Dive trip to get PADI AOW certification

[Graeme Fraser]

Go to the Red Sea , not sure if there are flights from the Netherlands to Sharm , but there should be some to Hurgada. If you could stretch to a liveaboard this will give you loads of experience, the diving is absolutely wonderful in Egypt throughout the year. You won’t need to drive if you do Egypt. We learned to dive with Ocean Colege in Sharm. Dahab is also a wonderful spot , recommend Poseidon.

+1 for Egypt, ++1 for liveaboard. Out on Tornado Whirlwind from Hurgada for the 5th time next week. Never gets boring.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Have you considered maybe GUE fundies? In Malta, you have John Kendall GUE Instructor resumé

That's going to be the best bang for your buck

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I'm looking at Alonissos island in Greece for this September. The challenge for me is travelling from Glasgow.

Are you going to dive this? Ancient shipwreck open to divers in Greece for first time | Neos Kosmos

Please post your experiences if you do. Thanks.

 

[Chidiver1]

I got my PADI open water certification about a year ago and did some dives after certification. Because I feel my skills need quite some improvement, I'm looking to take a trip to get my PADI advanced open water certification and do 4 to 6 additional guided dives. Therefore, I'm looking for a location where diving is good in September or October. The location should be easily reached from Amsterdam; preferably a direct flight of a few hours and not too much post-flight travel. Because I don't drive, remote places are not really an option, and I prefer to stay somewhere where I can walk to the dive shop as well as to restaurants and the supermarket.

So far I've looked into Malta and the Canary Islands and for now Malta has my preference because it's most easy to reach and the flight times are very convenient. For this option, I find it hard to choose between going to Gozo (Marsalforn) or staying in the St Julian / Sliema. For the Canary Islands I spent some time looking into diving from Gran Canaria and there the interesting options are diving from Las Palmas or going to a shop near El Cabron.

I hope to get some suggestions on where to go, also for any places that I didn't mention. Any suggestions for dive shops are also welcome. TLDR; I'm looking for a dive location for 4-5 days of diving in September/October that is easy to reach from Amsterdam.

I was in El cabron a couple years back as well as las palmas. I can tell you in El cabron you'll be doing shore diving and the entry and exits can be 'fun'.

I was there in June -July. I was cold diving at that time so not sure if you want to go in Sept /Oct.

You can pm if you want and I'll look at my book for the dive ops I jumped out with in Lp and El cabron marine reserve.

 

[Shasta_man]

+1 for getting certified before going and then spending your trip only on vacationing. I have taken classes on trips before and you end up spending a lot of time doing the class and not so much enjoying the trip.

 

[GrafCanuck]

Bonaire and Curacao would rank high on my list albeit they are both roughly 9 hours away but direct via KLM. Would recommend a private instructor. If you go to Bonaire give Paul @ BonScuba a shout to do your PADI AOW. His url is www.bonscuba.com.