Recently certifed and have several vacay's booked but no diving scheduled...yet...

[AndreaLyn]

My hubby and I just got our open water cert and are looking forward to getting some dives under our belt.
In December we have a 10 vacation in Punta Cana and then have another vacation booked in Cancun for February,which we are hoping to ferry to Cozumel at least once)
and then off to Australia in April 2014 for 3 weeks where we will be exploring the NSW and Queensland.
We are looking for some advice on .... well, firstly Punta Cana, as newbies is the anything that we should avoid/embrace?
Is it reasonable to assume that a ferry to Cozumel and a dive day is even possible?
We are hoping that we can get some expereince so that we can a least do a few dive in Australia, but realize our level is still very beginner.. any advice?

 

[fishgeek]

I'm soon to be certified as well and decided to look for a dive location near Los Angeles. What I've learned is that pretty much every dive shop offers local guided tours and the research I've done indicates that it's STRONGLY suggested that you get an orientation anytime you go somewhere new. You should have no problem finding a location with a little bit of Googling...or Binging if your that type ;-).

I've set up a guided tour on Santa Catalina for myself and my son who also recently got certified. It's also a good idea to do a skills refresher too, since it will be a few weeks/months before you get back in the water.

My 2 cents.

enjoy your vacations!

 

[DandyDon]

Howdy and welcome to Scubaboard. :admingreet:

I don't know anything about Punta Cana, but I'm sure we have many who do hanging out on that local forum. Try there. Find a good Instructor to pursue Advance OW training if you can.

Yes, Cancun to Coz for a couple of afternoon dives is done. It's a long day, but doable. You'll want a taxi or or private car to/from Playa del Carmer to save time, then buy one-way tickets on the ferries as there is no saving on round-trip tickets and you'll want to catch the next ferry leaving each way. February is norte/norther season so you may have to reschedule the day before, depending on winter weather, but find an Op who will work with you - and hire a private DM as suggested above, even if you have the AOW cards. Please post on our Coz forum for more help.

 

[dfx]

I'd vote for skipping the trip to Cozumel. I've never dived out of Cancun, but a little further south the diving off the mainland is quite excellent, so I'd think that diving out of Cancun should be pretty nice too. We did a day trip to Cozumel from there once, and while the diving was nice, in hindsight it didn't seem worth the trouble.

Punta Cana has ok-ish diving, which as a newbie I'm sure you'll like, but the real good diving in the DR is on the south side around La Romana and Bayahibe. A day trip to there is definitely worth the trouble if at all possible. Some dive shops do run organized day excursions down there.

 

[ROXANNE]

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