Wow!

[rhively]

Went diving in Grand Cayman as a first-time diver. Wow! Now I want to take e-learning through PADI and get my certification completed when I travel to Aruba in November. Any suggestions/recommendations?

 

[scubastaci]

I just finished my cert. Was great! I don't think that I would have done the home study thing. Confined water classes are great for getting all the basic skills and emergency procedures down. If you never practice all the mask and reg clearing procedures, or the out of air sharing, emergency ascent procedures, you may panic in one of those situations. You may still panic with them, but at least your chances are slimmer.

We had a couple drop out with only 2 classes left because she couldn't handle the water in her mask.

I suggest taking a class at a local dive shop. That way, when u get to Aruba, you are already certified!

 

[Bob Vincent]

Hi rhively ...

& Welcome to ...
:sblogo::colouredsmilies::colouredsmilies:

You know scubastaci is right ... and WHY would you waste great diving in Aruba on doing your skills? Plus you'll have alot more fun and you'll come out with more experience and new friends from a LDS class to boot!

 

[don Francisco]

Rhively, e-learning may be a decent place to start, but it's no substitute for the give and take with a human instructor and classmates, who'll make for a livelier course and help flesh out the material.

Listen to Bob Vincent, he's giving you solid advice.

Unless you're going to be in Aruba a long time, why would you want to waste that valuble time on the confined water portion of the class. Even if you decided to go that route, consider that you'll be rushing to get lot's of practice and classroom learning squeezed into a short time.

Consider a referral course where you do the classroom and confined excercises up here, with plenty of time to learn it solidly, then you do your 4 OW dives in Aruba 2 per day. By day 3 you'll have your c-card and ready to explore the reefs with a local dive charter.

It's still warm enough if you start now, to do the course locally, with the OW dives in Dutch Springs, or Rhode Island, towards the end of September while it's still fairly warm.

Either way, you'll end up a better diver, with more opportunity to enjoy your Aruba vacation.

Good luck and have fun whatever you decide. dF

 

[spectrum]

As others have said, get on the stick and get certified locally. You have enough time do wrap it up well withing wetsuit season. This will let you make the most of your vacation time. It will also hedge against any issues you need to work though and train you as a local diver so you can stay active. Being an active local diver is the road to becoming competent and safe.

Pete

 

[CJM]

Welcome to SB and honestly I wouldnt do the e-learning either. I do believe that you still have to do the confined water training whether you do the academics online or not. They're not just gonna let you self study online then let you jump in open water to do your checkout dives. Definitely look into a course being given near you. You will enjoy it and appreciate the "hands on" experience.

 

[rhively]

Thanks to everyone for their advice on getting certified locally instead of in Aruba. I'm looking into a couple local dive shops to see which I like better.

 

[drbill]

Welcome to ScubaBoard and the world of SCUBA diving. Hope you continue to enjoy your new activity throughout your life.

 

[floridanewbe]

welcome aboard

 

[woodsandwatertoo]

Welcome to the Board. Happy Diving.