Good first Dive vacation spot?

[bigrock]

Thanks warm water, I have looked on scuba board a little and a lot of good reviews for aladora. Anybody ever dive with Dive with Martin? They seem to get some good reviews and they throw in the rental gear with there dive packages. We will need rental gear!

Also I think I'm going to buy a dive computer as my first piece of gear, good idea or would spend the money on something else?

 

[Mr.Tan]

my first real dive after being certified took place down in Key Largo, FL.... was def a very nice and calming place to make my first ocean dive (i was certified in an old quarry)

Lots of fun things to look at, not to deep of areas...and the area itself was nice and relaxing with lots to do when you aren't on the beach or diving.

 

[snorvich]

Most boring dive I have ever done. The Blue Hole looks cool from the sky but is a boring dive.

For sure. My second opportunity to do so, I stayed on the boat and read in the sun.

 

[jnguyen4007]

Curacao is another great place for shore diving. We stayed at the Kura Hulanda lodge on the far western part of the island. I highly recommend you book your dive trip through your local dive shop. That way, you not only get to dive with a trained instructor, but you also get to know and dive with other divers in your area as well.

At the very least, you should own a dive mask, fins, and snorkel. You can rent pretty much everything else. I like to be prepared so I always pack 2 dive masks and snorkel, a pair of dive fins, 2 dive lights and an accessories kit with spare fin straps, batteries, etc. Some smaller dive shop may not offer dive computers, so you will have to check in advance. Dive computer is great, but it's not a must have item for beginner. Unless you're planning on doing multiple repetitive dives, you're fine with a regular dive gauge. When I bought the regulator and octo, I bought a console dive computer at the same time so I didn't have to spend money on a regular dive gauge only to upgrade to a dive computer later.

 

[Ron Smith]

If you are interested in shallow near shore dives that you could also snorkel, Akumal which is on the mainland south of Cozumel may be worth a look.

 

[thelizardkin]

i snorkeled in cabo the fish were insane also only a 2 hour plane ride from la

 

[route66]

The wife and I are getting ow certification here where we live in California and the check out dives are at Monterey bay. For our summer vacation we want to go somewhere we could do some easy first dives. Diving isn't all we will be doing though so we want a place that has large resorts and other activities to do. I have researched some and it looks like Cozumel might be a good place.
Anybody have any other recommendations?

I found this too be great fun would love to go back only one thing We love the Red Sea by far. Check it out it not to far from home and you can take more classes as well.

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[ace_92101]

For us Californians, I'd vote for Hawaii. It's an easy non stop flight with a lot of fish life similar to what you'll see in our tanks. I love the Big Island! A lot of the sites are close to shore and there is some good snorkling.