Need Open Water Dives!!

[Gravity333]

Hey everyone! I have my classroom and pool dives completed and now all I need to get my NAUI certification is the Open Water dives. I was wondering if anyone knows of a way for me to get these dives in (with a certified instructor) before January 27th (that's when I leave for Australia) without having to pay the crazy cost of a private lesson from a dive shop? I live in Northern Virginia, but I would be willing to drive a couple hours to dive (Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, etc.)...if anyone can help me out or has any advice, it would be much appreciated! Thanks so much everyone!!

 

[Gravity333]

I am definitely willing to pay for the Open Water dive instruction, I was just hoping to find someone who would charge less than $400, which was quoted to me from The Dive Shop in Fairfax. Actually it was an employee there, Elliott, who referred me to this forum...he said it was likely that someone could help me out...so I'm hoping

 

[Pook-60]

Howdy

I think you have a number of ways to go. You probably aware of taking the referral route and just accomplishing the last dives in Australia with whatever dive boat you go with. But referral dives can also be accomplished here without a whole lot of hoopla. There is year-round OW availability at the Lake Rawlings quarry http://www.lakerawlings.com and they may be the first folks you want to contact. Be advised though...the water is pretty cool this time of year so you'll need a 7mm plus hood gloves and boots.

You might want to contact Joe Darling at Dive Quarters in Viginia beach http://www.divequarters.com and he may have a couple of options for you. He runs a PADI operation and has dive trips to Rawlings every other week and I'm pretty sure his staff can sign off your OW dives. Then you just send the paperwork back through your LDS where you accomplished all the classwork. The folks at Lynnhaven Dive Center (also Virginia Beach) run a SSI shop and have a great reputation http://www.ldc.com so they may be an option as well.

There are a number of dive shops in Richmond as well...and all the shops seem to take full advantage of Lake Rawlings' facilities.

If you take the referral path make sure you have all the paperwork you need from your LDS...that'll mitigate possible frustrations.

Congrats on the pending cert! Hope Australia is a hoot!

Dane

 

[Gravity333]

Dane,

Thank you for all the info!!! I will call all those places you mentioned today!

~Tracey~

 

[shakeybrainsurgeon]

There is a quarry in West Virginia called Mt Storm that is heated by a local industrial plant so that it is used year-round for training. Check with Washington Scuba (washingtonscuba.com) in southern PA to see if they have any cert classes in Jan or if they know anyone who is...I think they are PADI, but you might also want to search the web for any dive shops that use that quarry. It is probably only a few hours from you and, as I said, a number of dive shops use it in the winter.

 

[dive2deep]

My advise is to go the Australia route. The water will be warm, viz will be good, less stress = better experience. My wife did the refferal program when we went to Cozumel. She did her checkout dives, did 4 more after that, and had a blast. She now loves scuba (but still won't hit the cold water with me). If you need the quarry route, do it in Mt. Storm. The higher water temps will at least make the crappy viz (5ft) seem doable.

Take my advise, do your checkouts through a NAUI shop in OZ.

 

[EliotD]

If you haven't figured it out yet and you are still looking, you might call Splash Dive Center in Alexandria, they might have an OW class going.

 

[Gravity333]

Thanks everyone for your advice! I have my certification now!!!!
I went with Atlantis Divers in Richmond for my Open Water dives (Lake Rawlings) and they were great. Zane was the instructor, I highly recommend him if anyone else is looking to take any classes. Thanks again divers, you really helped me out

 

[dive2deep]

Cool, welcome to your new addiction. Now get out there and get some bottom time.

Szymon