Tips for finally picking up diving
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I was in the Canary Islands this May, and some of the dive spots there are very nice + most of them are 20m depth max., so you can see most of the things with an OWD course. It's also one of the locations in Europe where the sea is warm (ish) year-round. Highly recommend it!
If you don't want to limit yourself to summer diving, there is also Egypt, Tunisia, and Spain. In summer, you can go to Italy, Croatia, Greece, basically anywhere in the Adriatic sea, or Portugal, south of France, ...
No matter where you go, Europe does things pretty uniformly. A double dive is 90 EUR, and all scuba centers include full gear rental and a guide. Some will also throw in a dive computer, depending on where you're diving. Dive centers (and instructors) differ by how they maintain their equipment and their professional approach, of course (for example, I've heard some bad things about lousy rental equipment all over Egypt. I don't have the best experience with this in Croatia, either).
Until you know more about what you want and like as a diver, I don't recommend getting anything else than a mask that fits you perfectly. That way, you travel light and have the most important piece of equipment on you. Renting everything else for a few €€ is much cheaper and more practical than spending hundreds on equipment and then at least twice the price of renting everything just to get it on an airplane.
I suggest you take a PADI course locally. The focus during the course isn't so much on 'sightseeing', but your ability to dive, and getting used to the whole process. I think that having a local instructor who speaks your language and isn't 1000 km away is more important than location during the course. But you should definitely take the course, even if you don't intend to dive frequently. Without OWD or higher, you can't experience much, even with an instructor. No decent dive center will take you anywhere without at least an OWD course.
And you don't really dive without a guide unless it's in your backyard because you're wasting time randomly exploring areas you've never seen before. So you'll always have at least them (if not a larger group), even if you travel alone.
That's my take on it, hope it helps
If you don't want to limit yourself to summer diving, there is also Egypt, Tunisia, and Spain. In summer, you can go to Italy, Croatia, Greece, basically anywhere in the Adriatic sea, or Portugal, south of France, ...
No matter where you go, Europe does things pretty uniformly. A double dive is 90 EUR, and all scuba centers include full gear rental and a guide. Some will also throw in a dive computer, depending on where you're diving. Dive centers (and instructors) differ by how they maintain their equipment and their professional approach, of course (for example, I've heard some bad things about lousy rental equipment all over Egypt. I don't have the best experience with this in Croatia, either).
Until you know more about what you want and like as a diver, I don't recommend getting anything else than a mask that fits you perfectly. That way, you travel light and have the most important piece of equipment on you. Renting everything else for a few €€ is much cheaper and more practical than spending hundreds on equipment and then at least twice the price of renting everything just to get it on an airplane.
I suggest you take a PADI course locally. The focus during the course isn't so much on 'sightseeing', but your ability to dive, and getting used to the whole process. I think that having a local instructor who speaks your language and isn't 1000 km away is more important than location during the course. But you should definitely take the course, even if you don't intend to dive frequently. Without OWD or higher, you can't experience much, even with an instructor. No decent dive center will take you anywhere without at least an OWD course.
And you don't really dive without a guide unless it's in your backyard because you're wasting time randomly exploring areas you've never seen before. So you'll always have at least them (if not a larger group), even if you travel alone.
That's my take on it, hope it helps
Personally, I was glad I took the OW course. I started diving by doing a discovery dive excursion. I had a lot of fun, but acted foolishly, out of ignorance. I learned through the OW course mistakes I made that could have been dangerous to myself and my guide. So, at the least, IMO, OW is important. Then decide whether or not you want to learn more.
Belzelbub
Contributor
You can rent pretty much everything. For occasional mostly travel use, it will make sense.
You’ll need your own mask and fins, but everything else could be rented. I would highly recommend getting a wrist mount computer. You can rent one, but some are quite difficult to use. Getting your own will at least give you a chance at knowing how it works and what it’s trying to tell you. Doesn’t need to be expensive, or real fancy.
