There are many reasons to have the passion to become a certified diver. One of these reasons is the adventure love, but surely you won’t take the plunge with anyone, basically for your safety and comfort. So, here are 5 tips to choose the best and most authoritative dive shop.

How to start searching?

First off, Ask your friends, family and in groups interested in diving on social media for recommendations. The online review sites can help you if you want to expand your search.

If there are many positive feedbacks and one or two negative ones on a specific dive shop, no need to exclude it especially if the dive shop responds to the reviews professionally.

If you have many good options from the recommendations and every one of them has e near-perfect rating, How to narrow the list? To get a shortlist, we will move on to focusing on the things that are most important to you.

What is your priority list?

Make another list of what most important things to you. For example:

• what do you prefer: diving with a partner or diving alone?
• Will the high prices be a problem for you?
• Do you prefer specific amenities to be in the dive shop?
• Do you want certain specifications to be in the dive boat?

The list is much shorter now? you may need to call the remained dive shops or visit them if you can, to make the decision. Ask questions and take notes about how helpful the responses were and decide the best for you, for example:

• What is the price of their services?
• Is the staff enthusiastic about diving or just thinking about their salary?
• How much experience do they have?

A dive shop with no-experienced staff is a bad choice.

The best dive shop for your scuba diving certification

In this paragraph, we will discuss some considerations to keep in mind while choosing a dive shop for a PADI open water scuba diving certification:

• Put the price of the certification in mind but don’t let it be the deciding factor. You should choose a reputable shop with an experienced staff. These kinds of shops make your safety and comfort the first priority.
• You can contact the highly recommended shops and see if they have any seasonal specials or can offer a discount if there is a last-minute cancellation.
• You should know the details of the package as a cheap scuba class maybe not, as they may ask you to pay again for:

1. student materials (online learning, DVDs and books).
2. Renting a gear.
3. The certification fee.
4. Buying fins, mask and snorkel.

To be accurate and get the proper information, Ask about the full course fees with all its inclusions. You should ask for other things including:

1. Classroom size.
2. What fees you will pay if you want to reschedule a training session?
3. If you have a medical condition, are not free all the time or are a student under the age of 15, tell the dive center.

It is important to ask about the scuba diving equipment you will be using in the lessons. Finally, ask about the instructor’s credentials and make sure that he/she has a good standard on PADI’s website. The staff should make you feel you are welcome.

On traveling! How to find a dive center

Once you have a shortlist, search on YouTube and social media about each shop to know some details:

• What are they doing daily?
• Where do they go for diving?
• Do they have only one site to go every day?
• What kind of creatures do they see?
• Do the staff and novice divers seem to get along and have a good time?

If you are nearby, go to the dive shop you choose to ask some additional questions including:

• Is the rental gear in good condition?
• How much experience does the staff have?
• Can they repair damaged scuba diving equipment?
• Is there a place to shower or change clothes?
• Ask for the number of divers in one group.
• Ask where the bathroom is and take a look.
• talk to other divers.
• Ask about their policy in case of cancellation or refund.

When to exclude the shop

Some issues reflect bad signs:

1. The scuba diving equipment isn’t well-maintained.
2. Most of the staff isn’t enthusiastic about their diving sites.
3. There are several negative feedbacks from their divers.
4. You don’t feel comfortable.

To find authoritative dive shops easily, just visit the PADI’s dive shop locator. The retailers and resorts of PADI’s organization are located in 150 countries around the world and each of them must follow the organization’s standards.