open water cert. reco?

[mccaigk1]

hey all,

A good friend of mine is going to Hawaii with his soon to be wife on their honey moon, they're really gung ho about getting their certification while they have time off, which is great! My question for all of you is can you recommend a dive center or centers that has a great reputation? They are staying in Hawaii for 6 days then off to Kauai for 5 days. any favorite dive shops, please let me know! also what seems to be the going price for certification these days per person? thanks much for your help!

regards, kevin

 

[ArcticDiver]

hey all,

A good friend of mine is going to Hawaii with his soon to be wife on their honey moon, they're really gung ho about getting their certification while they have time off, which is great! My question for all of you is can you recommend a dive center or centers that has a great reputation? They are staying in Hawaii for 6 days then off to Kauai for 5 days. any favorite dive shops, please let me know! also what seems to be the going price for certification these days per person? thanks much for your help!

regards, kevin

Recommending a dive operator for this kind of thing, especially when it is a honeymoon, is a lot like recommending a restaurant. Different folks will have different tastes. So why are you asking for your friend? Seems strange to me.

They are probably just as well off reading some past posts and then sending PMs to some of the posters They'd like more info from. One caution: A person never know when a poster is being either a shill for the operation, or is knocking it so you will go with their favorite.

It seems to me though that mixing a honeymoon with learning to dive might be too much for the time available. Personal opinion is that it would be much better to do the dive class at home with no time presssure.

 

[mccaigk1]

thanks arctic diver.

The reason is, he is not a diver nor does he have the ability to post and check easily. (english teachers over here in the japanese country side live pretty sparsely). As for the different shops for different tastes? yeaaaahhhh...... but then again its not like he has much of an idea what constitutes a good shop or a bad shop, bar getting an a-hole. hence there aren't many variables im really considering for him. just simply does any-one have any favorite shops or good experiences thats all im asking. not too much in it really.

 

[Hinalo]

If they're in Kona during their time on the big island I can recommend Jacks Diving Locker as a good choice for OW cert. The shop is easy to find and walking distance from many Kona hotels, they have a nice pool, decent rental gear, good staff, and they have a pretty nice boat for the ocean checkout dives. My wife and I did part of our OW there and had a great time. There are other Kona dive ops who also do training, and you can search here for them.

On Kauai I've had very good diving with Bubbles Below. Other ops to consider on Kauai are Fathom Five and Seasport.

 

[ArcticDiver]

Ok, with your additional information please, oh please recommend to your friend to enjoy his honeymoon. Enjoy that paltry few days together with nothing to do but concentrate on each other.

Lots to do including snorkeling that would be fun and not put time or performance pressure on themselves.

Then either learn back home, or do their basic pool and book work at home and do the certification dives as a referral.

Just my two cents.

 

[Teamcasa]

Ok, with your additional information please, oh please recommend to your friend to enjoy his honeymoon. Enjoy that paltry few days together with nothing to do but concentrate on each other.

Lots to do including snorkeling that would be fun and not put time or performance pressure on themselves.

Then either learn back home, or do their basic pool and book work at home and do the certification dives as a referral.

Just my two cents.

I agree on all points.
At least take the third point and get all the pool and course work out of the way first.

Dave

 

[river_sand_bar]

I also agree with doing the pool and book work at home, then do the cert dives there.

When we do a crash course at the dive shop, it starts at 9:00 am and ends at 9m for 2 days. Thats split between class and pool... so that would be 2 full days out of their vacation that they could gain at home before they go.

 

[JMC99]

hey all,

A good friend of mine is going to Hawaii with his soon to be wife on their honey moon, they're really gung ho about getting their certification while they have time off, which is great! My question for all of you is can you recommend a dive center or centers that has a great reputation? They are staying in Hawaii for 6 days then off to Kauai for 5 days. any favorite dive shops, please let me know! also what seems to be the going price for certification these days per person? thanks much for your help!

regards, kevin

Don't know if you mean Oahu (Honolulu) or the Big Island when you say Hawaii. If Big Island, I highly recommend Jack's. I've dove with them many times and my daughter did her referral cert with them. Not the cheapest, but a great operation.

 

[KrisB]

I don't fully understand the distaste of doing the cert course here. When I did mine (and it was what got me hooked), it was the cheapest way to do 6 dives...

Most dive shops around here will do it over three days, with the first two being 7am-2pm, then the last one being more like 7am-noon. If they're doing the course together, this would still be a great bonding time, as long as neither tries to "take care" of the other.

I would *totally* recommend doing the training on vacation -- though it would be good to find a shop that will mail them the materials so they can do the book studies ahead of time.

 

[MeiLing]

I don't fully understand the distaste of doing the cert course here. When I did mine (and it was what got me hooked), it was the cheapest way to do 6 dives...

He'll be on his honeymoon. Not a time you want to spend doing a lot of classroom time. At the very least I would do all the pool/classroom stuff at home and then do the cert dives here.