What is the cost to get OW certified?

[Martijn]

At the diving school I work for in Bonaire: $195 for the PADI eLearning, $210 USD for the confined water sessions and open water dives. All gear included.
Or for people who don't want to do the eLearning, it's a total of $395, including everything, and we'll do the theory in the classroom.

 

[oly5050user]

At the diving school I work for in Bonaire: $195 for the PADI eLearning, $210 USD for the confined water sessions and open water dives. All gear included.
Or for people who don't want to do the eLearning, it's a total of $395, including everything, and we'll do the theory in the classroom.

If those rates work for facility owners all good. But going over the 5 academic modules in class vs eLearning does not sound very efficient as completing the presentations properly takes more instructor time, can be up to additional 6 to 8 hours. That is time that could of been spent in water where student actually learns to dive. For the Student out of pocket cost is still there for required text book that they are required by standards to own , can be a crew pack at a cost around $67, they need to view the 5 videos (more time lost) and complete kr’s in text , more time lost again, and 50 question final exam vs a 25 question quick review that is used with eLearning. Time is money and instructor pay should be increased for all this extra time, if not then it is the instructor who loses . Work smarter not harder.

 

[TMHeimer]

If those rates work for facility owners all good. But going over the 5 academic modules in class vs eLearning does not sound very efficient as completing the presentations properly takes more instructor time, can be up to additional 6 to 8 hours. That is time that could of been spent in water where student actually learns to dive. For the Student out of pocket cost is still there for required text book that they are required by standards to own , can be a crew pack at a cost around $67, they need to view the 5 videos (more time lost) and complete kr’s in text , more time lost again, and 50 question final exam vs a 25 question quick review that is used with eLearning. Time is money and instructor pay should be increased for all this extra time, if not then it is the instructor who loses . Work smarter not harder.

Is it normal for students to spend an additional 6-8 hours in the water-- above say, our normal of 4-5 hours on each the Sat. and Sunday? I can see that as a good reason for the higher costs for students that you have.

 

[Azraelien]

250 Euros here in Slovakia

 

[wnissen]

250 Euros here in Slovakia

Not bad at all! Is there worthwhile local diving there?

 

[oly5050user]

Is it normal for students to spend an additional 6-8 hours in the water-- above say, our normal of 4-5 hours on each the Sat. and Sunday? I can see that as a good reason for the higher costs for students that you have.

In our pool Friday night close to 3 hrs, Saturday 9 to 12 again , that’s 3 hrs, after lunch 1pm to 4pm, so there another 3hrs.Sunday starts at 9am usually done 1pm, so looks like total of 13 hr pool time

 

[Azraelien]

Not bad at all! Is there worthwhile local diving there?

Worthwhile is a debatable concept - obviously it's inland, so Quarries and lakes with low vis mainly, but there is an Opal mine that has become relatively famous on the internet, as well as relatively close by cave and mine dives in Budapest (Kobanya, Molnar Janos).

The quarries and lakes are generally free entry with cheap (6eur) air fills, so we have racked up loooads of dives for very little money- wonderful if you just need a weekend of fiddling with gear or weights and don't want to spend loads.

The main benefit though is the fact that there is an incredibly strong tech community here, with UTD, TDI, PSAI, GUE and several other agencies represented on top of the usual PADI/SSI. I was already OW qualified when I arrived, and have been doing sidemount/ITT courses heading into Cave and AN/DP, but my Fiance was lucky enough to take her OW with a top level tech instructor- for 250 she got 6 days of training, then followed it up with AOW the week after, and now dives neutrally buoyant in flat GUE style trim, with a DIR BP/W and longhose config - the quality of training she received was outstanding, and 20 dives later she looks like a pro, with frog kicks, helicopter and hover nailed down, long hose air sharing techniques locked in, and SMB technique on point... several more dives planned to get back kicks sorted before the summer season ends, and then once her drysuit arrives we'll be on to more serious training together... wonderful place.

 

[dmaziuk]

Not bad at all! Is there worthwhile local diving there?

It's only an 8-hour drive from Bratislava to Adriatic e.g. Split in Croatia. It's like Bonne Terre from Ohio or Minneapolis: a weekend trip by US standards.

 

[Azraelien]

It's only an 8-hour drive from Bratislava to Adriatic e.g. Split in Croatia. It's like Bonne Terre from Ohio or Minneapolis: a weekend trip by US standards.

And Croatian diving is great fun! Slightly chilly but we had a blast going down near Zadar. It was actually that trip that sold me on buying a drysuit and starting tech training

 

[hsinhai]

lol.. 'personal gear', sounds like a scuba tax.