Where to Dive?

[Falconeer]

Hi all, as part of my Marine Biology class, we being our OW SCUBA Certification. The only thing that we need to do, on our own time and money, is to do three open water dives to become certified.

I'm thinking that if I can find a way to fund it, i'd like to go to some place in the Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico to do the OW dives. Despite being told how exciting it is to dive in Lake Michigan, i think i'll take my chances at some other places

I was thinking places along the lines of Aruba, Puerto Rico (would be nice, no passport ), Bahamas, Costa Rica, or Barbados. Any other suggestions? Ive seen some dive threads for a few of the named countries in this sub-forum, but i'm interested to hear what you guys would like.

Obviously, I, and I think most of us here, would prefer a place where the dives could include scenic coral reefs, so lets hand the dieing/decaying reefs to the people who can help restore them (which I actually hope to do one day, haha).

Thanks,
Falc.

 

[kyrin01]

Despite being told how exciting it is to dive in Lake Michigan, i think i'll take my chances at some other places

Falc.

I think youd be very surprised at how interesting freshwater dives can be. Some of the coolest stuff i have ever seen is at the bottom of a deep, cold, freshwater lake! Mainly Lake Couer' De Alene in Idaho, and Long Lake in Washington.

 

[tgreene]

The only thing that we need to do, on our own time and money, is to do three open water dives to become certified.

It's 4 OW cert dives w/ PADI and I believe most other agencies, and it's done over a 2-day period.

FWIW: Vortex Spring in the Florida Panhandle is a pristine place to get certified, as long as it isn't packed with a billion other OW students like it was when I was there getting my OW last March.

Personally, I would opt for a dull boring place where you'll focus on your instructor and requisite skills rather than everything else around you. If you're a properly trained diver that took the time to actually learn rather than simply showing up and passing a class, you'll have the rest of your life to dive your dreams!

-Tim

 

[karp12]

I agree with tgreene... Just to add don't rush! Like your tanks only bad things happen when you rush.

 

[Falconeer]

Ok, all that makes since.

The reason I say that Lake Michigan doesn't sound appealing is that, i've been told by most people around here who dive that the visibility is always close to nothing, and it's truly boring because when you're getting the OW dives for certification, you don't really do anything.

I thought it was three, but if it's four then it's four, haha. The program we're doing the classes with is a PADI certification.

 

[tgreene]

PADI is absolutely a 4-dive OW cert, and they only allow a student to have 3 training dives per day...

Low vis isn't an issue for OW, and in fact can be a benefit since you'll be highly focused on your instructor. Keep in mind that during the 4 OW dives, you'll likely just be kneeling on a platform or sand while waiting for your instructor to select you and your buddy from the class to do your skills. Once you have completed your 4 OW dives however, most instructors will allow you to make your first post-cert dives within your training conditions.

-Tim

 

[Falconeer]

Ok, well it appears I should do a lot more research then, huh?
I thought I had this all figured out, haha.

Well thank you very much for the good information.

 

[WarmWaterWuss]

I did my cert dives in very cold water and it wasn't fun. I had a couple holes in my drysuit and I froze, I'm guessing you will be wearing either a dry suit or a 7mm with a hood. While it is a good learning experience to be able to dive dry, it is way more fun diving in warm Caribbean waters.
For a cheap place to go you might look at Cozumel, Mexico it is fantastic diving. One thing to keep in mind is that you want an instructor you can understand, one that can speak English well. I watched several people do their open water certs (referrals) in Coz and they just did a couple days of shore diving with their instructor. Once they had completed their skills on a sandy bottom they spent the rest of the dive looking at coral and fishies.

 

[tgreene]

I did my cert dives in very cold water and it wasn't fun. I had a couple holes in my drysuit and I froze, I'm guessing you will be wearing either a dry suit or a 7mm with a hood.

OW certs in a Dry Suit..? Doesn't that pretty much violate every rule of a new diver, especially since you must first be OW certified before being Dry Suit certified..?

 

[WarmWaterWuss]

I did my cert 20 years ago, I guess it was different then. We did a full semester of NAUI classes, and it requires a dry suit to dive here in the winter.

 

[tgreene]

Okay, that's makes a bit more sense to me... from everything that I have seen, heard or read, there has been an astronomical increase in the "dumbing down" of the ways in which they teach these days.

