekend are the open water certification dives.

You might also very much enjoy doing a referral certification; e.g. do the classwork & pool work in Phoenix, get a slip of paper, and do the open water dives in Mexico or California.

Good luck!

 

[billmach]

First of all, even though I'm not an official greeter, WELCOME TO SCUBABOARD!!!

Secondly, certification agencies: PADI, NAUI, etc. are all fine. What you really want is a store or instructor that you are comfortable with.

Third, yes, it is quite possible to do self-study or online study for the classroom work, especially if you're good at that sort of thing. If your learning style is more interactive, you may want to find an old-fashioned class.

Fourth, if you travel, you may wish to do a certification at a resort location in off-season. You may well wind up with a private instructor

I've observed many places now offer a "2 weekend" certification option. First weekend is classwork (self-study at home; review & quizzes in class) followed by pool work; second weekend are the open water certification dives.

You might also very much enjoy doing a referral certification; e.g. do the classwork & pool work in Phoenix, get a slip of paper, and do the open water dives in Mexico or California.

Good luck!

Wow thanks for the great responce everyone :07:

I have recently purchased all of the equiptment minus a tank thats next. Might be putting the cart before the horse. Hope you made some educated decisions before ploping down your money.

Well i can say research everything intensly. and asked numerous questions
as for putting the cart before the horse ? I dont think so.
Why should i pay extra money to rent the equipment
If I plan on making this a life long hobby or even a career down the road.
I would rather own it than rent it.

you guys are great! i can see myself being here for a long time :07:

 

[Damselfish]

Wow thanks for the great responce everyone :07:
Well i can say research everything intensly. and asked numerous questions
as for putting the cart before the horse ? I dont think so.
Why should i pay extra money to rent the equipment
If I plan on making this a life long hobby or even a career down the road.
I would rather own it than rent it.

you guys are great! i can see myself being here for a long time :07:

Perhaps too late for this now, but people will suggest waiting on gear at least until after you're certified for a couple reasons. For one thing, while it probably won't happen, you may find you don't like diving or run into some problem, and either don't complete the cert or ever dive afterwards. It does happen. Also, research is important but no matter how much research you do, it can't completely replace actually having dove with some stuff.

If you buy and never rent perhaps you will save money, but only if you buy exactly the right stuff the first time and don't replace it soon. If you buy without ever having dove, odds of being happy with all your choices are lower. Gear selection is something a good class will cover. Note that most classes will include the gear, and if they break out rentals in the price they usually make it a very good deal for the class anyway. (If this becomes a life-long hobby or a career, figure on replacing and buying stuff plenty as your needs and preferences change anyway.)

Since you haven't bought a tank yet, I suggest waiting. There are choices in tanks like everything else and arguments for and against owning them. They'll supply them for your class. And it probably won't be "a tank", if you're going to have your own at all you will probably want at least 2. Even for your OW dives you'd usually use 2, typically you will do 2 dives in a day for the class and that's pretty common once you're certified.

 

[diversteve]

Bill,

I just sent you a long PM about local diving.

Steve

 

[spectrum]

Hi all I have always had a desire to dive since I was in my teens but life complications,
cost of living, marriage, and kids kept me from pursuing my dreams.
I'm right with you up until this point. My wife and I start our ocean dives next weekend weather permitting. We seem to be the genration that's keeping the sport alive as we finally have time to chase those remaining dreams.

well now i am divorced and I sadly no longer have the responablility of kids I have found the desire to dive in me has never died. So . am going to get my cert and have a few questions i hope you all can answer.whats best? padi,naui,ssi,ymca?
What you need is a local instructor that is held in high regard. The choice of agency is irrelevant at this point. You can find plenty of threads on selecting a good one.

I have recived offers to do the class work online and then I only need to get
my pool and open water. is this legit? online courses for the class part of diving?
Some agencys sent you home with an interactive CD rom so online is just a next step. You can get exposure to much of the material this way and avoid some classroom time. You will miss the interactions of other students and thrir questions and usually important local info gets woven in to local class. Make sure that the electronic presentation is followed up with at leat one good one on one session to review critical material prior to the written test.

I have recently purchased all of the equiptment minus a tank thats next.
Wow, I hope you did your homeweork.

I am not big into group things does anyone know of a personal dive trainer certifier
in the phoenix az. area?
You need to pull this together, if you do an electornic course it must be integrated with your local trainer be it private or a group setting.
thanks
Bill

Good luck Bill. Wander into a few local dive shops and start asking questions. Look for love of diving and a desire to bring new divers to the sport. If it's a hard sales pitch including buy this or you will die beware.

Pete

 

[Stirling]

So . am going to get my cert and have a few questions i hope you all can answer.whats best? padi,naui,ssi,ymca?
I have recived offers to do the class work online and then I only need to get
my pool and open water. is this legit? online courses for the class part of diving?
I have recently purchased all of the equiptment minus a tank thats next.
I am not big into group things does anyone know of a personal dive trainer certifier
in the phoenix az. area?
thanks
Bill :06:

Bill, you can find excellent instructors associated with NAUI, PADI, and SSI in the Phoenix area; I just don't know anything about the YMCA program(s) locally, but the same is probably true there, as well. My own preference is NAUI. It might help to know a little bit more about what kind of diving you want to do, and where - some shops are more active in local lake diving and can help introduce you to that community, while others are more oriented toward warm water diving in Mexico and the Caribbean (or elsewhere), or diving in that colder water over in California.

I would definitely avoid the online instruction option; you want to have a real instructor to help you face to face with your understanding of the things you need to understand to dive safely. And you might as well get to know an actual instructor or two for whatever additional instruction you might want to take after your basic certification (Advanced Open Water, Rescue Diver, etc.).

I wouldn't be too quick to rule out a class with other divers in it, because that is one of the ways to start making connections with other potential dive buddies. However, if you would prefer private lessons, the cost differential between the instruction for your basic open water certification in a group class v. private lessons is (last I checked at Oasis Divers, a NAUI shop in northern Phoenix) $210 v. $350, and you will have a little more flexibility in scheduling the private lessons, if that helps. (That is just one example to give you an idea of the difference in cost; I don't know how it compares to other local shops.)

You may very well have purchased the right gear for you, but most people would probably have suggested that you wait to make sure you were buying what you would really want to keep and use for the long term. If you buy the wrong thing and end up selling and replacing it, you're really incurring the same "rental" expense that you are trying to avoid.

In any case, enjoy the experience. Better late than never!

One other suggestion - if you are offered the choice, I would strongly recommend doing your open water certification dives in Mexico (probably San Carlos), rather than in the local lakes around Phoenix. The experience is an incomparably better introduction to diving.