"Value Priced" Certification in Atlanta?

[StephenR]

My girlfriend and I are planning a trip to the Bahamas for the first week of May. I have my OWC, she doesn't. We're both relatively poor, and cert courses are EXPENSIVE.

I know that "ideally", you want to have the longest, most expensive course possible and you want to buy all of your gear through your LDS. And there's "no such thing as spending too much money on your safety". "How much is your life worth, after all?"



Regardless, we're poor. It's either low cost or not-at-all. What's the cheapest possible way for her to get certified? We found an online course somewhere, but even THAT was super-expensive.

Would it be possible to just find someone with an instructor's cert. and pay him to spend some time at one of the quarries with us? We could probably pay him $50/hr and STILL save money on the average course.

:11:

Any other ideas?

 

[loosebits]

The standard rushed certification is 10 hours in the pool, say 2 hours with of open water diving and some amount of classroom training (say 10 hours). At $50/hr, that's going to cost quite a bit more than the LDS bargin classes.

You won't find an instructor that will give you two hours in a quarry and then give you a card.

What you can do is take a discover scuba class or something in the Bahamas where you get to do a breif dive with an instructor.

 

[plwtwo]

What can you afford to spend?
As instructors we ALL have standards we have to follow, IE classroom, books, Confined water, and Open Water etc.

By far the cheapest/easiest would be the Discover Scuba in the Bahamas.

 

[fweber]

I have to ask, just how "affordable" does this class need to be? How much can you budget for basic certification?

 

[StephenR]

What can you afford to spend?
As instructors we ALL have standards we have to follow, IE classroom, books, Confined water, and Open Water etc.

Well, it seems like the least expensive courses come out to around $400 (inc. checkout dives). That's crazy expensive! That's almost 8 dives (charter & rental gear). Also the equivalent of two separate round-trip flights to the Bahamas. Is there anything better?

It just seems like diving is very intuitive. There are safety considerations, but especially with dive computers nowdays -- you don't need to spend months and tons of money to be competent underwater. When I got my certification, I left class every day feeling like "That was a little silly, I could've summarized that in 10 minutes." When I finally got in the water I couldn't understand what the big deal was -- after about 5 minutes of learning to efficiently adjust your buoyancy, everything else was completely natural.

I know that with the advent of online sales, training is the last way that lds' can make money... I sympathize. Really, I do! I just wish there was a less expensive way to enjoy this sport.

 

[loosebits]

I hate LDS's as much as the next guy but they do not make a profit on training. They make a profit off of selling the new diver gear.

While it may have come naturally to you, there are many people for whom it doesn't. In case your girlfriend is one of them, you might want to consider a bit more than 10 mins for her training.

 

[StephenR]

I have to ask, just how "affordable" does this class need to be? How much can you budget for basic certification?

Unsubsidized driver's education costs around $200 for a solid course with private instructor training. (Then they let you drive around a multi-ton speeding bullet). That seems like a reasonable cost. Any ideas?

 

[loosebits]

If you can find a private class for $200, go for it. Good luck though.

 

[StephenR]

While it may have come naturally to you, there are many people for whom it doesn't. In case your girlfriend is one of them, you might want to consider a bit more than 10 mins for her training.

Well, I read the thread in your sig, so I know that you have an entirely different perspective on things here.

And after reading over my old posts -- I do have to apologize. I don't want to be reckless or condescending... It's just aggravating that it all costs so much. I really want to show my girlfriend how AMAZING it is, but I doubt we'll be able to afford it. (Already bankrupting ourselves on this trip...) So, please forgive my rashness.

 

[loosebits]

Here in the DFW area, the cheapest classes are to be had for around $250 but that's usually with the caveat that you purchase your mask/fins and snorkel with them.

If you want her to experience diving cheaply, you simply can't beat the discover scuba class. If she decides she likes it and when you two have the money needed to take a class then she can go on and get a certification but I don't think you'll find any way to do it much cheaper than the area LDS's are offering. I promise you, they are losing money or are breaking even on the deal.