First time diving + certification

[Dazed1]

Have any of you folks done your diving certification in the bay area? I'm looking at the following 3 and thinking of getting done in July / start of august:

bambooreef - Downtown SF
Wallin's Dive center - San Carlos
Aquan Sports - San Carlos

All 3 have the open dive part in monterey.

This would be my first time diving (have snorkeled a few times)

 

[neuro]

i did it with bambooreef.

great people. they won't bulldookie you about what you're getting into and the costs.

They're a pretty good place to go. I can barely swim, and they did what they could to get me pass the swim and treading test portion.

Overall a fantastic experience. The scariest part was doing the open dive in Monterey when you're down at the bottom and they make you take off your mask and mouth piece. You get to share it with your partner. om nom nom nom kiss kiss

btw, i do have all the gear that i bought that was required for the class--most of it is higher quality stuff at the time, and might still be. let me know.

 

[kmellon]

I lived in Ohio when i too, my cert dives. No warm water up there so i took a trip to Cozumel and had my training completed there.

 

[jfeva0049]

i did it at anywater in san jose. hit me up sometime if you want a dive buddy.

 

[andyman]

I would highly recommend Steels Scuba over in oakland. They use a public pool and I think certification is fairly cheap, like $250? Anyway Jim is a great guy and I recommend him. Give him a call, doesn't hurt. I believe he does his open water certification in monterey like everybody else.

 

[Dazed1]

Thanks ! I'll look up Steels Scuba. Closest for me (i'm in Oakland) .

I'm leaning towards bamboo reef, but it all depends on the dates that are available now. I do have quite a bit of my snorkeling gear.

I'm going to be doing this alone (and whoever else there is). How was the dive in Monterey? Cold?

 

[neuro]

Thanks ! I'll look up Steels Scuba. Closest for me (i'm in Oakland) .

I'm leaning towards bamboo reef, but it all depends on the dates that are available now. I do have quite a bit of my snorkeling gear.

I'm going to be doing this alone (and whoever else there is). How was the dive in Monterey? Cold?

The dive in monterey depends on the weather really and the tides. visibility was about 15 feet for me at the time.

it was cold, but with a wet suit, i didn't think anything of it. they mentioned it's usually shocking for people when they put their head into the water, but i never experienced that. cold water wasn't an issue.

 

[rssjsb]

My husband and I got certified at bamboo reef and did our check-out dives in Monterrey. Really nice people. I did really well in the pool, but did not react well to the conditions in Monterrey Bay the day of our open water days (56 degrees and five foot viz). In fact, I never would have made it through the open water portion without the extreme patience and encouragement of the BR instructors (hooray for Kenny and Paddy!). Granted, we went through this in April and not July or August because we were on our way to taking a vacation in Australia and wanted to get certified first.

If I had to do it over again, I think I would do the classroom stuff here and then go to Hawaii or somewhere with warm clear water to do the open-water portion of the certification process.

 

[jfeva0049]

If I had to do it over again, I think I would do the classroom stuff here and then go to Hawaii or somewhere with warm clear water to do the open-water portion of the certification process.

that seems like a nice idea but i would be careful with this. i would not recommended that you do not do skills in water that you will not be diving much in. here in the bay its much different than it would be in Hawaii. i would just hate for someone to be in a spot they are not comfortable here in the bay. with the surge and low vis its easy to lose your buddy if you are not careful.

it may not be the easiest thing to test here but i feel it gives you the skills needed to succeed for local diving.

 

[cobraz]

that seems like a nice idea but i would be careful with this. i would not recommended that you do not do skills in water that you will not be diving much in. here in the bay its much different than it would be in Hawaii. i would just hate for someone to be in a spot they are not comfortable here in the bay. with the surge and low vis its easy to lose your buddy if you are not careful.

it may not be the easiest thing to test here but i feel it gives you the skills needed to succeed for local diving.

+1
As a former instructor... Cert where you plan on diving.
Diving in the Caribbean using 8lb weight belt and a light skin.. does not compare to 35lb weight belt, gloves, wetsuit etc.
Vis and current is much different along with the temps.. you will be winded and possible tired allot quicker here than in the Caribbean.
Cert at home... where you are going to dive on a regular basis.

 

[rssjsb]

that seems like a nice idea but i would be careful with this. i would not recommended that you do not do skills in water that you will not be diving much in. here in the bay its much different than it would be in Hawaii. i would just hate for someone to be in a spot they are not comfortable here in the bay. with the surge and low vis its easy to lose your buddy if you are not careful.

it may not be the easiest thing to test here but i feel it gives you the skills needed to succeed for local diving.

I guess it's true that if you plan to dive here, it's good experience. On the other hand, learning the basics of the equipment, buoyancy, breathing, etc. in clear warm water is much easier in less challenging circumstances. Taking on the extra cold-water layers and the challenges of diving in lower visibility is less daunting once you've had a little more experience and confidence. If it hadn't been for the encouragement from the people at BR and the fact that I already had a trip planned for Australia already I might not have made it through.

