Who gives scuba lessons on STJ to beginners???

cypressgirl · Post by **cypressgirl** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 5:21 pm

My husband and daughter want to try diving during our trip next month. I know a few of the SOTB girls took a lesson from a gal named Colette (I think). Does anyone have her number or e-mail address? If there is anyone else you'd recommend, I'd appreciate the info.

I also need to find something special for my 15 year old to do with me while they are diving. She's going to be upset when we tell her she can't do it. Waaaaay to ADHD!

jayseadee · Post by **jayseadee** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 5:37 pm

You can find her here: http://www.6paqscuba.com

sea-nile · Post by **sea-nile** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:02 pm

Cyp,
Colette was great, but I think every dive shop has a learn to dive if she is booked. I really liked it and you know where that led me....

cypressgirl · Post by **cypressgirl** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:07 pm

Thanks for the info, guys. I have e-mailed Colette, so I'll see if she has any openings.

Sun4MySoul · Post by **Sun4MySoul** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:44 pm

I'm going on the "comfort dive" with colette in a couple of weeks. She was great about email response and scheduling, so hopefully, you will have good luck.

Would your 15 yr old like horseback riding? Rick G always says how his girls love that. The stables are in Coral Bay, I believe.

stampede chuck · Post by **stampede chuck** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:26 pm

I just got back this afternoon and completed my PADI Open Water Diver certification with Low Key Watersports http://www.divelowkey.com/. I know they do an intro to scuba or resort course as well, because there was one person on the dive boat who was doing it.

FlaGeorge · Post by **FlaGeorge** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:02 am

Hi cypressgirl
FlaSteph had just gotten certified the year before when we dove with Colette and didn’t have a lot of underwater hours log yet. Needless to say – FlaSteph was one anxious diver that day. There were 5 of us on the boat that day and Colette did a great job calming her down. In my mind, she a great instructor and I think that hubby and daughter will have a great time.

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:27 am

cypressgirl wrote:I also need to find something special for my 15 year old to do with me while they are diving. She's going to be upset when we tell her she can't do it. Waaaaay to ADHD!

How about a day at the beach with RickG and his 10, 16 and 45 year old girls? Also, my girls will likely be horse back riding with Carolina Corral on Monday and Wednesday of Spring Break. I usually drop them off at the stable and hit Haulover for a snorkel. Let me know if you want to hook up.

Cheers, RickG

cypressgirl · Post by **cypressgirl** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 11:08 am

Rick, Haley has been so upset since I told her she is not "mature enough" to scuba. (Not the best choice of words, I admit). I finally told her she can scuba to China if she wants, but don't come whinning to me "if you nearly drown". But I will keep your kind offer in my. I'm sure we can get our families together for some great beach time and libations. What is the ride like? Where do they go and how are the horses? I always imagined a bunch of boney old nags, ready for the glue factory. Maybe I'm totally wrong. There are some pretty sad looking horses available to rent on the Texas coastline. It borders on animal crewlty.

traveler22 · Post by **traveler22** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 11:13 am

I would second Lowkey watersports. I would also suggest if they haven't already done the class work, try a local dive shop or call one of the dive organizations (PADI,NAUI) and have that done prior to your trip. It gets that out of the way and they will be more familiar with the training and won't have so much to do on vacation. I did a try scuba out of Caneel and went home did the class work and then came back down and did my check out dives with the instructor. I trained with Cruz bay watersport and this was the way the instructor there recommended. You might want to call whoever you decide to use and ask what they recommend.

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 11:23 am

cypressgirl wrote:I'm sure we can get our families together for some great beach time and libations. What is the ride like? Where do they go and how are the horses? I always imagined a bunch of boney old nags, ready for the glue factory. Maybe I'm totally wrong. There are some pretty sad looking horses available to rent on the Texas coastline. It borders on animal crewlty.

[Threadjack warning!!]

You know we're going to end up on the same beaches!

I think the horses are in quite good shape. Dana has built her stable from rescue horses. Some of them were in tough shape when she got them. They all look good and have good attitudes. She lets them go for a walk about Coral Bay in the morning and you can sometimes see them grazing in the ball field. My daughters have some favorites, but there's a half dozen with spirit. Houdini seems to be the calm one and Ginger the horse that wants to increase the pace.

Dana takes good care of her horses. She also takes in other critters. There's a blind deer that likes to have goats for company. There are donkeys. It's a menagerie. Dana is very down to earth and quite nice. You might see her walking around Coral Bay with her hound dog on a rope.

The ride my daughters like the best is up Johnny Horn with a vista down the Drake Channel of the BVIs. They come down the back of the ridge and walk along the beach, unless one of the water horses is along (one of the horses will roll in the bay and take the rider along for the roll).

Cheers, RickG

cypressgirl · Post by **cypressgirl** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:16 pm

Do you wear jeans and close toed shoes? How long are the rides and how much? It sounds like fun and something I have never thought about doing on STJ. I probably could not get my boots and Wranglers in my carry on.

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:26 pm

The girls do jeans and sneakers or their riding boots if they have room in their bag. I forget how much the trail ride was... Between $45 and $60 per person for about 2 hours. I stay off the horses, but the girls sure love it.

Cheers, RickG

chrisn · Post by **chrisn** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:31 pm

LOL Cpy! When I read your topic title my first thought was...this is the girl who in order to snorkel comfortably, needs to be three sheets to the wind?

Now it makes sense! My 10 year old has been begging for scuba. Santa put a gift cert in his stocking for a discover scuba course at our local dive shop. They told me he could be certified at 10

. How about h*ll no! I could not believe that! I just think there needs to be a certain maturity level there for that kind of stuff and he is definitely not even remotely close to it. I wouldn't even consider certification for him until maybe like 16 or so. That's just me but 10 is young, 15 is young. You're the one that knows your child best.

cypressgirl · Post by **cypressgirl** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:35 pm

Chrisn, You won't find me in a scuba class. That comes under the category of stuff like sky diving. Why would anyone jump out of a plane on purpose? No way in H**l!

Rick, what's your problem with horses??? They are so predictable. Last time I rode a horse on a beach he threw me off because he saw a piece of barbed wire mostly buried under the sand. Before that, I was thrown off a horse in Col. at a Dude Ranch. We were up and down mountains all day and were galloping into the ranch and a kid threw a ball in front of my horse and he rared up and I hit the grown. Last May I was in Va. and the Homestead Resort and my horses saddle was too loose and it fell sideways when the horse made a turn and I fell to the muddy trail. In a couple of weeks I will be on another horse in Arizona. I'm sure he will see a rattle snake and throw me right on it. Can't wait.

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