What do you love about diving?

[ROUS]

I don't think it's possible to get sick of diving in those two locations.  It should be an exhilarating, thrilling experience.  Congrats on your plan and introduction to this great sport.

[omeinv]

3 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

OK, we are signed up for the class and the pool here at home and are booked on Symphony of the Seas next March to do our OW referral dives to finish the process (Aruba & Curacao). I hope we don't get sick of diving for two whole port days back to back! I know there is a recommendation that you don't fly for 24, or 48? hours after diving - we won't be doing that as we have two more sea days on the ship after our dive port stops, but are there recommendations about not doing dives one day after another? 

 

Once we finish our class & pool time, I'll be back here to check in on dive shop recommendations. I see there is another thread already for Aruba and Curacao, perfect for us as well! 

@jbrinkm

 

That's great that you're set to get certified.

 

For Aruba, please get in touch with Jeffrey Kost at Happy Divers Aruba.  Let him know you're coming to do your cert dives, and he'll get you set for sure.  (https://happydiversaruba.com/). 

 

For Curacao Hans Pleij at CURious2Dive is your man.  (https://www.curious2dive.com/)  He'll provide port pick-up and return. 

 

Even though we're a long way out, I'd recommend getting your dives scheduled now, before someone else books them up for regular dives. If you tell these guys I sent you, they'll probably charge you extra.  🙂

 

You're correct that one should wait 24 hours after diving to fly.  As far as diving on consecutive days, you're suppose to dive 2 dives everyday once you're certified.   Ok I'm kidding.  The truth is that - as long as you follow your dive computer - diving daily is not going to present an issue.  However, you'll want to take a break after several days of diving, not so much for any physiologic reason, but just cause daily diving wears you out.  It's a lot of early mornings. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

Edited June 5, 2023 by omeinv

[mac66]

On 6/4/2023 at 6:44 PM, jbrinkm said:

OK, we are signed up for the class and the pool here at home and are booked on Symphony of the Seas next March to do our OW referral dives to finish the process (Aruba & Curacao). I hope we don't get sick of diving for two whole port days back to back! I know there is a recommendation that you don't fly for 24, or 48? hours after diving - we won't be doing that as we have two more sea days on the ship after our dive port stops, but are there recommendations about not doing dives one day after another? 

 

Once we finish our class & pool time, I'll be back here to check in on dive shop recommendations. I see there is another thread already for Aruba and Curacao, perfect for us as well! 

Yeahhhhhhh...  you'll pretty much want to dive every day once you've done it.  

 

At least when you start out you can't get enough particularly on a cruise if that's the only time you dive. Dive till you drop and then rest up on the sea days going back.😄

 

 

Edited June 6, 2023 by mac66

[jbrinkm]

Our dive shop is highly recommending that we do the OW dives locally (a lake in PA) so we can dive certified in our ports when we do our cruise and not have to worry about skills. We're torn, partially because it will cost more and we're already laying out a ton of $$ for additional equipment and the course (we're paying for our teens too, a family of 4). The actual dives will cost more locally than in the Caribbean, and also we'd pay for the certification dives here plus fun/recreational dives there. Also our summer/fall schedule isn't matching up well with their local dive schedule and we'd probably have to be in the lake one weekend in October. But I can also see the advantage! I'm wondering how restrictive the OW referral dives are in the Caribbean (Aruba & Curacao)?

 

For referral OW dives, do you really just go into a shallow area and work on skills, or do you get to go exploring as part of the process? I imagined that the referral dives would be like our Discover Scuba, where we worked on things a bit for an hour and then had an hour to swim around looking at underwater wildlife. But our local shop seemed to indicate otherwise. It seemed like genuine advice - they are extremely busy with certifications so I don't think the recommendation is just a money grab...

[omeinv]

1 hour ago, jbrinkm said:

Our dive shop is highly recommending that we do the OW dives locally (a lake in PA) so we can dive certified in our ports when we do our cruise and not have to worry about skills. We're torn, partially because it will cost more and we're already laying out a ton of $$ for additional equipment and the course (we're paying for our teens too, a family of 4). The actual dives will cost more locally than in the Caribbean, and also we'd pay for the certification dives here plus fun/recreational dives there. Also our summer/fall schedule isn't matching up well with their local dive schedule and we'd probably have to be in the lake one weekend in October. But I can also see the advantage! I'm wondering how restrictive the OW referral dives are in the Caribbean (Aruba & Curacao)?

