Learing to Dive

[Nessie]

When I am teaching beginner courses I usually take the students for the first two or three open water dives to a diveside that is average for my area and the last dives of the course are done at a place which is in my opinion one of the most beautiful divesides of Germany.

So basically my students have two options:

Either they love the first dives already, are hooked to dive in the kind of water you usually have here (think great visibility if you can see your fins, first thing you say after surfacing "have you seen the one fish?"), and feel like being in heaven when they end the course-
or they do not feel completely sure that diving is for them after the first dives but realize during their last dives that there is another way of diving than what is done locally and love that, ask for other nice places and you can send them where the water is blue and the marine life is something more than single cells.

But in the end they have no chance but becoming active divers.

 

[MoBayDiver]

My wife and I honeymooned in Jamaica, where we took an "All Inclusive" resort scuba program. I am a strong swimmer, and she is working on it but relatively comfortable in the water.
This experience hooked her into scuba. The comfortable environment, the visability and the self reassurance that she could do it, gave her the confidence she needed to take the extra step and learn here in the cold waters of Vermont.
We have decided to learn and get OW certified in cold water local. We think this decision will pay off when we want to dive locally, as well as in the warmer waters of the Carribean.

 

[Bloop]

I would take the option of taking lessons in some beautiful tropical location and diving there as well.

The local waters are mud and silt....

And it is a good vacation excuse

 

[nkw5]

I got certified in a class and did the check out dives out in the ocean. It was hard work! Shlepping the gear from the parking lot to Breakwater and McAbee in Monterey, getting suited up on sand, and manuevering in and outta the surf and then to have viz be kinda crummy. But at least my instructors didn't take us out on a boat and make us do the drills in deep water! I've seen that done.

I live in Folsom now, and I am SO JEALOUS of the OW students who can do their check out dives in the lake. Okay, there's not much to see, but the water is warm and calm. There's no big hike from the car and no kissing the sand going in or out!

But hey, diving in Monterey is a thrill. I'd do it any day. It just would've been easier to begin somewhere else.

 

[Ron Brandt]

I got certified in a class and did the check out dives out in the ocean. It was hard work!

Actually,I am refering to Cozumel,Cayman,Bahamas etc... where shore entry is a breeze and jumping off a dive boat is even less effortless.

Ocean Diving? Makes me cold just thinking of the dives I did during my advanced course on the west coast of Canada 22 years ago.

Ron

 

[nkw5]

Oh yeah. The water's cold in CA, but there are colder spots. And there's a lot to be said for the beautiful wildlife here. It's different from anything I've seen in what little tropical water I've been in.