How much would Scuba diving in Florida cost?
My family is planing to go to to Florida for vacation this summer. And I want to go scuba diving, but my mom wants to know how much it would cost? Any ideas?
If you aren’t a certified diver and want to go off exploring on your own with a buddy ( even if they are certified), you’re outta luck. Not happening.
That said, some resorts or dive shops local to resorts do offer a sort of guided tour. They’re called, naturally, resort courses and take about half a day. You’ll be taught basic skills and use of equipment and be taken on a guided tour of a local shallow water dive site with a Dive Master or above accompanying you.
How much? Depends on the dive shop or resort. You don’t mention where you’ll be in Florida and it’s a big state. Cost can also vary with the number of people the tour has. Private tour will be more bucks.
Your best bet is to search for dive shops and resorts in the area you are planning on going to and fire off an email to them asking if they provide a resort course.
One thing I should mention here. You will NOT become a certified diver by going on one of these tours. It won’t even count towards a credit to taking an actual Open Water course. You will get a better bang for your buck if you actually do the full Open Water course academics at least, at a dive shop local to you. You could then have the actual dive portion of the course transferred to a dive shop at your Florida destination. PADI offers this service. You’ll study, do your pool dives and take your exams at your home location, the dive shop will arrange for the open water dive portion to be done at a shop close to your destination. Once you’ve done your open water dives in Florida, you’ll be a certified diver and you and a certified buddy can go off diving or you can get on a charter as lone walk on and they’ll buddy you up. The cost for an Open water cert are anywhere from 200-350 bucks. It all depends on supply and demand. You’re pretty well at a dive shop’s mercy there if they are the only game in town. More shops…more competition and you’ll get a better price.
The alternative is to do your entire course where you live ( including the open water dives) but if you’re at a place where there’s ice and snow…you ain’t gonna be doing those open water dives now.
First off: Are you SCUBA certified with PADI or a similar organisation? If not, there is absokriffingloutly nothing you can do to convince any reputable dive group from taking you along. If you do, there are several dive sites and opportunities, all within a quick google search, ranging from free near-shore dives that you swim out to, to about $10,000 divesites that go to abandoned ships on week long cruises.
References :
If you aren’t a certified diver and want to go off exploring on your own with a buddy ( even if they are certified), you’re outta luck. Not happening.
That said, some resorts or dive shops local to resorts do offer a sort of guided tour. They’re called, naturally, resort courses and take about half a day. You’ll be taught basic skills and use of equipment and be taken on a guided tour of a local shallow water dive site with a Dive Master or above accompanying you.
How much? Depends on the dive shop or resort. You don’t mention where you’ll be in Florida and it’s a big state. Cost can also vary with the number of people the tour has. Private tour will be more bucks.
Your best bet is to search for dive shops and resorts in the area you are planning on going to and fire off an email to them asking if they provide a resort course.
One thing I should mention here. You will NOT become a certified diver by going on one of these tours. It won’t even count towards a credit to taking an actual Open Water course. You will get a better bang for your buck if you actually do the full Open Water course academics at least, at a dive shop local to you. You could then have the actual dive portion of the course transferred to a dive shop at your Florida destination. PADI offers this service. You’ll study, do your pool dives and take your exams at your home location, the dive shop will arrange for the open water dive portion to be done at a shop close to your destination. Once you’ve done your open water dives in Florida, you’ll be a certified diver and you and a certified buddy can go off diving or you can get on a charter as lone walk on and they’ll buddy you up. The cost for an Open water cert are anywhere from 200-350 bucks. It all depends on supply and demand. You’re pretty well at a dive shop’s mercy there if they are the only game in town. More shops…more competition and you’ll get a better price.
The alternative is to do your entire course where you live ( including the open water dives) but if you’re at a place where there’s ice and snow…you ain’t gonna be doing those open water dives now.
References :
Florida offers a wide array of scuba diving, shore diving, boat dives, fresh water Grotto’s, caves and more. You can even dive in Disney World’s Aquarium with the NAUI dive team. Of course a valid certification and log book are needed to dive any area worldwide. BUT you can still get wet and have fun without a Certification Card (C-Card). It’s called "Try Scuba" or "Scuba Passport" No certification or prior training needed, and is good for 30 days with a max depth of 40 feet only accompanied by a divemaster or Instructor just about anywhere worldwide. Age limits apply, most are 12 years and up. On a side note little ones can get wet as well under the "Ranger Program, they get gear and can tag along, just not able to go underwater as BCD will not submerge, for safety reasons, still it’s cool. Underage divers need parents present and wavers signed. The "try Scuba" later on does not count towards actual certification, it’s just a way to try scuba diving. How cool is that! As long as your medically and physically able to dive. The Instructor that at the start and later will go over some basic safety items, gear and skills prior to confined shallow water (pool or lagoon) sessions that last an hour or two. Again always with a trained Instructor for this event. Most resorts worldwide offer this as do most dive shops. Worth calling now and see what is available in your vacation area. Some "Try Scuba" events are preplanned in advanced and most are free, some may charge you a few bucks for the gear and instructors time but it’s worth it and a great way to decide if you want to spend the time and money getting certified. After the confined water "Try Scuba" you can pay the fee for boat or shore dive and be escorted by trained professional on real dive sites. So it’s clear you can not personally rent dive gear at any time or go diving without completing a course and getting a Certification card. Most entry level Scuba certification courses range from $300 to $500, some personal snorkeling gear is required or at times can be rented. Courses are 40 to 50 hours. There are "Resort Courses" that can be done in as little as 4 days. I’d recommend seeking out your local dive shop back home, taking your time and do the course at a pace that you are comfortable with. 4-12 hour days is a bit hectic on vacation and most who do this walk away wondering what just happen and what did I learn. Not the best choice when your life is in the balance. NAUI, SSI are great training agency’s, also TDI, SDI. One that is not high on my personal list is PADI. But that’s my point of view.
Have fun, diving is a awesome family sport and changes lives.
References :
15 year Scuba Instructor for NAUI, SSI, TDI, IANTD,SDI, PADI