Coursework + referral on a tight timeline?

[gsk3]

Hi all,

First post on the ScubaBoard. So hi everyone!

My wife and I did a private resort course while in Costa Rica, got hooked, and would now like to get certified. We have two upcoming trips that we would like to sneak some dive time into, one to LA (two days free, then two-day conference, then two more days free before the flight out) and one to Bermuda (two days shore time on a family cruise). We are moving to Philadelphia in a week, and will have two weeks before the LA trip, then some other traveling, then the Bermuda trip. That leaves just the two weeks in Philly to do the coursework and pool dives. We may not have another chance to go diving until a year later (school starts), at which point we may well be in Egypt next summer on fellowships (so it would be nice to have experience before diving one of the greatest dive sites in the world)....

So that's the setup. It looks like the discount options for getting certified in Philly meet on Wednesdays over multiple weeks, so we may have to pay more for private instruction on our schedule but can hopefully afford that if it's not too much. There's the PADI online option--is that recommended?--but that may not save much money since we still have to pay for the pool dives. We'll likely only have one day on Catalina to do the O/W checkout dives, which as I understand it is not enough. Is it possible to do a double-referral (e.g. class+pool in Philly, first day of O/W checkouts in Catalina, second day of O/W checkouts in Bermuda)? Is it advisable?

We both have a strong undergraduate chemistry/physics background and therefore don't anticipate any problems with the coursework whether we do them online or in person, but we'd rather learn right the first time so if any of the options involve compromising the training we'll just be chagrined and wait until we can do it right.

Thanks for your advice!
Ari

 

[911Diver]

I can't comment on your time line or the referral questions, but I can give you options.

Adventure Scuba, Inc Conshohocken, PA (near Philly)
Adventure Scuba Inc.

Dudas Diving, near West Chester, PA (near Philly)
Dudas Diving Duds

There are plenty more that will do private lessons for you to get you trained.

Keep in mind being trained quickly can sometimes lead to mistakes, something forgotten, go over something quickly that is important and then it is not practiced during dives. Keep asking questions during your class and make sure your clear on everything before moving on...

Good luck and welcome!

 

[gsk3]

Keep in mind being trained quickly can sometimes lead to mistakes, something forgotten, go over something quickly that is important and then it is not practiced during dives. Keep asking questions during your class and make sure your clear on everything before moving on...

Good luck and welcome!

Thanks for the PA-specific recommendations. I'll contact those shops next week and talk to them about fitting all the pieces together. We're definitely the safety-conscious type so as I said if it involves compromising safety we'll just wait. That said, we can put a decent bit of time and energy into this over a compressed period, and plan on continuing to learn after we are certified, so hopefully that will mitigate the dangers.

Ari

 

[Hawaii Scuba Divers]

To answer your Question yes you can do 2 dives with one company and then do the next set of dives with company B but make sure you have complete sets of Paper work for the refferal from Your Home Instructor..This should also be done close together so to make it easer for you and the Instructors.
This will cost MORE MONEY doing it this way but can be done.
Aloha Mark.

 

[gsk3]

To answer your Question yes you can do 2 dives with one company and then do the next set of dives with company B but make sure you have complete sets of Paper work for the refferal from Your Home Instructor..This should also be done close together so to make it easer for you and the Instructors.
This will cost MORE MONEY doing it this way but can be done.
Aloha Mark.

Ok, thanks. That's very good to know. Over the course of the day we've come to the decision that we should try to squeeze in the training dives here before we go, but due to the insane tight schedule we may yet do the double-referral. Cost is an issue, as is simply wanting to enjoy time in some great dive sites after a few minutes practicing skills rather than spending the whole dive certifying skills. Will let y'all how it goes when I call tomorrow.

Best,
Ari

 

[Jim Lapenta]

ALso realize that even if you do the online course, PADI recommends shops charge you their regular price in addition to the online fees. Want convenience? Then you gotta pay for it. By the time you do this private or semiprivate lessons may actually be cheaper as well as more complete since you'll have the instructors undivided or mostly undivided attention.

 

[gsk3]

ALso realize that even if you do the online course, PADI recommends shops charge you their regular price in addition to the online fees. Want convenience? Then you gotta pay for it. By the time you do this private or semiprivate lessons may actually be cheaper as well as more complete since you'll have the instructors undivided or mostly undivided attention.

That would seem to make it more expensive indeed. Funny, since it's less work for them. I think we can work out doing the coursework, pool time, and at least one of the open water days while we're still here. Northeast Scuba Supply says they can probably work it out. Will know by the end of the day.

Thanks,
Ari

 

[gsk3]

Just an update: The dates worked out so we can do the course at NE Scuba Supply with only a little bit of rescheduling of prior plans. That leaves us a full week to get the checkout dives done, which they're working on for us right now. They've found an instructor but are looking for an assistant. I assume there's a PADI requirement that the minimum for a checkout dive is 1 instructor + 1 DM?

Thanks for everyone's help!
Ari

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I assume there's a PADI requirement that the minimum for a checkout dive is 1 instructor + 1 DM?

There is a PADI Standard that the Instructor not abandon a student (or students) during the open water check out dives.

When descending (or ascending) on a down line, an Instructor could be between two students (buddy team) and not abandon either, but more than two students might mean one or more students is not directly supervised (abandoned). Shore dives are sometimes different, in that all 8 students (max per single Instructor) can often descend (or ascend) together in neck deep water.

The real issue is with CESA; for a single Instructor with more than one student, the other(s) is(are) either abandoned on the bottom or abandoned at the surface while the single Instructor conducts the skill with a single student. In order to follow Standards, a Certified Assistant would need to stay with the other students (either on the bottom or at the surface) or the Instructor must escort all the students out of the water (boat or shore) then return to the water with one student at a time for CESA.

This will most likely come as a shock to many OW certified divers, as the extremely low price for most cert courses (see this thread - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/229291-cheap-bastard-divers.html) means most operators can not afford to pay for a Certified Assistant. Many times I have seen DM Candidates (not CA's yet) playing the role of CA's, so even if it appeared the Standards are followed, they might not be.

It would be interesting to hear how other agencies deal with the issue of abandonment and CESA?

 

[gsk3]

Interesting. That makes sense. Good to have my initial impression of the dive shop as an awesome and safety-conscious place confirmed ;-).

Thanks,
Ari