Licensing question
- Thread starter Pekkle99
- Start date
Or should I stick to snorkeling?
Ebmorri
New member
PADI is a certifing organization SSI is another. Once you complete their course you will then be Open water certified. What I suggest doing is doing your class room and pool time some where local to you. Then on your trip do your open water dives there, on a referal.
http://www.padi.com/padi/en/kd/openwater.aspx
http://www.padi.com/padi/en/kd/openwater.aspx
Last edited:
David P
Premium Member
I completely disagree. Why use your precious vacation time doing basic dives where you follow your instructor around, remove and clear your mask, remove and replace your bc, practice fin pivots and all the other tasks you need to do? Tough it out, do your 4-5 dives in a 7mil wetsuit with lots of weight, learn the basics of buoyancy in the exposure suit and then when you go on your tropical vacation, you will have less neoprene on, buoyancy will be easier and you can spend your vacation doing the types of dives you want to do and see the things you want to see.
coral diver
Old & Wise
I agree with David use you time there to enjoy your vacation and learn to dive in NYC BTW when do the water there gets warm (NY)
If you come out to the Island for the dives, it's just Stripped Bass, Bluefish, Flounder, etc. that is lurking out in the murk 
Plenty of cool little critters, anemones and such also. Visibility and colors might not be what you find in the tropics, but still plenty of fun 
Plenty of cool little critters, anemones and such also. Visibility and colors might not be what you find in the tropics, but still plenty of fun reefmaster30
In Memoriam
Padi is the diving organization open water is a certification
Ebmorri
New member
When I did it like I said doing my certification dives in HI, all I saw was Eagle rays, Sea turtles, a moray eel and and few hundred other things. If I would have done it here I would have been a able to see about 1.5' in front of me and nothing else 
. Yes you will “follow your instructor around" however most people don't get the cert then just go off diving by themselves/ with buddy, they will do a group and follow a dive master/instructor around.
I feel it is more cost efficient as well. If I had done local dives here in Denver it would have been 150-200 and I would have saw nothing fun. I could have gone to Blue Hole (Santa Rosa, NM) or Homestead Crater (UT) and saw something but nothing too much. Those would have cost around 250 + hotel and travel. Doing it on referral I paid 300 and was diving in the warm ocean and seeing cool stuff.
Since then I got my girlfriend cert the same way and then her 10 year old son and they both loved doing it like that. She did 2 dives in Cancun and then 2 dives in Cozumel, he did all his in Cancun. They both loved it the only bad part is that I went with them so it wasn’t too much fun for me.
. Yes you will “follow your instructor around" however most people don't get the cert then just go off diving by themselves/ with buddy, they will do a group and follow a dive master/instructor around.I feel it is more cost efficient as well. If I had done local dives here in Denver it would have been 150-200 and I would have saw nothing fun. I could have gone to Blue Hole (Santa Rosa, NM) or Homestead Crater (UT) and saw something but nothing too much. Those would have cost around 250 + hotel and travel. Doing it on referral I paid 300 and was diving in the warm ocean and seeing cool stuff.
Since then I got my girlfriend cert the same way and then her 10 year old son and they both loved doing it like that. She did 2 dives in Cancun and then 2 dives in Cozumel, he did all his in Cancun. They both loved it the only bad part is that I went with them so it wasn’t too much fun for me.
Pekkle99
Member
If I do the course at home and the open water referral elsewhere, would I be able to start diving right away? Doing the course at home is more time efficient, which is great, but doing it there is cost efficient, which is also great. If I'm able to do the course here, and referral there and then start diving right away, I think I'll do it that way. Found a few places that do not have outrageous pricing.
