diving in La Jolla
- Thread starter SBDeadly
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Fish Speaker
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Ok, well this is my first post, but I live in San Diego and my friend just did his Advanced Open Water course over the weekend with Ocean Enterprises.
They are PADI
I dont even think they have classroom time for this one. I think they just have you do some lesson reviews at home and all instruction is at La Jolla Shores.
Ocean Enterprises
7710 Balboa Avenue, Suite 101
San Diego, CA 92111
Phone: 858.565.6054 / Fax: 858.565.0717
I got my PADI Open water cert with them also. They are great. They arent located IN La Jolla, but they do their dives in La Jolla.
They are probably 10-15 minutes from the shores.
They are PADI
I dont even think they have classroom time for this one. I think they just have you do some lesson reviews at home and all instruction is at La Jolla Shores.
Ocean Enterprises
7710 Balboa Avenue, Suite 101
San Diego, CA 92111
Phone: 858.565.6054 / Fax: 858.565.0717
I got my PADI Open water cert with them also. They are great. They arent located IN La Jolla, but they do their dives in La Jolla.
They are probably 10-15 minutes from the shores.
mkgriesinger
Registered
SSI Advanced Open Water is different form PADI.
- SSI Advanced Open Water Diver -
SSI’s Advanced Diver rating stands alone in the industry with the highest combination of diving knowledge and experience. No other agency’s advanced diver level compares. To earn the certification for Advanced Open Water Diver, you must complete 4 specialty courses and have done a total of 24 dives. (SSI :: Advanced Diving :: Continue Your Adventure with SSI! :: take your dive @ diveSSI.com)
Clips from (Advanced Open Water Diver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
The SSI Advanced Open Water program is different from most other organizations, as they require not only training but they also require diving experience. To be certified as a SSI AOWD one needs to have completed four specialty courses and minimum of 24 logged dives. In the absence of a logged dives requirement, it is possible to become certified as AOW with some other agencies while having less than 10 lifetime dives.
In the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver Course, the student must do two mandatory training dives relating to deep diving and underwater navigation, and then must do three further dives from a list of approximately 18 possible specialities. Until 2006, night diving was also mandatory, but this is no longer the case. It was dropped at the request of the Scandinavian countries, for whom there is almost no night during the summer months when most of the diving is done, as it created an unreasonable restriction on certifying advanced divers (which is a pre-requisite to further training). Most other countries still recommend the night diver course.
My understanding is that SSI you have to complete 4 full-on specialty courses + have 25 dives. For PADI you need to pick 'electives' and perform them on the the dives.
- SSI Advanced Open Water Diver -
SSI’s Advanced Diver rating stands alone in the industry with the highest combination of diving knowledge and experience. No other agency’s advanced diver level compares. To earn the certification for Advanced Open Water Diver, you must complete 4 specialty courses and have done a total of 24 dives. (SSI :: Advanced Diving :: Continue Your Adventure with SSI! :: take your dive @ diveSSI.com)
Clips from (Advanced Open Water Diver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
The SSI Advanced Open Water program is different from most other organizations, as they require not only training but they also require diving experience. To be certified as a SSI AOWD one needs to have completed four specialty courses and minimum of 24 logged dives. In the absence of a logged dives requirement, it is possible to become certified as AOW with some other agencies while having less than 10 lifetime dives.
In the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver Course, the student must do two mandatory training dives relating to deep diving and underwater navigation, and then must do three further dives from a list of approximately 18 possible specialities. Until 2006, night diving was also mandatory, but this is no longer the case. It was dropped at the request of the Scandinavian countries, for whom there is almost no night during the summer months when most of the diving is done, as it created an unreasonable restriction on certifying advanced divers (which is a pre-requisite to further training). Most other countries still recommend the night diver course.
My understanding is that SSI you have to complete 4 full-on specialty courses + have 25 dives. For PADI you need to pick 'electives' and perform them on the the dives.
Thanks for all the info!!! I got in touch with Sports Chalet and I'm going to do a private session with the dive master. I'm doing all the reading/quizzes at home and will just do the dives in La Jolla.
I also just treated myself to a nice SeaSoft dry suite!! Looking forward to trying it out along with my new cobra 2
I also just treated myself to a nice SeaSoft dry suite!! Looking forward to trying it out along with my new cobra 2
I went to La Jolla and did my Advanced open water with Steve @ divebums through Sports Chalet. Here's my experience:
Steve was a great instructor. We did a private class so i could knock it out in a week.
I had all my own gear except a dry suit so I rented that from Sports Chalet. During my first dive the dry suit leaked. I had to do a second dive with the same suit because SC didn't have another one that was my size. 2 days later they had received another dry suit from another store so i swapped them out. I went on my 3rd dive and STILL the dry suit leaked. That night I went back to SC and got new seals. Went for my 4th dive and STILL it leaked. Rental gear sucks. Because I was basically diving without any protection I ended up getting sick. I also got pink eye which I believe was from the dry suit (pulling the seal over my head) although there's no way to prove it.
There were also some cost surprises. Nitrox cost me an extra $150 on top of what I paid for the AOW class. If that's how PADI does things it's fine, but it would have been nice to know that before I drove down there and was locked in.
Finally after I had returned home, a week later I got a call from SC saying I didn't return my rental gear and I owed them money for it. Basically they wanted me to buy it. But I had returned EVERYTHING and was told it was checked in and I was all set.
I pretty much lost it at this point and told them because I went on 4 dives with a "dry suit" that leaked every time I wanted my $65 back for the rental. They guy spoke with his manager and they agreed to refund my money.
Over all I have to say that SC's people are very friendly and courteous but a lot of them lack organization. Half of them didn't even know how to use the computer system to check gear in/out.
If i were to do this again, I would still want Steve as my instructor but I would want to do business with someone other than Sports Chalet.
I did get my AOW and Nitrox certs so I'm happy about that!
Dave
Steve was a great instructor. We did a private class so i could knock it out in a week.
I had all my own gear except a dry suit so I rented that from Sports Chalet. During my first dive the dry suit leaked. I had to do a second dive with the same suit because SC didn't have another one that was my size. 2 days later they had received another dry suit from another store so i swapped them out. I went on my 3rd dive and STILL the dry suit leaked. That night I went back to SC and got new seals. Went for my 4th dive and STILL it leaked. Rental gear sucks. Because I was basically diving without any protection I ended up getting sick. I also got pink eye which I believe was from the dry suit (pulling the seal over my head) although there's no way to prove it.
There were also some cost surprises. Nitrox cost me an extra $150 on top of what I paid for the AOW class. If that's how PADI does things it's fine, but it would have been nice to know that before I drove down there and was locked in.
Finally after I had returned home, a week later I got a call from SC saying I didn't return my rental gear and I owed them money for it. Basically they wanted me to buy it. But I had returned EVERYTHING and was told it was checked in and I was all set.
I pretty much lost it at this point and told them because I went on 4 dives with a "dry suit" that leaked every time I wanted my $65 back for the rental. They guy spoke with his manager and they agreed to refund my money.
Over all I have to say that SC's people are very friendly and courteous but a lot of them lack organization. Half of them didn't even know how to use the computer system to check gear in/out.
If i were to do this again, I would still want Steve as my instructor but I would want to do business with someone other than Sports Chalet.
I did get my AOW and Nitrox certs so I'm happy about that!
Dave
Blackwood
Contributor
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