Florida vacation OW training destinations

[quietlife4me]

I can confirm that Sea Dwellers and Rainbow Reef are practically on top of each other from a location perspective. The Courtyard Marriott is a perfectly fine hotel for either. Nothing fancy, but clean and easy to get in/out.

 

[bradlw]

Hi @bradlw

I was initially certified in 1970, it was much different then. After 17 years of no diving, I was recertified along with my 12 year old son. The only things that have significantly changed since 1997 are the ubiquitous use of nitrox and dive computers. Is your last diving farther back than that?

My last logged dive was November 2001. By then Nitrox was coming on strong and computers were everywhere although not "required". Most folks just had air computers not nitrox computers.

and the whole recreational tec diving thing... that has really changed big time. All the agencies (padi, ssi, naui, etc..) back then were strictly NDL recreational diving. They didn't even offer training for nitrox as I recall, let alone deep stuff beyond 130ft or so.... I did my nitrox cert in 1995 and it was definitely a technical thing through IANTD (but was taught by a recreational instructor so it was in the process then of breaking through)

As I've been actively reading up and daydreaming lately, other things I'm noticing a few things

"Safety Sausages" were not part of any training curriculum that I was aware of but were becoming fairly common to see. They were not however commonly set up to deploy with a reel from depth. Most folks just used them once at the surface. The single tank wing set-up that I put together using stuff from Halcyon not long before I stopped diving had one though. It was not something you'd see on the dive boats.

The other thing is that it seems like the certification standards language is now written more as a solid limit. OW is certified to 60Ft deep.... or whatever. Seems like they are well on the way of changing the perception....it was more of a suggestion back in my day.

It also seems ling backplate and wing BC's are much more common now among recitational crowds

 

[bradlw]

as much as I like the idea of doing it on vacation, and would actually prefer that myself....
I think we have pretty much settled on just doing the whole certification locally..... they do the checkout dives in the springs...blue gratto, rainbow river, etc....
I feel like those places are just a better swimming pool and not really an open water test... basically not a great "rights of passage" experience....
but my thought it will be an easy and safe way of getting through that first stage...which in our case I'm looking at it as a "try scuba" thing but just going overboard for the full certification. Then if any of my family take an interest I will soon after plan a trip down to somewhere South.... maybe those Key Largo locations that you are mentioning @quietlife4me

I think the vacation with a mission appeals to me most because we could more or less figuratively immerse into the experience without the distractions of life while at home. Oh well.

 

[MrChen]

It's Florida. Pick anywhere in South East Florida and throw a dart, you're bound to hit a dive shop.

 

[Litefoot]

I certified October 2022 at Key Dives in Islamorada. I really liked their staff. I may be wrong, but it seemed to be the only dive shop between Key Largo and Islamorada that had their boat right next to the shop. So it was nice to park at the shop and walk to the boat on the two OW days.

I can see the benefit of e-learning and confined water training at home and then completing the OW sessions at the vacation destination. But isn't there something to be said for having the same instructor through the whole process in terms of having some knowledge and confidence in that person before leaving the relative comfort of confined water and heading out into the ocean?

 

[wgw04024]

Hands down Rainbow Reef in Key Largo. Park, everything in walking distance.