No PADI cert. Can you scuba dive while traveling?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Just wondering why you are not considering snorkeling/freediving for this trip through the Caribbean?...
Fourteen years ago my wife and I were in our honeymoon in Cancun. We signed up for a mangrove tour where each couple had a little two seater motor boat. The tour would culminate in an ocean spot where we were going to snorkel. I was very disappointed when at the snorkeling site organizers started handing out snorkeling floatation vests telling us that it was mandatory to wear them. When I protested, they said it was due to liability issues and basically told me to either wear it or stay on the boat. Depth was around 10' to 15'. Moral of the story: When signing up for a commercially organized snorkeling tour find out in detail what their definition of snorkeling might be. The definition might exclude any form of freediving regardless of how shallow depth might be.
 
Fourteen years ago my wife and I were in our honeymoon in Cancun. We signed up for a mangrove tour where each couple had a little two seater motor boat. The tour would culminate in an ocean spot where we were going to snorkel. I was very disappointed when at the snorkeling site organizers started handing out snorkeling floatation vests telling us that it was mandatory to wear them. When I protested, they said it was due to liability issues and basically told me to either wear it or stay on the boat. Depth was around 10' to 15'. Moral of the story: When signing up for a commercially organized snorkeling tour find out in detail what their definition of snorkeling might be. The definition might exclude any form of freediving regardless of how shallow depth might be.

That goes to garbage operations that cater to never-evers, versus real outfitters that cater to people that actually do sports. Sadly, places with large cruise based hordes of tourists, run so many "never-evers" from the cruise lines, that the athletic or real adventure types may not find a decent outfitter amidst all the fakes....Then again, it does pay to really look and see if a good one exists :)
 
Nitpick: Certified divers (excluding those holding a 'cert' like PADI Scuba Diver) don't need a DM or a guide.

In many places around the world, if you have a PADI OW cert (or an equivalent cert from another recognized agency like CMAS or BSAC) you're assumed by default - and expected! - to be able to plan and conduct an unsupervised open water dive, and to be able to evaluate whether or not your training qualifies you for unsupervised diving under the given conditions.

Not that those assumptions and expectations always are in line with reality, though...

You are right in your nit picking of course. I was thinking purely in terms of what you'd receive in many holiday destinations/resorts :)
 
I did several resort courses in the Caribbean during the 90's while sailing on the now defunct Windjammers (though the Mandalay is now sailing in the Grenadines again I understand). I probably had 30 dives via 5 or 6 "courses." Once I did the "course" I could dive for up to two weeks with the same dive op with an instructor. For good or evil, I was very comfortable in the water and once the instructor became comfy with me, I dove without much restriction with the rest of the group (mostly certified divers) on guided dives. I didn't get certified because at the time these trips were my only access to the ocean so it wasn't a priority. I know DSDs have received a bad rap on Scubaboard lately and maybe rightly so given how they are sometimes administered. When undertaken by a competent adult capable of understanding and assuming the risks envolved, they can be a very enjoyable experience. I know in my case without the opportunity I might have never developed an interest and later on got certified. Boy, I would have missed out on a LOT. Happy diving. :)
 
while of course you're correct so is Goodfelow. In places like Thailand, The Maldives, I presume the Red Sea and others, the local authorities require you dive with a guide whatever your level.

You are right in your nit picking of course. I was thinking purely in terms of what you'd receive in many holiday destinations/resorts :)

Yup. It's just that one of my pet peeves is that a certified OW (or whatever your favorite agency likes to call the cert) diver should, according to standards, be able to dive without supervision. Because I sometimes get the impression - particularly in the New Divers forum - that it's not uncommon to believe otherwise.

That doesn't mean that I recommend anyone and everyone to buddy up with the person you certified together with and just go diving without any company from more experienced divers, like I did...
 
... I presume the Red Sea ... the local authorities require you dive with a guide whatever your level.

The regulations for Sharm are you must at least have a guide present, even if it is only in a surface supervision capacity (they have to provide briefings and be ready to enter the water). Obviously this is up to the discretion of the individual centres.
 
When I dove the Poor Knights in NZ a few years ago (with Dive! Tutukaka) there was a young Canadian couple in the group.

When asked at the dive shop how long they had been diving, they explained that they had just received their PADI certs at a resort in Thailand the previous week. The guide's comment was "Well, we'll pretend you've never seen a SCUBA tank, and start from there...".

Seemed like a good idea.
 
When asked at the dive shop how long they had been diving, they explained that they had just received their PADI certs at a resort in Thailand the previous week. The guide's comment was "Well, we'll pretend you've never seen a SCUBA tank, and start from there...".

hmmm...since he's working as a dive guide I would assume he doesn't know what money looks like, so I'd pay him with cut up strips of newspaper...pretentious :censored: :D
 
Your friend might have a PADI Scuba Certification. It is essentially a watered down version of Open Water certification and in the PADI website is an official subset of OW certification.

1.) depth limited to 40 feet.
2.) you may obtain tank refills but must dive at all times with a Dive Master or guide.

The course is essentially.
1.) 3 out of the 5 OW chapters
2.) 3 out of 5 confined water dive sessions.

The course is recommended for people who want to dive, are short on time, and plan to dive with guides. I suspect if your friend has 8 supervised dives then she may be diving with this level certification especially if she has been doing all of her diving as resort vacation dives.
 
Actually, it was a good idea. The kids (ok, they were mid 20's) were nice, but had no clear idea about putting the rig together, and they had no buoyancy control to speak of.
And they basically understood the gear, but couldn't actually use it in the water. "Which button do I press to go up? Not that one, that was down, nope! Too much, the other one, ahhhh! too much the other way!"
They were both comfortable in the water, but it was their years at summer cottages and playing in lakes that gave them that comfort. Not the dive training they had received the week before.

They laughed at the comment and were OK with the help and attention they received by the shop and DM. They were planning on (as they said) "taking some real training" when they got back to Ontario.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

Back
Top Bottom