If diving where a wetsuit is a good idea, getting your own is also a good idea. After that a regulator may be next on your list. All of the above can pack nicely for travel. A BC will only pack so small, but there are smaller travel BCs that don’t take up too much space.
How much you acquire will depend on how often you use. There is an upfront cost, and some maintenance costs with gear you own. At some number of dives, owning becomes cheaper.
There are others beyond PADI, so don’t just limit yourself to PADI. Apart from some very obscure agencies, most will be recognized wherever you dive.
I’d recommend getting the full OW course. You’ll learn more and it opens up more diving possibilities. With Discover Scuba, you can only dive in a Discover Scuba experience. There is often a layer between Discover and OW. Scuba Diver courses are in between. The difference is that Scuba Diver cert requires diving with a DM or higher. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this route as the OW course is probably not too much more.
Oh, and if possible I’d also recommend a Nitrox course. No additional checkout dives, and it opens up some other diving opportunities. Some charters require Nitrox.
Yes, unless you learn solo diving, you’ll need a buddy. There is a term called insta-buddy that covers this. When you book a charter, just let them know you don’t have a buddy. They’ll probably have someone else in the same boat (heh) as you. Or you could also request/pay for a DM to be your buddy. Just let the op know your situation an experience level.
Yep. Most places this would be available.
I was in the Canary Islands this May, and some of the dive spots there are very nice + most of them are 20m depth max., so you can see most of the things with an OWD course. It's also one of the locations in Europe where the sea is warm (ish) year-round. Highly recommend it!
If you don't want to limit yourself to summer diving, there is also Egypt, Tunisia, and Spain. In summer, you can go to Italy, Croatia, Greece, basically anywhere in the Adriatic sea, or Portugal, south of France, ...
No matter where you go, Europe does things pretty uniformly. A double dive is 90 EUR, and all scuba centers include full gear rental and a guide. Some will also throw in a dive computer, depending on where you're diving. Dive centers (and instructors) differ by how they maintain their equipment and their professional approach, of course (for example, I've heard some bad things about lousy rental equipment all over Egypt. I don't have the best experience with this in Croatia, either).
Until you know more about what you want and like as a diver, I don't recommend getting anything else than a mask that fits you perfectly. That way, you travel light and have the most important piece of equipment on you. Renting everything else for a few €€ is much cheaper and more practical than spending hundreds on equipment and then at least twice the price of renting everything just to get it on an airplane.
I suggest you take a PADI course locally. The focus during the course isn't so much on 'sightseeing', but your ability to dive, and getting used to the whole process. I think that having a local instructor who speaks your language and isn't 1000 km away is more important than location during the course. But you should definitely take the course, even if you don't intend to dive frequently. Without OWD or higher, you can't experience much, even with an instructor. No decent dive center will take you anywhere without at least an OWD course.
And you don't really dive without a guide unless it's in your backyard because you're wasting time randomly exploring areas you've never seen before. So you'll always have at least them (if not a larger group), even if you travel alone.
That's my take on it, hope it helps
Thank you very much for your input!
France and Portugal are on my bucket list anyway, so it'll be nice to possibly combine a dive into those trips once the time comes - and Croatia I definitely want to visit again and again. The uniformity is good to know, and yeah, I do think I'll eventually start getting my own gear piece by piece, whenever I feel like I'd like to have something I'm throughoutly familiar with to take along with me. But yeah, I tend to travel light pretty much anywhere I go, so you basically answered what I was wondering about - paying extra for the luggage isn't really worth it, unless you want some very specific gear that requires more space.You make a good point with the course not being that much about sightseeing as well. Adding that to my pros list on completing the course locally! It definitely seems to be the most solid option as of now. Cheers dude, that helped a lot!
Oh yeah, the full course is absolutely the one on my scope! I didn't think any of the in-between options really seemed all that useful. Highly appreciate the comment about the Nitrox course as well, I'll definitely look into that! Good to hear about the buddy arrangement, too. Thanks!
