Good resort dive operation

[letsgodiving]

A friend of my wife wants to learn to scuba with her husband after seeing our photos from various trips. She has it in her mind to take a short vacation, 4-7 days, somewhere nice for her hubbies birthday. She asked our opinion and I recommended learning locally and going on vacation once they are certified but she has her mind set on doing it somewhere exotic.

She lives in Florida so the Caribbean is the preferred region for cost and travel time. Can anyone suggest a good dive operation for doing your OW in the Caribbean.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Belmont]

For a good resort course by serious instructors check Sandals Resorts program, they issue PADI and NAUI certifications.

 

[DandyDon]

As a clarification, "Resort Course" is another name for "Discover Scuba" - no card, gives temporary and very limited diving credentials, not the full OW course.

The OP is looking for a Caribbean Resort that gives a good OW course, and - the lady would be better off to get the OW before she gets there, but she'll probly have more fun doing it at the Resort.

Now, if you can ask a Mod to move this to the Caribe forum, you'll get better coverage.

 

[Doc]

Absolutely concur with the sentiments- get your classrooom and confined water (pool work) all done in Florida.

It is senseless to sit in paradise reading a course book and doing confined water exercises. Do this in Florida.

If you are talking about a "resort course" or "discover scuba", then do whatever they have a mind to, it's tossing money and time away frivolously.

If they do the real course, by doing the preliminary steps in Florida, I would encourage them to do the Open Water portion as well.

If they are laboring under the pretense that they will enjoy the course more in the Caribbean, they are way off base. They will see nothing of note during their open water dives which are most likely held on the shallow sandy bottom with no visible life nearby.

They will likely see nothing at all until their third or fourth dive after certification whereupon the will become transfixed by rocks, sand and an occasional Squirrel Fish.

Getting "certified in the Caribbean" is a waste of time and money. My vacation time is worth more than that.

I can undesratand this intention if you are from Illinois, but Florida does offer some palatable options.

If you are dead set on this, pick your resort just as you might select a hospital for a gunshot wound. Don't go to the fancy nice hospital that does a lot of cosmetic surgery- go to the place where they get the most of that kind of traffic. If you can get a legit OW class from Club Dread or Scandals, by all means. Doubt they do much real certification by comparison, though. I think you could find a much higher completed certified total student count in Nassau (Stuart Cove), Freeport (UNEXSO), or Cayman (just pick one).

 

[Grandcaymandiver]

I would suggest Grand Cayman, In my opinion the best diving in the world. The place that I would go is Ocean Frontiers and do there 4 day dive school. You get to see great dive sites and at the end of the trip you are certified. A great place to stay is http://www.vrbo.com/96906 this is a great house across from the dive operations.

 

[Damselfish]

Well I can see going to the Carribbean (or Florida!) to do your OW dives if you live up north and don't want to dive there. But I don't think 4 days is enough to absorb it all and do a good job of the whole thing, never mind time-to-fly time. And for someone who lives in Florida it makes no sense to me to travel someplace far to get certified - people travel there to dive. And they're sure not going to appreciate the difference between Florida and anyplace in the Carribbean during their class, or for some dives after. In fact, they'd be better off not getting spoiled someplace like Cayman before they enjoy Florida diving for a bit.

Whether someone does the whole course while off someplace, or does a OW referral, is somewhat a matter of preference and I could make arguments for either. Locally you can take your time which is a better idea, and you're not wasting potential dive time in the "exotic" place studying and taking tests. But some people might never get around to it locally so in that case maybe they're better off going someplace where they can immerse themselves in it. And some people might be more comfortable doing the class all in one place with the same people.

Maybe show your friend this thread, I think they're going to get a lot of the same advice.

 

[scratchmyback]

I have to chime in here too. I started my OW course in Cozumel and I quickly realized I didn't want to spend all my vacation time working on it. If she is planning to combine this trip with a birthday for her husband, she may find she doesn't really have time to give both what they deserve.

 

[sytech]

I actually enjoy taking a dive course when I'm in the Caribbean.

I consider it to be part of the vacation and the fact that I'm taking it in "real" ocean conditions to be useful.

Sy

I have to chime in here too. I started my OW course in Cozumel and I quickly realized I didn't want to spend all my vacation time working on it. If she is planning to combine this trip with a birthday for her husband, she may find she doesn't really have time to give both what they deserve.

 

[hamletfish]

I just did a complete OW course in Roatan and had a fantastic time. I felt like it was actually nicer to be able to just focus on learning scuba for a few days, instead of trying to fit it in with a busy work schedule. The classroom work is really pretty simple and it's nice to be able to sit out on the beach while studying! I had some trouble with mask clearing, but the instructors were very patient with me and allowed me to take a couple extra days to work through the confined water exercises. We did all our open water dives in gorgeous reef sites, and even though the confined water work was in a sandy bottom environment there were still fish around. Much nicer than a pool! I highly recommend Coconut Tree Divers in West End for the OW cert course. All the instructors were great. I was only there for a week but that was more than enough time. My husband finished faster than me and got in 8 dives total.