Discovering Scuba?

[lovenlife]

How is the discorving Scuba with carnival or any other private company in cozumel?

[themarm]

I would advocate NOT spending your time in port figuring out how to scuba. Enroll in a class right away and get your certification - it will take class work and pool work, as well as an open dive for your Open Water.

 

It is worth it!!! :)

[Traveler353]

It is a good introduction to SCUBA for anyone who has been thinking about trying it out. Do not confuse it with actually learning how to properly and safely dive or with actual certificaiton. I have tought Discover/intro SCUBA courses at AI resorts in the Dominican Republic to American and German tourist. If done proberly can make for a very enjoyable vacation experience and can give the student the confidance to continue with a proper certification course once returning home.

[jrb123]

How is the discorving Scuba with carnival or any other private company in cozumel?

 

We plan to do the Discover Scuba with Carnival on our upcoming stop at Grand Cayman. We didn't want that to be our first experience so we signed up for a Discover Scuba class (held in a local pool by a dive shop in our area). It was lots of fun and now I'm not so apprehensive. DH loved it and plans to continue with scuba instruction. I would recommend trying it out at home to make sure you like it before you spend the $$ to do it on the cruise.

[Almost Packed]

dh & i did the discover scuba in Grand Cayman....and we loved it. i did not feel it was a waste of $'s at all!! It let me know that yes, i want to pursue my certification. It also let dh know that NO, scuba diving is not for him. it was a great experience and i'm glad i spent the extra $'s to do the dive in grand cayman.

 

it sure is alot cheaper to spend the money on a discover scuba to see if you really like it first before blowing the money on equipment and a course...imo

[World Gallery]

My husband has done the Discover Scuba four times over the years at Chankanaab. He still has not gotten certified (and not really sure he wants to) because he feels that Discover Scuba is enough for now. He absolutely raves about it every time. The class beforehand is 15 minutes and the guide is with you the entire time during the dive. He was never with a whole group but rather just those in our party (either 2 or 3. He took my then 10 and 12 year old once and they loved it too.). He learned the hand signals in a few minutes. Since you are only down about 20 to 30 feet, he never felt unsafe and he always saw lots of interesting things. It costs about $50 for 50 minutes in the water. He signed up at Chankannab when he got there and never had advanced reservations.

[nasa-rm]

If you have never tried scuba, I think the discover scuba classes are great. We have done 2 now, once at home in a pool and just did one in Cozumel. Yesterday we went back to our local dive shop and dropped the $1000 to get signed up for full certification. Yeah - it's that good.

 

My thought is that if we had spent a $1000 for the pair of us to get certified and then didn't like it, we'd be out a lot of $$. But getting to try it once in a pool for $25 each under mellow conditions and then getting to try it for $65 each in a little deeper water, waves and fish was a good route for us. If we didn't like it, we'd be out a whole lot less.

 

 

To answer the OP's original question, our scuba excursion was booked through NLC and it turned out to be Sand Dollar Sports.

 

They met us at the pier, filled out a little paperwork and then grabbed a taxi for us. A quick 5 minute ride south and we stopped at their location. There was a short classroom session and then we went down to the beach to get geared up. They split us into 2 groups of 4. Our instructor took a good amount of time getting the four of us sized up with gear and loaded with an estimate of weights. Tanks and BCDs were waiting near the water for us on benches. An assistant helped us get strapped in.

 

He then took us down to the water and he helped us as we all flopped around getting our fins on. He did a few drills with clearing masks, using the regulators, adjusting our buoyancy, etc. After everyone was comfortable, he slowly took us deeper until we could no longer stand. He worked a few more drills, practicing hand signals and then took us under.

 

One of the ladies who must weighed all of 100lbs had trouble with constant floating at the top. He adjusted weights on her and worked with her to get her to "sink while the other 3 of us experimented with our newfound ability to float weightless and breath underwater.

 

He then took us on a circular tour of their little bay area. They had sunken ceramic pots and rocks as the surrounding area did not have a lot of natural reefs. Tons of small and medium sized fish, a small eel, some sea urchins and a small lobster were on the visual menu. He made sure to stop and point out some of the more interesting. We reached a depth of about 18-20 feet or so. At one point, one of the assistants came by with a camera and took a few shots of us underwater.

 

We were under water for about 35 minutes total (not including the short drills/etc) and that to me was just about right for our first open water experience. They helped us out of our equipment we rinsed off and then were offered something to eat/drink at their little bar. We had some chips/salsa and split a bucket of beer with the other couple. Very nice!!! They had a taxi ready and waiting for us to go back when we were ready.

 

If we wanted to go back in for more time or to snorkel they offered that but we were ready to go do a little shopping.