matt_unique
Guest
I will be in Nice for a few days in October. I would appreciate any suggestions for dive sites and dive shops in that area.
Thanks!
--Matt
Thanks!
--Matt
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Scubacastor:Nice is a great area for diving. Many dive charters, many dive shops. Most dive sites are in the Bay of Villefranche sur Mer and at Saint-Jean Cap Ferrat accessible by boat for most of them and for all kind of certifications (the recreational limits for diving in France are 200' which means if you want to dive deep, you need to have the proper certification to handle deco stops !) There are also some nice shore dives.
In Nice I would particularly recommand the dive shop Sub-marine. They have lots of stuff for sales and you can easily rent some tanks with air or nitrox.
I spent nearly 5 years there. I miss this place.
(yeah and plongeur.com is also a good forum to discuss about french diving, I am a moderator there )
Just one more thing about how the French dive: generally the buddy system is not common. Depending on people's levels, an instructor goes down with a group at a certain depth. The group can vary but rarely exceeds 6 divers, it is called a "palanquée". Depending on your TDI level, you may be allowed (I'm using the term loosely) to dive with people of your level or above without supervision, so may have several buddies instead of just one. If the dive operation is strictly PADI, the buddy system may be more prevalent but 100% PADI outfits are rare in France, generally clubs or dive charters are affiliated to the French federation 1st (and CMAS, etc.) and then PADI and others.matt_unique:Great, thanks for the information. Do you know of some shops with a website? I want to check out prices and ask a few questions. I assume they will accept my TDI certifications. Do shops typically do the deeper dives with steel singles?
I have my airfare but I need to finalize my hotel (in both Paris and Nice).
Thanks again.
--Matt