Never Been Diving...How Do I Start?

[KathleenR]

Thanks again for the many helpful replies!

Ok, here's a question, Are you planning on traveling with anyone that is an experienced diver?

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. If you're asking whether we're taking our vacation with divers, the answer is no. We're traveling as a couple, and will not be with a tour or group of any kind. We plan to hire nature guides and such along the way. We are, obviously, not planning on diving alone -- my thought was that we'd do some sort of training, then go out with someone who can rent us gear and tell us what to do.

I'm willing to consider learning here if that's what is best. I'm sure that Monterey Bay, which is nearby, would be a great place to learn if one had the right instructor. But it would be a very big decision for us because of the expense -- I don't think we plan to dive enough on vacation for it to actually save us money, as we only plan to dive in about 4 places. It looks as though most places around here are about $275 per person including books, and I'd definitely need to save up to afford that. If we decided to go ahead and take the course here, would there be lots of hidden costs for gear? And how much help would we need during diving after finishing the course?

 

[justleesa]

I don't want to scare you but I think it's better to know what can happen when your in a different country trying scuba for the first time. In the end everything was OK and we are now both addicted to diving and can't get enough.
http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=705724&postcount=15

:11: Sorry that you had to go thru that....

 

[Damselfish]

Taking a resort course to see if you like it at all is not a bad thing. A resort course does not qualify you to dive on your own, each time you will have to pay to dive with someone guiding you, and the price will be more than for regular dives. This will add up if you keep doing it. It should at least include all the gear you will need each time though. You will be more limited in where you can go and depth, not that that is a bad thing to start.

Getting OW certified at home is a good thing if you want to do it. Or, you can do the book and pool part at home and do what is called an "OW referral," where you do your OW dives and skills someplace else, typically someplace warm and pretty. Once you are OW certified you can then dive on your own, but it is still really what many people call a learner's permit - it takes more diving after you get certified to really get comfortable and (hopefully) get much better at it. I don't know much about diving in Costa Rica or Nicaragua, whether these are good locations for a new OW certified diver or not. (An experienced diver can deal better with less than perfect conditions, if they find themselves with a less than ideal dive operator, recognize crappy rental gear, etc. That is why people are concerned about experience.)

Resort or OW, you want to find a good reliable instructor that you can trust, which as I've said on other threads is hard to recognize before you've learned how to dive - catch 22. One hears of people that have good resort course experiences, or crappy ones. The same applies to OW classes. Probably a crappy resort course won't kill you, but it might turn you off the sport which would be a shame. You definitely don't want a crappy OW class, you're learning skills your life depends on. It's also not something you want to rush. If you're only spending a day or 2 in each place you won't have the time, and you will probably be very tired from it all which is not good either.

Diving is not a budget hobby. If you take anything other than a resort course you will probably have to buy at least your own mask/fins/snorkel, though tropical destinations will usually have fins and you might want these to go snorkeling on your trip anyway. You can rent the other stuff, but many people suggest buying gear because while some places have very good rental gear, others have junk, and you won't know for sure until you get there.

You can spend a fortune on classes and gear. It is also possible to econimize to a certain extent and still be safe. But if the $ difference between resort course and OW class is of major concern, well that's just the beginning. It might be trying a resort course is the right thing for you for now.

 

[rje634]

:11: Sorry that you had to go thru that....

ME TOO!!!!!!

But it all turned out well and we dive all the time now.
Kind of talks to the appeal of diving when you can go through something like that and still want to do it!

 

[Seabear70]

Thanks again for the many helpful replies!


Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. If you're asking whether we're taking our vacation with divers, the answer is no. We're traveling as a couple, and will not be with a tour or group of any kind. We plan to hire nature guides and such along the way. We are, obviously, not planning on diving alone -- my thought was that we'd do some sort of training, then go out with someone who can rent us gear and tell us what to do.

Ok, that's smart, especially in a strange area it is a good Idea to take along a local who knows where to go, and where you are likely to run into trouble.

