Where to get certified?

[AKostelis]

Hi there, new to the boards here. So I'm thinking about getting certified within the next month or so. I have a vacation to Cabo San Lucas planned for mid-August and don't want to miss the opportunity to dive there. I live in Fairfield, CT and have a what seems to be reputable dive shop right by my house. I plan to do the classroom portion of certification there as well as pool dives. My question is, should I go ahead and do my ocean dives here in Connecticut or wait it out to do them in Cabo? Will I be more limited to what I will be able to do/see if my first certification dives are in Cabo? Is it even worth the $210 to dive in the poor visibility waters of Connecticut? Thanks for the advice.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Look for a response from a Connecticut diver before deciding about local open water dives, but either way works. Both my wife and I did our book and pool without or LDS, and then went to a destination for the open water dives: me in Maui, Debbie in Cozumel. We certify a lot of divers here in a limited viz reservoir, and they then go to a clear ocean dive destination and find the diving comparatively easy. Either way woks.
DivemasterDennis

 

[danvolker]

Hi there, new to the boards here. So I'm thinking about getting certified within the next month or so. I have a vacation to Cabo San Lucas planned for mid-August and don't want to miss the opportunity to dive there. I live in Fairfield, CT and have a what seems to be reputable dive shop right by my house. I plan to do the classroom portion of certification there as well as pool dives. My question is, should I go ahead and do my ocean dives here in Connecticut or wait it out to do them in Cabo? Will I be more limited to what I will be able to do/see if my first certification dives are in Cabo? Is it even worth the $210 to dive in the poor visibility waters of Connecticut? Thanks for the advice.

It is not really what shop or what agency. You need to ask around to all divers you know in your area, and find out if any have actually witnessed instructors in your area giving classes, and of those who have, which instructors did they think were the best. You owe it to yourself to find the BEST instructor you can find...It could be one of the most important decisions you will make in diving. Do not short yourself...do the homework...don't "just pick the local diveshop". They "might" be the right shop, but only research into their instructors will let you know.

Also ask local charter boat captains or crews. But do it in person.

And do NOT do it in Cabo. You will have no clue what the instructor quality is that far away from you--or if you will have the right connection with one of the Cabo instructors..... You need to be checking out instructors and meeting them.
E-learning is fine for academics. The in-water stuff needs to be with someone you will be trusting your future with.

 

[wedivebc]

Train where and how you dive. If you plan all your dives to be in warm tropical water then that is where you should train.
I can promise you a lot more warm water divers feel challenged in colder environments than the other way round. Your local dive shop is the best way to go if you plan to dive locally.

 

[ErikNYC]

Do your dives before you leave. Although the visibility is low in the NE, you will still learn and be thrilled. I'm going through my OW training now, and went from the pool to a lake, and tomorrow I will be diving in the oceans of Rhode Island. I should be certified by tomorrow.

The great thing is, when I go to the Caribbean next month to scuba, the visibility will be the difference of night and day, plus I feel like I earned it every step of the way. However... They say, "If you can make it here you can make it anywhere."

Go do it!

 

[AKostelis]

The local shop is WWW.orbitmarine.com. if anyone has the time to check to m out and tell me if they sound good or not, that would be appreciated. They seem pretty reputable to me though I am completely new to this. I spoke with the owner a few days ago. The classroom time is about 5 hours. That same day they take us to a local pool for 4 hours. Then there ate 4 dives over 2 days in the ocean nearby. Thats all for certification. Is that a normal schedule? It doesn't seem like much to me.

 

[EastEndDiver]

Noel at Orbit marine is a nice guy,he runs a good operation.

 

[oly5050user]

Noel has been at this a long time. The pool time is what it is as he rents a pool and it can be expensive. If you are uncomfortable with his schedule you can pm me here. I have 24 hour/7 day a week access to a indoor heated pool at the LDS that I work for.Classroom and pool on site..We offer 5 academic sessions of about 1 hour to 90+ minutes each and 5 pool sessions of about 1-90+ minutes each.Works out to about 18 hours more or less total. If done on a private basis , depending on how the student progresses that time may be longer or less.Good thing about private is YOU name the days and time that work out for YOU..We also offer group schedules on a regular coninuing basis. Open water training dives usually done at Dutch Springs,visibility MUCH better that LI sound. Noel does his dives off his boats out of Bridgeport CT. To be honest,if you can dive there comfortably you can dive at the islands down south like a pro..
I am located in Yonkers NY.

 

[RonFrank]

The typical class is 2.5 days of classroom/pool (16 hours), and 4 checkout dives.

So 8 hours or so in a pool, and 8 hours of classroom. That can be done over a weekend or 4 classes at night...whatever.

This assumes you do the reading on your own time. I read the book twice and spent a month studying before class started. So the classroom was review but not necessary for me even if I enjoyed it.

I would do the checkout dives locally but up to you.

 

[AKostelis]

Thanks for the offer oly and thanks for all the other replies. I think yonkers is further than I'd like to drive though, especially with a good shop 5 minutes away. Im excited to get started.