And then there was the Open water Cert.

[e1cycle]

Greetings
About 10 years ago an good friend and I decided to take diving lessons , So we went to a PADI dive center . Bought the mask, fins and weight belt required to take the course . Quite fun , I learned a lot , At least it was a lot more genital that the NAVY dive course I endured from years past.
The course was not cheep , and So I had to juggle some money issues to pay for it , But then came the loop hole. See this Dive center was a travel agency too . To get our Open water cert . We had to go to Florida and swim with the Mantes. At a price I could not afford. After stating this situation I asked to be certified here local ... Nope ... Florida or not at all .
Is this screwed up or what ? I still have the fins and stuff. And use them often in the lake I live near . But every time I look at them I get kinda angry . Anyway thats my story . Maybe Some day

 

[al248005]

You might want to check it out and see if you can get a referral to do the dives at another shop. I know when I took my cert course in college we went to Florida for the Fall and Winter quarters b/c it was just too cold in local quarries. However in the spring we went to the local quarries. If you could not afford to go to Fl or classes prevented you from going; you had two options. Wait until the spring quarter and go to the local quarry or the instructor would fill out a referral letter/form and you could present it to another dive shop of the same agency and do check out dives with them. I was NAUI certified so I'm not sure if PADI has anything similar or not but its worth checking into.

 

[Cyprian]

Don't give up. I was certified as a kid and my parents lost interest, i.e. I had no funding for diving. Although, I am just now returning to diving.....I'm not giving up and plan to bring any of my kids ,that express interest, right into the sport. So far, I've got 2, possibly 3 ready to go.

 

[tardmaster]

PADI does indeed do a referral letter. please dont give up on it.

 

[drrich2]

What region of the country are you in? There are quarries in a # of places; Kentucky & Tennessee, for example. My Brother-in-Law recently certified in OW with SSI & they did the checkout dives in a local quarry; I think it was $375 for the course, plus buy your own mask, fins, boots & snorkel.

Richard.

 

[The Chairman]

If you started your class ten years ago, odds are you will simply need to retake it all over. Good for you in the long run.

But go into your Local Dive Shops with your expectations and hire the one that will deliver on them.

That, or I can always teach you down here in Sunny Florida. I'm not that cheap, but you will have fun and really learn to dive.

 

[beautybelow]

I am not sure I would give out a referral on anything "about ten years ago".

 

[DMDavid]

I don't know of anyone that would give a ten year old refferal much less anyone that would accept one.

You can always do a road trip to Florida and take a weekend course.

Where are you located?
Many states have open water checkout dives that are done locally.

Don't give up!

Also keep in mind that it's normally less expensive to learn to dive in FL.

 

[master00sniper]

At least it was a lot more genital that the NAVY dive course...

Welcome!

This made me laugh hahah

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Where are you located? That last dive center was full of it. Unless you are in Alaska and the was frozen solid. Then maybe I could see em doing that. But everyone is correct. Ten years agao. Need to retake the course. My OW is $329 and like Netdoc's course. Yo uwill know how to dive when you are done. Hell if you live on a lake I'd do your chekcouts there if it's more than 20 feet deep