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open water dives for cert...FLL or Miami?


tntutter

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We are thinking of doing the classroom/pool stuff here before we leave on our trip. but would need to do the open water dives in either FLL or Miami before our cruise departs. Does anyone have a recommendation as to a good dive shop for these dives?

 

Tracy in Neb. :D

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Hi Tracy - I faced a similar dilemma before a cruise several years ago. I didn't want to do my check-out dives in a freezing cold :eek:, murky, local quarry. I did a bunch of research and settled on Silent World in Key Largo - about an hour drive south of Miami. Ask for Pat, she's awesome and so laid back, you'll swear it is a vacation, not certification. We loved Silent World so much that we dive once or twice a year with them still! www.silentworldkeylargo.com

 

Good luck with becoming certified! :)

Cynthia

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I think Key Largo is a great choice too. There are many very nice shallow dive sites there so you'll have plenty of time to practice your skills. And the underwater scenery is great.

 

I also second what Cynthia said: My husband and I were lucky enough to have Pat (from Silent World) as the instructor for our AOW certification and we thought she was terrific. After 5 dives with her we felt that we'd made a sort of quantum leap in our diving skills.

 

But beware--it's one of the most addicting hobbies I know of! :D

 

--Ellen

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Hi Tracy - I faced a similar dilemma before a cruise several years ago. I didn't want to do my check-out dives in a freezing cold :eek:, murky, local quarry. I did a bunch of research and settled on Silent World in Key Largo - about an hour drive south of Miami. Ask for Pat, she's awesome and so laid back, you'll swear it is a vacation, not certification. We loved Silent World so much that we dive once or twice a year with them still! www.silentworldkeylargo.com

 

Good luck with becoming certified! :)

Cynthia

 

Cynthia,

When you dive with Silent World, do they have a dive master with the group or do you pay extra for that? I prefer a DM leading my dives so I can look around and check out the sights but it seems like that is not the norm in the Keys. Am I wrong?

Thx!

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Hello! Last year my wife and I decided to get our Advanced Certification for diving. After doing a lot of research, we went with a dive shop out of West Palm Beach, Pura Vida Divers. They were very professional and worked with me to insure that we could get all of our dives in 3 days for the class. We were assigned a dive master for the 2 of us, and really, really enjoyed it!! I highly recommend Pura Vida Divers - http://www.puravidadivers.com/

 

The diving in West Palm beach was very good, also. This was the first time we had dove offshore out of the USA (always the Caribbean before) and really surprised us. We are now going for our rescue certification, and will use Pura Vida Divers again! John and Rhonda

 

Link to some of our dive pictures in West Palm Beach:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamga02/

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Hi Turtle Girl - Yeah, it has been my experience in Key Largo that you have to pay extra for the dive master. I'm not sure how it evolved to be that way in the Keys. In the case of Pat at Silent World, I can say it is a worthwhile expense until you're thoroughly familiar with an area and a must for something challenging like the Spiegel Grove.

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In my experience in the Keys, the captain and DM/mates do not routinely go in the water or conduct dives. You can always arrange to dive with a DM, but at an additional fee. On some of the deeper wreck dives, they will require you to dive with a DM if you are not AOW certified or haven't dived in the last year.

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