Open Water Instruction recommendations in San Antonio?

[AggieDiver]

I have a co-worker who wants to get certified with her husband in the next month or so. Any recommendations on shops that offer good instruction at a reasonable price? Any shops to avoid? They were quoted $800/each all inclusive for a private class...is that reasonable? I was certified almost 20 years ago, so everything seems expensive to me, but is that the going rate or is it high? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Depends on what all inclusive means. If that includes top of the line personal gear, all books, all pool sessions, and gear rental for OW checkouts and the checkouts it's ok. My class is 339 and includes books.

Students supply their own personal gear mask, snorkel, fins, boots. I have a shop I work with that gives good deals on gear and they can put a dendent package together for under 200.

It includes all pool sessions (6-8) depending on how comfortable they are in the water. And checkout dives.

They need to rent their scuba unit but the shop I recommend charges 75 for that for the weekend. So right around 600 here. And that is for a semi private class. 2 or more is considered semi private. One person is a private class.

But then again I have a good deal on pool time and teach the classroom in my home so my overhead is lower.

 

[cbrich]

Dive World San Antonio, and Duggan Divers come to mind. I have only heard of them from instructors that knows an instructor down there.

 

[Altamira]

$800 for an OW course seems a bit steep for San Antonio. My wife and I did our open water course as part of a group with John Duggan, Duggan Diving in Universal City, near Randolph AFB. We were extremely pleased with John and his operation. You will be hard pressed to find someone with John's experience and knowledge and his instructors are very good as well. John uses the pool at Ft. Sam Houston for the pool sessions. If you are in the military, you can set up the course with John through the MWR facilities at a discount. Personally, we did not use a private lesson scenario, and I think we gained a lot from watching the other students go through their drills at the same time. We found that you can learn a lot from other's mistakes as well as thier good techniques. Dive World also offers a good program. They have two locations, one on West Ave near I10 and the other on Thousand Oaks, near Henderson Pass. Each Dive World location has its own pool, which is a little deeper than Ft. Sam, but are pretty small, especially if you have a group of divers in the water. I have not taken any courses from Dive World, but they seem very nice and are also professional.

 

[MikeMarlow]

Divemasters is where I would send you. Large pool onsite and great instructors. If the $800 is for both students, it would be reasonable, for each, it's high.

Mike

 

[oly5050user]

I have a co-worker who wants to get certified with her husband in the next month or so. Any recommendations on shops that offer good instruction at a reasonable price? Any shops to avoid? They were quoted $800/each all inclusive for a private class...is that reasonable? I was certified almost 20 years ago, so everything seems expensive to me, but is that the going rate or is it high? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

sounds right to me..lets see; LDS that I currently teach out of here in NY;
private scheduled academic/confined water here is $500. each for a class of 2..
elearning ...$120. each or can get standard crewpack/dvd for $102.
eRDPml.....log book.....$50.(included in crewpack,must buy if elearners)
ow training dives inc rentals $240. we are up to $920 per person for 2 people in a private ow course here in NY..

Can do for less if doing standard group class schedule..here in NY it is $269
Still need to purchase mask/snorkel/boots/fins.....budget from $250. to $350...a 3mm wet suit would be nice...another $200. Seems expensive,but,look at it this way; I got certified in a group class in the late 60's for $50.for ow course.Back then if you made $180. a week you were doing good...so for todays price of $269.for ow course when you make over $1,300. a week doing the same kind of work that paid $180.in the 60's it really is cheap..Pay increased over 10times what it was in 60's and the ow course only increased about 5 times what it was in 60's..

 

[Thalassamania]

$1,600 for two people seems rather steep.

 

[tracydr]

I have a co-worker who wants to get certified with her husband in the next month or so. Any recommendations on shops that offer good instruction at a reasonable price? Any shops to avoid? They were quoted $800/each all inclusive for a private class...is that reasonable? I was certified almost 20 years ago, so everything seems expensive to me, but is that the going rate or is it high? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

In your area?
I was certified by Duggan Diving in San Marcos in 1995. Since than, I've gone on two dive trips with them, even tough I live in Phoenix. They're very good.
Not sure about prices. Semi-private in the Phoenix area is about $500 per student, not including rentals or tanks. This would be a traditional class. Some instructors require e-learning which is addition to this cost.

 

[halocline]

I have a co-worker who wants to get certified with her husband in the next month or so. Any recommendations on shops that offer good instruction at a reasonable price? Any shops to avoid? They were quoted $800/each all inclusive for a private class...is that reasonable? I was certified almost 20 years ago, so everything seems expensive to me, but is that the going rate or is it high? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

I have heard nothing but horror stories about divemasters, but have no personal experience with that shop. Where were your friends quoted $800 each? For that price it's just about worth it to go to Roatan and spend a week getting certified with coconut tree divers, (3-4 days) and spend the rest of the week diving with the instructors and DMs that trained you. It's a very nice way to get started diving. Beats the crap out of OW dives in Medina Lake.

I do know some of the staff at dive world and duggans and would be happy to discuss my experiences with them in private. That's not a negative statement about either place.

 

[prosdog]

I took my refresher and had my son certified at Divemasters. We both recently completed our Advanced Adventurer and are working on AOW. I don't know anyone that wasn't satisfied with them.