Cold...
Whilst there's some amazing wreck diving around Finland, the Baltic is cold. Am certain lakes are too.
There's no such thing as being cold; just wearing the wrong clothes. In Finland this will be your drysuit and thick undersuit--not to mention a suit heater. The problem with drysuits is they are expensive. Same with underclothes and heating (the batteries are expensive).
Investing $$$$'s/€€€€'s into the drysuit is fine when you're certain that diving is for you and specifically diving around your local waters is for you. You won't know that for quite a while.
So to go against the flow, it may be best to get some diving in at holiday locations including doing your Open Water certificate -- maybe even follow it with the AOW ("advanced" Open Water--it's not advanced). This would allow you to have fun diving in warm, clear, pretty benign places with plenty of things to look at.
If, after a couple or more trips "abroad" you find you're completely hooked, then you can look into diving locally and invest in the shiny new drysuit. You will also HAVE TO do some work with a local dive shop where they'll teach you how to dive in Finland where it'll be colder, maybe poorer visibility, etc.
Kit wise, as everyone's said, get the personal items: mask, fins, snorkel and booties. The next stuff would be your own BCD (Buoyancy Control Device -- the jacket you wear), regulators and computer (start cheap; you can use it as a backup if needed). Much of this is available second hand which will save you a fortune.
Have fun and enjoy it.
Locations that are cheap: Lanzarote, Malta, Spain. Loads of other Mediterranean locations off-season.
Whilst there's some amazing wreck diving around Finland, the Baltic is cold. Am certain lakes are too.
There's no such thing as being cold; just wearing the wrong clothes. In Finland this will be your drysuit and thick undersuit--not to mention a suit heater. The problem with drysuits is they are expensive. Same with underclothes and heating (the batteries are expensive).
Investing $$$$'s/€€€€'s into the drysuit is fine when you're certain that diving is for you and specifically diving around your local waters is for you. You won't know that for quite a while.
So to go against the flow, it may be best to get some diving in at holiday locations including doing your Open Water certificate -- maybe even follow it with the AOW ("advanced" Open Water--it's not advanced). This would allow you to have fun diving in warm, clear, pretty benign places with plenty of things to look at.
If, after a couple or more trips "abroad" you find you're completely hooked, then you can look into diving locally and invest in the shiny new drysuit. You will also HAVE TO do some work with a local dive shop where they'll teach you how to dive in Finland where it'll be colder, maybe poorer visibility, etc.
Kit wise, as everyone's said, get the personal items: mask, fins, snorkel and booties. The next stuff would be your own BCD (Buoyancy Control Device -- the jacket you wear), regulators and computer (start cheap; you can use it as a backup if needed). Much of this is available second hand which will save you a fortune.
Have fun and enjoy it.
Locations that are cheap: Lanzarote, Malta, Spain. Loads of other Mediterranean locations off-season.
Hehe, certainly what applies to the cold air applies to the water, too - so yeah, the right clothes makes the whole difference. As of now, I am indeed not too fond of local diving. It's something that I could possibly grow into in the future, but nothing that I'd actively pursue. So to that end, I don't think I'll go for drysuit anytime in the near future, and I very much get your take on doing the OW course abroad for that matter. I think I'll make my final decision once I've picked a shop and have more information on whether or not they have partners for referrals etc.
Thanks for the suggestions, and another take on things!
An additional comment about diving in the cold...
There is no warm diving outside the summer season anywhere in Europe unless you live somewhere very south (e.g., Malta). So courses in swimming pools are a regular thing everywhere. True, it's a bit boring, but it gets the job done. You also don't need a drysuit.
There is no warm diving outside the summer season anywhere in Europe unless you live somewhere very south (e.g., Malta). So courses in swimming pools are a regular thing everywhere. True, it's a bit boring, but it gets the job done. You also don't need a drysuit.
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