Never dived before.. Advice needed (Red Sea)

[SiHH]

Hi,

Am new to the board.

Have never dived before, only snorkelled in Mexico some years ago. I am really keen to start with the PADI Open Water course and currently looking into European destinations to do this.

I have found a good deal here:
Explorers Diving Holidays - Egypt, Red Sea and worldwide with the Scuba diving specialists

Can anyone give me there thoughts on this location / dive school ?

Also am not sure whether to go by myself or find a friend to go with !

 

[diver 85]

I have NO idea about these people but a 2 to 5 day scuba course, that's the whole time you spend learning???. If so, I would try something/place better.....It's only your life you're putting on the blocks.......

 

[SiHH]

I have NO idea about these people but a 2 to 5 day scuba course, that's the whole time you spend learning???. If so, I would try something/place better.....It's only your life you're putting on the blocks.......

Can you elaborate ?

 

[don Francisco]

It's hard to quantify exactly how much time it takes to teach a OW course. It can be compressed into a few days, or spread out over 6-8 weeks, not counting the 4 dives which are usually done in pairs over 2 days.

Preferably you should get 8 or more hours of class time and 8 or so hours in a pool to practice the skills. Some folks catch on faster than others, but when the time is compressed or shortened, there's a tendancy to cover only the bare essentials, without much beyond the minumum requirements set by the certifying agency.

The beauty, of the stretched schedule, spread over days or weeks is that you get the time to digest each days learning, and think up questions you forgot to ask. Most of the sessions begin with a review of the prior work and then move onto new topics.

It's like anything else, you can cram it all in, pass the test, and 3 weeks later forget half, or you can learn it slowly, digest it, and retain it for a long time. I assume you'd rather learn to dive than just get a c-card, so look for a course built around that philosophy.

To paraphrase a line from a local restaurant "fast courses aren't good, good courses aren't fast"

 

[300bar]

Lets see,a 2 day course is just against all PADI standards.You have to do 5 pool dives and 4 OW checkout dives.In 2 day's? no way,don't forget that in between these 5 pool dives you HAVE to get out of the water (exits and entry's) assemble/disassemble your gear,get a new briefing,do some skills,academics,O heck do them in your own time(200+pages,do tests.OW checkout dives with a max of 2 a day.5 day's should be the ABSOLUTE minimum and then again,do you think that,after a year you still remember what you read ?
Most Ideal (IMO)would be to do this (OW)course over several weeks,so you have time to read and LEARN the book,gat ample time to do the skills in the pool and then do the checkout dives.
Best option(IMO) do the full course back home.
Second best (IMO) do academics and pool back home,do checkouts on a (tropical)lacation.

Hope it helps.

 

[anzac65]

One route you could take is to do your pool work in the UK and then your open water dives somewhere warm and fun such as the Red Sea or the Caribbean. This reduces the pressure you may feel doing the whole thing whilst on holiday. It's the route I took and it worked fine for me.

Beware that there are plenty of PADI bashers on the board that look down on others because they didn't learn to dive wearing a brass helmet in some 300 foot deep block of frozen mud..... You'll soon work that one out.

Anyway, I did my pool work at London School of Diving and they were great. If you're in Herts they might be a good option. (Chiswick) By the way, I don't work for them or anything else. I'm just happy to help.

All the best.

 

[sschlesi]

Lot's of people here are going to tell you the problems with a short open water course. IMHO if you are diving with a guide in easy warm high vis locations and are a "natural born diver" you can get by (barely) with a short course. Of course you won't know if your a natural until it is too late. If you plan on diving cold/deep/poor vis locations, or fail to immediately learn the academics/skills a longer more complete is a necessity. In any situation a longer more complete course is the better option, but some people do get by with the short courses.

I was in Sharm El Sheikh in November. The diving there is really good, with lots of corals and small and large fish. The huge school of Anthias at the "coral garden" on Jackson reef is my favorite underwater sight to date. The only down side to learning there (besides length of course) is that pretty much everything is a wall dive, so there is no (or limited) hard bottom to keep you from accidentally going too deep. That said, there were lot's of novice divers there and they were getting by ok.

If you do go to Sharm, pay extra special care to not touch the reef, while there I did see a few divers break pieces of coral, because of poor buoancy skills. The reefs in Sharm are still amazing, but we can only imagine how fantastic the reefs would be without thousands of divers swarming them each day.

 

[diver 85]

Can you elaborate ?

(re)read posts 4 & 5.....absolutely perfect elaboration.......IMO, take this thing(scuba) seriously........good luck & enjoy it......

 

[ligersandtions]

I would definitely take the course at home over a few weeks. It will give you the opportunity to really digest the information and ask your instructor ALL the questions you have.

Some people mentioned taking the classroom and confined water part of the certification at home and then do the check-out dives in a nice tropical location. I will leave you with one piece of advice if you do choose to go this route: make absolutely sure that the instructor conducting your check-out dives is an active instructor with which ever agency you are planning to get certified with. My husband and I had an unfortunate situation that resulted in a lot of headaches and a certification card from a different agency....so I just try to let as many people know that it is something they should be looking out for.

However you choose to do it, make sure to learn a lot and have fun. Welcome to your new addiction!

 

[Ed Hatfield]

I have had the pleasure of diving with several Europeans over the last few years . I have met them in the Caribbean because they seem to get really cheap trips compared to what we Canadians pay. For the most part many have said that diving in the Red Sea was the highlight of their diving experiences. I can only deam of such a vacation. I am sure you will love it. FYI - take the PADI course (or whatever) at home and do the OW on vacation. 2 to 5 days sounds a little light to me. We call that the 'Caribbean Quickie' around here. Not recommended - but a lot of people do it - and they never dive again. If you plan to be a 'Vacation Diver' only, then maybe it's for you. I wouldn't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!??