Recommend a shop to instruct Jr. Open Water for a 12 year old?

[thedaddy]

My family is on holiday to SXM next month and I have a son who is interested in getting his Jr. OW cert. He is very bright, is familiar with DCS and embolism safety, familiar with dive gear, and has made some 'unofficial' shallow water dives less than 15 feet.

We are going to be in Little Bay 04JUL - 11 JUL and was wondering if anyone can recommend a shop or instructor for a private class (one on one) for him. He's smart but doesn't know his tables.

I'm considering Dive Safaris as my wife, daughter, and I may do Adv. OW certs, but I'd like to hear from anyone who can recommend a shop/instructor good with children.

Any information, positive or negative, would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Steve

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

My family is on holiday to SXM next month and I have a son who is interested in getting his Jr. OW cert. He is very bright, is familiar with DCS and embolism safety, familiar with dive gear, and has made some 'unofficial' shallow water dives less than 15 feet.

We are going to be in Little Bay 04JUL - 11 JUL and was wondering if anyone can recommend a shop or instructor for a private class (one on one) for him. He's smart but doesn't know his tables.

I'm considering Dive Safaris as my wife, daughter, and I may do Adv. OW certs, but I'd like to hear from anyone who can recommend a shop/instructor good with children.

Any information, positive or negative, would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Steve

Get him certified in the states ahead of time. As a Jr. OW, he will be ready to dive with parental assistance on the trip!


St. Maarten will be a great trip for him if he is inundated to the water before hand.

 

[thedaddy]

Thanks CT,
Agree, but see the dates - we're out of time.

He loves hunting and fishing and wants to get cert'd so that he can spearfish with me here in the states (mainly near Tampa/St.Pete/Venice) so the trip is just an opportunity to get certified in paradise.

He watched the NAUI videos back in 2005 when my wife and daughter got certified and has been fiddling with gear and cleaning our pool and such since then. Since he already has some background with safety, gear, and conditions, I thought I'd give him the opportunity to do a private course one-on-one with an instructor over the week we're there. We don't have a lot of money, but for a couple hundred extra over what a standard class costs, you can hire an instructor to do a private session and do an intensive class in a shorter time period. At least one of the shops near Philipsburg offers such instruction, and I wanted to hear feedback and possibly other recommendations. If the feedback is negative, we'll forego the cert while we're there and just do it when we get back.

Any recommendations on shops/instructors around the Philipsburg/Little Bay area?

 

[marcaumarc]

It isn't close to you, but I would highly suggest Octopus Diving in Grand Case. I know they have experience doing cert for kids (Octopus Diving: Congrats Alexis, Sherry and Peter).

On the Dutch Side, the recommendation I have is Ocean Explorers, although I haven't used them personally.

A couple other things: it really shouldn't be that hard to get around the island, so even though it's nice to have a shop nearby, a 15 minute drive is not too bad. Also, Octopus should definitely be able to provide lots of 1 on 1 attention. They're growing and doing quite a lot of courses, but they still probably only have a couple people doing courses at any one time and they only take out maybe 4 or fewer divers at a time on the boat (plus a couple snorkelers from time to time). Also Sally is really great with kids. They can also arrange transportation on the island if you need help.

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

Thanks CT,
Agree, but see the dates - we're out of time.

He loves hunting and fishing and wants to get cert'd so that he can spearfish with me here in the states (mainly near Tampa/St.Pete/Venice) so the trip is just an opportunity to get certified in paradise.

He watched the NAUI videos back in 2005 when my wife and daughter got certified and has been fiddling with gear and cleaning our pool and such since then. Since he already has some background with safety, gear, and conditions, I thought I'd give him the opportunity to do a private course one-on-one with an instructor over the week we're there. We don't have a lot of money, but for a couple hundred extra over what a standard class costs, you can hire an instructor to do a private session and do an intensive class in a shorter time period. At least one of the shops near Philipsburg offers such instruction, and I wanted to hear feedback and possibly other recommendations. If the feedback is negative, we'll forego the cert while we're there and just do it when we get back.

Any recommendations on shops/instructors around the Philipsburg/Little Bay area?

I understand. But, you might be able to get him cert'ed through Bill Jackson's or Mack's, since they have pools on location here.

Good luck :cool2:

 

[thedaddy]

It isn't close to you, but I would highly suggest Octopus Diving in Grand Case. I know they have experience doing cert for kids (Octopus Diving: Congrats Alexis, Sherry and Peter).

On the Dutch Side, the recommendation I have is Ocean Explorers, although I haven't used them personally.
<SNIP>

Thanks marc, I appreciate the info - what I was looking for. I'll check with them. I too have heard good things about Octopus Diving. I'll check them out (and Ocean Explorers). Kind of a last minute idea, but when opportunity knocks, yes?

I saw your site for extreme shallow snorkeling BTW. Snazzy red watchcaps you all have there! Gotta love a crew that knows how to have fun.

 

[thedaddy]

I understand. But, you might be able to get him cert'ed through Bill Jackson's or Mack's, since they have pools on location here.

Good luck :cool2:

Thanks for the recommendation. I thought about that, but again the time is a bit short. There are a couple of good instructors here down at Kissimmee Dive Center and we know a couple locals that work independently also. If it doesn't work out for SXM, I'll likely go through them sometime this fall.

 

[guppyman]

I'll second Octopus. We just got back a couple of weeks ago. We actually stayed at Divi Little Bay and made the drive up to Grand Case to dive with Octopus. The drive was 30 minutes, give or take a few due to the creative island driving. We made a ton of dives with them. They are good people. Plus, we never went out on a boat with more than 6 people with at least one DM. The were very patient with the wife and I being newbies.

I will say there are about 3 dive ops right down the hill in Phillipsburg. They very well may good as well. We used Octopus due to the recommendations on here.

Feel free to PM me if you need anything.