Where Would You Take First Dive?

[tankdula]

I have no diving experience and plan to begin Open Water training in the States in late Sept. I hope to obtain a referral as I'll be in Mexico, Central, and South America Oct-Dec.

I don't know what to do with myself. I just want warm calm waters to gain some confidence, my certification, and fuel my excitement about diving. I didn't post this in the Travel Forum, as this isn't a diving holiday. I'm just a novice who thought diving might enhance my existing plans.

To the many experienced divers here, where would you complete your first round of open water dives?

 

[spectrum]

Where do you call home? If diving exists there then that's my answer. It's July, you have many months of non challenging water conditions ahead of you.

1. You will be oriented to local conditions and prepared to be an active local diver. That's the route to safe & proficient.

2. On vacation you can expand the enjoyment of your new sport.

Pete

 

[FritzCat66]

Well, without knowing any more specifics (like what part of the country you're interested in), it's hard to beat the Florida Keys for a great warm-water OW certification dive experience and a good taste of what the Caribbean diving will be like in the other places you mention.

 

[Bonairetrip]

I have no diving experience and plan to begin Open Water training in the States in late Sept. I hope to obtain a referral as I'll be in Mexico, Central, and South America Oct-Dec.

I don't know what to do with myself. I just want warm calm waters to gain some confidence, my certification, and fuel my excitement about diving. I didn't post this in the Travel Forum, as this isn't a diving holiday. I'm just a novice who thought diving might enhance my existing plans.

To the many experienced divers here, where would you complete your first round of open water dives?

Where will you be in Mexico, Central and South America? Those general locations really don't narrow it down much.

That said, here are just a few fairly handy options:
a) Belize -- Cayes (such as Ambergris)
b) Honduras -- Bay Islands
c) Mexico -- Yucatan area
d) Bonaire or Curacao -- Off the coast of Vz.

 

[Brian Sharpe]

+1 to what Spectrum said.

If you're planning on diving locally after you're certified I'd suggest learning locally. I'm not sure what part of the country you're in but even in the St. Lawrence / Great Lakes area summertime diving is terrific - it's a little more challenging that somewhere down south but you'll appreciate those crystal clear blue waters all the more.

 

[yarik83]

All I can tell you is that you DO NOT want to make out of country your first dive unless its a very shallow dive in 20 ft of water. I belong to a dive shop and there are too many sad stories of divers getting certified.. flying out to Cancun and experiencing 20 minute dives and watching bubbles while rest of the boat is down under for an hour. Think of it in terms of finances. A 1 week stay with 5 days of diving in lets say a Cozumel, Mexico costs 1400 not counting food. Each dive comes out to about $50 per dive pending you have your own gear.. if not then you are paying $100-$200 extra in dive gear per dive day. Naturally you would seek to maximize bottom time and thus get the most out of money that you are spending. Trust me.. it is really really boring bobbing up and down on a boat watching bubbles in 120 degree weather.

So... make first 10 dives locally.. maximize your bottom time.. get to a point where you are comfortable under water, know your gear and can get 45-50 minutes to a tank and then go off to experience out of country adventures.

 

[Sinbad the Diver]

Well, without knowing any more specifics (like what part of the country you're interested in), it's hard to beat the Florida Keys for a great warm-water OW certification dive experience and a good taste of what the Caribbean diving will be like in the other places you mention.

Key Largo is a great place to start.

Short boat rides, shallow reefs with lots of stuff to see, easy conditions, and lots of operators to chose from. I did my checkouts as a referal in Key Largo and can't think of a better place to do it.

 

[rcs9250]

All I can tell you is that you DO NOT want to make out of country your first dive unless its a very shallow dive in 20 ft of water. I belong to a dive shop and there are too many sad stories of divers getting certified.. flying out to Cancun and experiencing 20 minute dives and watching bubbles while rest of the boat is down under for an hour. Think of it in terms of finances. A 1 week stay with 5 days of diving in lets say a Cozumel, Mexico costs 1400 not counting food. Each dive comes out to about $50 per dive pending you have your own gear.. if not then you are paying $100-$200 extra in dive gear per dive day. Naturally you would seek to maximize bottom time and thus get the most out of money that you are spending. Trust me.. it is really really boring bobbing up and down on a boat watching bubbles in 120 degree weather.

