Dry Suit Certification

[Searcaigh]

I'll add my two $SIN worth here.

Doing the drysuit course is pretty easy, but to be comfortable diving in a drysuit you really need a few dives in it to be at a stage where you're totally at ease. Given that the OP @leegrr has less than 100 dives I would suggest that he/she would need around 10 drysuit dives post certification to be comfortable diving in one.

 

[drakcheslav]

If you ask me, I think it's better to freedive it instead of diving. If you're a good free diver, you can even go down and reach the famed instagram touch the plates.

 

[leegrr]

You complain that taking the course in Iceland will be expensive but you are willing to fly to "Europe, Asia, Australia" just to do the course?? Holly ice water, how much does a drysuit course cost in Iceland??????

I'm willing to fly to those places for a normal sightseeing, non diving holiday as there are several trips in the future to those areas. If there's a means for me to get my dry suit certification as an add on activity I'd prefer to do that than do it in iceland together with silfra. I'm not planning to fly somewhere just for a course.

In asia it's hard to even find a place that teaches a dry suit course let alone rent you one. Dive expos here don't even sell them.

I'll contact nemo33 and ask if they offer it.

 

[Zef]

I'll contact nemo33 and ask if they offer it.

I could tell you from my experience diving a bunch of times at Nemo33 (used to live 40min away from it), that it would hell to dive a drysuit there....the water is so warm that one would probably suffer from heat exhaustion shortly after entering the water.

If you are heading to Belgium, there is a place called Duiktank Transfo in Zwevegem...the water temp is much more drysuit friendly and the diving there is actually more interesting than Nemo.

If you need an instructor, contact one of the following:
Sabine at Globe Marine +32-2376-3346 / globemarine.be
David at Dive Factory +32-2354-4347 / divefactory.be

They both speak English as well as other languages and I am sure they can help you get certified while you are there.

-Z

 

[Sebs]

My drysuit course including equipment rental in Zürich for 3 days/dives is €530 (or CHF, same difference). €200 of that is equipment rental.

If you're in France/Germany/Belgium it's going to be cheaper but drysuit and undergarment rental is expensive and I've never seen anyone charge 60 Euro for a scuba certification as drakcheslav suggested. The elearning material/certification fee is more expensive than that. I think if you budget 500 euros for the course you definitely won't have issues and can probably fit another post certification dive in if you're in France or somewhere not as expensive as Switzerland.

You might be able to find a drysuit course in Melbourne (plus rental) but i doubt it. You could ask dive centre Bondi in Sydney as they sometimes get suits from Santi to try and could possibly rent that one for a course.

I think doing the course in Central Europe is going to be your best bet as it will also let you dive in temperatures more similar to silfra. Also if you're going to Iceland check out Strytan. You can dive thermal vents there which look amazing.

 

[happy-diver]

I bought a 5mm neoprene drysuit without an exhaust valve from a diveshop in Melbourne

The dude told me that weighting would be about the same as my 5mm wetsuit and then
he lifted his arm straight up as a demo of how to dump air, what a course and cheap too

 

[drakcheslav]

My drysuit course including equipment rental in Zürich for 3 days/dives is €530 (or CHF, same difference). €200 of that is equipment rental.

If you're in France/Germany/Belgium it's going to be cheaper but drysuit and undergarment rental is expensive and I've never seen anyone charge 60 Euro for a scuba certification as drakcheslav suggested. The elearning material/certification fee is more expensive than that. I think if you budget 500 euros for the course you definitely won't have issues and can probably fit another post certification dive in if you're in France or somewhere not as expensive as Switzerland.

You might be able to find a drysuit course in Melbourne (plus rental) but i doubt it. You could ask dive centre Bondi in Sydney as they sometimes get suits from Santi to try and could possibly rent that one for a course.

I think doing the course in Central Europe is going to be your best bet as it will also let you dive in temperatures more similar to silfra. Also if you're going to Iceland check out Strytan. You can dive thermal vents there which look amazing.

I live in Serbia. My OWD was 250eur, My Tech 1 was 250eur. Here courses are generally cheap. And especially the smaller certifications which are just pool sessions and such.

As I mentioned, I didn't rent out the gear. I already had my own. And that was before the price hike of everythig. I belive now it's 100eur here. Or something similar.
My suit was 350eur and the course was 60eur, 2 years ago.

Also, I'm part of PSS, so the prices of the licences are much cheaper than PADI/SSI/SDI.

 

[drakcheslav]

I mean, everyone is welcome in Belgrade for cheap great dive courses
We have an awesome lake in the city, and a great deep lake with crystal clear water for any more advanced dives. Also, nice caves for the adventurer ones.
Save your money on cheap flights, food and courses.
The accomodation might cost up, since the influx of ukranian and russian refugees. But it's still cheaper than most of the Europe.

 

[BlueTrin]

I'll add my two $SIN worth here.

Doing the drysuit course is pretty easy, but to be comfortable diving in a drysuit you really need a few dives in it to be at a stage where you're totally at ease. Given that the OP @leegrr has less than 100 dives I would suggest that he/she would need around 10 drysuit dives post certification to be comfortable diving in one.

I was about to say this.

It took me 10 more dives to start actually understanding it a bit and possibly 10 more after that to feel really comfortable.

I guess maybe it does not matter if you just want to tick that box

 

[Marie13]

I was about to say this.

It took me 10 more dives to start actually understanding it a bit and possibly 10 more after that to feel really comfortable.

I guess maybe it does not matter if you just want to tick that box

From what I can tell from reading various FB diving groups, Silfra is a one and done for a lot of divers. They get drysuit just so they can do the dive.