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Scuba Forum / Scuba Locations / May 2005Good Place to Learn Scuba and Become Certified?
The subject header says it all. A friend and I want to try out Scuba diving for the first time and hopefully get basic certs at the same time. Can anyone recommend some good place(s) to go that won't be overloaded with tourists, have good attentive instruction, have some nice reef spots to dive and won't break the bank? Thanks! Tom > The subject header says it all. A friend and I want to try out Scuba > diving for the first time and hopefully get basic certs at the same > time. Can anyone recommend some good place(s) to go that won't be > overloaded with tourists, have good attentive instruction, have some > nice reef spots to dive and won't break the bank? Your local shop won't be overloaded with tourists, won't break the bank, and will have good attentive instruction by instructors who speak English as a first language. Finish your certification process by doing the requisite open water dives at your nice reef spot. > > The subject header says it all. A friend and I want to try out Scuba > > diving for the first time and hopefully get basic certs at the same [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > first language. Finish your certification process by doing the requisite > open water dives at your nice reef spot. I would second that suggestion. Doing the classroom work and pool sessions at home will be at a slower, less hectic pace giving you time to study the book portion of the class. If you go to a dive resort to do this you will be rushed and will not have time to really become familier with the coursework. That is if there are local scuba shops and teachers in your area. Walter > The subject header says it all. A friend and I want to try out Scuba > diving for the first time and hopefully get basic certs at the same > time. Can anyone recommend some good place(s) to go that won't be > overloaded with tourists, have good attentive instruction, have some > nice reef spots to dive and won't break the bank? I'd suggest getting your classes and pool work locally, then if you don't have warm water (even in the summer) anywhere local, have your check out dives done somewhere warm. We did this with my SO--did a park district class with a PADI class locally, checkout dives in St Thomas at a PADI shop there. Diving in Lake Michigan is not a very appealing thought really. I on the other hand was certified in Austin, TX where lake Travis isn't _that_ cold in the summer. I haven't dived (dove) in freshwater since, nor have I dived in non-tropical waters since. :-) I was glad neither of us had to burn vacation time sitting in classrooms or doing skills in a hotel pool while spending hundreds a day in a nice locale. As for where to do your checkout dives, try the Floriday Keys. Key Largo, for instance. Transportation there shouldn't be bad, and you can find accomodations to fit most budgets. Best Regards, -- Todd H. http://www.toddh.net/ > The subject header says it all. A friend and I want to try out Scuba > diving for the first time and hopefully get basic certs at the same > time. Can anyone recommend some good place(s) to go that won't be > overloaded with tourists, have good attentive instruction, have some > nice reef spots to dive and won't break the bank? If we knew of such places, we would not tell you about them. There are places that won't break the bank, and places with good diving, and places that are not overloaded with tourists, but as far as I know, there are no places that have all of the above. The closest I know of is Boynton Beach, Florida. Get in touch with Lynn at Splashdown Divers. Tell her Lee sent you. Lee tomzpc@aol.com pounded away at his keyboard resulting in: :The subject header says it all. A friend and I want to try out Scuba :diving for the first time and hopefully get basic certs at the same :time. Can anyone recommend some good place(s) to go that won't be :overloaded with tourists, have good attentive instruction, have some :nice reef spots to dive and won't break the bank? If it doesn't have a lot of tourists, it probably has some things wrong with it. A significant part of the cost is the travel expenses. So pick a place reasonably close to where you live. For example, if you live in the eastern part of North America, pick a spot in the Caribbean. If you live in Japan, consider Palau. Pick a place that has things to do other than diving. If, when you try it, you discover you either don't like it or can't do it, you'll have something to do for the rest of your vacation. Dan Bracuk If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. > The subject header says it all. A friend and I want to try out Scuba > diving for the first time and hopefully get basic certs at the same [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Tom I live in austin by that cold dark lake, and i found a group (online, from chicago)that offered my doing all the bookwork online, SDI cert., then met them in Curacao, did pool work and first 2 dives one afternoon, second 2 dives next morning, and i was certified in 24 hours. Of course i did great or they wouldn't have passed me... been diving tropical waters ever since... cost was the SAME as doing the work here in austin. shawn > I live in austin by that cold dark lake, and i found a group (online, > from chicago)that offered my doing all the bookwork online, SDI cert., [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > diving tropical waters ever since... cost was the SAME as doing the > work here in austin. An entire half a day of