Hi all, I wanted to take up the IMCA surface supplied course.Any recommendation?which country is better and cheaper?

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Go to www.imca-int.com/members/diving.html look to far right column-scroll down to Training Establishments for IMCA authorized schools internationally, google them at your leisure for location and cost. Best would be Norway, Scotland, Canada then USA. Cheapest probably South Africa, but shop around, use your descretion. Others will have different views-I`m just going by my experience as a sup. with intl. exp.
Professional Diving Academy in Dunoon Scotland gives drysuit, knife, small toolset and a RYA powerboat level 2 certificat included in the price. Used to be the cheapest option years ago, dunno now... Very busy school. Accomodation is expensive might be doable for a couple of days but with for 3 months and no income...
Underwatercenter in Fort William Scotland, no extra gear and was more expensive than other British Schools but they have their own accomodation. Double rooms and sharing with classmates.
Interdive in Plymouth, England. Don't know about extra gear, but worth to look at. Did my medic cert with them and is a very professional school. Cheap accomodation aswell, contact the school and they will sort you out.
Then there is South Africa aswell, don't know their prices but heard a lot of good things. Depends where you're from? Airtickets from Europe are expensive, but worth to consider. Other S.A. divers on this forum can help you out with this.
NYD Oslo, Norway. Course price around $5600. Course duration 4 months. Living costs for the duration of the course around $5000. You only need to buy an undersuit for the dry suit and a pair of fins.
I went to NYD, Oslo, Norway, last year and that was the best education I could get for the money! if you are thinking about going there I can give you the link : http://www.nyd.org/

seriously, it was a great experience and I could take the course again just for fun :)
Thank you everyone for your replies.... I trully appreciate all of them. Keep em comin!
Another option in the similar price range range would be WCCDS in South Africa. All courses combined (Class 2 + 3 + 4) would cost you $7300. Accommodation and food included in the price. Probably the cheapest IMCA ticket there is. Any other school issuing an IMCA certificate whether in France, UK, Italy, Netherlands or elsewhere would cost you much more. Around $15000-$17000.
I also forgot to tell that NYD is the ONLY school that offers a 4 months course. All other courses last 3 months and they are also the only school that implements TUP training (closed bell) during the course.
Hi Danny, Cheapest is best as diving companies outside the US pay no regard to the school attended. A word of warning, whichever school you decide on, do not waste your money on extra courses such as burning and welding which they will try to sell you, they are a complete waste of time and money. Some schools offer a DMT qualification as part of the basic package which will be of use to you so is worth considering. Contact all of the schools to find out what they offer at the moment i.e. do they include accommodation. One of your other replies mention Interdive in the UK. They are an excellent school but no longer offer diving courses only ancilliary courses such as DMT, supervisor etc. Personally, if I was doing an air course now I would opt for either Dunoon, South Africa or Marseilles depending on price.
Well this kinda is relevant to the posting. I'm a Commercial Diver, got my ADC cards and all that. But I want to work over in Europe. Would I need to go back to school for my IMCA? And what's the best place to get my Offshore Survival cert?
Nothing much Flynn. Got the papers ready and I'm off to Norway in March. Hopefully. What's up with you?
haha...u r right FLYNN..ADC is b*******, all they wan is money..so other than IMCA, wat other cert u need to go offshore?i heard people toking abt kmb repair course and the Helicopter Survival Course..Izzit necessary?
Offshore workers are required to possess a TWIC card. transportation worker identification card, see www.tsa.gov which identifies you as not having raped, murdered, or kidnapped anyone in the last week or so. Different countries require various offshore certs, see OPITO.com which also includes your helicopter underwater escape, offshore survival (tropical or northern waters) and locations that deliver the courses, all you newbies should have been given this info at whatever dive school you attended.
They all want money don't be fooled... Don't forget commercial dive schools are bussinesses and they want students first, if they become good or bad divers is not their problem. All they gotta do is make the students pass their exams. If they do that they've met the requirements and they have done their jobs. You being a competent diver is up to you. Personally if I were you I'd take the cheapest option available and go for it. Kmb repair courses are useless. I've took one a few years ago and it was a total waist of money. Maybe I got a bad course or instructor but cleaning a reg and changing comms is easy but not worth taking a course for. Try to get hold of some spare parts drawings of a few hats. You'll see, it's easy. Besides you'll learn all this on jobs.
Offshore survival tickets are only good when you got a job offshore. Inshore they are useless and cost money. If you want to spend money spend it on a DMT course or buy some good equiptment like a spare drysuit, undersuit, fins, knife or a good car/van because you'll be on the road a lot. Good luck dude

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