Advice for first timers

[gabrielleguz]

Hi everyone. I have never posted a thread before and never been diving ! I am 48 and considering diving for the first time with my 16 year old son in Zanzibar Tanzania in early September. I am terrified but also very excited. Does anyone have any advice re a specific PADI scuba school in Zanzibar. Safety is my no. 1 priority and my guide guide book says that unfortunately even if a place ia PADI ceritfied it doesn't mean that it is safe. Has anyone got any experience or advice about this?
We are thinking about doing the first part of the PADI in London and doing the open water dives in Zanzibar as we will only have 3 days in Zanzibar .

 

[rk288]

My advice...get certified on your home ground then you'll have a solid reference to judge safety. Diving is safer than bowling if you do it right...

 

[w ripley]

Another angle you might explore is to complete your classes and pool work at home and do your certification dives on your trip, assuming you are still living where your profile says and the waters are "cold" there this time of year.

The water temps where I live are very cold and we were taking a trip to the tropics, so I did my course and pool work at home and certification dives in warm waters on my trip. It made getting certified a lot of fun.

As long as the certifiying agency at home is the same as the one on the trip you can usually arrange to get certified this way. Natually you want to do your course and pool work just before your trip so everything will be fresh when you get in the water.

Good luck.

 

[Scott L]

We are thinking about doing the first part of the PADI in London and doing the open water dives in Zanzibar as we will only have 3 days in Zanzibar .

I would definitely recommend initiating training in your area including all the pool time you can acquire between now and then. Your time in Zanzibar should not be wasted with class or pool work IMO...