Photo property and courtesy of Matt Delejewski

Scuba certification is easier and less costly than one would think. For only $415.00 a prospective scuba diver can become certified at the Chicago Scuba and Dive Shop. Shop owner, Scott Culver, believes this financial commitment is on par with other adventure sports in regards to costs for getting started. He also mentioned that this price is the lowest in the Chicago land area.

The first step to become open water certified is to reach out to a school that offers the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) certification. Scott Culver’s shop is one of these and it can be found on 6321 N. Central and the phone number is 312-771-8647. The certification consists of completing the PADI manual, which is five chapters in length, taking a class in a pool, and two dives at the Haigh quarry in Kankakee. A student can realistically become certified within a week if they have availability to complete the dives right away, or they can spread it out longer if they need more time to complete the manual and schedule the dives.

The five chapters of the PADI manual need to be completed by the student at their leisure and before any dives take place. A classroom session is then held where the manual is discussed and then five short quizzes taken. Once the manual is completed the next step is a practice session in a pool . The Chicago Scuba and Dive Shop use an Olympic-size pool at Belmont and Austin and the classes are held on Sundays. Twenty-one skills are worked on with a focus on buoyancy and proper use of the equipment. All the equipment is provided by the school except for the mask, snorkel, and fins which can be purchased at the shop.

Once the pool work is completed it is on to Kankakee for the Haigh quarry dives, which is the hot spot for open water training in Northern Illinois. Haigh has a lot of fish to check out and also has shipwrecks that were purposely sunk for training purposes.

The Chicago Scuba and Dive Shop limits its classes to four divers, so each student gets a maximum amount of time with the instructors. Scott Culver had a bad open water experience, and felt he had a lot of catching up to do even after certification, so he focuses on making sure his students are prepared. For the price of a mountain bike and in a week or longer it is possible to get PADI certified and start adventure traveling underwater in Lake Michigan, the Florida Keys, Hawaii, and beyond.

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