So... make first 10 dives locally.. maximize your bottom time.. get to a point where you are comfortable under water, know your gear and can get 45-50 minutes to a tank and then go off to experience out of country adventures.

Ditto on that advice.
For two days you will only be able to do two dives (training dives) while everyone else does 4 or 5. Most dive shops promote this route because it fills spots on the trips.
Will you have a good time ? Sure, but maximize your trip and be certified beforehand.

 

[Bonairetrip]

All I can tell you is that you DO NOT want to make out of country your first dive unless its a very shallow dive in 20 ft of water. I belong to a dive shop and there are too many sad stories of divers getting certified.. flying out to Cancun and experiencing 20 minute dives and watching bubbles while rest of the boat is down under for an hour. Think of it in terms of finances. A 1 week stay with 5 days of diving in lets say a Cozumel, Mexico costs 1400 not counting food. Each dive comes out to about $50 per dive pending you have your own gear.. if not then you are paying $100-$200 extra in dive gear per dive day. Naturally you would seek to maximize bottom time and thus get the most out of money that you are spending. Trust me.. it is really really boring bobbing up and down on a boat watching bubbles in 120 degree weather.

So... make first 10 dives locally.. maximize your bottom time.. get to a point where you are comfortable under water, know your gear and can get 45-50 minutes to a tank and then go off to experience out of country adventures.

While I generally agree with the above advice, especially the last paragraph, I would note a few differences. First, the OP appears to be making the trip not to dive but for other purposes so the dives are simply an add-on. That makes the way one thinks of pricing a bit different. He is already doing the hotel whether he dives or not, etc. already...

Second, the Yucatan can get really hot some times of the year. I think the all time record high for Cancun is about 104. It can get much warmer inland (I have been in Merida at 110), you won't ever find 120 degree weather in Cancun, Isla Mujeres or Cozumel.

Finally, I while agree dive trips are spendy, I am lost with your pricing. Dive vacations are spendy and there is no way around that. But there are a great many price points and folks have tons of choices and some tricks.

If I reverse engineer your math, ($1,400 divided by $50/dive), I get 28 dives in 5 days. Was that for one person or two? The same with gear rental. If I use Dive Paradis as reference in Cozumel, you can rent the basics for $15 per day. Add a short for another $7. If you like, a computer for another $10. That is way less than $100 to $200 per day. I don't know anywhere that charges more than $100/day for basic equipment.

Two samples to Cozumel (excluding air, 7 nights, no food, 5 days diving -- 15 tanks total), using Dive Paradise (not the best operator on Cozumel but they were both large and decent last time I went): Single going to Fiesta Americana in the High Season -- $1385 plus any rentals 0r $92 per dive

Or, same parameters except two divers split the cost of $1100 ($550 each or $37 a dive) at Coral Reef Inn plus any rentals.

 

[lulubelle]

There is a lot of good advice in this thread regarding dive training and dive holidays outside of the US, but the OP does specifically mention that he is not going to be on a dive holiday while he is in Mexico and Central America. I gather that you are going to be living and working while you are there?

It would help to know where you call home now and where you will be calling home while you are there.

Although in theory, I would have to agree with the advice to do your certification before you go, I would not be diving today if I had chosen that route. I was in Cancun for an award trip and tried a Discover Scuba course. I was immediately hooked. So I returned home and looked into certifying. The dive shops here had OW classes with multiple weeks of training on specific nights, and OW dives on specific weekends. I travel for a living and couldn't work with such a schedule. So when we had a meeting in Cancun a few months later, I went in a few days early, worked with the same FANTASTIC instructor who taught our Discover scuba class, did the whole thing start to finish in 3 days, including all of the book, video, live training, pool training, and dives, and was certified. What made it OK was the instructor (really terrific), the situation (one on one), and the student (me, have always been a fish and very comfortable in the water).

My point is that you can find both excellent and poor instruction anywhere you go. So don't just find an instructor and train. Get references, ask around, etc. I'd be happy to share the instructor in Cancun with you if you like.

And yes, it did kind of suck, to be on the Santa Rosa Wall in Cozumel for my last training dive and be restricted to 35 feet. Which is why after the meeting we went back and dove again.