pool work for you to master all the skills you need to be certified? That's reassuring. Why are you so sure that they wouldn't have passed you had you not done "great"? Your check cleared, didn't it? Thanks for the responses. I appreciate everyone's advice re: doing classes locally, however, the plan is to do everything on site. It's not a regular vacaction persay. More of a 5 day or so "quest" to get certification and some dives. For example, Utila Dive Center offers what breaks down to about 2 days classroom and 2 days water plus accomodations for a little over $200 US with all equipment included. Anything similar along these lines that you can recommend? Thanks again. tomzpc@aol.com pounded away at his keyboard resulting in: :Thanks for the responses. I appreciate everyone's advice re: doing :classes locally, however, the plan is to do everything on site. It's [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] :accomodations for a little over $200 US with all equipment included. :Anything similar along these lines that you can recommend? A mite pricier, but have you considered a liveaboard dive boat? Dan Bracuk If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. Excuse me? take your snideness elsewhere. this must be how you get your kicks. do you pull wings off flies too? > Excuse me? take your snideness elsewhere. this must be how you get your > kicks. do you pull wings off flies too? I totally agree with you. Some of his posts just add nothing to the discussion. He is either an old 57-year geezer with a grudge against the whole world or a 12-year old with something stuck up his rear end. In either case, a real "bonehead"! > I totally agree with you. Some of his posts just add nothing to the > discussion. He is either an old 57-year geezer with a grudge against the > whole world or a 12-year old with something stuck up his rear end. In > either case, a real "bonehead"! So tell me why you believe a half-day of pool instruction, after entirely on-line instruction, is sufficient to enable someone to obtain a certification card that allows them to dive anywhere in the world without supervision. Are you a PADI course director? Why even bother with in-person pool instruction when you can watch a video instead? > > Excuse me? take your snideness elsewhere. this must be how you get your > > kicks. do you pull wings off flies too? [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > whole world or a 12-year old with something stuck up his rear end. In either > case, a real "bonehead"! Same sh.t, different newsgroup really. You'll find pedants in any population. I just got done making a similar observation in a photo newsgroup when the goose -tepping groupthink photonazi's were thumbing their nose at any third party lens maker vs manufacturer's lenses even when there is a compelling price/performance argument to made for third party glass. So, here though was have a classic example of "thou shalt be certified the same way I was certified" Scuba-Nazi's cruft. Dont' let it get to ya. Dive, be safe, have fun. Don't let crabby fault-finding people make ya toss the baby out with the bathwater that is Usenet. :-) Best Regards, -- Todd H. http://www.toddh.net/ t@toddh.net (Todd H.) pounded away at his keyboard resulting in: :Same sh.t, different newsgroup really. You'll find pedants in any :population. I just got done making a similar observation in a photo [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] :So, here though was have a classic example of "thou shalt be certified :the same way I was certified" Scuba-Nazi's cruft. I missed the compelling argument that half a day of pool work was sufficient for a basic Open Water certification. Could someone show it to me please? Dan Bracuk If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. Dan, are you and Greg picking on these boys? Shame on you for picking on somebody so defenseless. Shawn, you're being a twit. You got your certification from the least respected agency in the world, bar none. Nobody but you is impressed. The people you are arguing with have been diving longer than your agency has been in existance. At least one of them is an instructor and, perhaps an instructor developer. Both of them travel the world to dive. They're not exactly beginners at diving or at giving advice on line. The most common statement in dive education is that it is the instructor that counts, not the agency. You didn't have an instructor at all. While it's possible for some to do the academic portion of a course without direct participation by an instructor, the chances or missing something important are a lot higher than they are with lots of face to face interaction with somebody that knows his subject and how to teach. It's only possible for somebody to get the in water basics in a 24 hour period if they already have them at the beginning of the period. It works for those who learned from other activities like snorkeling, skin diving or resort course instruction, but it almost never works for those that didn't. We're glad you learned all you need to know and we're glad you mastered all the skills necessary to be a safe diver. Not everybody can. We'll believe you really did when we see you demonstrate your diving skills in the water or read posts that indicate that, if we do dive together, we'll feel comfortable with you around. So far, you're not doing real well. Lee >Excuse me? take your snideness elsewhere. this must be how you get your >kicks. do you pull wings off flies too? Context?  Signaturedillon Women should be obscene and not absurd. |
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