Referral dive questions...

[diver@35]

Hi,

My wife and I are getting certified in the Bay Area, CA. We're doing our classes and pool dives here. With November creeping up on us Monterey is going to be too cold for her, so we need to do a referral dive when we go the Bahamas.

We will have paid $700.00 to our dive shop to get our PADI Cert. This plus the gear puts us at $1,400.00.

REFERALL DIVE QUESTIONS:

1. Shouldn't the referral dive be included in our $700.00 to the Dive Shop? And...
2. How many OW referral dives does it take to complete the cert.

Normally I'm not such a spendthrift but when I hear of places charging as much as $400.00 per person for a referral dive I start to ask questions.

Thanks

 

[RICHinNC]

$700....?????????????????????????????
In the words of a TV star......HOLY CRAP !!!

If this isnt pulled for the "holy crap" comment , it sure would be pulled if I told you what I thought you ought to get for that price!!!

I only paid $200 for my classes and I was the only student....and....you have more bad news to come.....the cost of a full rig.

But, go to www.northeastscubasupply.com and check out their DiveRite bp and wing deal for only $449.....cant beat it. And, it is top of the line DR gear and fully warranteed by DR.

good luck....

 

[cdtgray]

Begining with your second question, in order to complete your open water certification, you need to do 5 open water dives after finishing the confined water portion (usually 1 is a skin dive). Whether or not you open water and confined with the same shop/instructor or split them up by doing a referral this requirement does not change.

As for your first question, no, the price you paid to the store you are taking the classes almost certainly will not be applied to where you do your referal dives. You will be working with two separate dive operations - operations that have no financial connection. Thus, money paid to one has no impact on the other.

My suggestion to you is to take a look at the course you signed up for in California. If the course fee included the open water dives and you choose not to do it with them, remember it is your choice. The dive store has no financial obligation to refund you for deciding that the water was cold. If you discuss the issue with them though, you might be able to get a refund or a store credit in leu of doing the dives with them.

 

[cdtgray]

I also neglected to mention that the prices for the referral dives will most likely be higher than the prices for normal dives because you still need to do them with an instructor in the water.

$400 per person however seems a bit on the steep side. If you are diving on New Providence island (Nassau), I'd suggest looking at Stuart Coves - they are quoting $250 pp on their website.

 

[Walter]

PADI requires 4 dives. You're thinking of NAUI requirements.

 

[cdtgray]

Oops - I guess I missed the agency in the original thread and defulted to naui reqirements

 

[novadiver]

Just get a good wetsuit and do the dives with the shop that trained you. Exposure protection is just that. you might find that a good wetsuit will prolong your diving season , and if you get hooked on diving real bad you'll need a drysuit anyway.

 

[diver@35]

I've never seen a community that is so active and responds so well. I'm very thankful that I found SB.

We are leaing towards doing the Ocean Dives here in Monterey since we don't really want to spend 2 days of our vacation for our referral dives. The wife has said that she can suck it up so it's off to the kelp beds for us

Thanks for all of the great advice. I look forward to reading and learning more at SB.

Keith

Just get a good wetsuit and do the dives with the shop that trained you. Exposure protection is just that. you might find that a good wetsuit will prolong your diving season , and if you get hooked on diving real bad you'll need a drysuit anyway.

 

[Don Burke]

I've never seen a community that is so active and responds so well. I'm very thankful that I found SB.

We are leaing towards doing the Ocean Dives here in Monterey since we don't really want to spend 2 days of our vacation for our referral dives. The wife has said that she can suck it up so it's off to the kelp beds for us

Thanks for all of the great advice. I look forward to reading and learning more at SB.

Keith

Bring some warm water to preload your wetsuit before the dive and get out of the wind (and maybe get out of the wet gear) between dives.

A good wetsuit hood will make all the difference in the world.

 

[garyfotodiver]

I've never seen a community that is so active and responds so well. I'm very thankful that I found SB.

We are leaing towards doing the Ocean Dives here in Monterey since we don't really want to spend 2 days of our vacation for our referral dives. The wife has said that she can suck it up so it's off to the kelp beds for us

Thanks for all of the great advice. I look forward to reading and learning more at SB.

Keith

Will most of your diving be in the Monterey area, or the Bahamas and other warm places? If you intend to dive in colder water, take your OW dives there.

Good Luck and welcome to the fraternity.