Solo travel certification trip advice

[ctjwa]

Hi all - I'm a new member to the site, and would appreciate your advice for getting into scuba!

I am a 30yr old guy, work in nyc, and have a week's worth of vacation burning a hole in my pocket. I dove once a couple years ago at a resort in Punta Cana, and I really enjoyed it. I'd love to spend a week somewhere warm getting certified, and continuing to dive on future vacations.

I would be traveling solo, and prefer to travel simply (one carry on bag, staying in hostels, eating at local spots, seeing different sights). I'm open to anywhere in the Caribbean, with a preference towards cheaper direct flights. Could leave as early as 2 weeks from now!

Does anybody recommend any specific dive shops or places for a complete beginner?

 

[function12]

Red Sail Sports in Grand Caymen, staff were very frendly when I was last a few years ago.

 

[RJP]

Hi all - I'm a new member to the site, and would appreciate your advice for getting into scuba!

I am a 30yr old guy, work in nyc, and have a week's worth of vacation burning a hole in my pocket. I dove once a couple years ago at a resort in Punta Cana, and I really enjoyed it. I'd love to spend a week somewhere warm getting certified, and continuing to dive on future vacations.

I would be traveling solo, and prefer to travel simply (one carry on bag, staying in hostels, eating at local spots, seeing different sights). I'm open to anywhere in the Caribbean, with a preference towards cheaper direct flights. Could leave as early as 2 weeks from now!

Does anybody recommend any specific dive shops or places for a complete beginner?

Are you looking to go GET certified while on vacation?

 

[ctjwa]

Are you looking to go GET certified while on vacation?

I think that the whole thing would be doable in a week, yes? I was looking at the possibility of taking the class/pool work in NYC, then doing the 4 dives somewhere warm, but the pricing seems to be best if you just do it all on location with one company.

Let me know if i'm off base on that - open to all suggestions!

 

[RJP]

I think that the whole thing would be doable in a week, yes? I was looking at the possibility of taking the class/pool work in NYC, then doing the 4 dives somewhere warm, but the pricing seems to be best if you just do it all on location with one company.

Let me know if i'm off base on that - open to all suggestions!

Personally, I don't like the idea of jamming the whole certification process into one week. I think it needs to take a few weeks to not only learn everything, but to also ensure that you can actually retain the knowledge from one class to the next. I think most people can retain "a lot of stuff for a short period of time" but the trick to diving is being sure you can learn a skill, get comfortable with it, come back a week later, still do it, then build the next skill on top of the first skill, etc, etc.

I would suggest doing the classroom and pool here in a class that runs over a few weeks, and then do the check-out dives as a "referral certification" someplace nice. This is how I did it, and one of the benefits of this approach (beside likely just being better from an instruction standpoint) is that you don't waste hours and hours of vaction time doing class/study work and then spending a lot of time in a pool. Doing a referal cert lets you spend the first two days of your vacation getting certified and the rest of it diving!

As to cost of referal being more... if you're getting into diving to "save money" you might just as well give it up now!

 

[TMHeimer]

I agree with all RJP says. You may also want to check into doing the whole thing in NYC if you can wait 'til the water warms up and equipment is provided for the 4 checkout dives (If you are going to mostly dive in the Caribe you won't be buying a thick wetsuit). Scuba New York (Central Park Ave.) in Yonkers seems to be a good group of folks. They do check-out dives at Dutch Springs in Pa. It's nice to do the entire course at home if you can, then just dive on the vacation. Good luck either way.

 

[philmayer]

I'll be the voice of dissent and suggest you do exactly what you want.

There's nothing wrong with completing your certification in one week. It's certainly doable, and it would make for a very fun vacation now and more fun in the future.

Grand Cayman is great if you're looking for many different restaurants, nice hotels and resorts, and excellent diving. Personally I'd go with Sunset House, but that's me. There are many excellent dive ops on GC.

You should also consider Roatan, Ambergris Caye in Belize, or Cozumel.

 

[Downing]

It's a lot to pack into one week but if you're leaving in two weeks and you're absolutely determined to get certified then you don't have much choice.

So I would suggest Cozumel. Easy diving and there's a dive shop on every corner. Kind of like a Mexican Disneyland for American divers. Go to the Cozumel board and ask around for specific recommendations. Line up a shop in advance, get the manual asap and have it memorized by the time you get there to save yourself some valuable vacation time.

Doing it this way is um, less than ideal. It's a lot to cram into one week. Check into the cost of a private class so you would be one on one with the instructor. You'll learn better, faster, etc assuming you find a good instructor.

The much, much better way is to go through the referral process per RJP above.

 

[krazymad]

Hey ctjwa - My story sounds very similar to yours. I'm 31, have some vacation time, wanted to get certified and ended up traveling solo, except that I'm based out of Beijing and went the the Philippines to dive. I actually got certified in 2 very quick days (Note: I'm very comfortable in the water and it was me and 1 other student in my OW class with a good hands on instructor.
) and really understand the material, theories and concepts, but the trick is e-learning.

I signed up for the PADI e-learn about 2 weeks before my diving trip (I'm current on a rest day in the middle of my trip) and did all my book learning at home where I could actually take time to focus on the material. Everyone learns at a difference pace, but I think it took me about 10 - 12 hours to complete the whole e-learn with a final score of 96%. I did my confined and open water dives on vacation in the Philippines. The big advantage to e-learn is I can absorb the material at my own pace (be it fast or slow) and I actually concentrated on the material. I know that for me personally, I'd have a hard time studying while on vacation, in the tropics, with warm weather and the beach right outside.

Money doesn't grow on trees and I keep an eye on my budget and the value/cost of a course. e-learn was a bit more expensive than just doing everything in the Philippines, but I still choose e-learn for 2 very important reasons.
1. It saves me 1 day of being stuck in a classroom, watching DVDs, while the sun, sand, tropical fruity drinks and diving is outside.
2. It means I get 1 more day of diving!
3. I knew I'd concentrate a lot more and actually retain the material by studying at home in front of my computer than in a "classroom" watching some boring DVDs in the tropics.

Just remember, everything you learn is to prevent injury to YOU so pay attention to what you're learning.

One word of caution, once you're certified, you'll be hooked and itching for that next dive. The hardest part of diving.............paying for it

 

[ToyZuki9615]

I'm in a very similar situation as well.

I am going to Panama City, FL in May and want to do some diving while I'm there.
I plan to take the 3-4 day crash certification course and do some diving while I'm down there. I am very comfortable in the water and am a fast, self-taught type person, and I can retain knowledge easily, so I'm sure I will be fine.

I think it all comes down to what you're comfortable with. I plan to read through the material and learn it backwards and forwards before the class.

I looked into the online course, but my friend that is taking the class with me opted to save the extra $100 each and wants to take the whole course when we're down there...