Sidemount diving in the Denver area?

[MtnPlayVA]

My husband and I are moving to Denver next month. I've talked to a few dive shops but haven't found anyone that does sidemount diving or training. My husband wasn't able to finish his training before we will be moving so he'd like to complete the OW portion locally once we move. Any one know of a sidemount instructor in the area?
Also, how much local diving is done in the area? The two people I talked to at dive shops weren't very enthusiastic about the local diving. They said the options were Blue Hole and a Utah crater. That's pretty far away so it'll limit dive time and we are pretty active local divers

 

[Jim Lapenta]

From what I hear coming from the locals in the Denver area (I have a couple customers in that area) you are going to be very disappointed. Unless you don't mind driving up to some glacial lakes that the locals will think you are crazy for doing. Boulderjohn here on the board is a tech instructor out there but I don't think he is doing SM yet. It is likely that you will hear from many shops that SM is a tech thing. They will not even carry SM rigs or the hardware to set anything up so training is not going to be high on the list of options. I get this from my nephew who also lives in the area and who I trained. He pops into the LDS's around there every now and then to look around. Heck from what he says finding a BPW that won't cost you an arm and leg is dicey.

 

[ntmainstrm]

Contact Rob, an owner at Flatirons Scuba in Broomfield. He is a tech diver but I don't know how much tech instructing he does. Greg, one of the instructors there, is a very active side mount and cave diver but I also don't know if he teaches it.

Local diving is sparse here. Summer training is usually in a reservoir with mud bottom and limited viz. Some excursions to mountain lakes. Winter open water is Blue Hole in NM or Homestead Crater in UT.

Lee

 

[amascuba]

Flatirons Scuba and Ocean First Divers are the two shops that I've had experience with. Both are top notch and very professional shops. There are several lakes that are dove in the summer. However, I believe that most tend to go to Blue Hole or Crater lake, due to visibility. My experience with Colorado lakes is Turquoise Lake. The above water scenery is gorgeous, below was pretty much a few boulders and silt. However, if I lived in CO, I'd dive lakes like that any time just to get in the water.

 

[knotical]

Flatirons Scuba Broomfield, Colorado - PADI Sidemount Course
There may be others, but of those I've checked this is the only one advertising a sidemount course.

 

[beaverdivers]

Flatirons Scuba Broomfield, Colorado - PADI Sidemount Course
There may be others, but of those I've checked this is the only one advertising a sidemount course.

Flatirons SCUBA is an excellent full service dive shop. Check them out!

 

[MtnPlayVA]

Thanks everyone. I'll drive up there once we move so I can talk to Rob. The shop is about an hour from where we'll be living I'm disappointed that there isn't more local diving done but that crater looks pretty cool so I'm excited to check it out.

 

[AZTinman]

I heard the best dive in the Denver area was diving the aquarium. I never did it when I lived in Colorado, but there was a Denver area shop that was offering a couple of different aquarium dives.

AZTinman

 

[BigBubbaJ]

I don't agree. Aurora is probably the best diving in the Denver Metro. Planes, Catfish, carp, wiper...
[video=youtube;PV_N2i86Rw8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV_N2i86Rw8[/video]

 

[dmoore19]

To dive the aquarium contact A-1 Scuba & Travel Aquatics Center | Colorado's Ultimate Scuba Store! | Littleton, Colorado 80110

Here is more information

Dive at the Downtown Aquarium with A-1 Scuba Colorado

I have done the aquarium dive. It is a bit expensive but a lot of fun.