Best value location for PADI Certification

[flyboy08]

Given my location I'm planning on traveling. Best value is typically described as the value of procured goods or services that can be simply described as a comparison of costs and benefits.

Cozumel then....period!

 

[Marie13]

OP, look at your travel costs and go from there. PADI is described as the Mickey D’s of the diving world.

Figure out where you want to travel and then ask for diving op recommendations from there. Makes no sense to recommend a destination for you if travel is double the cost of somewhere else, and if you can get a good OW class both places.

 

[zich6]

I would recommend the study at home. I tried it on an island when on holiday, you end up very restricted with time by the time you eat, divex3, take lessons, sit test, setup gear, dismantle and wash gear, then eat dinner and maybe have a beer, when are you going to study?

Yeah, I plan to study at home, starting this weekend. Since I don't want to wait until next summer for the dive work, I'm planning on traveling.

 

[zich6]

Cozumel then....period!

Thanks.

 

[northernone]

Given my location I'm planning on traveling. Best value is typically described as the value of procured goods or services that can be simply described as a comparison of costs and benefits.

In this case I think we might view value similarly.

Here's two ends of the scale as I see it:

Buying a certification can be done cheaply by using a high volume low skill model of instruction (an inexperienced instructor with huge classes, genetic regurgitation of info, little life experience and a short training duration).

Personally, I like an excellent instructor who is a master at passing on learning and has extensive experience to draw his perspective from.

Somewhere in the middle I think most of us find our cost/benefit balence.

Cameron

 

[zich6]

Your from Idaho? I’d go to Cozumel, Cayman, Belize or Roatan/Utila....or Michigan

Thanks

 

[zich6]

In this case I think we might view value similarly.

Here's two ends of the scale as I see it:

Buying a certification can be done cheaply by using a high volume low skill model of instruction (an inexperienced instructor with huge classes, genetic regurgitation of info, little life experience and a short training duration).

Personally, I like an excellent instructor who is a master at passing on learning and has extensive experience to draw his perspective from.

Somewhere in the middle I think most of us find our cost/benefit balence.

Cameron

Agree. I'm not looking for the lowest price, nor overpriced instruction.

 

[boulderjohn]

It is honestly hard to tell you where to go for the best instruction. I was recently in a community in Asia, and when I walked along the beach area, I passed a long row of dive shops, every one of which offered PADI instruction. Does every one of them offer exactly the same quality for the money? I doubt it. Could I tell you which ones were the best? Nope.

I stopped working for a local dive shop in Colorado a couple of years ago. If you had signed up with that shop, you could have gotten excellent instruction. You could also have gotten mediocre instruction. It all depended upon which instructor was assigned to your class.

 

[zich6]

It is honestly hard to tell you where to go for the best instruction. I was recently in a community in Asia, and when I walked along the beach area, I passed a long row of dive shops, every one of which offered PADI instruction. Does every one of them offer exactly the same quality for the money? I doubt it. Could I tell you which ones were the best? Nope.

I stopped working for a local dive shop in Colorado a couple of years ago. If you had signed up with that shop, you could have gotten excellent instruction. You could also have gotten mediocre instruction. It all depended upon which instructor was assigned to your class.

Ok, but I'm looking for recommendations based on personal experience.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

From Idaho, you might find it cheaper to fly to Pacific destinations than Caribbean.

Places like Bali are very inexpensive to stay in, especially outside the tourist areas.

Or spend a weekend in Seattle....