new/prospective diver NJ/NY

[cobaltcopy]

I hope this is the correct forum to post this. I'm a college student (living in Union County and working in Manhattan over the summer) looking to get certified over the summer. I've tried to read lots of the various posts about instructors and dive shops but there's so much information and some of it's from a couple of years ago.

I'm interested in diving locally (I'm not going to get certified and fly somewhere tropical). That said, I'm looking for a place with more emphasis on local diving for my OW certification and then looking into later dives / more certification.

Over the summer, I can take classes in the Central/Northern Part of NJ and the NYC area. So far I've compiled a list of places, can anyone give suggestions? I'm not sure I can visit them all.
+ Treasure Cove (Westfield, NJ) a couple of towns over
+ The Scuba Connection
+ Adventure Scuba (Manhattan)
+ Stingray Divers (Brooklyn)
+ Village Divers (Manhattan)
+ King's County Divers (Brooklyn)

Perhaps I'm jumping the gun here, but what classes should I look to taking in the future? And what gear should I be looking at getting? I know that drysuit diving is almost a necessity, but I don't want to do this too fast.

Thanks for all your help.

-Chris

 

[oly5050user]

As far as I know none of those listed have their own onsite indoor heated pool..We do here in Yonkers NY,just outside the Bronx."Scuba NY" is the name of the facility.
You would start off in a Open Water course and if you truloy enjoy diving then Advance OW..pickup nitrox at any time you are ready.If diving locally and you want to use a dry suit then a dry suit specilaity.If purchasing the dry suit thru the store the speciality is free.If interested pm me here.

 

[RecDiver97]

Hats off to the Yonkers place. Indoor pool sounds excellent! I have not been to Scuba NY. But I can give the low-down in NYC.

First, a couple of things. You want to choose a school: the choices in U.S. are PADI, SSI, NAUI, SDI.

You said you are not into tropical, so there is no need to go with PADI as the default school. You want to dive in New York/New Jersey. I would think a more rigorous school than PADI is what you are looking for. For more info, see the discussion on scubapenguin.com: Your First Decision: PADI, Naui, or SSI? (By the way, no disrespect to PADI.)

As a New York/New Jersey diver, you face two challenges. First, not all dive shops are truly prepared to train and support local NY/NJ diving. Second, those that do are working a pretty small market, and some quite frankly will never be ready for prime time. I don't know the other guys, but from what I do know, skip Stingray and Village Divers.

The best dive shop in NYC is Kings County Divers. I will tell you that I am not affiliated with them in any way, except as a very very satisfied new student. Kings County Divers is the dive shop that dedicated divers from Manhattan and Queens go to, even though the subway ride is long. They are the best.

 

[Ceasar]

Hey there, I'm from woodbridge... I dive locally and i love it. Also a college student, i work in Kenilworth - Contact me directly @ czarekkuz@yahoo.com, I can give you some info, i just got certified last year so i can give you the up-to-date info...

 

[XJae]

As far as I know none of those listed have their own onsite indoor heated pool..We do here in Yonkers NY,just outside the Bronx."Scuba NY" is the name of the facility.

The Scuba Connection in Hillsborough also has an indoor heated pool. They are a full service tec shop for training and gear. They can do your training at the shop and check out dives at dutch springs, and then take you out off Jersey when you're ready. Jason Fisch is the Training Director 908-359-1250

Not trying to take anything away from Scuba NY, a great bunch of guys.
They do "real diving", if you do a search you may find some of the stuff they've yanked out of the Hudson.

Treasure Cove is a very respectable shop as well, and may very well be the closest to Union, NJ.

 

[Wrasse]

Hi Chris,

If you haven't signed up for a class yet, you may want to check out a few other New Jersey outfits as well. I got certified 1 1/2 years ago at Lakeland Divers in East Hanover. They emphasize local diving, one of the shop owners also has the dive boat, Sea Lion.

Another excellent local option is Safe Scuba. Tom teaches scuba at a local Y and he's part of a dive group that shore dives weekly in New Jersey.

Regards,
Tammy

 

[Meanee]

Another vote for Kings County Divers.

Very friendly folks, know their stuff, feel students' capabilities.
Just got certified through them and will go on for specialties.

Their equipment prices, however, are not the cheapest.

 

[diablonyc2]

Make it a third vote for Kings County Divers.

I too recently was certified and was very glad of the small class size and their knowledge base. Staff is very friendly and gives you the tools to dive safely and have a great time.

I just started going to some of the specialty courses. Hopefully will be doing some cool dives soon.

 

[jhupka]

I went through the Scuba connection, nice pool, nice people and they worked around my schedule and great prices....very happy customer

 

[JerseyMike]

Let me know how you made out so far. Contact me to talk about this. I am VERY sure I can help you.