Resort Diving, get a course first?
 

See lots of resorts will offer a Scuba package.

Worthwhile getting some sort of course locally beforehand?

Yes, if your going to do the whole thing at the resort, you need to take a 2 week trip. If not, you will spend your week passing the course.

I personally haven't done the courses (on my short to do list) but I know others that have done it.

Some places offer "classes" that will get you enough to do a dive (shallow reef) but most will do full cert, and that is the week.

Set the open water certification before you go. Way better value and allows you to dive anywhere and good for life. Resort corses are only good for that location I believe and are almost as expensive. I got my full certification just recently before I went to the Bahamas and it was way cheaper and allows you to go alot deeper than a resort course too I believe

True,

I know that you can also (depending on the cert your getting PADI or _____ forget the other one) do the full course minus the open water dive (they forward your progress up to that point) and do the last part at the resort.

Personally, I would want to have it all complete before I left.

Also note: if your luggage is over weight, make mention of the flippers/mask/snorkle or whatever else you might have. It gets you some extra weight allocation.

Get the course -- do some open water
 

If you are going to a place that caters to divers -- you'll want to take advantage of it, not spend the whole time training. As well, learning to dive in "cold water" will make the warm water seem really easy and enjoyable.

When both the wife and me got our cert. we were really going through the air at first. A 80 cu.ft. tank would only last about 35 minutes. After about 10 dives, I can do 1:20 on a tank and still have some left over. If you get trained down there, your doves will be short, and not all that deep. If you get some dives under your belt and then go, you will be able to push the Dive/depth limits rather than always running out of air.

You also get much more used to the equipment and more comfortable under the water, so you'll spend more time looking at the pretty stuff and less watching your gages and fiddling with gear.

Not sure if I'll still be able to get the open water dives in (been a couple of days lately feels like winter) but see from some courses you take the classroom and pool at home, then the open water at another PADI facility overseas.

IIRC I think most of the open water certs in Alberta are done in lakes. I would prefer doing an open water cert in the ocean vs freshwater and it will probably be warmer compared to Alberta :lol:

Fresh or Salt the theory is the same. I'd get certified before you go for all the reasons listed above. I'm looking into a trip to Belize and just looked at courses for fun. The Open water was double what I paid here in Vancouver

J

I did the PADI e-learning program. It is internet based instruction with videos and quizzes. Then I got the practical part done in four half-day sessions in the Caymans. I recommend doing it this way. You can do the computer learning at your leisure and the open-water practical sessions don't fill up your whole day the way they would if you did the entire course on-site.

Yup Theory is the same but there is a lot more biodiversity to see if you get it certified out on the coast but that also is costly to come out just to get certified. trilinearmipmap, if you don't mind me asking, how much was it to do the course online? Did it specify that the practical must be done in the Caymans or is that up to the attendee?

One of the things to keep in mind -- once you have the cert. you don't just get to dive anything you want. The dive master will want to see your log book, and the judge what he'll let you do.
For the most part -- if the lake is not frozen, a good 7mm wetsuit (double layer) or a drysuit will keep you warm as the water gets cold down deep anywhere is Canada.
As a bonus, if you do the open water part in full wetsuit gear (I did), you get much more used to doing things like recovering your regulator. With that you get a response from the Caribbean dive masters of "Oh, your a cold water diver. Do whatever you want"

I don't know if I would do an mostly on-line version of the course. Where I did mine, there was 1 hour of theory followed by 1 hour in the pool for a total of 6 nights. That spread out practice was great. It gave you the time to try things, get comfortable with them and think about the mistakes you made.

My wife pulled her weight belt at the bottom of the pool (15 lbs) instead of her BC strap. A good evening of think about what went wrong (she put the belt back on underwater as she didn't let go of it), and what was the right thing to do. Of course, don't let go of any strap you are pulling and "think" you've got it right.

I try to remind newbies of the fact that the cert. doesn't mean you can do anything you'd like. If you go out on a charter boat dive, most will look at your logs, experience and decide. They are simply not going to let you go through that chute at 80ft after 4 dives, and you're silly if you try.

Overall the course here in Kamloops was a little pricey compared to Van/Vic, at $300, but it's a one time cost that will last a lifetime. I know I'd get $300 more vacation in warm water.

PS. As a funny side note: Our first dive ever was in Grenada. The dive shop owner, that live in the dive shop at the beach was amazed that we like near Van/Vic. and took 4-5 trips a year to go diving because "The diving is so much better there". I only wish I knew the area was so amazing years ago.

It costs $120.00 U.S.

Once you do the e-learning you can take the open water certification anywhere that does PADI courses.

Overall if I remember correctly the cost for doing the e-learning plus the open water practical certification worked out to a little bit more than doing the whole course in person, but not much of a difference, it will depend on what the dive centre charges.

