New to diving and looking for a certification place

[TOTA]

Howdy SBers,

I've made up my mind to get certified for open water and actually visited a couple of LDS to see what equipment they offer and how their class is structured. I narrowed down the search to about two different LDS which are both PADI (I know some of you don't like PADI, but they were the easiest to find).

The difference between these two shops is that one offers a weekend schedule or a 1 week weekday schedule, and the other shop offers a weekend schedule that lasts for 2 weeks or a 4 week weekday schedule. I'm leaning towards the one that has longer class time due to the fact I don't want to be clueless when I go for my open water dives with my buddy. The downside with the one that has a longer class time is that you must buy the personal gear from them and I didn't think they had that large of a selection.

My question is this, what did you look for in the shop/instructor when picking a place to be OW certified? Any additional questions I could ask to get a peace of mind?

I live in the Dallas area if you happen to know any awesome dive shops or places to get certified. I'm open to broadening my search.

 

[Newlynarked]

The more experienced divers can offer better information on the specifics of dive shops and the class schedules, but one of the things that I believe is SO important (and was a primary consideration in my recent LDS search) was whether the sales people asked me what kind of diving I wanted to do. Having been a retail sales manager with some high techequipment, I knew that they could not possibly get me into the right gear without knowing what I wanted to do. Was I going to dive in warm water, cold water, or both (regulator selcection)? Am I comfortable in the water, do I plan to do drysuit or wreck diving or photography (BCD selection). The list goes on. Asking me these kind of questions told me two things, first, they cared about getting me into the right stuff, second, they knew enough about their product to be able to recommend the right product. Even if I didn't know, since I was new, they were still able to ask the right questions to get into my head a little bit.

I'll let the more experienced member address the required gear purchase, but my first impression is that seems strange. Training is a product as much as the gear. Who wouldn't sell you a mask if you don't by fins? The fact that they have a limited selection of gear compared to other stores is concerning as well. I would totally be afraid to by things from any store that requires me to buy a package. The shop that I eventually went with is not the biggest or best looking, but the store is clean, the gear is maintained and the people demonstrated their integrity and ability to meet/exceed my expectations.

Best of luck!

 

[edparris]

If you are looking to get as much instruction as possible you might want to consider a local community college course. It seems to me that a college curriculum may have a few distinct advantages over what your LDS offers:
1. The college may have better resources (classrooms, pools, etc.) than a small dive operation.
2. The college is likely organized to teach one class a semester or quarter and they usually have some minimum number of lecture/lab hours per credit hour. These factors may mean you end up with more classroom/pool time.
3. The college makes its money from tuition so there might not be as much of a press to sell you gear that the store carries.
4. The attitude of the class may be different. People who take classes at a dive shop usually feel like customers and act like they are purchasing a product (a certification). This puts the dive shop in a sticky situation when it comes to the quality of the course and holding people back. People who enroll in a college course usually adopt the mentality of a student and realize that if they do not perform well the instructor can and will fail them.
5. The instructors are likely to be professional educators so the quality of each class may improve.

The downside is that these community colleges are likely geared to a student's schedule and may not fit in with your real life. An LDS will likely have much more flexibility in scheduling.

Anyway I can't vouch for these guys but a quick Google search shows that at least some schools in the Dallas area have SCUBA PE classes.
http://www.efc.dcccd.edu/SMPE/PE/SCUBA.html

Find an instructor who enjoys diving. Ask your instructor where they like to dive. Where their last dive trip was and when it was. I'd also ask an instructor if I could come observe a class. Do your best to see if the instructor has high standards. Get a feel for the class and see if you would enjoy learning in that atmosphere.

Safe diving,
Ed

 

[Debraw]

If you are concerned about the length of a class you an always ask to be enrolled in two classes. I know that sounds weird but hear me out. We run a one week class ( not sure if you visited my shop or not?!) BUT we also offer the option of enrolling in the next weeks class as well if you are not feeling comfortable enough to head out on yoru own. There is no charge for additional week of training. You might also want to ask the shop if they have any additional opportunites to dive with instructors after you have finished your OW class. We always invite students to dive with the classes or instructors after the class is over on other OW weekends. You would be amazed at how few people take us up on this offer. I am also developing an OW class that is 8 weeks long and actually offers 18 hours of classroom, 18 hours of pool training and 8 open water dives instead of 4. The class runs a bit more than the average class cost but well, it's more of everything. Anyway my point is there is always additional opportunities to dive and you may want to ask a shop what kind of dive opps. they have AFTER you have finished your class. I have really started to talk up the OW class and AOW classes as one long class and not two separate classes. Good luck and keep asking questions, you are bound to find what you are looking for eventually.

 

[CrazyScuba]

We prefer the longer classes over the "dip them, bless them and hand them a c-card" option. You need to know what you're doing and be a comfortable and confident diver when you finish your class and open water dives. Talk to the people at the shop and get all your questions answered. Make sure you are comfortable with the people and how they handle the process. Don't take shortcuts on this life adventure!

The amount of gear they carry may be for several reasons, ask them about it if you have questions and hopefully they will explain it to you. Being a LDS that takes great pride in our customer service, we stand behind our simple business philosophy of "carry products that we can stand behind, have tested and/or compared to it's competitors, understand the products performance or performance limitations and that we would actually want someone to use while on a scuba or snorkeling adventure with us". We carry 103 vendors, but you won't see all of it in the showroom. They may have similar reasons, but you won't know unless you ask. Rather than carry every product made under the sun like some "big box" online stores, we choose our products carefully and choose products that we consider superior in the marketplace. In this way we know the fit and performance of the gear we carry, so we can better serve our customers.

We put a lot more than I can write into our gear selection...just talk to the people and ask all your questions, they should be happy to answer them.

Good luck, and welcome to the wonderful world of diving!

Britt :fish:
:fish:

 

[loosebits]

Please read this:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=153194

To summarize it in one sentence: All things being equal, longer the better.

UT Arlington has an excellent program. I would highly recommend it (I believe you can take it without being enrolled at UTA). You will come out of the class being better than many professionals.

http://universityscuba.org/

 

[sasscuba]

Welcome to the board.

 

[loosebits]

Wow, just noticed your post Debra. I hope you are able to find some customers for an old school OW class.

Toto, if UTA is out of the question, I would recommend SIS if they are offering longer classes. If you decide to do the double-OW class, I'd suggest doing the second class off of your knees. Ask your instructors what I mean and they'll tell you.

 

[Debraw]

I think "we have a go" on our extended OW classes and are really looking to expand a bit with a more advanced version for the serious diver. I have often thought about an extended class BUT have been wary of anyone will sign up for it. We shall see. I am always up for something different ( anything to try and make it better for divers, the industry and the environment) and honestly you just don't know until you try.

Cheatodon