Brand new to scuba - looking for advice

[mediumone]

I would also recommend doing AOW directly after OW.

I would also disagree.
Vehemently.
Graduate from college.
Get an entry level managerial job.
Two months later, you're ready to be the CEO.

 

[abnfrog]

sorry I meant NON scuba proffesionals

 

[Streydog]

I would also disagree.
Vehemently.
Graduate from college.
Get an entry level managerial job.
Two months later, you're ready to be the CEO.

Obviously you are not a millennial

 

[Streydog]

I got my certification on vacation after doing a discovery dive. I went to Roatan with no intention of diving. The hotel I stayed at had a dive shop, did a discovery dive and then continued on for my OW in a total of 4 days. I don't think any safety standards were missed but my buoyancy skills could have used more time.

 

[mediumone]

Obviously you are not a millennial

You're right.
I am the parent of a couple.
I wanted to absolutely choke my youngest this evening.

 

[ggunn]

I felt that way about sky diving; I had fun on my tandem jump, but now I feel like I can check it off my bucket list and move on.

Now there's something that has never held any attraction for me. DSFDF

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

I did my AOW right after I finished my OW certification. Under no circumstances would I consider myself an advanced diver. Nope, not even close. Anyone who thinks they are advanced anything just because they took a class and got a fancy card is fooling themselves.

 

[kmarks]

PADI has no “resort course” - it’s called discover scuba diving (dsd) and is done every day by many people in Cozumel in the ocean, you may start in the pool - it depends on who is teaching you.

Complete DSD and do well, the dive op may allow you to continue diving with them but that is outside the bounds of PADI and doesn’t count anything as training unless you take OW.

DSD is for people to try diving before putting up bigger dollars for OW training or that person that just wants to try it. All my kids but one did a DSD first, it saved me from paying full boat on the two that didn’t like it and could not have completed OW.

DSD training is setup to carryover into OW. Say you like it and want to continue, your DSD training counts towards your OW training, it ain’t much but is something.

Vacations are supposed to be fun, scuba diving is fun - complete all the book and pool stuff at home at your leisure, have fun. Come to Cozumel with your referral form and have fun - it’s a blast.

I'm not familiar with the intimate details of the PADI program (I'm not a PADI instructor), but my understanding is that "Resort Course" is kind of a colloquial term for DSD done on vacation at a resort that then lets you stretch it out for a bit longer than it is technically supposed to be. I also have never heard of any credit towards OW being awarded for having done a DSD. My shop (SSI) gives you are monetary credit, a discount of $50 off the OW course price, if you do a Try Scuba with us ($75), but you still have to complete the full OW course.

I'm going to join the bandwagon in recommending against AOW right away. I've met many "advanced" divers who weren't, including one absolute train wreck in Cozumel in 2014 and another in June of last year who each had fewer than 20 dives. The guy last year talked a big game about being advanced, but needed some more practice. When I first started diving, I planned to do PADI AOW after I got about 50 dives so that I could use the knowledge gained in those dives to have a better understanding of what I would be learning in the AOW course. I never ended up doing it, though, because I switched to SSI when one shop closed and another opened. I ended up earning the SSI AOW recognition (which is not the same as PADI AOW) as I collected cards doing full courses on my way to instructing.

 

[rmssetc]

Spend a few more days, and do it in Key Largo and do the whole thing. No current either.

Absolutely!

I really like Cozumel -- just got back from my 7th trip there in 4 years.

I probably* would not recommend that you do your open water certification in Cozumel in November for several reasons:

1. Drift diving. I don't know how the open water classes are run, but almost all diving in Cozumel is drift diving from small boats. The conditions underwater and on the boat are not ideal for an introductory training environment.
2. Too little time for any training issues. Your schedule is aggressive, even if you do the pool & paperwork in advance (highly recommended). If you've got trouble clearing your ears one day, need to repeat some exercises, if the conditions (current, el norte, etc) make diving difficult, you don't have enough time to reschedule any of the training dives for another day.
3. Too little time for fun. While the open water training should be fun, your schedule doesn't leave you any time to enjoy diving -- and even more importantly, to practice new skills -- with a few days of fun dives after you are certified...ideally, with a rest (non-diving) day in between.
4. CZM will be entering the high season (like every other western-hemisphere warm water resort area) in the next month. That may affect the level of time & attention you are able to get as students and may affect the ability (and desire) for any operator to schedule classes.

Here's some advice that probably isn't very helpful to anyone considering getting certified, yet it's great advice (that I ignored)...the primary consideration in where you get certified should be the quality of the instructor, not the resort location. I wrote that I probably wouldn't recommend getting certified in CZM, but that suggestion is completely subject to the choice of a good instructor. I'd recommend a few people at Aldora, but I don't know if they're still on-staff.

I'd suggest going to a place where there's less current, and maybe where the diving isn't considered as "good" or potentially challenging as CZM -- Key Largo is a good choice. I went to Playa Aventuras (south of Cancun) for AOW for just that reason, and I'd recommend that as well. Call several shops in advance to get a sense of how they run classes, ideally speaking to the instructor first.

Enjoy, and welcome!

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Isla Mujeres is about as easy as it gets.