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?