Training Recommendation in SE Florida?

[gswiedeman]

Hi Folks,

Longtime lurker, first time poster.

To cut to the chase: looking for SCUBA instruction beyond OW in the SE Florida area, agency neutral (previous certs are PADI), any recs?

Now the background.

I first earned PADI jr open water back in the early 1990s. By 1999 I earned AOW and since that time, have been able to dive at least a couple times a year amassing somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 dives in wildly different conditions over 20+ years.

About a year and a half ago, my wife earned PADI OW in Chicago and is now interested in pursuing advanced and beyond. She currently has about 15 dives. Next month we're heading to Palm Beach and thought it might be good opportunity to get some of that work in.

Looks like SE Florida dive shops and training options are plentiful, any help narrowing down who or what center to pursue would be helpful.

Thanks!

~ GS

 

[Cajuncru Diver]

Here is a recommendation that I can make without reservation:

Diving Instruction and Courses | Rainbow Reef Dive Center | Key Largo, Florida Keys

 

[Chugwhump]

Can you be more specific as to where in SoFla you want to obtain this training, and what classes specifically or specialties you are after?
For instance.....
Where will you reside for the training?
I see that you referenced Palm Beach.
As "PBC" has about a 40+ Mile coastline, and there is a dive shop about every mile or two along the I-95 corridor, you have options.
There are suitable instructors for virtually every specialty and cert level other than ice diving from Jupiter to Key West, and that is about a 250 mile spread.

Chug
Wants to know why it snowed in the middle of May in Chicagoland this year.

 

[sheeper]

I would totally recommend World of Scuba in Boca Raton. Great instructors and run PADI, SDI and TDI classes (personally, I'd go with SDI and TDI classes).
Scuba Diving in Boca Raton with World of Scuba Dive Shop

 

[jimw]

I assume PADI still does Rescue as the next course and since you will be doing deeper dives in Palm Beach County, you may want to take the Nitrox course as well. Consider Force E in Riviera Beach and Jeff Nelson, one of the instructors there. Do a few boat dives using Nitrox to really learn the info, maybe on the first one--hire a Divemaster.

 

[uncfnp]

Second Jeff at Force-e. Taught our AOW. And I hear a lot of positive comments about Mark Kosarin, also with Force-e and a really nice guy. We had hoped to do rescue with him this coming week but it didn't work out.

Also consider David Finch, works the dive boat Narcosis out of WPB. We took our solo course from him.

 

[sportxlh]

I've done training with Jupiter Dive Center, Scuba Club (WPB) and Gold Coast (Lauderdale by the Sea) and my sister with Force-E's WPB location. All are top notch. Jimw's suggestion of getting Nitrox certified is a good one too.

 

[jffknapp]

Come to Key Largo and do your training on beautiful reefs and amazing wrecks...with me at Horizon Divers.


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[scuba_newb]

+1 for Rainbow Reef. Took UW Nav with them last year and observed classes while on their boats for fun dives. All positive experiences -- planning to do more training with them this year.


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[danvolker]

Hi Folks,

Longtime lurker, first time poster.

To cut to the chase: looking for SCUBA instruction beyond OW in the SE Florida area, agency neutral (previous certs are PADI), any recs?

Now the background.

I first earned PADI jr open water back in the early 1990s. By 1999 I earned AOW and since that time, have been able to dive at least a couple times a year amassing somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 dives in wildly different conditions over 20+ years.

About a year and a half ago, my wife earned PADI OW in Chicago and is now interested in pursuing advanced and beyond. She currently has about 15 dives. Next month we're heading to Palm Beach and thought it might be good opportunity to get some of that work in.

Looks like SE Florida dive shops and training options are plentiful, any help narrowing down who or what center to pursue would be helpful.

Thanks!

~ GS

When you say you are headed to Palm Beach, this is actually a huge area.....with 3 distinct types of diving.....Jupiter, which tends to deep, and is not ideal for a new diver with only 15 dives----the area out of the Lake Worth Inlet( also called Palm Beach Inlet), with the huge tract of Reef known as the Breakers.--this area running mostly from 40 feet deep to 60 feet deep, is going to be ideal for the two of you.....and the third is the Boynton Delray area, which is also shallow like the Breakers area, though the boats there actually cater more to advanced locals, and there are less choices in instruction and shops.
If you are in fact, going to be near the Palm Beach Inlet, then choices like Force E Riviera, Jim Abernethy Scuba Adventures, or Pura Vida will all be great for the development you are looking for, and the proffessionalism these operations represent. The great bonus in diving out of Palm Beach Inlet, and staying at a Hotel like the Hilton on Singer, or the Marriott Resort, is that you are 600 yards or so away from the Blue Heron Bridge Marine Park ( voted best Shore dive in the world) and about a mile from most of the dive boats.....If you are not familiar with the Blue Heron Bridge, there is a forum here just for it, and I can also offer this http://www.facebook.com/wild.diving with thousands of hi res images of the spectacular macro life of the BHB Marine Park.