Recommendations for Diving Courses in the Bay Area

[dougchartier]

Hello,

Where do you recommend I go for SCUBA diving courses in the South Bay or Peninsula? In particular, I'm interested in the advanced open water, peak performance buoyancy, and nitrox courses.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ben_ca]

In the San Jose area Any Water Sports is the one that comes to mind.

 

[alibi 2]

Santa Cruz area Aqua safaris

 

[The Great Kazoo]

Santa Cruz

 

[Thalassamania]

The best course run in the Bay Area, bar none, was IDS407 at U.C. Berkeley, which I believe can still be taken through Extension.

 

[eric gundrum]

Where do you recommend I go for SCUBA diving courses in the South Bay or Peninsula? In particular, I'm interested in the advanced open water, peak performance buoyancy, and nitrox courses.

I've recently signed up for AOW at Diver Dan's Online Scuba Store - A PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Center (IDC) in Santa Clara. I've not yet had any classes there, so I cannot really judge how good they are. I chose them because their schedule is online and they have a lot of choices. They seem to be a high-volume training facility.

One thing to ask AOW instructors is what Adventure Dives they teach in the class. All PADI courses have to teach Deep and Navigation. Diver Dan's also teaches Boat and Night because they fit well with a weekend of Monterey diving. The fifth dive is about the only one we might get to choose. Diver Dan's usually does Naturalist. I wanted Search and Recovery, but they told me I'd have to ask the instructor the night of the class.

And that raises another issue. You might want to talk with the instructor to see how you like him. Be sure to ask if he is teaching the class and if he gets in the water with you. At Diver Dan's the instructor responsible for the class often assigns it to one of his assistants.

If you want to get in the water and practice skills sometime, maybe I can join you.

 

[bbianchi]

As you noted, Diver Dans is a cert shop. Sans one employee in my experiences there the rest are worthless. They do not understand how to use some of the gear that they sell! While they certainly aren't a "bad" shop and they do have some good instructors I feel that it is possible to do better in the bay area.

As far as the class structure since the instructors are independent they all have their own programs for AOW. If the class you are in doesnt have the adventure dives you want, chances are another would have a different mix all together. Some are also more involved and or complicated by the monterey conditions.

That all being said I know of at least one shop in Monterey (Aquarius, on Del Monte) which will let the students pick all three adventure dives. May be worth considering as theres no pool work, and generally you can do the knowledge reviews the day of the dives. Since you're going to have to be in Monterey anyway for that perhaps thats an option for you too.