I still recommend the Open Water Course. For a lot of reasons. Possibly the big one from your stand point is that when you're diving in that beautiful of water, you want to be able to enjoy the dive. Not worry about how to clear your mask, adjust your boyancy, etc. You're going to have a much better Idea as to how to do that if you can take the course and get a few dives in before you go.

 

[mech]

I'd like to second boomx5's recommendation about contacting Joe.
Aside from being the most compitant instructor I've ever met Joe's integrity and kindness places the bar beyound reach of most in his field.

 

[paige_va]

My husband and I just did the very same thing you are considering. We went on vacation with the idea of trying out scuba, but weren't really sure whether or not we would like it enough to put in the time and money to get certified. We started with a resort course (aka Discover Scuba experience). Knowing what I know now, I'm not sure I'd recommend that option. In the resort course that we took, they didn't even provide any pool dives prior to taking us down to 30'. We met briefly with an instructor who demonstrated the various basic hand signals that we might need to know while underwater, and then described to us the way in which to clear our masks and purge our regulators. Then it was off on the boat.

When we got to the dive site, I assumed there would be a review of the basics and a brief familiarization of the equipment, but we were simply suited up and tossed in the water!! I had some ear problems on the way down (turns out I had an ear infection coming on...), and then couldn't clear my mask and got a bit freaked out. Luckily the instructor was basically a nice guy, and got me straightened out. After that, the dive was great.

Like someone else said, there must be something pretty great about scuba because even after all that, my husband and I still decided to get OW certified, and did the whole thing during the vacation. I'd second, however, what other people here have said, and that is that we spent a good deal of our vacation on pool dives and studying the material, and that I'm looking forward to not having to do that next time.

BTW -- when we decided to get certified, the dive shop manager credited the $65 that we had spent on the resort course toward the $350 fee for the OW cert. Additionally, they credited our discover suba dive toward the 4 dives that PADI requires for OW. So, at least we got something out of the whole resort course experience.

The other thing that I would mention, and something that I didn't realize when we planned the trip, is that once you are certified, the certification is good for life. I was concerned that we would get certified, and then not dive for a few months, and have to get immediately recertified to continue diving. Not true. So, while I agree that it's a lot of money, this is a $$$ intensive sport, and it's a one time investment (assuming, of course, that you like diving.)

 

[Iruka]

My opinion is that if you're sure you want to "be a diver" it would be best to do the OW course first. But if you're NOT sure, then a resort course/discover scuba/intro diving/ or whatever is usually ok. The benefits are mainly that it will cost you very little money and time, and you'll be closely watched (hopefully!) by a qualified guide, in an easy setting. The main drawback is that it doesn't in any way qualify you to dive independently...but just doing a few dives on this trip, I'm not sure you'd want to be diving independently anyway. I think it's a good way to get a "taste" of diving and not have to make the big decision to plunk down hundreds or thousands of dollars, and then find that diving just isn't for you. If you like it, you can always get certified later.

 

[Chr is Hipp]

I took my certification through a community college. IT was $70 for the certification. Will start AOW a tthe end of this month through school. You may want to look into that option if you have the time (roughly 8 weeks.

 

[KathleenR]

I took my certification through a community college. IT was $70 for the certification. Will start AOW a tthe end of this month through school. You may want to look into that option if you have the time (roughly 8 weeks.

We used to have classes here at Berkeley, but our budget has been slashed because of the painful state of California's economy/state budget. Lots of classes have been cut, including scuba. I haven't found any courses at local community colleges either, so it looks like we'll be spending $275 or so each if we do it. Normally, though, taking a college course would be a great idea.

I've decided to just wait and see how quickly I'm able to save money for this trip. If I'm able to save enough, we will both get OW certification here before leaving. I'm pretty sure we'll both enjoy scuba -- we love the water, are fascinated by fish, enjoy sailing, snorkeling, etc. So, it would probably be a good investment. If I'm not able to save enough, then we'll go with one of the recommended places in Costa Rica and do a resort course. Thanks so much for the advice, recommendations, and anecdotes; they've been very helpful!