Moving to Denver, Hows the diving?

[av8tr]

So I am packing up my things and moving West to Denver in two weeks. One thing on my list to check out is the diving. I am a PADI rescue diver with Dry suit, and wreck diving certs. What type of diving is there local to Colorado? I will also be looking for a shop to finish my dive master cert. Anyone got a suggestion for something West of Denver? I am looking at laying down roots near Lakewood.
Jack

 

[robint]

Welcome to RMO!
If you read all the posts here on RMO forum you will see we have a fun little group who dive in Colorado and New Mexico. Lots of photos and videos of the sites and our group. Also, we are just a short hop out to Calif for some fabulous diving in the Channel Islands.
See the link in my sigature for my videos and photos of Blue Hole, NM.
here we are in October: http://www.vimeo.com/7173357

 

[CCR Josh]

So I am packing up my things and moving West to Denver in two weeks. One thing on my list to check out is the diving. I am a PADI rescue diver with Dry suit, and wreck diving certs. What type of diving is there local to Colorado? I will also be looking for a shop to finish my dive master cert. Anyone got a suggestion for something West of Denver? I am looking at laying down roots near Lakewood.
Jack

We have a shop in the Salt Lake City area. Beginning to professional training in both the sport diving world and tech diving.

We do group dive-a-longs, trips, free clinics etc. I know it's not "close" to Denver, but we get quite a few CO people coming out.

Dive Addicts : Home : — Utah's premier dive & scuba training, instruction, sales, service, travel for recreational & technical diving

 

[charlieo]

The good news: Plenty of dive shops in the Denver Metro area. Lakewood has several. You can get a good deal on a trip to Cozumel, 3.5 hours on the plane. There is a small group of people who dive the local lakes. The company is great.
Bad news: The local diving isn't very good. Bad vis and cold water.

Lot of the local divers travel to Blue Hole (7 hour drive) It's an interesting dive about once a year or so. The Crater in Utah is about the same. The mountain lakes are cold but sometimes you get good vis.

The locals get together once or twice a year for a picnic and dive. It's always fun join us.

Welcome to Colorado.

 

[RonFrank]

Welcome to CO!

Colorado is a very cool place to live, but not such a great place to dive! You are just in time for the ski season! In fact I went Saturday....

I~We go down to the Blue Hole about six times a year. It's the best *local* diving if you consider a six hour drive local. However we do go frequently, and it's fun.

In the summer we dive mountain lakes. Vis can be 35'~, but it can also be 3'. Anything in the 10'~ range is good for our local lakes, and 10'~20' is not uncommon at SOME of the high mountain lakes.

For dive shops, you have plenty of options. I like A1 Scuba and UW Phantaseas West. However I've not read much bad about any of the local shops in the Denver area, and we have about a dozen.

 

[melissabeads]

Welcome to Colorado!

We live in Lakewood.. and other than being landlocked Colorado is an awesome place to live! As mentioned before it is a quick and reasonably cost trip to Cozumel from here.. and someday I am going to get to Blue Hole.. looks fun!

The local dive shops are all fantastic.. you will love living here!

 

[av8tr]

Hey Gang,
Just a quick update. Made it to Colorado and got a place in Littleton. Love it here already. I got accepted at the aquarium as a volunteer diver. Start training next week. It's not the Atlantic ocean but it will do for getting wet here at altitude. Are there diving groups here that have regular meet ups?

 

[robint]

Hey Gang,
Just a quick update. Made it to Colorado and got a place in Littleton. Love it here already. I got accepted at the aquarium as a volunteer diver. Start training next week. It's not the Atlantic ocean but it will do for getting wet here at altitude. Are there diving groups here that have regular meet ups?

welcome to the pond, take a few minutes and read read read all the posts here on this Forum. You are going to find many of your answers.

Blue Hole this weekend!

robin

 

[Waterskier1]

So I am packing up my things and moving West to Denver in two weeks. One thing on my list to check out is the diving. I am a PADI rescue diver with Dry suit, and wreck diving certs. What type of diving is there local to Colorado? I will also be looking for a shop to finish my dive master cert. Anyone got a suggestion for something West of Denver? I am looking at laying down roots near Lakewood.
Jack

Having just finished my Divemaster last October, one thing that I recommend if you plan on using it is to find a shop who wants/needs divemasters, and is willing to fairly compensate you for your time/experience. Almost any will be happy to take your money for the training, but some will not have a need for you once it is completed.

I did my training in Bonaire, not through a local shop (and there is one shop here I would not use anymore, for anything). I've asked around, and haven't found a shop that is in need of DMs. I did talk to a fellow who just completed his DM last summer, and he had found employment (part-time, I think, which is what most are looking for) with A-1 Scuba in the Denver area. He seemed very happy with the training he received there too. I've also heard good thing about their course director from IE Staff members. That said, I haven't used A-1 or any of the Denver area shops, so I can't speak firsthand.

 

[JJColorado]

Hi av8tr. Welcome to CO. I just got accepted as a volunteer at the Aquarium also. I passed my check-out dive last Wednesday so hopefully I’ll see you around there.

There is a local group that meets once a month in Lakewood called the Shark Bait Dive Club. We usually have dinner, drinks and then a speaker on topics like underwater photography, resorts, new gear, etc. We also try to plan some local diving and other activities. If you are interested and want to check it out, we try to post meeting dates here: Shark Bait Dive Club - ScubaBoard

or if you want to join the club and be put on our mailing list you can do that here:
jointoday