Where do i go for classes and certification

[Astolfo]

I need to find a good place where to take my beginner's classes and certifications.
I live in Bainbridge Island and work in Redmond 3 times a week so anywhere in the Seattle and Edmonds area is fine.
If you do not mind can you tell me why you recommend a certain place besides the "they are good"

thanks
Astolfo

[Dusty2]

I depends a lot on what you want to get out of your class. If you are looking for just somewhere to get certified most shops in the area are OK but if you want good thorough training that goes beyond just getting you a card I would recommend going with one of the independent instructors here on the board. Bob Baily (grateful diver) works out of federal way and is a very good instructor, kdupreez works out of the Seattle area and can take you just about as far as you would like to go, LCF's husband is also a very thorough instructor. All of these will give a much more robust training and make you a truly competent and safe diver. They are a bit more expensive but this is really a case of you get what you pay for. Group classes are cheaper but in general they teach the required program and do not give you the extras that you will get with more individualized training. We have a bunch of instructors on the board and they are all good but I just don't know all the names and places. Keep in mind that your OW class is one of your most important that you will take because this is the base you will work from for anything you do in diving. I is also where you learn to stay alive until you become truly competent. IMHO it's worth a bit more to get a good solid base from the start.

Oh and don't worry about which agency they certify with. It's the instructor that makes the difference.

[Astolfo]

thank you! I definitely want to learn right, but $ is always a factor. kdupreez would be better for me do you have his information? I was once referred to Mari Jachetta but I was not able to find a way to reach her....
can you give me an idea of the difference in price? the local shop here in BI charges $450/500 for the basic course which part of it is online.

[seattlepaul1975]

I used silent world and really liked them. They are in Bellevue

[Astolfo]

thanks why.
I will also need help with selecting my diving gear, do instructors help with it?

[Dusty2]

thank you! I definitely want to learn right, but $ is always a factor. kdupreez would be better for me do you have his information? I was once referred to Mari Jachetta but I was not able to find a way to reach her....
can you give me an idea of the difference in price? the local shop here in BI charges $450/500 for the basic course which part of it is online.

You can just PM Koos here, If you go to the members listing at the top right and type in kdupreez it will take you to his member info and it has his website listed also. I am not to sure what they are charging but I am sure that that price will get you there.

[ljjames]

I will second the recommendation for Silent World Diving Systems in Bellevue.

http://www.silent-world.com
13433 NE 20th Street, Suite V-W
Bellevue, WA 98005

info@silent-world.com
Tel: 425-747-8842

(disclaimer: I do not work for Silent World or pimp any dive gear to them. I have known Craig the owner since I was ~19. He is one of the nicest folks around, really cares about our local community and Puget Sound, and it shows in his operation)

[archisgore]

My two cents go for Bob Baily. I know Koos and Peter very well. Both excellent. You simply can't go wrong with these people. (I don't need to justify Koos since I'm talking classes from him.)


I've never met bob personally but everyone just raves about his classes so much, it's difficult to ignore.

I'll meet someone who speaks of extremely deep cave penetration training, but then speaks of "Bob Bailey's bouyancy class and rescue class being unparalleled".

(Also Bob, I need to PM you and get myself introduced. I'm somewhat of an accidental fan.)

[thefeve]

I'd also suggest Bdub here on the forum (Brian weiderspan), he and Jeanna run/own frog kick diving and I've had a great experience with them, and many of my diving buddies were all trained at some point through them.

I've not had experience with Koos and Bob, but I've heard nothing but awesome things about them as well, you pretty much can't go wrong with any of the recommended people so far! Just wanted to throw Brian out there too as I've been very impressed with them so far and thought it worth a mention as well. Good luck!

Regarding gear, def get connected with one of the before mentioned instructors. I think many if them ascribe (as do many here on the board) to the backplate /wing/DIR Style setup. Having recently started a little over a year ago, I think it's a great way to start and probably the most affordable and will grow with your diving. That's where I ended up after a lot if "coaching" from the MMM crew and I'm incredibly grateful I went that route.

Good luck!

[json]

+1 for Frog Kick Diving. Brian and Jenna are both great instructors!

