New Diver – Slow Traveler Starting a Big Life Pivot 🌎🤿

[ChasingAdventure]

Generally Bali is considered on the lower end of diving in South East Asia. Truly world class diving in other parts of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia.

Thanks T.K., that’s helpful to know—sounds like true world‑class diving in other parts of Indonesia/Asia can outshine Bali. But as Lorenzoid said, Bali still hits my focus areas: surf, wellness, creativity, and community. The lower cost and travel infrastructure also make it a great hub for exploring other dive spots in the region later—so Bali is still a smart base for me.

 

[ChasingAdventure]

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Welcome and best of luck.

Keep us posted

I love that Goethe quote—truly captures the spirit I’m after. And thanks for the reading recs! Insights into Sport Diver Training & Operations and Confessions of a Divemaster are now on my list. Excited to dive into them as I progress.

 

[ChasingAdventure]

Welcome to the group. Scuba is the best and its to cool to see more nebbies here. Find a group to dive with and that will help you learn from other divers. I dove with SingleDivers.com (not a dating site), check them out...they go everywhere and have a great time doing it!

Coming from you, that’s a great suggestion. I’ve already registered on SingleDivers.com. I agree—traveling with a diving community fast-tracks learning and confidence.

 

[ChasingAdventure]

Welcome to the forums! I replied in your other thread, but wanted to chime in on a couple of items in your post above:

• First and foremost, I would get your initial Open Water (OW) certification as soon as possible and see how you like it. Some folks end up having trouble equalizing their ears or sinuses, some folks feel claustrophobic, some get vertigo, etc. So, getting your first cert will let you know if you really want to go further. It usually only takes about 2 weekends to get your OW cert.
• 
  
• You mention a PADI cert, but really any of the major certification agencies (PADI, SSI, SDI, NAUI, etc.) can be fine (I say this as someone with mostly PADI certs, but some from other agencies). It's really more about the instructor and the dive shop more than the agency. And it's fine to mix and match, for example: SSI Open Water, NAUI Advanced Open Water, PADI Rescue Diver, etc. Your OW cert agency will not prevent you from getting a PADI Divemaster cert if that's what you want.
• 
  
• Both of the above lead me to say: I'd consider going ahead and getting your OW cert from your local scuba shop this summer. From a quick Google search it looks like you have a dive shop in Arvada that has good reviews on Google and has classes every month. Looks like they are an SSI shop, but that is perfectly fine. I'd try to get certified this summer, because freshwater lakes and quarries can get pretty cold after summer is over. If you get certified there you'll have some local people to dive with and learn from, perhaps even take trips with. You can get your OW locally and still dive anywhere in the world. While lake and quarry diving is not clear blue water with pretty fish, it can be great for training and still fun also (I still dive quarries in the summers).

Hope this helps!

Edit: If you really want PADI, looks like these folks are near you and have classes starting this weekend and the next: PADI Open Water Diver With any dive shop, make sure to confirm whether their pricing is just classroom and pool work, or if includes your 4 open water checkout dives (which can be lake, quarry, ocean, etc.).

Hey Rob — I visited Underwater Phantaseas yesterday which started this whole research. I checked their course: it’s $450, but only includes pool + 2 ocean dives. I want better value, especially since I’m relocating, so unless they offer a pro discount, I’ll likely skip local training. I saw Coral Key Scuba charges $625, which does cover online learning, pool + classroom, gear, and 4 open‑water dives. Still, cost-effective training in a coastal location makes more sense for my nomad plan.

 

[ChasingAdventure]

A good PADI shop near you is Flatirons Scuba in Broomfield.

Before choosing an instructor internship program, do more of your planned travels and get more experience. There are fine programs all around the world, some not far from your planned stop i Costa Rica.

You will no doubt have people on the forums here bad mouth the very concept of these intensive programs. I was probably in that camp myself once. A course director I knew helped change my mind. He said he had once hired someone from such a program, and the guy was great. Then a shop where I work had a newly minted DM spend a month at such a program, and when he came back, he was a totally different diver. It turns out a month of diving with a purpose to improving skills does a lot for you.

Hey John — appreciate your point on structured, multi-day learning. My plan is to lock into an internship that forces discipline and immersion—more than paying per certification. That said, I agree with starting OW → Rescue → AOW to ensure comfort. I just want to compare the incremental costs versus a full internship package before committing financially.

 

[Rob9876]

Hey Rob — I visited Underwater Phantaseas yesterday which started this whole research. I checked their course: it’s $450, but only includes pool + 2 ocean dives. I want better value, especially since I’m relocating, so unless they offer a pro discount, I’ll likely skip local training. I saw Coral Key Scuba charges $625, which does cover online learning, pool + classroom, gear, and 4 open‑water dives. Still, cost-effective training in a coastal location makes more sense for my nomad plan.

I'm probably one of the cheapest guys on ScubaBoard, so I understand watching prices. That said, I'll say that if that $625 includes everything that is quite a good price these days. You should know that the lower prices that you see on some websites may be a result of: (1) some dive shops never update their websites; and (2) many dive shops advertise a price but then it doesn't include online learning or crew packs (books), doesn't include the open water dives, doesn't include card/PIC fees, etc. So it is important to find out what the total "out the door" price is on your OW cert (and other certs).

That said, I tend to use the pricing on this Cozumel discount tourist site as a bit of a measuring stick for what a good low price would be (in Mexico), and you can see they state $455 + $180 e-learning, so U.S. $635. Since Mexico is usually cheaper, I'd say the $625 local is a pretty good price -- and I'd place some value also in being able to take the class soon and have a local shop connection (some offer their students discounts on gear).

You might find slightly lower prices in Asia, but personally there's value in getting the basic OW training before spending $$$ on airfare to Asia for diving.

 

[San Diego Climber]

Tulum in the Mayan Riviera is already one of the favorite destinations of Mexico in the world. It is because of the beautiful turquoise blue sea, the vegetation, the cenotes, and the nearby archaeological sites. It is now being recognized internationally as a place specialized in wellness and lifestyle opportunities. It can be better understood as a consumption trend related to physical and emotional self-care.

Now, like you, people choose a place, more than to vacation in the traditional way, to take care of themselves and regain energy and health. Why not consider Tulum as an option for a lifestyle shift with dive opportunities?

 

[boulderjohn]

I checked their course: it’s $450, but only includes pool + 2 ocean dives.

You may have misunderstood this. It is probably for a scuba diver course, which is not full open water. Open Water certification requires a full 4 open water dives.

 

[San Diego Climber]

When it comes to remote diving and remote divemaster, ignore the above instructions and instead claim responsibility for the 1986 Challenger Space Shuttle disaster.

 

[San Diego Climber]

Re my above two posts: I hate to be that person that tries to "unhuman" someone, but looking at the list of posts from OP, they are questionably template-like in their "Hey XXX -- more text." and "<short acknowledgement*>. more text..." and something just sounds off (ala Alaska Diver Dude iirc). Let's see what happens... And sincere apologies if I'm wrong, or the bot is good enough to navigate this and I can't be proven correct.