Referral dive questions...

[alcina]

Glad to hear you are going to dive Monterey...have always wanted to, but the cold water and limited time I have had there recently made me wimp out! I look forward to hearing what you think of it. And then off to the Bahamas...trip report please!

FWIW on referrals:
* if you do your Open Water dives (or other portions) of a certification course with a different operator than the one you started with expect to pay again.
* you will pay substantially more by doing your course with two different operators on a referral basis as both operators have costs that they will pass on to you.
* a good operator, IMO, who receives a referral student will, at a minimum, have the student do a comprehensive theory review (not just "what do you do to equalize" "pinch my nose and blow gently" "OK, let's go." perhaps a quiz or such) and a confined water session to check basic skills & comfort level (both so the student can see the instructor and vice versa). Then the open water dives. I would not have one of my friends or family do their open water dives with an operator who checked the paperwork and whisked them into the ocean.

Just my two cents.

 

[alijtaylor]

I'd suggest gloves as well as a hood, nothing worse than numb fingers that can't undoe buckles and belts. But cool water diving is great, I think many people have just never tried it!
Alison

 

[RICHinNC]

Great idea on the warm water actually....preheat if you can any time.

I just dont understand someone wanting to do their dive classes in one location...then pay as much or more to do the referral dives somewhere else. Please hire me where ever you work for the same salary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not to pick on anyone....but the cost for a lot of the referals exceed what i paid for the whole thing in my home town. But more power to you....

if you are looking for a great place to go and use your new c card....give a try to Barbados....lots to do above and below the water....dive the PAMIR for sure....and rent a car....easy to get around and see a lot....

dive safe....dive a lot.....take care...
rich

 

[Michael Schlink]

Let me throw a curve at you. I have dove(dived) Monterey and loved it BUT completing your OW cert. in beautiful, warm, clear water with coral and fish and nice white sand-well you get the picture. As far as doing your checkout dives cutting into your vacation they might just be the bright spot of your vacation. As a PADI diver you will need to make four dives, typically two dives per day, but the instructor has the option of doing 3/1, either way your diving two days. Now your first PADI OW dive has absolutely NO skills to perform, you and your wife will be accompanied by an instructor who should take you on a nice 30-45 min tour of a local reef. The 2nd dive will include several skills that you performed in the pool AND another nice dive, with your instructor, around a reef-looking at "critters" and such. Dives three and four are just like dive #2. When I do a cert. in this environment I try to do most of the skills in dives 2 and 3 so that dives #1 and #4 are MOSTLY DIVING and looking at marine life.
If you do your checkout dives in Monterey, (which I think is one of the nicest places in the US) How much time are you going to get actually DIVING. AND how well is this preparing you for diving on your vacation.
Technically you would require additional training when you arrived at your vacation spot, you signed (or should have) a diver agreement that you would only dive in conditions similar to what you were trained in AND when encountering a new dive condition you should get a local orientation. Monterey is not conditions similar to the Bahamas
Here's a knuckle ball- contact the dive operation you're considering using( in the Bah.s) and let them know your cunundrum(sic) Often times they can/will make a concession on the referal fee because you are spending $$ with them to go diving.
I also would suggest you reconsider your wife "sucking" it up. This isn't what she should be doing on her first "OW" dives. If she's "dreading" it or already has some trepidation beyond the normal "first dive jitters" you stand the chance of spoiling her first experience and as has happened too often the student never dives again.
Here's my idea in short
Contact dive shop in Bahamas by Email and arrange for an instructor to complete your OW training, negotiate a fair price and then move on
Complete your training while in the Bah's
Make more dives while you're there- have fun, in the evening take your wife out to romantic rest. and have festive cocktails with umbrellas in 'em, go back to your room toss your clothes everywhere and re-live your honeymoon
Get up the next day and make a couple dives before lunch, then repeat
After your vacation has eneded and your back home stop by your LDS and arrange to go on a group dive in the Bay or Point Lobos or whereever the best spot is, ask your wife if she's interested in going, if so great, if not go without her, probably with her blessing
If you like the local diving go back to your LDS and and let them show you a few drysuits!
Either way have fun on your vacation and good luck to both of you.-M

 

[scubatoys]

Just wanted to offer another way to look at it. With our shop, a class is $249. If you want to go out to the lake with us you can. If you want to do a referral, we'll sign that off and you can do that as well. There is no difference in price to us... and true you'll have to pay the other operator for check out dives.

So how is that fair?? We'll for us, I pay an instructor when they go out to the lake. They will make the same amount if they are teaching 1 student at the lake as if they are teaching 4. I feel it is unfair to not pay a decent amount to an instructor just because people choose not to do their lake dives in a Texas Quarry...

But really, if you evaluate it carefully... it does not cost you any more to do referral dives... or not much more.