I second, or third, getting your certification done prior to your trip. It's much nicer to be able to just dive and enjoy yourself rather than worrying about performing some of the required skills. The other thing is that the more dives you do the more comfortable you become underwater. This always helps with your buoyancy and your breathing. Both are important to enjoyable dives.

Don't let cold water dissuade you from diving. Like it's been stated, after diving cold water, especially if you dive with a dry suit, the warmer waters are heaven and yes are much much easier to dive. Good luck and always remember to take pictures to share.

Some resorts don't require a course, but will require you to do a swimming test. A good example is the Palladium Resorts. Scuba is absolutely free to guests, but if you can't do 6 laps doing the crawl, then you don't get to go.

I personally do the snorkelling, and believe that you should have proper courses. Of which I DON'T have. Once in Dominican, I saw a boy come up and start screaming as he is drowning, the boat/instructors did not hear him at first. Watching this was kinda scary.

Maybe on day I will get certified, I do alot of Caribbean vacations to Dominican or Cuba. I envy you all that take those great pic's.

I would get it done before you go on your trip. One thing to keep in mind is the fact that you dont have to do the 4 open water dives in canada. You can do everthing in the course and save the 4 dives till you get somewhere, then you dont have to do them in the cold lake/ocean in canada.

The most time-efficient, cost-effective, and pleasant way to do this is to do all the classroom work and pool dives here, before you go. The course costs less here and you don't burn vacation days sitting in a classroom.

Then, if you can, try to pick a resort with a dive operation on the premises. This will make is a LOT easier and you will spend less time away from the family. Finally, pre-arrange with the dive shop to do your open-water "referral" dives with them. You will just pay for 2 dives (there will likely be a surcharge because you will need 1-on-1 time with a divemaster on those dives -but it's not a lot).

When you arrive, they will take you on an easy dive or perhaps just into the surf and have you go through some basic exercises. You'll then do a couple of easy and fairly shallow dives (50' or less) and as long as you can recover your regulator, maintain buoyancy, clear your mask underwater, etc. you're done and they will certify you. You will then receive a temporary C-card. A permanent one will come by mail later.

That's it. You can now get cylinders filled and dive where you want (subject to your experience level and the judgement of a divemaster).

Enjoy.

phoned one dive shop and they'll still do the open water (at Jasper) until mid October, imagine others the same.

Any recommendation on who to go with in Edmonton for the course?

Dude let me tell you, you dont want to do your open water in october. I did mine last year in october (1st week I think?) and it is f-ing cold. :lol:

As for a recommendation I found that PADI is more universally accepted and more PADI dive shops around. I could be wrong but it seems that way..... Its not as advanced from what I have read/seen but it will do the trick. We went to an island in Venezuela population like 50 and it had 2, PADI and I cant remember the other. Some places dont accept PADI vs. others and vice versa if that makes sense.

diving cert
 

well in the dominican it can run you about 600 us for padi or in calgary 200 bucks and 1 weekend in the pool and i think it's about 150 for your open water and they go till it freezes there is a dry suit rental till winter then they head to the west coast or you can finish up at the resort of your choice i'm doing mine in calgary, most diving shops offer a pretty good discount on gear also

If you just want to give diving a try almost all the hotels offer a resort course , they will do a little class & pool time them take you on a single tank dive to a max of 40 ft. It is a great way to check it out & they will credit the dive towards your certification within a certain amount of time. I have a few friends that did there open water in Minnawanka & they say that a lot of people are turned away from diving after the cold water experience but everyone has there own opinion

First trip to Mexico we took advantage of the resort course and dive. Pretty simple instructions in the pool one afternoon followed by a verbal and written test. The test was pretty simple but the instructor helped lots and made sure you would pass. After that they took us out to shallow waters just off the beach to get the feel of bouyancy, regulator and clearing mask under water. All of that took a total of about two hours (free) and we were cleared to go on a dive with the instructor at a shallow reef (100$us).

It was a short and easy way to test out diving which was nice. But, if you have any long term interest in diving I would just take the course before you go. You'll feel that much more comforatable in the water and won't have to depend on someone else for your safety in a foreign country. Example, we were told our dive should last about 45 mins. We were back to the surface after 30 mins and that was after signalling the instructor that my tanks were near empty then empty. It wasn't a traumatizing experience but not the best feeling when the instructor tells you not to mention several things that happened on the dive or he would be in trouble.

Plan is I'll do the weekend classroom and pool portion here in Edmonton and found a few places in the Philippines in the areas planning on anyways that will do the Open Water referral thing for about $250.

I've climbed into a wet suit before after shaking off the the frost so thinking I'll pass on a Alberta lake in October.

Thanks all

one step closer to an Open Water certificate, just completed the classroom and pool sessions through Ocean Sports at NAIT's pool. Busy 2 1/2 days with great instruction.