Please recommend good Fla spots for checkout dives.

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Yeah... but a lame quarry is still not the ocean dive that you think is necessary.
You misunderstood. I did not say finishing the OW cert course in the ocean is necessary. When I recommended doing it in the ocean I hadn't yet understood that you don't intend to dive in the ocean but rather plan to dive inland sites like quarries. Most people prefer ocean diving, so that was my assumption. A bit of advice that is commonly given by members is to take dive training in the kind of place you intend to dive. I wouldn't call quarries "lame" by any means. The few I have dived have been cold and less than great visibility--in other words, realistic diving. If quarries are your thing, then it makes sense to do the OW part of the course in a quarry.

What I would like to convey, though, is that Blue Grotto is more like a fishbowl--almost artificial in how diver-friendly the environment is--than all but the lamest quarry and certainly nothing like the ocean. It's simply my opinion that a student (or your son in this case) won't get as much out of doing the dives at Blue Grotto as he would in the ocean OR a quarry.
 
@Lorenzoid
We live on the Virginia coast so certainly will be moving on to recreational level ocean dives eventually and his certification dives will be done at an inland spring location in Northern Fl. And I'm very happy with my decision. And we're not even gonna use the required Shearwater Peregrine!
 
We live on the Virginia coast so certainly will be moving on to recreational level ocean dives eventually and his certification dives will be done at an inland spring location in Northern Fl. And I'm very happy with my decision. And we're not even gonna use the required Shearwater Peregrine!

Shearwater makes a great product and they have great customer service but you guys will have some killer dives all the same without a Peregrine. It’s a great DC but it’s not essential / mandatory.
 
I concur with Aqui. Did my kids certifications with them. They are SSI. The Blue Heron Bridge (Phil Foster Park) would also fit your criteria and there are a number of dive shops and private instructors that serve that area (Pura Vida, Force-E amongst others).
 
@Lorenzoid
We live on the Virginia coast so certainly will be moving on to recreational level ocean dives eventually and his certification dives will be done at an inland spring location in Northern Fl. And I'm very happy with my decision. And we're not even gonna use the required Shearwater Peregrine!
Cool. There may be other inland springs that are used for that, not just Blue Grotto, but not being an instructor I really don't know which springs are suited for an OW course. I often see classes taking place at Troy Spring and at Orange Grove Sink (in Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park), though it's possible those are AOW. There's also Manatee Springs. Anyway, there's just something about Blue Grotto in particular that strikes me as sort of artificial. I guess it's the 40-ft max depth of the open-water region and abundance of training platforms. Blue Grotto is a great place to practice skills over a platform, and the cavern bit is interesting for more advanced divers, but that's about the extent of it, in my opinion. You'd think I have it in for Blue Grotto, but no, I've been there at least 20 times, because those platforms are great for practice. Troy Spring, in contrast, slopes down to 70 feet deep and remains in its natural state except for the stairs down to the water. Now I'm curious about what depths my own OW course dives were, and taking out my ancient logbook I see 51 ft and 55 ft for the two deeper dives. I believe 60 feet is the max allowed. A post above mentions Blue Heron Bridge at Phil Foster State Park, and though that is saltwater rather than a spring I can see it being a good place for these dives.

Springs are fine for learning the mechanics of executing a scuba dive. Your son might consider following up his course with the AOW course sooner rather than later, so he gets a broader range of experiences. But one step at a time.
 
Yes please.
I was looking into shore dive in the beginning. Because we'll be driving though, I do like the North Fl locations.
If the panhandle isn't too far out of your way, St. Andrews state park Jetties are usually pretty good. And if the vis is blown out, you can bump an hour north to Vortex or Morrison springs to still get a dive in. My boys (12 and 15) do that fairly often. If you do get out that way, shoot me a message... I'd be happy to go with!

Respectfully,

James
 
And I've already decided... confined inland freshwater certification dives. Either Blue Grotto or the option that @Hoag offered.
Awesome. I think that’s the right approach. Plenty of time to get a youngster into more challenging dives later. At a pace both of you are comfortable with. Weather conditions can often lead to non-divable conditions in the Gulf or Atlantic, which can be a big problem for a non-local with a limited time window. That’s generally not an issue at the spring sites.

Both my daughters did their checkouts at the NoFL springs. For the first, weather conditions cancelled the Gulf dives, but the springs were fine.

Both have now done several salt water dives and are doing great. Oldest has added spearfishing to her bag of tricks and is also a volunteer diver at an aquarium. I’m jealous of her RMV rate.
 
If the panhandle isn't too far out of your way, St. Andrews state park Jetties are usually pretty good. And if the vis is blown out, you can bump an hour north to Vortex or Morrison springs to still get a dive in. My boys (12 and 15) do that fairly often. If you do get out that way, shoot me a message... I'd be happy to go with!

Respectfully,

James
Thank you James.
 
Cool. There may be other inland springs that are used for that, not just Blue Grotto, but not being an instructor I really don't know which springs are suited for an OW course. I often see classes taking place at Troy Spring and at Orange Grove Sink (in Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park), though it's possible those are AOW. There's also Manatee Springs. Anyway, there's just something about Blue Grotto in particular that strikes me as sort of artificial. I guess it's the 40-ft max depth of the open-water region and abundance of training platforms. Blue Grotto is a great place to practice skills over a platform, and the cavern bit is interesting for more advanced divers, but that's about the extent of it, in my opinion. You'd think I have it in for Blue Grotto, but no, I've been there at least 20 times, because those platforms are great for practice. Troy Spring, in contrast, slopes down to 70 feet deep and remains in its natural state except for the stairs down to the water. Now I'm curious about what depths my own OW course dives were, and taking out my ancient logbook I see 51 ft and 55 ft for the two deeper dives. I believe 60 feet is the max allowed. A post above mentions Blue Heron Bridge at Phil Foster State Park, and though that is saltwater rather than a spring I can see it being a good place for these dives.

Springs are fine for learning the mechanics of executing a scuba dive. Your son might consider following up his course with the AOW course sooner rather than later, so he gets a broader range of experiences. But one step at a time.
I agree, those platforms at Blue Grotto are a big advantage for open water cert dives. That and the controlled environment were the deciding factors.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/
https://xf2.scubaboard.com/community/forums/cave-diving.45/

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