BR
Registered
Hello all,
I am a new diver in Florida and I have been learning a lot on this board. I thought I would share my experiences with the shops I have dealt with so far in case it is useful for anyone else. Sorry in advance for the long post.
My boyfriend and I signed up for an OW course in Tallahassee for the first two weekends of November. We chose the shop, Blue Water Sports, because on our visits, it seemed to be the shop in town (out of 2) that had the most activity and the people we met were very friendly. When the time for the first class came, it turned out that the instructor was not available, so they shuffled the dates around a bit. We were flexible, so although it was a little disconcerting, no big deal. We went through the classwork and pool time. The pool session seemed a bit rushed to us, but we were able to get a little more practice by working on our own in the pool while the instructor taught a few others, so we got comfortable. Everything was ok at this point.
Next, we found out that the open water dives were not going to take place at Panama City Beach and one of the springs like we had been told, but at two local rivers with depths of 10 and 20 ft. I was concerned that this would not adequately prepare us for any post certification ocean dives, so I emailed the instructor. He dropped us from the class and said the dive shop would find us another instructor. Unfortunately, we had been told earlier that no other instructors were currently available, so we asked for a refund for that portion of the course. It was very difficult to get a hold of the manager or the owner to discuss the refund (several phone calls, stops in the shop), but we were ultimately offered $60 each (out of $285 course fee). We did not feel that was enough, so I am working on disputing the card charges. My main point here is to provide some background when I advise everyone to avoid this shop.
On the other hand, due to our predicament, we got a referral to do our OW dives in the Keys (we were going anyway) and did the dives with Conch Republic in Tavernier because of recommendations on SB. I would like to add another strong endorsement of Conch Republic and our instructor there, Jason. He took the time to get us up to speed and really made us comfortable doing the dives. On the first dive, we didn't do any skills, which was extremely helpful. He prepared us so well that post-certification we were able to go out on a boat trip to Looe Key reef without a guide and felt good doing it.
So, our story has a happy ending and we will continue practicing. This has certainly been a good learning experience for me on the importance of dive shop selection and maybe it can at least help others considering their options.
I am a new diver in Florida and I have been learning a lot on this board. I thought I would share my experiences with the shops I have dealt with so far in case it is useful for anyone else. Sorry in advance for the long post.
My boyfriend and I signed up for an OW course in Tallahassee for the first two weekends of November. We chose the shop, Blue Water Sports, because on our visits, it seemed to be the shop in town (out of 2) that had the most activity and the people we met were very friendly. When the time for the first class came, it turned out that the instructor was not available, so they shuffled the dates around a bit. We were flexible, so although it was a little disconcerting, no big deal. We went through the classwork and pool time. The pool session seemed a bit rushed to us, but we were able to get a little more practice by working on our own in the pool while the instructor taught a few others, so we got comfortable. Everything was ok at this point.
Next, we found out that the open water dives were not going to take place at Panama City Beach and one of the springs like we had been told, but at two local rivers with depths of 10 and 20 ft. I was concerned that this would not adequately prepare us for any post certification ocean dives, so I emailed the instructor. He dropped us from the class and said the dive shop would find us another instructor. Unfortunately, we had been told earlier that no other instructors were currently available, so we asked for a refund for that portion of the course. It was very difficult to get a hold of the manager or the owner to discuss the refund (several phone calls, stops in the shop), but we were ultimately offered $60 each (out of $285 course fee). We did not feel that was enough, so I am working on disputing the card charges. My main point here is to provide some background when I advise everyone to avoid this shop.
On the other hand, due to our predicament, we got a referral to do our OW dives in the Keys (we were going anyway) and did the dives with Conch Republic in Tavernier because of recommendations on SB. I would like to add another strong endorsement of Conch Republic and our instructor there, Jason. He took the time to get us up to speed and really made us comfortable doing the dives. On the first dive, we didn't do any skills, which was extremely helpful. He prepared us so well that post-certification we were able to go out on a boat trip to Looe Key reef without a guide and felt good doing it.
So, our story has a happy ending and we will continue practicing. This has certainly been a good learning experience for me on the importance of dive shop selection and maybe it can at least help others considering their options.
