Description
Open Water Checkout Dives
Enjoy the fresh country air in rural Pennsylvania, and escape the city for a weekend. Dive into a Scuba Diver’s theme park, with comfortable amenities, safety personnel on staff, and convenient dive platforms for practicing skills. Sunken planes, friendly trout, and blowing bubbles… what could be better?
What is Included?
- Open Water Training
- Snacks and Soft Drinks on Open Water Days
Some important facts:
- Dutch Springs entrance fees are $54 per day and are paid directly to the quarry. Please make sure you purchase tickets for each day (i.e. July 10, 11, 12 or July 17, 18, 19, etc…) as soon as you can here: Dutch Springs Day Admission Tickets
- After purchasing tickets, please make sure to fill out the Dutch Springs waiver.
- Side Note: a Season Pass is also available if you want to come back another time and dive for fun.
Here are some of the things we’re doing to keep you and our staff safe:
- All of our staff are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and at peak immunity.
- Pre and Post sanitizing the gear with steramine, a powerful anti-viral that is capable of wiping out nearly all viruses including HIV
- All divers get their own mouthpiece
Please monitor your own health. If you develop any of the symptoms outlined by the CDC, please contact us immediately. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html
Where are we going?
Dutch Springs is an aqua park located in Bethlehem, PA. It’s approximately a 90 minute drive from NYC on a straight shot across I-78. The quarry itself is a man-made lake filled with trout, bass, and intentionally sunk fire trucks, airplanes, school buses, helicopters, and more. You can see their pictures and videos as well as their location on the map on the main website here: www.dutchsprings.com
What’s the plan?
Anytime prior to the first day of the class, we need you to make an appointment to physically come into the shop for a fitting. We will take down your measurements, and fill out a rental slip for whatever you need. Two things that are not part of the rental package are dive gloves and dive knives. We strongly recommend both of these items, especially the gloves, and will teach you dive knife skills for North East diving.
Saturday Morning The park opens at 8 am on Saturday, so we want to try to arrive around 7:30-7:45. We’ll meet at one of the picnic tables, and get ourselves situated. We will provide single serve granola bars, fruit and breakfast juices. If you have any food preferences or allergies, please let us know. After we get everyone’s gear unloaded and organized, we will do a briefing , just like we do at the shop normally. We’ll get in the water hopefully around 9am and do our first 2 open water sessions until 12pm, when we will break. Please pack yourself a lunch. Prepackaged food will be available for purchase at the gift shop. If anyone requires extra attention or time with one of the skills, we can use some of the extra time before the park closes to get a handle on it.
Sunday Morning On Sunday, the park opens at 8am. We will do a briefing of the dives and be in the water by 9am for 2 dives. After both dives are completed we will stay and fill out our logbooks. On Sunday we will follow the same game plan. Hopefully we are finished with our day’s activities on Saturday and Sunday by 1pm. You will be registered by your instructor and drive back to the city with your FREE digital certification cards. If you would like a physical one, it can be printed for you at the shop for $14.95. Let your instructor know before you leave the quarry if you would like a printed card and the shop will have it ready for you on arrival.
For those staying over, we can dine at one of the decent restaurants in the area, and we can chat more about diving or whatever subject you prefer! If you can only make 1 of the 2 days, you can schedule your 2nd day of open water dives no longer than thirty (30) days from your first two dives.
Group Size
While we keep our confined water classes capped at 4 students, our open water dive groups are larger, between 8-10 students, depending on assistant availability. We still keep a ratio of 4 students to dive professional.
What do I need to bring?
All divers are responsible for their gear. Rentals are available for pickup from Scuba Network stores up to 48 hours before the class, and must be returned on Sunday after the dives. If you purchased additional gear, please let us know, as it may deduct from your rental package. We will provide snacks, but you may want to bring some of your own to keep your energy up throughout the day.
Bring what you would normally bring for a day at the beach: sunscreen, towel, change of dry clothes, swimsuit. If you’re feeling fancy maybe a lawn chair.
Transportation and Lodging
It is possible to do each day as a day trip, but for those who want to stay over on Saturday night, we have arranged for a special rate with the Courtyard Marriott a few miles away from the park. If you would like to book a room, we can arrange it for you. You can also pursue your own lodging. There are many affordable options in the area.
Plan a 2 hour drive from Manhattan. Space is extremely limited.
Alternative Training
Open Water Checkout Dives are available at a 20% discount when you book an international trip with us. Please check in with the shop if Open Water training is available on the trip of your interest.
