Moving to Maryland

[Fly swatter]

I am moving to Maryland (Southern Maryland to be exact). I was wondering if there are any instructors out there that have any insight on where would a good place to conduct certification dives for new students, even for advance? Any information will be greatly appreciated.

Fly swatter
PADI OWSI/MSDT

 

[Rich Keller]

I lived in southern Maryland and on the eastern shore for many years doing bridge reconstruction. The Chesapeake Bay area is just about a dead sea that has so many jelly fish in it that you could almost walk across the water on them. You would need to go to the ocean or find a local quarry.

 

[waterpirate]

Try this post in the" Mid atlantic bottom feeders" section and you will find all the secret places we go when we can not get to the ocean. oc maryland has several good boats running everything from 30fsw check out dives to 250+ pinnacle dives.
Eric

 

[dogface79]

Lake Rawlings, VA is where we did the checkout dives. I live in MD. There are also several quarries in PA used for dive instruction.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Mt Storm ia another option but you need to carry everything you need with you. No shops in the area for fills.

 

[G'Diddy]

I am moving to Maryland (Southern Maryland to be exact). I was wondering if there are any instructors out there that have any insight on where would a good place to conduct certification dives for new students, even for advance? Any information will be greatly appreciated.

Fly swatter
PADI OWSI/MSDT

First of all there are only a few instructors in So-MD proper. Most take their students to either Lake Rawling near Richmond Va or Millbrook Quarry in Haymarket, Va. Both of those are about 2 hours from where I live. The rivers & bay are out because there's no viz & the current rips all the time. Also, there aren't an abundace of dive shops either. There's one in Solomon's Island and OW certs can be taken thru the College of Southern Maryland. I ended up taking my OW training from a shop in Alexandria Va. They do their checkout dives at Millbrook. My instructor advised that if we could do our check out dives somewhere with warm clear water, it would be better. So I did my mine in Florida. I have dove Millbrook tho. It's small, dark, cold & crowded. Milbrook is only open on weekends from April thru October. Don't let this deter you tho. These quarrys are very popular in the summer if for no other reason than that's the only local diving available.

Hope this helps