At what age can a child be to certify to scuba dive?
The legal age in the US is 10 yrs old. However not every child is ready at 10 and you should honestly judge your child's maturity and ability to handle emergency situations.
what should I look for in a scuba school?
This was one of our biggest questions as well...... I looked at it as I am entrusting a school to train my 10 year old in a sport that can be dangerous. Well as everyone does these days we started on the internet. Wow what a eye opener in the wide range of classes....everything from the resort style we will train you in two hours too...... what we chose....... school who spends several weekends at 8 hours a day training you how to be a safe diver. We have two such schools in our area and then looked at reviews, again both with about the same level of customer satisfaction. Then we took the last step and interviewed each shop to see who we where comfortable with. We chose Alan and Rhea's Dive Services for several reasons. 1. The first thing out of Alans mouth was he doesn't train children to a different standard than adults, everyone must pass the adult standard or not dive.... really folks that is what you want to hear, 100FT down doesn't discriminate by age when it comes to an emergency. 2. He didn't take us right to the equipment area and try and sell us $10,000 is gear but rather talked with us on how to start slowly and then as we get better or more interested then we can talk more about great. 3. They had a dive travel program....its all we use now. Finally we felt at home here, we have enjoyed the past 3 years out of this shop./
How much does it cost?
Loaded question as the answer is not just $100. It can be as little or much as you like. We decided to not do the Christmas/Birthday gift giving and funnel those funds into diving. If you have a trusted dive shop they will have good rental gear, cheap tank fills and many places in FL like the springs are free or $20 wish dollars to dive. Not really anymore than a few months of a gaming monthly service it seems.