How to Choose a Source for Check Out Dives?

[tyki]

Hi again gang,

We will be finishing up our confined water dives on 20 March, just in time for a trip we have planned to Florida at the end of March. Since we are new to scuba, we aren't sure how to choose the source for our check-out dives. Open to lots of advice and suggestions. The only gear we will have by the time we go to Florida will be our snorkels, masks and fins. The cost of gear and the complexities of making the choices have us taking our time in deciding what to buy, its quite an investment.

We will be in the Ft Lauderdale/West Palm Beach area, and from what I've seen on the web, it is best to schedule the check out (referral dives) in advance. With only about 3 weeks till we leave, we should make a reservation soon. Being new to scuba, we don't have contacts in the area (we are the first in the family to learn to dive). What questions should we be asking?

So far my list of questions includes:
1) Are the check out dives all from boats or are some from shore?
2) Will the equipment be available, should it be included in the price of the referral?
3) What is a "good" fee for the referral dives?

Anyone from the Gold Coast area have recommendations? We have been lucky so far in having found a really good dive shop here in Ohio, but we don't want to have to wait for the warm weather for our check out dives to complete the certification.

Listening with ears wide open

tyki

 

[Warhammer]

Sam Teel (teels@prodigy.net), better known as SeaStorySam, lives in West Palm. He's an extremely nice guy and I'm sure he could give you a recommendation for a shop. Also our very own Walter, Walter where are you?, lives across from West Palm on the Gulf Coast (I believe). He too could probably head you the right direction.

 

[Walter]

From your description of class, I'd guess PADI. If it is a PADI course, you'll need a PADI instructor for your checkout dives. If it was another agency you should be able to use a universal check out with an instructor of any agency. I know an excellent NAUI instructor in the Palm Beach area I'd recommend, but I do not know any PADI instructors in that area I can recommend. I'm sure there are some good ones, but I'm not familiar with them.

If you can get a universal referral, I'd personally be very reluctant to take you as a referral. I've read your discription of your class. Frankly, you were short changed IMHO, in both classroom and pool. 4½ hours of class time is about 11½ hours short of what is needed to cover everything you need to know. I don't know how much pool time you added in your last pool session, but your first pool session was 7½ hours long with a 90 minute break. Most folks need about 16 hours in the pool to master necessary skills. Two long pool sessions often fool people into thinking they've mastered skills, when in reality, they've merely placed skills into their short term memory. It is much more beneficial for a student to have 8 pool sessions of 2 hours each spread out over a period of several weeks. Such a schedule allows you to transfer information from short term to long term memory. I simply don't believe it is possible to adequately prepare a student for open water with the class you've just completed. Keep in mind, mine is a minority opinion, most instructors teach exactly the way you've been taught.

Good luck,

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