But I don't want to discourage the OP from doing this. Diving is great, however you decide to go.

 

[Dazed1]

So I called bambooreef. They definitely sound comfortable.

Their certification is SSI, where as the others are PADI.

What is the difference?

 

[Dazed1]

Well, signed up with bamboo reef. Classes in 2 weeks

 

[rssjsb]

Good luck! I can't say enough good things about the crew there. Very helpful and supportive. Who knows, maybe you'll decide you love cold-water diving.

As to the difference between SSI and PADI, I've never been sure. I think NAUI is a more rigorous certification program, but I don't know that there's much difference between the other two. I think some of the instructors at Bamboo Reef are credentialed through SSI and PADI.

 

[GreshamH]

SSI is more rigorous then PDAI (Pay And Dive Instantly) and NAUI. NAUI is more rigorous then PADI. If you tjhink I am bashing, I'm a PADI Divemaster and have assisted a hundred plus classes

If you learn in the Monterey Bay, you can dive nearly anywhere on the planet. The tropics will be that much funner.

Steels is a hardcore store, no fluff, just hardcore. Jim will train you to be a safe and well trained diver.

Bamboo is awesome store and trains awesome divers.

I have pulled divers from the surf from most BA stores, but never Steels or Bamboo.

 

[Bigtown]

Glad you signed with Bamboo Reef. They're a great shop - two of my ex'es got certified there, and I did a refresher course with them a while back as well.

SSI is definitely the best and that's from someone who's PADI (Put Another Dollar In) certified. IMO all the agencies are getting too lenient with certs compared to the old days, but I'm probably just crotchety.

As far as the checkouts, I think people have definitely made valid arguments on the other side, but put me in the +1 for doing the checkout dives in Monterey. It's like learning to drive on a stick shift even though you're only planning on driving automatic - you'll get a better feel for how transmissions work on the stick which will help you on any car...plus you'll know you're comfortable with the most challenging scenario so everything else is easier. Not that Monterey is that challenging - you only go about 10 feet offshore - it's just cloudy and cold.

Almost all serious dive accidents are a result of panic. In my opinion, it's better to panic on an 8 foot checkout dive surrounded by instructors than in an open water environment. And when you find you dont panic and all is well....then those crystal clear waters you're going to are like a cake walk.

I know too many people who did check out dives in the best possible conditions and it's affected their confidence to dive in anything else even years later.

Just my opinion - certainly valid arguments on the other side as well.

 

[rssjsb]

SSI is more rigorous then PDAI (Pay And Dive Instantly) and NAUI. NAUI is more rigorous then PADI. If you tjhink I am bashing, I'm a PADI Divemaster and have assisted a hundred plus classes

This is very interesting and something I've wondered about for quite a while. Thanks for sharing this.

 

[Dazed1]

So I went swimming in an actual pool today (not done in a while). I could barely do 50 meters before I went breathless

Hope to practice some more in the next 2 weeks. Or maybe postpone certification for a few months

 

[GreshamH]

Glad you signed with Bamboo Reef. They're a great shop - two of my ex'es got certified there, and I did a refresher course with them a while back as well.

SSI is definitely the best and that's from someone who's PADI (Put Another Dollar In) certified. IMO all the agencies are getting too lenient with certs compared to the old days, but I'm probably just crotchety.

As far as the checkouts, I think people have definitely made valid arguments on the other side, but put me in the +1 for doing the checkout dives in Monterey. It's like learning to drive on a stick shift even though you're only planning on driving automatic - you'll get a better feel for how transmissions work on the stick which will help you on any car...plus you'll know you're comfortable with the most challenging scenario so everything else is easier. Not that Monterey is that challenging - you only go about 10 feet offshore - it's just cloudy and cold.

Almost all serious dive accidents are a result of panic. In my opinion, it's better to panic on an 8 foot checkout dive surrounded by instructors than in an open water environment. And when you find you dont panic and all is well....then those crystal clear waters you're going to are like a cake walk.

I know too many people who did check out dives in the best possible conditions and it's affected their confidence to dive in anything else even years later.

Just my opinion - certainly valid arguments on the other side as well.

Well said

FWIW I preferred to take my classes to Monastery Beach. The breakwater was our fall back for large surf.

So I went swimming in an actual pool today (not done in a while). I could barely do 50 meters before I went breathless

Hope to practice some more in the next 2 weeks. Or maybe postpone certification for a few months

OK you are going to laugh, but the best way to get into shape for diving besides swimming and diving, is to get on a trampoline. Those small 3-4' ones for indoors are perfect, or you can head out to those trampoline centers we have going up in the Bay Area.

 

[neuro]

So I went swimming in an actual pool today (not done in a while). I could barely do 50 meters before I went breathless

Hope to practice some more in the next 2 weeks. Or maybe postpone certification for a few months

I wouldn't worry about it. Same thing happened to me. I practiced and practiced for two weeks, and I still couldn't do a 100 meters.

you'll be doing it in a short pool, and you can complete the swim in any form you want, even backstroke.