I've been tearing through this board for a week now, I hear varying
opinions about certain stores... stay away from UWS, Lighthouse, go
only to 5th dimension.... blah blah blah.  The big problem is most of
these posts are dated atleast a few years old for one... and two most
of them are by the same people... like Jammer... I can now say with
complete confidence that Jammer hates UWS with a passion and loves 5th
dimension...hehe  My dilemma is this I want to get certified, ive read
enough times that Padi, Naui, SSI doesnt really matter its the
instructor that matters...ok got it.  How are some of these places for
instruction?  I first went into Lighthouse in Lynnwood, everyone there
seemed cool to me got along real well with the people I talked to and
the price is reasonable (yea i know cheaper is not better, bet then
again expensive is not necessarily either), which leads me to 5th
dimension, my god how can they get away with being so expensive?  Are
they really that good?  If its going to make the difference between
being an ok diver who will need lots of dives to get good, to coming
away a very well trained diver who again needs lots of dives.... and
thats where I start to get confused... either way once I get certified
it will come down to how much time I spend in the water... so is it
really worth spending the extra $$ at 5th dimension?  Is Lighthouse
really that bad? What about Silent World in Bellevue (again pretty
pricey) **notice I left UWS out of this as I did go into their Edmonds
store and I have to say Jammer nailed those guys on the head... very
pompous "we are divers, bow at our feet" attitudes.. I was turned off
by them after 30 secs of talking to the guy

Thanks guys for any help I really want to start diving in June and I
am having a difficult time making decisions...