Open Water Certification in Cozumel!?!?

[Snoweman]

I am joining the chorus for getting all the pool work done before heading to Cozumel. You will regret not having maximum ocean time in after your first drift dive. I understand not wanting to do your open water locally - especially if you are in a northern clime.

 

[ggunn]

I'll go farther than that and encourage you to get the whole thing done before your Cozumel trip if you can. It's true that most places you can do your cert dives in the US don't have the great conditions you'll find in the waters around Cozumel, and that's exactly the point. If you get certified in more challenging conditions than you'll find in Cozumel you will find diving there well within your comfort zone rather than at the extent of it.

 

[steve432kc]

I have brought several people down to Cozumel over the years that were not divers. They fell in love with this place and got certified here. They were much better divers learning their skills here in the open ocean.
My son got his JR certification here at 12 years old. Then open water and finally advanced. when he was old enough.

 

[Laura-MI]

Hello Divers,
First time posting on scuba board and i'm sure you guys have answered this question before maybe even a few times, my girlfriend and I will be traveling to Cozumel in June and we are looking to get our open water certification while there we will be staying at the Grand Park Royal Resort. We will be completing the PADI e-learning portion at home before arrival, my question is what dive op would any of you recommend for brand new divers? I understand the importance of good fundamental training and I want to ensure that we are able to take it all in with out being rushed in and out of the water and given a piece of paper so to speak.

We just came from a week in Coz where our 18 yr old daughter did her open water certification having completed her classes back home. We chose Dive with Martin due to good reviews, included tank/BC/regulator/wt belt equipment (we brought our own mask/fins/wetsuits) and their pricing was nearly 1/2 less than our onsite dive shop at our all inclusive. We booked 4 days of 2 tank morning dives. We had Lucio as our daughter's instructor. DWM maxes 8 divers per dive master per boat. Since we had our daughter certifying we had Lucio all to ourselves. My husband, myself and our daughter had 2 great days of diving with him. DD was very comfortable with Lucio and he took us on some great locations going through cave-ish corals and we saw great marine life including a nurse shark, moray eels, turtles, eagle rays, lobster, crab, black tipped reef shark and tons of fish. The only negative was that despite communication via email before and a phone call the night before, they screwed up our pick up and were late 45 minutes picking us up. It just started the trip off negatively. At the end, they also screwed up returning DD log book with Lucio's signature and we had to wait 2+ hours at the pier which was frustrating. Dives themselves were good but the screw ups were aggravating. Another couple used Scuba Tony and they max at 6 divers per dive master. We were also very glad to have our wetsuits. I was cold on the 2nd dives in my 3mm. Husband who is typically never cold was also comfortable in his 3mm shorty.

 

[divingbarberwv]

Huge thank you to all of you folks who have responded on this. Like deep sea said i've evidently found the right forum. We booked for June back in December and i've been scoring the internet far and wide to take in every spec of information that I can on the matter, including searching for dive ops here in West Virginia that we could do our confinement dive with. The closet op to our location is about 3 and a half hours away and all of the diving is done in a lake. Not that anything would be wrong with lake or quarry diving with me, I feel that she would be much more comfortable in water with some visibility. But I do understand what a lot of you guys are saying with getting these things done before we get there. If we're unable I have my fingers crossed that we can move through things pretty smoothly and enjoy as much of Cozumel underwater as possible. My only scuba experience was the Discover Scuba course in Cozumel back in 2005 and I have talked about how much fun it was since that day. I have been very busy making a living since then and finally paved a way to per-sue this. Again thank you all for replying we still have a little time to consider options it's just nice to hear so many different opinions from experience. Either way we are both extremely excited to get started .

 

[judydivescoz]

Our granddaughter is going to do the elearnng with PADI and her confined and open water dives in Cozumel. Our trip is the end of June. The closest dive shop that had open water dive classes is an hour away, With school and sports, the water part is at home not a real option for her. Most likely will use a friend who is a PADI instructor. Our other great option is Kevin at Liquid Blue. We have watched him work with new divers and have always been very impressed with his patience, and knowledge. Looking forward to diving with our grandaughter!

 

[woodcarver]

I would get certified at home and arrive in Coz as newly certified divers. Instead of class and checkout dives, your diving for fun. Choose your dive op, hire a private dive master at least for the first day or two until you get the "feel" for diving,

^^^^This^^^ And most importantly, the last part. Coz was our 1st destination post cert. The money spent having Pedro Capetillo (Aqua Safari) with us was the probably the best money spent on that trip. Might also be the only reason my gf is still diving. As others have said, finishing your OW, even if its in a low viz lake (ours was in a cold, low viz, deep cow pond in New Mexico), will better prepare you for the drifts in Coz. And you'll REALLY appreciate the warm, clear water and beautiful reefs! Have fun! And welcome to the addiction!

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Huge thank you to all of you folks who have responded on this. Like deep sea said i've evidently found the right forum. We booked for June back in December and i've been scoring the internet far and wide to take in every spec of information that I can on the matter, including searching for dive ops here in West Virginia that we could do our confinement dive with. The closet op to our location is about 3 and a half hours away and all of the diving is done in a lake. Not that anything would be wrong with lake or quarry diving with me, I feel that she would be much more comfortable in water with some visibility. But I do understand what a lot of you guys are saying with getting these things done before we get there. If we're unable I have my fingers crossed that we can move through things pretty smoothly and enjoy as much of Cozumel underwater as possible. My only scuba experience was the Discover Scuba course in Cozumel back in 2005 and I have talked about how much fun it was since that day. I have been very busy making a living since then and finally paved a way to per-sue this. Again thank you all for replying we still have a little time to consider options it's just nice to hear so many different opinions from experience. Either way we are both extremely excited to get started .

Dear Josh,

Like most I suggest you get the pool work done at home but that does not seem to be practical. For our Certifications we use our salt water pool at the Villa Aldora, starting in knee deep water so less stress.

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

 

[Alan P]

I was diving with Aldora a few Decembers ago over Christmas and my girlfriend took her open water through them and it was great. She loved it and did everything in a few days. Excellent training. In contrast my daughter did everything in Pennsylvania last Sept and Oct and it was a lot of time and travel that took several weeks.

 

[DjDiverDan]

I guess some of us forget how spoiled we are, having the convenience of scuba instruction very nearby. I am in the Dallas, Texas area (Sunnyvale, 16 miles due east of Downtown Dallas), and there are dozens of Dive Shops offering scuba instruction, many with their own pools, in the Dallas area. Less than 5 miles from my house, there is a local dive shop in Garland, Texas with a heated indoor 12’ deep saltwater pool on site that offers certification courses. If that is an option, by all means do it. But if you are not one of the lucky ones with scuba instruction conveniently nearby, doing the book work online and finishing up with both pool work and certification dives in Cozumel might be your best option.

Even in Dallas, doing the certification dives can be an adventure. If the weather is warm enough, the instructor might take the class to Possum Kingdom Lake, west of Fort Worth, where the visability is about 6-10 feet on GOOD days. I did my Advanced Open Water dives there (years ago 1994, I believe), and it sure was really spooky at 100’, with zero visability without lights (all light from the surface was completely gone by the time you got to 30 surrounded by dead trees, it was like a scene from a bad horror movie. My Open Water certification dives (in 1989) were at Balmorhea State Park in west Texas, a small spring-fed lake with a year-round water temp. of about 75 degrees, decent visability, and maximum depth of about 35’, a good place for certification dives, except for the 11-hour drive from Dallas (for those of you unfamiliar with Texas, it’s a DAMN BIG STATE!). Still, better than the murky quarries some folks use for local diving.