Getting open water certification

[new_cruiser]

I did 3 Discover Scuba dives on a recent Windstar cruise. I had worried beforehand that diving might be difficult because of my sinuses, but I didn't even get a tiny sinus headache from it. It felt very comfortable and I enjoyed the dives very much so now I would like to get certified. The Pacific around here is fairly cold all year so I would like to go somewhere with warm water for certification. I would like recommendations of a good dive center or resort to do the course with.

 

The National Geographic Diver course looks interesting but the description on the PADI site isn't clear about what it does beyond the regular open water certification. Have any of you done it?

 

I saw a 6-day program that did open water and advanced open water certification together. They exect you to read the course and take the tests before you arrive. It also allowed for doing extra dives during the six days. Is that a good idea or is it too much to absorb at once?

[scubajeff]

From my own opinion. If you want to get certified in warm weather. I would get all the class work and your pool sessions done where you live, then do your 4 open water dives in a warm weather enviroment. If not, you will spend too much time doing the basics while you could be diving for real.

You can get most of your work through a local dive shop and then any Padi dive shop can do your open water dives that you need to do for the certification. Hope this helps.

[SandDollar Laura]

Jeff, as someone who originally got certified in the icy waters of Connecticut (brr, makes me cold just to type that) I consider myself lucky that I have experience in both warm and cold water. Although my dry suit doesn't get a lot of use here in Cozumel, it was a good skill to learn and I'm glad that I have it, although admittedly I'm probably a little rusty at it, hee hee.

 

At the last DEMA convention I noticed that there were alot of different instuctors doing alot of really specialized courses like that National Geographic course that was mentioned earlier. I think that's fantastic! Takes a great program and makes it go even further, and I would reccommend that type of course to anyone with a specialized interest.

 

Here, where I work, we have only one specialized instructor, and it's a cave and cavern guy. This area is famous for is centoes (fresh water sinkholes) and underground cave system, and if that's where you're headed, you probably want to start all your courses with Diego due to his exacting nature, and in depth knowlege of the cave system.

 

I posted this before, but I'll say this again, since I think it's so important, meet your instructor and see if you like them. I'm not talking about possible best friend or best man material, I'm talking about does this person seem knowledgable in the field, responsible, etc. Most shops will have a few instructors on staff and it's always best to check out the one that best suits you and your goals. Especially if you have a special interest, like National Geographic.

 

Also, as an aside, Mr. Sanddollar Laura, (aka Sharkbait) is a marine biologist/dive instructor, and is the guy you want to talk to if you want to know the latin name, phylum, etc of every single swimmy out there.

[new_cruiser]

Laura, I've thought about getting certified locally. In a lot of ways it would be more convenient and there are suppose to be interesting cites in Monterey Bay which is where most of the local programs do their ocean dives. But I am short and stout so I'm concerned that they won't have full wet suits to fit me.

 

I agree that feeling comfortable with the instructor is important. I felt very comfortable with the instructors on the Windsurf. I'm sure that the confidence I felt in their skills made learning much easier. But how does that work if you are making arrangements for a non-local course? Do you think talking to the instructor on the phone is enough? Or is it likely that the course will provide a choice of instructors when I get there? Checking instructor compatability would be easier if I did the class locally.

[SandDollar Laura]

Often times, you can contact the shop directly and talk to say the dive shop manager, and tell them a little bit about what kind of course you're looking for and what your expectations are and they'll match you with the right instructor. If you haven't done this before, we try to do this as well, however, if you're really looking for something special (marine biologist, centoe/cave diver) I'd reccommend calling ahead, or even shooting an e-mail to them.

 

When I'm not goofing off here, that's about half my job, answering the e-mails!

[nparmelee]

I did my open water certification in Lake Tahoe in November, just a tad cold...I can almost feel my toes again (just kidding). They will probably set you up with 7 mm suits for Monterey. The worst part is the changing in an out of the wetsuits. As long as you have the right equipment, the water in Monterey won't be bad. It is more convenient to do the certification close to home so go for it! Also, if the cert dives need to be rescheduled for weather or some other reason, it's defiitely easier to be close to home.