Onboard certification question - 2 extra dives for open water?

[reeltrouble11]

OK.. Im already PADI certified, but havent been on a dive in 5+years, DW wants to learn, so we are taking the course together on our sailing. Doing onboard, since we just dont have the time to do in everyday life, and dont mind spending time during sea days to do classwork. My question is this.. We are on a 7 night Eastern sailing. Our 2 training dives are at the 2nd stop, in St Maarten. I went ahead and booked the 2 dive stop in St Thomas as well (the day after St Maarten), as the rep we spoke to on the phone said this would satisfy the full requirements for open water cert. So, we will take classes, 2 training dives, then supposedly be able to dive freely on the next stop, and these will fullfill the 4 dive requirement.

 

Can someone (anyone?) please verify this is correct? or do we have to arrange for an instructor to be with us on dives 3/4 as well to count? We will confirm with dive shop on board, but wanted to know what to expect

 

thanks!!

[xSandman3`]

That is incorrect. You must make 4 training dives with an instructor in order to be certified. You need to call the shop at the second port and verify that there will be an instructor who is in current teaching status available to certify you as a transfer student. You will need proof from the ship instructors that you have completed everything else as well.

Personally, I wouldn't certify anyone I hadn't seen in a confined water situation first, so they may require you to prove skills in a pool or confined open water situation first. Your best bet really is to get certified before you go.

 

Dale

PADI OWSI

[reeltrouble11]

thanks Dale. Wish that were an option, but leaving in 2 weeks from today, so no time to get it done. Guess Ill head over to the dive shop as soon as we board, and see about them providing an instructor (for more $, of course) on the other dives. Since they are thru RCI, hopefully will be able to accommodate. At least I have the right info now

[xSandman3`]

Another thing you might look at is eLearning at padi.com. You can complete all of the classwork at home before you go and save yourself a lot of hours onboard. It's a little more pricey, but it works. I've had a few students now who have used it, and they are more than prepared when they get to me.

 

Best of luck,

 

Dale

PADI OWSI