Trying to Arrange Jr OW Cert for My Kid

[Lenmonster]

So, we are leaving for Coz on Saturday, and I have four days of diving booked with BlueXTSea (Sunday, Tue, Wed, and Thu). This lets me stay married to my non-diving spouse, who wants to do a beach trip on Monday and a trip to PDC on Friday.

Here's the rub. My 14 year old son wants to finish his certification. He already passed the written SDI test, but he needs to finish his pool time and obviously do his checkout dives. He REALLY wants to get certified this trip. I know most of the shops are PADI, and SDI didn't really, if I remember, have him do tables.

So we could do the online PADI stuff this week, and do the pool and checkouts while there. The problem is convenience. We're staying at the Palace, and the online shop last year was AquaSafari. That would have been perfect...he could work with them right at the hotel, and there would be little inconvenience for my wife and daughter.

But on looking things up to make arrangements, I see AquaWorld is now the operator. Given what I heard about them in Cancun, there is no way I would entrust my child to them for a safe and positive experience, unless I had assurances from those in the know that know specific instructors and DMs.

Does anyone have any ideas? I don't want to have to walk into town, because once I'm back from my morning dives, my wife wants us all to be together as a family for the rest of each day.

 

[firstdive2005]

Hi! I am not putting down Padi. I am a master padi diver, so I did the drill with them and I enjoyed it. However I have gone in another direction with training. Sdi/Tdi. You already have your son training there. I would urge you to keep him with this training. Try and get in contact with German Yanez on Coz. He is Yucatech Expeditions. He is a minor celebrity in cave diving/dive instruction. If you can book him for your son while there you will be giving him some of the best intruction found. You will probably incurr logistics issues trying to get him to German but he might be able to work that out if hes able to fit your son in. kev

 

[robint]

contact Mike and Margaret at PapaHogs. I am sure they are both SDI instructors (as well as every other agency). I bet they could do his cert dives for you.

http://www.papahogs.com/site/index2.php/

robin

 

[cvchief]

As one her disciples, :cheerleader: you might drop Scuba Dive Cozumel | ScubaWithAlison Alison an email. If I had a kid, I would trust her to take care of him. And if you tell her his situation, she will give you her best advice even if it is another operator. I think we will be taking our AOW from Alison in the Put Another Dollar In series of courses this May when we go! :cheerleader:

 

[Christi]

So, we are leaving for Coz on Saturday, and I have four days of diving booked with BlueXTSea (Sunday, Tue, Wed, and Thu). This lets me stay married to my non-diving spouse, who wants to do a beach trip on Monday and a trip to PDC on Friday.

Here's the rub. My 14 year old son wants to finish his certification. He already passed the written SDI test, but he needs to finish his pool time and obviously do his checkout dives. He REALLY wants to get certified this trip. I know most of the shops are PADI, and SDI didn't really, if I remember, have him do tables.

So we could do the online PADI stuff this week, and do the pool and checkouts while there. The problem is convenience. We're staying at the Palace, and the online shop last year was AquaSafari. That would have been perfect...he could work with them right at the hotel, and there would be little inconvenience for my wife and daughter.

But on looking things up to make arrangements, I see AquaWorld is now the operator. Given what I heard about them in Cancun, there is no way I would entrust my child to them for a safe and positive experience, unless I had assurances from those in the know that know specific instructors and DMs.

Does anyone have any ideas? I don't want to have to walk into town, because once I'm back from my morning dives, my wife wants us all to be together as a family for the rest of each day.

I've got an SDI Instructor Len See your e-mail

 

[robint]

I've got an SDI Instructor Len See your e-mail

thanks Christi, I only suggested another dive instructor because I figured he had already talked to you and you didn't have an SDI cert available. It would be much better for them all to be working with one dive shop. Glad you can help them out.


robin

 

[cvchief]

Me too, what Robint said....

 

[jayjoans]

I'll be entrusting my 12 yr. old daughter to BXTS/Christi and her crew in 4 weeks, if Christi has the instructor you need, problem solved, and you likely couldn't do any better.

 

[firstdive2005]

I'll be entrusting my 12 yr. old daughter to BXTS/Christi and her crew in 4 weeks, if Christi has the instructor you need, problem solved, and you likely couldn't do any better.

Sorry this is just not true. It would be pretty incredulous for one shop to say they have the absolute best instructor/s.

 

[judydivescoz]

Sorry this is just not true. It would be pretty incredulous for one shop to say they have the absolute best instructor/s.

Its not the shop saying they have the absolute best instructor for them, its the shops loyal customer who has used their services in the past and are so confidant in their ability that they are trusting them to take care of their child as she learns to dive.
Its a very legitimate recommendation!