Dive schools in/around Austin?

[kanonfodr]

Greetings everyone.

I've been lurking the Texas forum here on SB for a while, learning about diving in my home state. I get back home every once in a while and this will be my second time as a certified diver. But my family in TX wants to get certified so we can all go out together, and then when they visit me we can go diving in Hawaii. The 'rents live near Austin and I am looking for a good dive school to recommend them. Don't have much experience there, unfortunately, so I am going to the locals.

Appreciate any info.

Peace,
Greg

 

[PvilleStang]

Well, there are several dive centers here in town that do classes. Oak Hill down south, SCUBALand by the lake has a great instructor, Royal SCUBA is a newer shop, but Nicco wil go the extra mile to make his customers happy. There are several others, but for what it's worth, those would be my choices to consider. Your best idea would be to figure out which dive org they want to be certified with (PADI, NAUI, PDIC, TDI/SDI, etc) and then narrow down the shop list by certifying organizations.

 

[Pearldiver07]

Don't know where your family lives, but Scubaland has a shop south, and one around Anderson Ln/Lamar.

Also, Dive World is up on 620, closer to 183.

I would also suggest PvilleStang's list as well.

Austin has several good shops. I suggest your parents stop by the one from these suggestions closest to their house and start from there. If they get a good feeling, it's probably going to work out well.

And by the way - Austin's scuba class pricing has been depressed for years. It'd be hard to find a better deal than what most shops have been offering there.

 

[PeppermintPaddi]

I'll throw in yet another recommendation: for Tom's Dive and Swim in Central Austin. Teaching pool there in the shop. SSI certification. They might be the LDS open the longest in Austin? They have great instructors and also do a lot for fire and police recovery groups, state wide. tomsscuba.com - Tom's Dive and Swim

And yes, as posted previously, the best bet is probably to visit a few shops and see who feels comfortable. Might as well get the most enjoyment from what may turn out to be an addiction.

 

[eieio_24]

to: kanonfoder -

Personally, I have been in a few of the dive shops mentioned above, and a couple that were not mentioned. The one shop that to me seems the most professional, knowledgeable and well organized is Tom's Dive and Swim, located at Burnet Road and Koenning Lane.

Their staff is always extremely helpful, and will go out of their way to do so.
They teach by standards of SSI.

Though I was not certified by Tom's, I would most definately recommend them over any other dive shop in the Austin area.

* as mentioned above, they should go and visit a shop, see what think about the shop and staff, and form their own opinion - everyone's got one about their favorite shop. The shop and staff make the difference, not the agency used...

 

[driftwood]

Hi Greg,

Austin is blessed with a lot of very good shops and instructors. My top three, in no particular order, are Tom's, Oak Hill and Scubaland. It has already been mentioned that it is all about the instructor, not the shop or agency. For Tom's KC Harris and Layne Hedricks are excellent. For Scubaland, HJ Philips and John Lindsey (if you can get him to do it) are also excellent. The owner of Oak Hill, Mack, will do an excellent job. I am sure that each shop has other instructors that do as good or better job, but these are the ones I would not hesitate to recommend.

One suggestion that I would make is to split the open water dives between Aquarena Springs in San Marcos followed by Lake Travis. A.S. is an easy transition from the confined water dives and Lake Travis lets the students dive deeper. Most but not all of the area's instructors are authorized to train at Aquarena Springs. So if you go that route be sure to ask ahead of time.

 

[kanonfodr]

Everybody,

First of all thanks for the suggestions, as dad is getting an email linked to this thread.

As far as which agency certifies them, I don't know if they will be too choosy. The only reason I would recommend PADI over any others is just because that's who I am certified through.

Also, mom is going for a test dive soon to see how she likes wearing the gear in the water and everything. Let's hope for luck.

Peace,
Greg