When we go out to the rock quarry, the cost of the park fees and any air fills out there are separate. Normally runs about $50 for the weekend. Now if you head down to Cozumel to go diving... 4 dives are not free. They will typically cost about $60 for a 2 tank dive... so that's $120 for 2 days of diving. But that does not include gear.... So you'll have maybe another $40 or so for rental for the 2 days. That means 2 days of diving in Cozumel, if you already finished your course will cost about $160. But to finish, you paid $50, plus burned up a weekend, gas, lunch, etc on lake dives. That means if the Referral dives are $200 in Cozumel.. and that includes gear - you actually save $10 per person and don't have to go to a low vis pond.

Referral prices vary, but so do the costs of dives. When you look at it, most places normally charge their price of normal dives, plus rental, plus about another 50 bucks to do referrals - so if skipping the cost and cold of local dives is worth 50 bucks.... it's a wash.

Now I prefer people hit the texas lakes. That means they might want to do more lake diving, which normally means they'll dive more, be more comfortable, etc... But if they don't - due to conditions, I explain, it's really not costing them much - if anything extra.

 

[diver@35]

Hi Ya'll,

We've finally decided to go with Monterey. My wife is actually looking forward to it now and, as I show her more pics of the terrain, the kelp, etc. I can see her excitement growing.

My apologies for saying that she's going to "suck it up" by diving Monterey. A bit of machismo on my part? I think that she's going to enjoy these first experiences quite a bit. Our friends, Steve and Julie, who introduced us to diving are going to be coming along as well. Julie explained the conditions, the method of entry, etc. to my wife and that helped her comfort level quite a bit.

Thanks for the advice on pre-loading the wetsuit with Warm Water. That just smacks of common sense.

As far as the price goes for our certification. We paid $700.00 for the both of us. This includes everything, including rentals, pool, and ocean dives. I don't consider this to be too bad for an area of the country where a 3 bed 2 bath house costs 525K (I can hear the groans now

Anywhoo.. Thanks again and I'll report back and let you know how Monterey went.

P.S. We're going to Playa Del Carmen instead of the Bahamas. Changed our mind at the last minute. Anyone know of a good LDS there?

Cheers :10:

 

[ScubaTexas]

P.S. We're going to Playa Del Carmen instead of the Bahamas. Changed our mind at the last minute. Anyone know of a good LDS there?

Cheers :10:

If you're heading to Mexico and you can still change your reservations, you might consider going to Cozumel (just a few miles across the channel from PDC). PDC has some good diving and great beaches but the diving pales compared to what you will find along Cozumel. If your reservations for PDC are locked in, then try Tank Ha in that area for diving and also consider a day trip to dive the reefs off of Cozumel. Take the early morning ferry from PDC to Cozumel and have your dive op pick you up near or at the ferry dock. It'll be a little bit of an effort but worth it. Have fun!!!!

 

[diver@35]

Funny that you should mention Tank Ha. That was the outfit that I posed my referral dive questions to. Very nice on the phone. Gave me all of the info I needed. 90% chance that we'll go with them.

I'd read that Cozumel has the best diving but we thought that PDC may be a little more laid back. We're trying to strike that critical balance between relaxation and diving. We're staying at Ceiba Del Mar in Puerto Morales which is supposed to be one of the more secluded resorts. We'll see... it will be interesting how the trade off works out.

There's an LDS called "Almost Heaven Adventures" that is right next to Ceiba Del Mar. Has anyone ever used their service?


Thanks again.

If you're heading to Mexico and you can still change your reservations, you might consider going to Cozumel (just a few miles across the channel from PDC). PDC has some good diving and great beaches but the diving pales compared to what you will find along Cozumel. If your reservations for PDC are locked in, then try Tank Ha in that area for diving and also consider a day trip to dive the reefs off of Cozumel. Take the early morning ferry from PDC to Cozumel and have your dive op pick you up near or at the ferry dock. It'll be a little bit of an effort but worth it. Have fun!!!!

 

[razor]

My wife and I got personalized training for 400 a piece in Denver (Underwater Phantseas) 1 instructor for both of us. We then went to Cancun and did our referals and open water dives. If I remember correctly it cost around 200 for our dives in Cancun (solo buceo)

 

[MontereyCADiver]

Wow! An additional $700 seems expensive, and I suppose that's free enterprise at its finest.

Since you're obtaining the confined water portion of your OW class in California's Bay Area, I'll assume you live in that area. Therefore, unless you plan to dive only while on vacations away from Northern California, most of your dives will most likely be in the Monterey Bay.

Through personal observations of those that have C-cards from warm water areas and have never been in the cold water of the Monterey Bay, they're were in for a surprise when they don a full 7mm wetsuit for the first time, or they're under-trained for diving in a drysuit.

Having said that, you already know where I'm going with this. I encourage you to complete your OW course in the Monterey Bay (again, if that's where most of your diving will be). You'll be more acclimated to heavy exposure equipment and its affects of buoyancy, thermal protection, restriction, etc. on a diver. In most cases, it’s easier for a diver with cold water experience to travel to a warm water destination than it is for a warm water person to dive in a cold water environment.

Please, discuss these concerns with your instructor.

Happy and safe diving!

PS: If I can answer any questions regarding diving in the Monterey Bay, please send me a PM. I’ll gladly help.

Cheers, Jeff