New Diver – Slow Traveler Starting a Big Life Pivot 🌎🤿

[ChasingAdventure]

Hey everyone — I’m Chase, 34, currently based in Denver but preparing for a major lifestyle shift that’s been a long time coming.

I’m new to diving and just getting started on my certification path. I’ve been drawn to the ocean for years, but never made the leap until now. Starting this fall, I’m planning to slow-travel through places like Costa Rica, Bali, and Portugal to test out where I want to plant roots — and diving is a core part of that journey.

I’m especially interested in:

• Getting PADI certified from Open Water onward
• Possibly joining a Divemaster internship (Costa Rica or Bali — open to suggestions!)
• Integrating diving with my passions for health, flow, and nature-based living

I joined ScubaBoard to learn from experienced divers, connect with others on a similar path, and not make rookie mistakes by doing it all solo.

Appreciate any advice, stories, or just good dive energy. Hope to see some of you underwater soon!

— Chase

 

[Rob9876]

Welcome to the forums! I replied in your other thread, but wanted to chime in on a couple of items in your post above:

• First and foremost, I would get your initial Open Water (OW) certification as soon as possible and see how you like it. Some folks end up having trouble equalizing their ears or sinuses, some folks feel claustrophobic, some get vertigo, etc. So, getting your first cert will let you know if you really want to go further. It usually only takes about 2 weekends to get your OW cert.
• 
  
• You mention a PADI cert, but really any of the major certification agencies (PADI, SSI, SDI, NAUI, etc.) can be fine (I say this as someone with mostly PADI certs, but some from other agencies). It's really more about the instructor and the dive shop more than the agency. And it's fine to mix and match, for example: SSI Open Water, NAUI Advanced Open Water, PADI Rescue Diver, etc. Your OW cert agency will not prevent you from getting a PADI Divemaster cert if that's what you want.
• 
  
• Both of the above lead me to say: I'd consider going ahead and getting your OW cert from your local scuba shop this summer. From a quick Google search it looks like you have a dive shop in Arvada that has good reviews on Google and has classes every month. Looks like they are an SSI shop, but that is perfectly fine. I'd try to get certified this summer, because freshwater lakes and quarries can get pretty cold after summer is over. If you get certified there you'll have some local people to dive with and learn from, perhaps even take trips with. You can get your OW locally and still dive anywhere in the world. While lake and quarry diving is not clear blue water with pretty fish, it can be great for training and still fun also (I still dive quarries in the summers).

Hope this helps!

Edit: If you really want PADI, looks like these folks are near you and have classes starting this weekend and the next: PADI Open Water Diver With any dive shop, make sure to confirm whether their pricing is just classroom and pool work, or if includes your 4 open water checkout dives (which can be lake, quarry, ocean, etc.).

 

[T.K.]

Generally Bali is considered on the lower end of diving in South East Asia. Truly world class diving in other parts of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Generally Bali is considered on the lower end of diving in South East Asia. Truly world class diving in other parts of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia.

True, but Bali hits his third bullet point.

 

[T.K.]

True, but Bali hits his third bullet point.

Great point.

Also relatively cheap airfare to the rest of Asia.

 

[<*)))><]

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Welcome and best of luck.

Keep us posted

 

[<*)))><]

Scuba Professional: Insights into Sport Diver Training & Operations (The Scuba Series) Simon Pridmore​

Confessions of a divemaster Kris Mears​

A couple books that may be of interest, both on amazon

 

[Lorenzoid]

Great point.

Also relatively cheap airfare to the rest of Asia.

There was a member on here some years ago--a retired American--who used Bali as a base for a couple of years and traveled and dived all over the region. Bali is easy for Westerners to negotiate.

 

[JakeDiver]

Welcome to the group. Scuba is the best and its to cool to see more nebbies here. Find a group to dive with and that will help you learn from other divers. I dove with SingleDivers.com (not a dating site), check them out...they go everywhere and have a great time doing it!

 

[boulderjohn]

A good PADI shop near you is Flatirons Scuba in Broomfield.

Before choosing an instructor internship program, do more of your planned travels and get more experience. There are fine programs all around the world, some not far from your planned stop i Costa Rica.

You will no doubt have people on the forums here bad mouth the very concept of these intensive programs. I was probably in that camp myself once. A course director I knew helped change my mind. He said he had once hired someone from such a program, and the guy was great. Then a shop where I work had a newly minted DM spend a month at such a program, and when he came back, he was a totally different diver. It turns out a month of diving with a purpose to improving skills does a lot for you.