Anyone know where we can get certified?

FH and I want to get scuba certification b/f our honeymoon in August (2 1/2 weeks in Fiji ). Does anyone know of a good company in the city or not too far from the city (within an hour preferably) where we can get certification? Thanks!

OOPS That was supposed to be on NWR-I'm SORRY

There is a dive shop in Brooklyn FI and I use.

They are great.

Their training is top notch and they will let you go at your own pace.

You have classroom training then you go to a local YMCA pool and you then have water training. They work with your pace and if you want to do something 50 times they'll do it 51 times with you.

Then you have 2 open waters. One is in PA called dutch springs and its a lake that you do your dive. They own the propeerty. That is a weekend thing

Then you have another weekend in Montauk. Its the ocean.

I love them at Kings county divers. They are truely wonderful their.

Let me know if you want more info. FM me

and the equipment is expensive. Just something you should know too.

Melissa,

Can you give me the info...I'm in Brooklyn! Also, do we have to buy the equipment or should we rent?

You can rent the equipment. All you need to buy is the snorkel, mask and fins. You will also have to buy a PADI kit w/ a book, log and bag which was $95 when I got certified two years ago. It takes a few weeks and you do have to do two open water dives which is what you would rent the equipment for. Do it, you will never regret it, and you get to see so much when you dive.

Sure

KC DIVERS
2417 Avenue U -
Brooklyn, NY 11229
718-648-4232

KC DIVERS

Edited to add: its not much of a website but if you need to contact them via email you can through the website

You have to buy:
snorkle
mask
fins
gloves
booties

with the shop though, when you are in training you only buy the equipment when you need it. So the first thing they will tell you to buy will be your mask and fins. Then you train wit just those items.

They give you a weeks notice if you need to buy any other items

You definatly want to rent your tank, regulator and I forgot what else.

With this shop (I dont know about other shops) you can rent your own dive skin. How that works is you buy a skin but insead of shelling out that huge amount of money you rent or make a little bit of it towards the final balance of your skin.

Thank you Thank you! One more question,
would we be better off doing the certification while in Fiji, or should we do it here first? Certification there costs $495 plus the equipment fee.

I would say here only because, if you go anywhere the dive shop has all your paperwork and you can always call the dive shop and they will fax over your paperwork to where ever you are (in case you are away and decide you want to do a dive but dont have your stuff, you can call them and they'll handle it for you)

I would also say here because they really are intense here. They train you and train you and constantly test you on your skills to make sure you know what you are doing.

What I really like is I havent been in the water in about 3 years and I dont want to go back to an open water till I refresh my skills and with the shop I can and I dont have to pay a dime for it even if it has been 3 years. If you get certified down there and lets say you want to take a refresher course where would you go and you would have to pay, but up here you could be certified but want to sit in on a class its not a problem.

I am all about being certified up here. I trust my dive shop (I have to I put my life in their hands when we go on open waters) and I wouldnt go anywhere else to do a certification.