As I understand it PADI is no longer even teaching the charts, and is simply training students to rely upon their computers. I guess I got through just in the nick of time last March, to actually be able to have and know how to use the charts A friend here has instilled the 'Rule of 120' into me though, and it makes more sense to me than the charts do.

-Tim

 

[WarmWaterWuss]

wow, not teaching the charts, that's blasphemy.... I really think people need to know why and how and then go on to the computer. That's really too bad.

 

[tgreene]

The best I can tell, the rationale behind it is so they aren't scaring away new potential divers by forcing anyone to actually attempt to memorize anything... From my perspective, what they are in fact doing is creating new potential drowning victims!

When SeaJay told me about the Rule of 120, it made perfect sense to be able to do simple subtraction in my head on the fly, without having to focus on a sliding scale of variables which are forever changing. It also allows for an ever so slight margin of error should the feces ever hit the oscillator during the dive.

Sure, computers are awesome in that they are ever changing and auto-correcting instruments, but unless your Einstein you can't base a dive plan along an unseen algorithm, thus it is just a nifty bottom timer that keeps score.

-Tim

 

[diver07]

I was thinking places along the lines of Aruba, Puerto Rico (would be nice, no passport ), Bahamas, Costa Rica, or Barbados. Any other suggestions? Ive seen some dive threads for a few of the named countries in this sub-forum, but i'm interested to hear what you guys would like.

Obviously, I, and I think most of us here, would prefer a place where the dives could include scenic coral reefs, so lets hand the dieing/decaying reefs to the people who can help restore them (which I actually hope to do one day, haha).
Thanks,
Falc.

I did my checkout dives in Cancun on spring break after having taken pool/classroom training as a college class just before going there. Pretty good for a 1st couple dives, since you're focused on the training the scenery is just a nice bonus and being on any reef for the 1st time is pretty great. Yes, there are much better dive spots: Cozumel comes to mind especially if you're going to stay and keep diving after doing the checkout dives.

Btw, I think I'd get bored diving reefs all the time. I'd much rather dive shipwrecks especially those of historic significance like U-boats. Nothing puts life in perspective like swimming though the belly of a u-boat, shining a light forward and seeing a lower jaw bone with just a couple teeth in it staring at you.

Aaron

 

[ocello]

If you are thinking of going as far as Aruba, I'd go to Bonaire. It is truly Diver's Paradise. They have so many incredible dives. When I was there the vis was 100'+, and saw about 30 species of fish every dive.

 

[livingstone]

Bonaire

Bonaire

If you are thinking of going as far as Aruba, I'd go to Bonaire. It is truly Diver's Paradise. They have so many incredible dives. When I was there the vis was 100'+, and saw about 30 species of fish every dive.

Yes, Bonaire would be really nice for you. And, after doing the necessary dives, you could really enjoy yourself and get some really nice dive time in for a few days before returning. However, you may enjoy it so much you will not appreciate the other diving available closer to home.

 

[Wreck_Diver]

Lake Michigan is one of my favorite dive sites. but if you are just doing training dives there are a few local quarrys here in illinois that are set up for training. I am a divemaster and have been doing open water classes in them for a long time now. I also believe that if you can learn in cold water with less than the best viz. it makes you a better diver when the water is 80 deg, with 200 ft of viz

 

[Falconeer]

Lake Michigan is one of my favorite dive sites. but if you are just doing training dives there are a few local quarrys here in illinois that are set up for training. I am a divemaster and have been doing open water classes in them for a long time now. I also believe that if you can learn in cold water with less than the best viz. it makes you a better diver when the water is 80 deg, with 200 ft of viz

Turns out that the instructor who is teaching the SCUBA classes for my Marine Bio class takes the (if you decide to pursue certification) students to Pearl Lake near Rockford, IL.

I didn't even know there was a Pearl Lake, haha. Plus, I went into his shop today to get a few things that were suggested (to those of us who are interested in pursuing certification), and he said there are actually some pretty cool wrecks in Lake Michigan, so maybe I was wrong, haha.

 

[NigerBang]

Bonaire

 

[tgreene]

i also believe that if you can learn in cold water with less than the best viz. It makes you a better diver when the water is 80 deg, with 200 ft of viz

+1