OW Referral Dive certification needed SW Florida 4/11/04-4/16/04

[jrweaver]

Everyone ,
My wife and I just completed our SSI Open Water coursework and pool work in Ohio and are in need of OW Referral Dive certification in the Naples, FL area between 4/11/04 -4/16/04. We don't have many contacts in the area, so I thought I would post here. We are willing to drive up to 1 1/2 hours (about 80 miles) from Naples. We would like to find some clear/warm water for the course. As I understand it, there can be somewhat limited visibility in the Gulf. We are in need of information from local divers or dive shops that can suggest where we should do our dives.

Thanks,
Jim Weaver
Rocky River, Ohio

 

[mer]

I'm not all that familar with dive sites in Florida... but here is a link you may find useful. http://universalreferral.com/

It will give you a list of dive ops that accept your referral in FL and you can check out their websites.

 

[teamheatwave]

Here's a shop you can give a try:

Florida West Scuba School
509 B. North Tamiami Trail
Venice, FL 34292
941-486-1400

They are PADI & SSI

 

[adder70]

I can't move this, so I pasted your text and posted it in the Conch diver forum (Florida group). Please look there to see responses from Floridians who dive. (Just keep scrolling down, you'll get to it eventually!)

 

[CBulla]

Wanted to throw in a quick reply here - there arent to many dive boats in the area you'll be in. One that I know of and he's a bit pricey. There are a few shops in the area but none that I know of are SSI. Up the road in Venice is the above mentioned Florida West. Check outs on the FL west coast arent so bad. Shore diving at times leaves visibility to be desired, but as you get off shore it clears usually clears up. Keep in mind, the Gulf of Mexico is a shallow body of water.. it takes a while to get into 40-50' stuff. I did my check out dives in 45' of water 5 miles off Sarasota with 45' vis on artificial reef.. I loved it!

If you arent into the northward or Gulf diving idea, you may want to consider heading east across i-75 to Ft Lauderdale down US 41 to US1 and down to Key Largo. A search on Google for SSI dive center (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=ssi+dive+center+fl) yeilded quite a few results. The amount of dive boats in that area makes your odds of an SSI check out dive much higher.

If you need any help, please dont feel shy to PM!