PADI instructor recommendation, finishing OW certification via referral, Wollongong

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Seaweed Doc

MSDT
Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
Messages
1,276
Reaction score
1,182
Location
Seattle, Washington State, USA
# of dives
1000 - 2499
Hi Folks,

I have an Open Water student who will be studying at the University of Wollongong, leaving the USA July 14. She started OW certification with me, but a combination of issues beyond her control meant she only got through the confined water work.

I'm looking for a shop or instructor (preferably) in the Wallongong area I can recommend that she contact to do the open water dives and finish her certification. She's got her act together in the pool, has done a lot of DSD experiences on vacation, and was a competitive swimmer in high school. I have no doubt she'll succeed.

Any suggestions?
 
Btw I know nothing about them, I just did a google search and that's the only one that came up in Wollongong.
 
Hi Seaweed Doc,

Firstly, the content of your post suggests that you are a PADI instructor (i.e. 'MSDT', 'DSD' and 'Open Water'). Can you confirm if you are?

If you are looking for a PADI store in Wollongong, the PADI website shows that there are none there, and that the nearest PADI stores are in the Sydney metropolitan area to the north and in Jervis Bay to the south.

Using google (i.e. "scuba diving wollongong"), I found that Wollongong (& surrounding areas) has three dive stores, two independent instructors, one spearfishing store and one sporting goods store which sells snorkelling equipment. The dive stores are Dive Near Me (SSI), Shellharbour Scuba Centre (SDI) and Windang Dive & Spearfishing (SSI), and the independent instructors are Bernard Connolly Dive Services (affiliation unknown) and WatsOn In Diving (affiliation unknown). I also found that there was a PADI store in Wollongong but it recently closed after 47 years of operation.

I looked at the University of Wollongong website to see if there is a dive club on campus. There does not appear to be one, however, the University has an aquatics programme (for students and staff) which operates out a swimming pool complex. The aquatic program staff may be able to recommend a nearby PADI store to your student.

There are some Scubaboard contributors living in New South Wales that may be able to provide more useful information than I can.
 
Thanks, all. I errantly presumed that of course, there'd be a PADI instructor somewhere around. Seems like you can't throw a rock without hitting one most places I go. The upshot may be she has to go to Sydney for a weekend of diving.

(And yes, I'm a PADI MSDT. The student was in my OW class.)
 

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