Can we take only water portion of scuba course on our cruise?

[Cmac3]

We will be on Mariner of the Sea in July. Can we begin a scuba certification course at home online, then complete the course with the water portions while on the cruise in Cozumel or other scuba-friendly port of call? I've also heard about a Discover scuba activity where we can use tanks and dive on a beginner level. Anyone have any suggestions or email sites to research?

[bruce-r]

We will be on Mariner of the Sea in July. Can we begin a scuba certification course at home online, then complete the course with the water portions while on the cruise .....

 

Yes.

 

SeaTrek scuba information. What you want to do is called a Referral and your really want to do the 4 dives to get your Open Water certification.

[tammymacb]

We were on the Navigator of the Seas this month. My 16 YO son has finished his OW class and just needs his check out dives. I was told by the dive shop on the ship that if I could get the info faxed from my dive shop, he could just do his check out dives with the ship.

[iowagirl411]

My friend & I did "Discover Scuba" in Belize. It's a good way to know for sure if you want to go ahead & get certified. We did & we did!

[MandyGirl]

Does anyone know if Celebrity offers SeaTrek like RCCL since they are owned by the same company?

 

We are cruising Celebrity Summit in March and can get our classroom and confined water portion done ahead of time, but not open-water. Our ports of call are St Martin, Dominica (planning on hiking there), Grenada, Bonaire, and Aruba. We cannot fly into San Juan ahead of time as I am a teacher and we are not allowed to take off the day before/after a school holiday in my district (and this cruise is over Spring Break).

 

Or through a universal referral form is it possible to go through two PADI operators in St Martin and possibly Grenada (or Bonaire) to get our four dives completed?

 

I know the best way is to get it all done prior, but hubby works nights/weekends with his job, so we thought we would look into doing it on the cruise. Thanks in advance! :)

[Leejnd4]

We will be on Mariner of the Sea in July. Can we begin a scuba certification course at home online, then complete the course with the water portions while on the cruise in Cozumel or other scuba-friendly port of call? I've also heard about a Discover scuba activity where we can use tanks and dive on a beginner level. Anyone have any suggestions or email sites to research?

 

This is exactly what we did when we got certified a couple years ago. We did all our classroom and pool work at our local Sport Chalet in advance, then made arrangements with local dive shops in two of the ports to do our four check-out dives (two in each port). Sport Chalet faxed over our referrals to both dive shops, and our certifications were completed by the final dive shop.

 

We live in SoCal, where the water is REALLY cold, and we wanted to do our check-out dives in warm water. It was a great way to do it!

[bruce-r]

 

We live in SoCal, where the water is REALLY cold, and we wanted to do our check-out dives in warm water. It was a great way to do it!

 

I have to disagree with that. ;) The water temp in socal, especially in September, is quite warm (compared to British Columbia or Washington State). Still, I wouldn't dive there without a drysuit. (see my avatar)

[Leejnd4]

I have to disagree with that. ;) The water temp in socal, especially in September, is quite warm (compared to British Columbia or Washington State). Still, I wouldn't dive there without a drysuit. (see my avatar)

 

Okay, okay, you got me there...but I dive WET - year round! ;) (I couldn't believe it when they told me it was "cold water" diving in Bali, when it was a downright balmy 68! Here, it's not uncommon to hit 50 - and 60 is considered toasty.)

[bruce-r]

Okay, okay, you got me there...but I dive WET - year round! ;) (I couldn't believe it when they told me it was "cold water" diving in Bali, when it was a downright balmy 68! Here, it's not uncommon to hit 50 - and 60 is considered toasty.)

 

68 IS cold, if you are diving wet, at least for me. I consider anything under 80 to be cold diving wet. I was OK in Fiji in my good fitting 5 mm full suit. Water temps were between 75 and 78.

[Latitude 20]

68 IS cold, if you are diving wet, at least for me. I consider anything under 80 to be cold diving wet. I was OK in Fiji in my good fitting 5 mm full suit. Water temps were between 75 and 78.

 

Wow, we must have thick blood (or more likely a layer of blubber:))--we dive wet in Puget Sound where the water temp is 45-55. Anything over 70 and we're in our lycra diveskins and I swear we were actually sweating underwater in Bora Bora.

 

Kathi & Leo

[Leejnd4]

Wow, we must have thick blood (or more likely a layer of blubber:))--we dive wet in Puget Sound where the water temp is 45-55. Anything over 70 and we're in our lycra diveskins and I swear we were actually sweating underwater in Bora Bora.

 

 

The coldest water I've ever dived was 48 degrees, in La Bufadora, Mexico (who'd have thought that MEXICO would have such cold water?). And yes, I dove wet! That's about as cold as I wanna go....

 

In Bora Bora I dove in my bikini and a rashguard!

 

I must have thick blood too. :)

[bruce-r]

I can honestly say that I have seen 38 f on my dive computer during a dive in Clear Lake, Oregon. Next coldest would be very low 40's in British Columbia.

[Latitude 20]

I can honestly say that I have seen 38 f on my dive computer

 

Did you carry an ice pick or just use your dive knife to chip your way out? :D