I'm being referred to a different SDI training facility.

[BlueTrin]

It’s probably hard because when we start we cannot find good recommendations, but maybe you should ask a recommendation here for a good instructor in the area of your choice?

Like others said, once you get your open water and a few dives under your belt, you can progress on other qualifications?

 

[BlueTrin]

@Mr. Ed I have heard about this terrible problem with Hollis HD 200
How much do you want for it?

Someone is not losing focus here

 

[lowwall]

You've spent over 1.5 years and untold thousands of dollars on this so far without even finishing the confined water part of certification. It's long past time to consider a different strategy.

I will echo the suggestions of a few above to take a week off, fly somewhere warm and get certified by an experienced instructor in a private class. My wife did it this way many years ago at the Intercontinental Presidente in Cozumel and a friend of mine did it this way with @stevenl in Phuket, Thailand. Neither were great swimmers or underwater "naturals", but both picked it up quickly and enjoyed the experience.

Once you are certified and have some actual OW dives under your fins, you can work on drysuit certification. If you choose Playa Del Carmen as your starting point, you can even do both classes with the same instructor using the warm ocean water for OW and the cooler cenote water for drysuit. Just make sure your instructor is willing and certified to teach drysuit, but it's got to be common for the cave certified instructors.

 

[kelemvor]

Another option is to come down to FL (I'd go to Key Largo or Marathon) for classes. Warm water but dives aren't quite as good as international locations (but still GREAT). You avoid all the trouble with international travel that way. We've got almost as many scuba instructors as we do alligators.

Watch out, sometimes they bite - usually only if you don't pay for the class.

 

[formernuke]

Another option is to come down to FL (I'd go to Key Largo or Marathon) for classes. Warm water but dives aren't quite as good as international locations (but still GREAT). You avoid all the trouble with international travel that way. We've got almost as many scuba instructors as we do alligators.

Watch out, sometimes they bite - usually only if you don't pay for the class.

I flew into ft Lauderdale when I hit key largo I swear every other store was a dive shop

 

[Marie13]

Another option is to come down to FL (I'd go to Key Largo or Marathon) for classes. Warm water but dives aren't quite as good as international locations (but still GREAT). You avoid all the trouble with international travel that way. We've got almost as many scuba instructors as we do alligators.

Watch out, sometimes they bite - usually only if you don't pay for the class.

That’s why I suggested the Keys myself.

 

[lowwall]

Another option is to come down to FL (I'd go to Key Largo or Marathon) for classes. Warm water but dives aren't quite as good as international locations (but still GREAT). You avoid all the trouble with international travel that way. We've got almost as many scuba instructors as we do alligators.

Are there ops that have easy, valet-style diving in the Keys? I've only dived the Boynton Beach/WPB area in FL and it does require a certain amount of self-sufficiency (and driving and hauling gear).

 

[formernuke]

We've got almost as many scuba instructors as we do alligators

I didn't see any gators a lot of big lizards though.

 

[Mr. Ed]

Sorry about the confusion, much has been said and moved on without explanation. My first instructor had to stop because his job was too demanding. There was a 2 week lull in practice because training was moved to another pool location, tried a back-inflate from the shop, didn't like the results, bought a new BCD that took time to configure weights/trim.

Once I got started with the skills I didn't have any further setbacks except with trim at the surface using a back-inflate Hollis HD 200. By this time my dive-log was filled because of time spent in training even though I just started doing skills. If I had continued with my former dive shop they would need to start a new dive-log because there is no place to record completed skills in contained water. This likely a reasonable cause for my referral.

 

[rhwestfall]

By this time my dive-log was filled because of time spent in training even though I just started doing skills. If I had continued with my former dive shop they would need to start a new dive-log because there is no place to record completed skills in contained water. This likely a reasonable cause for my referral.

Having been in this sport for 30+ years, and around instruction programs for a bunch of it, I have no idea what you are describing.....

A full (assuming word to be: "training") log, and having to start over? I hope someone can clarify this for me.