General questions

[ohiodiver]

Hi everyone, new to all of this. My wife and I just completed our classes and pool dives, and are planning to do our open water certification in Panama City, Florida in about a month. A few questions:

1. Any insight on whether this is a good place to get certified? Suggestions for a dive shop?

2. Since we have about 5 weeks between our last pool dive (in class) and certification, should we arrange to practice in a pool prior to Fla?

3. We're thinking of buying our own BCs, regulators & computers. We get a discount of the price of the class if we buy at the local dive shop. Good idea? or should we look elsewhere (internet, etc).

Thanks for any advice you have - we've only been in the pool, but so far we're hooked!

 

[SubMariner]

1) I guess the first thing I have to ask in response is how are the cert dives being arranged? Is your dive shop doing o/w dives there? I'm asking this because the Gulf can (and does) blow up at a moment's notice. So any boat dives that were scheduled will be cancelled. IOW, a contingency plan is needed; where will they be taking you if the Gulf is un-diveable?

There are some interesting places to dive in the Gulf, but due to your level of training, you will be restricted to diving on sites that are less than 60'. This can be challenging. Again, enquire with your dive operation to find out where they will be taking you.

2) ANY time you spend playing with gear & getting more comfortable with it & your skills (esp bouyancy) is good. Make sure to practice with same exposure protection you will be wearing during your Open Water dives.

3) Until you are experienced enough to know WHAT gear to get & how much you should be paying for it, stay away from the Internet. Initially you might want to rent gear until you can get a better idea of what kind of diving you'll be doing and how often. THEN you can make a more informed choice about what to (eventually) buy.

Feel free to email me if you have any other questions.

Have fun!

~SubMariner~

 

[Rick Murchison]

Hydrospace dive shop in Panama City is a Universal Referral facility. If you want they can take you up to Cypress Springs for your first several open water dives before finishing in the Gulf.
1-888-874-3483
Rick

 

[Stone]

I'll second Rick's Hydrospace recommendation. Here's a link to their website Hydrospace.com

About an hour west of Panama City is the Niceville, Fort Walton Beach, Destin area. If weather becomes a problem, I know of one Dive Shop (Chuck's in Valparaiso) that does certifications in Vortex Springs, and ScubaTech (in Destin) can do certs in the protected waters of the Destin Jetty.

 

[SubMariner]

GREAT place to do o/w dives. You can get airfills, and some snacks, but not much else. However, the water is crystal clear & full of great fish.

Vortex is also nice. Airfills, some food & merchandise. Larger facility, but also not (IMHO) as interesting.

~SubMariner~

 

[ohiodiver]

Thanks for the feedback folks. Our local dive shop is doing a trip to Vortex Springs, and we may have the option to drive up there for the certification. We've also talked to Diver's Den (5 star PADI facility)who have indicated they can certify us there. Good advice on calling to find out where, we'll do that on Monday. Thanks again!

 

[ScubyDoo]

Im doing my OW certs at Vortex and Cypruss this coming weekend. It will be cold water compared to what Im used to, and plan to dive in the future. Its much warmer than the lake waters here right now though. I didnt want to wait till May when the water warms up here. Like you, I feel its important to do my OW cert dives shortly after my confined sessions simply because the skills are still fresh in my mind. I think Im going to hate waiting till May or June till I can dive again though!! Grrrr!

 

[ohiodiver]

Scubydoo, good luck on your certification! I would be very interested to know how it goes and what you think of the sites - also if you would recommend them for certification. Who are you using for your certification?