 

For referral OW dives, do you really just go into a shallow area and work on skills, or do you get to go exploring as part of the process? I imagined that the referral dives would be like our Discover Scuba, where we worked on things a bit for an hour and then had an hour to swim around looking at underwater wildlife. But our local shop seemed to indicate otherwise. It seemed like genuine advice - they are extremely busy with certifications so I don't think the recommendation is just a money grab...

@jbrinkm

 

If you only have two days of diving on your cruise, PLEASE go ahead and get certified in advance.  I realize the local dives are not inviting, and the money only adds to the marks in the "NO" column.  However, I've conducted certification dives in local reservoirs and the ocean.  What they have in common is they are not fun dives.  While there should be some "excursion time"; the focus of your certification dives is skill demonstration.  You will definitely be restricted to diving for that purpose.  The depth limits for the certification dives are set by standards, 40 feet max for dives 1 and 2; 60 feet for dives 3 and 4.  In short everything about the dive will be geared toward successful certification dives, not diving enjoyment.  It's particularly disappointing when there are a group of certified divers on the boat when you're doing your cert dives. You see them go off on a "real" dive while you're hovering over a sand bottom doing your skills.  To add insult to injury, they'll probably come back talking about some amazing thing they saw. 

 

Additionally, there's a certain value to those local dives.  You'll be diving in poor visibility, and colder water.  Having that experience can be very beneficial when you someday get in poor visibility in the ocean, for example when the current kicks up sand, or someone kicks up a bunch of silt. 

 

Finally, if you're relying on getting your cert dives done at two separate ports on the cruise, there's always the chance that bad weather could scrub either day for you which would mean you'd be in the bad position of having 2 dives done, and needing the other two. 

 

While I appreciate the downsides you're seeing, I really think your shop is trying to look out for your best interests.  If their prices for the local certification seem truly out of whack, send me an email (the link to the address is in my signature), and I can give you a couple other ideas that may work for you.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by omeinv

[sambamama]

I've only dove once on a cruise and it didn't work out well. I only got one dive in, I didn't get lunch, and I rushed to get back to the ship.  This was in Cozumel.  I've done lots more snorkeling while cruising.

 

Of course I just got into diving during COVID.  I had been doing snorkel tours in Cozumel at a dive ship as the snorkel tours are almost always better through dive shops.  I had always been interested in diving, but thought I would be claustrophobic breathing with a regulator.  At my resort, they had free diving gear tryout in the pool, so I signed up for a discover scuba dive.  After finishing the course and pool work, the harbor was closed because of wind.  The dive shop manager suggested signing up for Scuba Diver certification as I would have to come back the next day.  I told him I wouldn't have time for the second dive as I was changing hotels.  He offered to send me out on my own boat with just the instructor to make the time work.  I accepted that and became Scuba Dive certified in February 2021.  I already had a trip to Belize booked for June 2021, and changed it to add diving. I did the course work and pool work at home, and got Open Water certified in Belize.  Since then I've dove in Egypt, Cozumel several more times, Tulum where I dove 6 cenotes, and this summer in Thailand. Before I went to Thailand, I went back to Cozumel ( I always dive with the same dive shop-Dressel Divers at the Iberostar), got my Advanced Open Water Certification, and dove my 99th and 100th dive with the divemaster who started me off.  I now have 130 dives.

I dive because I feel like Jacque Costeau underwater.  I feel totally at peace-It's totally gorgeous, and I see things I could never see above ground.  I love doing swim thrus, I love diving cenotes, I love seeing new things like nudibranches, I love meeting fellow divers, I love seeing how diving is different in different places.  One place in Thailand looked like an alien planet.  Thailand had huge mushroom shaped corals, Christmas tree worms, more kinds of sea cucumbers than I could shake a stick at, and beign able to swim in the middle of a fish ball of 1000 fish! I am now 66 and I started diving at 64!  I only wish I had started diving earlier!  I can't imagine not diving, and I will regret when I cna't dive anymore.