Referral dives - Prices, #, time required

[cwindrim]

Hi all,

Taking my wife to the Big Island in January. We want to get her pool and classroom PADI work done here at home and get a referral letter so she can be certified out there.

I'm exploring different outfits as we speak, but the first reply I've had so far says the certification requires 4 dives over 2 days at a cost of $400 (all equip included, haven't heard back as to whether this is private or not). Is this a lot of dives and rather expensive to any of you? I don't know what I was expecting, but it seems like a lot.

Anyone out there want to chime in as to their experiences with referral certification dives and let me know if this is average or if I should keep looking.

thx in advance

[ScubaToys Larry]

Everything is expensive in Hawaii. We have a place in cozumel that does 2 days of referral dives including 2 boat dives and all gear for $175. But in Cozumel a 2 tank dive runs about $65 and in Hawaii, they can run $135.

So you may want to shoot some more emails out - and you might get it down to a $300 mark or so - but I would not expect you to find it as cheap as say Cozumel.

[TopSully]

I did the referal thing early this year in St Croix. Had all of the NAUI pool and class work done here at home. The referal required 4 dives over 2 days, same as it would have required had I waited until summer here and done it locally. The shop I used for the referal charged $165 and included equipment.

[subsur]

it depends where. in bonaire for example, it's $185 (next to sand dollar) but if i do it locally it's $100-140

[somewhereinla]

Hawaii is very expensive, I did my OW there, and the cheapest price I got was $350 but I felt the course was not very good. Also keep in mind that December/January is high season in Hawaii, everything is completetly booked, so getting a good deal then is pretty much out of the question.

[datamunk]

also, most of the time referrals are done "privately", unless the instructor does put u with another class but i know from my experiene, they like to do 1 on 1 with students because they dont know their level of skills, other than they are "adequate" to warrant the opportunity for checkout

[kyfriedchipper]

My wife and I did our basic classwork and pool work in Phoenix, AZ - and then did our cert dives/referral in Grand Cayman. $250 - $300 per person seems fair, and we just did it this past January. Also - it was 100% private - 1 instructor over 2 days with just my wife and myself. I would check around some more if I were you...

[Damselfish]

4 dives isn't a lot, it's what is required. (You did PADI, didn't you do 4?) You're talking a 1-person private thing most likely, in Hawaii, in high season. You may do better but don't expect it to be cheap.

Perhaps you could find a local instructor that will do these as shore dives, though that would probably be more work and challenging for your wife (not necessarily a bad thing.)

I looked up a couple random shops that came to mind see http://www.konahonudivers.com/rates.shtml#certification
http://www.jacksdivinglocker.com/training/referral.htm