[H20doctor]

underwater sports is a good place .... just learn the basics of open water diving , and have fun and dive being a new diver, find out what you like about diving and what types of diving you enjoy.. I learned after diving that i liked to take pictures and seeing the sea life here in puget sound...after pictures came video.. Now after 13 years of diving i still enjoy it...

[bm5w]

Great question! I wish I would have found the board and asked the same question before getting certified. I'm a fairly new diver and have dove quite a bit with Peter(Lynn-LCF's husband, http://www.belowandbeyond.biz/), taken classes with Bob Bailey-Grateful Diver (http://www.nwgratefuldiver.com/) and Frog Kick Diving (Brian-bdub and Jeanna-edge, http://www.frogkickdiving.com/). They are all great teachers, divers, and people. Email/PM them and I'm sure they'd be happy to talk. You might find you like the style of one of them more, but all of them are passionate about teaching and I would not hesitate to dive with any of their past students.

[Astolfo]

I think I am leaning towards Silent Diving to start with, then when I know more take my next step with one of the private instructors so I can squeeze more knowledge out of them.
Is this a good approach?
TIA

[Jeff Pack]

that is what I did, I took a normal OW curse(spelling intended), and then did the "Rent a Bob" (Bailey) for a weekend of private training.

Bobs private weekend was money extremely well spent.

You also might check with Scott Christopher on an OW course.

Although in retrospect, you might consider the more private OW course models offered by many of the suggestions you've been offered above (Bob, Brian, Scott, etc) instead of the puppy mill OW courses.

[Peter Guy]

OK -- since my name has come up, I'll just provide some information about me and several of the others who have been mentioned.

First of all, we ALL know each other and dive with each other -- not only that, but we refer students to each other. In fact, Bob, Scott and I are all "affiliated" with each other through Sound Aquatics.

All of the others, Brian, Jeanna, Koos, Bob, Scott have "real jobs" -- me, I'm retired. What that means is that I tend to be a bit more free during the week to teach an OW class. I'm a PADI instructor, Bob and Scott are NAUI, Koos is GUE and Brian and Jeanna are UTD -- all are similar but all are also different in what must, or may, be taught -- and in PADI's case, the ability to do the classroom online (and on your own time). The last thing to consider is pool availability -- which in my case is the pool at my house which will be available until the end of September.

[LCF]

If you want to take a group class through a shop, I would recommend Bubbles Below (and particularly if you can get into a class my husband is teaching!). Bubbles has six pool sessions of 90 minutes each, spaced over three weeks, so that students can integrate their learning between times. They do the open water dives over two weekends. I find the schedule really allows folks enough time to practice and actually MASTER skills. However, the content and conduct of the class will vary, depending on which instructor you draw.

Money is an issue in everything . . . but as someone who got a pretty marginal initial class, I will tell you that you will enjoy Puget Sound diving FAR more if you work with one of the people who have been listed. Being comfortable and having confidence in your skills is really important here, and you need a thorough instructor who has those goals in mind (and preferably works within loose or no time constraints).

I'm not sure Bob Bailey is teaching open water these days. You'd have to ask him. He doesn't have access to a pool, to my knowledge.

[kdupreez]

Hello Astolfo,

Thanks a lot for your interest in a class with me. I have to admit that with my day job, I dont get a lot of chances to teach entry level Open Water classes anymore and if you are looking at getting certified in the next couple of months, I can wholeheartedly recommend Peter or Bob if you are looking for a more of a personal one-on-one type scenario for a class.

(FYI - Peter is LCF's husband and they are both part of our group and have a pool at their house that works well)

If you are looking for a shop based experience and dont mind being in a class with a few folks you dont know (And thats usually a lot of fun actually). Then Silent World and Bubbles and Underwater Sports are all good options too.

I dont know if Brian and Jenna teach Open Water entry level classes still either, but if they do, then those are also 2 absolutely top notch instructors!!

Feel free to PM me here or drop me an email if you have any follow up questions and I'd be more than happy to talk through all the options with you.

Koos

[Astolfo]

thanks, I stopped by Silent World and spent almost half an hour with Craig (?) and I think I will take my class there, and go with the personal instruction since they are booked, but I will go and take a look at the other shops too.