What do you look for in a dive training site?

If you were looking for a location to take students to complete open water cert dives what would the facility have minimally and recommended? We are considering opening an Outdoor Scuba Training Lake Open to SCUBA divers ONLY. Building out will be an ongoing process however I am looking for feedback on the minimum requirements you would like to see in a dive site to take students or to go yourself both for fun or practice?

The Lake has multiple levels because it was an old stone quarry. First level is about 35Ft then a large section about 50-60 ft and an area that is about 90ft deep. So far the plan is below. Feel free to comment and add suggestions. Lake is already stocked with fish to see.

Instructors with current certification and insurance will get free entry when bringing students.

Year 1
Above the Water
Building to offer Air Fills
Porta-Johns and changing rooms
hanging racks for wet suits etc
Picnic tables and Benches for Gear setup
Below the Water
Platforms in shallow end for OW students
PVC ladder line in deep end for accent and descents
Buoyancy Course

Year 2
Above the Water
Floating Dock to simulate Boat entry
Shelter
Rental / Rental Shop
Showers
Below the Water
Search / Nav Course
Additional Attractions

Year 3
Above the Water
Below the Water
Simulated Cavern or Cave

Future Options
Camp Sites
Snack Shack
Storage for Dive Shops? would you be interested in leaving gear in locked storage units?
Dry Area for Camera Prep?

I would check out some of the following websites. These are all UK based inland quarries/lakes set-up for diving (one has a couple of other random attractions such as a zipline and segways. Another allows swimmers).
Vobster Quay Inland Diving Centre
The National Diving & Activity Centre - Inland Dive and Activity Site
Home
Capernwray Diving Centre | The Best Dive Spot!
NEMES DIVING & WATERSPORTS ACADEMY

Things I would think about for year 1: Kitting up benches and lots of them. Picnic tables. A catering van or somewhere to get hot food and drinks on site.

It all sounds graet, though storage for dive shops may not be important to everyone. I like covered table for doing paperwork, shielding both sun and rain. Best of luck with your venture!
DivemasterDennis

I truly wish we had something remotely like that here.

I assume when you mentioned a buoyancy course, you meant something I would like to see, but just to be sure....it would be an obstacle course consisting of a series of things like hula hoops through which the students would have to travel. It should require changes in depth and other such maneuvers. It would include a stretch in which students had to stay close to the ground for a while without touching it. Depending upon the class, it could require different kicks of kicks in different areas.

My main focus when deciding which site to use for OW dives is visability second is entry/exit third is underwater attractions so the students have something besides muddy bottoms to look at.

Perhaps if dive training sites did not have platforms then new divers might actually have some buoyancy skills.

Picknic tables and and benches to assemble gear will be right away. Covered structures will come later due to cost but many instructors use those 10x10 pop ups.

DivemasterDennis:

It all sounds graet, though storage for dive shops may not be important to everyone. I like covered table for doing paperwork, shielding both sun and rain. Best of luck with your venture!
DivemasterDennis

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---------- Post added September 11th, 2014 at 02:47 PM ----------

I have discussed the platforms with multiple instructors. And it is a double edge sword. With out them vis is going to be nothing. I have been thinking of having suspended bars on bouy for students to hold on to. Some instructors are concerned about safety but if they use platform for OW dive 1-2 the. The ladder for OW dive 3-4

---------- Post added September 11th, 2014 at 02:50 PM ----------

Yes the boyancy course would require changing depth, navigation and muliple kicks. Possiblely an area specifically laid out for underwater nav.

---------- Post added September 11th, 2014 at 02:53 PM ----------

How far are you willing to drive to a dive site ? I am trying to figure out how big of an area to promote it to? I am figuring 2 hours??? I'm in the Midwest of USA and it would be 2 hr from Lake Michigan and 2 hr from any other ow site.

Doc Harry:

Perhaps if dive training sites did not have platforms then new divers might actually have some buoyancy skills.

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I much, much, much prefer doing open ocean dives with OW students for that reason. I can have them swimming in horizontal trim while neutrally buoyant the entire time and just give them signals about what skills they need to demonstrate as they do.

Living in Colorado though, I rarely get such an opportunity. I am instead doing the dives in a low visibility lake. In clear visibility, I can allow some distance between me and my students and still be very much in control. I can spot a problem and be there to help in no time. With low visibility, though, I (or a certified assistant) must be by standards next to all students at all times. I want to be able to get a hold on a student doing a skill at any time, knowing as I concentrate on that student that the rest will not be disappearing into the gloom. For that reason, a platform is a necessary evil for the skill portion of the dive.

But the skills should usually only take a small portion of the dive time, depending upon how many students there are. The rest of the time should be devoted to swimming practice away from the platform. That, too, can be very tricky in poor visibility.

In the places in Colorado where we are allowed to teach classes (not many), each one requires us by their local rules to use a platform.

---------- Post added September 11th, 2014 at 02:14 PM ----------

Octopusprime:

[/COLOR]How far are you willing to drive to a dive site ? I am trying to figure out how big of an area to promote it to? I am figuring 2 hours??? I'm in the Midwest of USA and it would be 2 hr from Lake Michigan and 2 hr from any other ow site.

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It depends upon your competition.

Here in Colorado, many shops routinely travel more than 6 hours for sites that are not nearly as good as the one you are envisioning. That sounds absurd, but we would not be doing that if we had better sites closer by.

boulderjohn:

It depends upon your competition.

Here in Colorado, many shops routinely travel more than 6 hours for sites that are not nearly as good as the one you are envisioning. That sounds absurd, but we would not be doing that if we had better sites closer by.

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Let's face it. In Colorado, directions to a good dive start pretty much all start with "Drive to the airport"...

Dirty-Dog:

Let's face it. In Colorado, directions to a good dive start pretty much all start with "Drive to the airport"...

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I will be going diving next weekend with a student to the only place I know in the Rocky Mountains where we can do the dives we need to do. It will be hours before I get to your neck of the woods, and I will still have hours to go.