Scuba Diving Holiday with PADI Certification

[ShokWaveRider]

Has anyone ever taken a vacation that included PADI certification? We are thinking of doing this, we have no diving experience. But We do have the PADI Instruction book kind of like having the T-Shirt LOL.

What would be ideal is a vacation some place that has good diving, (In warm waters with no need for a wetsuit) that includes the full open water certification instruction & practical. In fact an all inclusive package would be the best ideal. It seems like it would be a lot of fun.

I know there are lots of experienced divers here, but we have never done any at all, snorkeling is our limit. It would be great if we could just turn up and use their equipment as we have none of our own.

 

[erkevin]

I am a certified diver (30 years exp, over 500 dives). My biggest concern with your plan is if you want AI for the alcohol; alcohol (over-indulgence of) and diving do not mix. Please provide a little more insight into your ideas re: vacation.
My other concern is for resort certifications; in some instances these certification courses are "short-cutted" with abbreviated instruction. There has been a joke in the diving community that PADI stands for "pay and dive" in reference to these resort certifications.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I am a certified diver (30 years exp, over 500 dives). My biggest concern with your plan is if you want AI for the alcohol; alcohol (over-indulgence of) and diving do not mix. Please provide a little more insight into your ideas re: vacation.

Ha Ha, no we do not drink other than a few glasses of wine. I just wanted all the Airfares, Certifications, Hotel Etc included.

 

[Scrapr]

I think a few people in the Northern cold water states will do the classwork & pool work at home. Then do the final cert (open water dives) in a warm water location. At least that was my plan

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I think a few people in the Northern cold water states will do the classwork & pool work at home. Then do the final cert (open water dives) in a warm water location. At least that was my plan

We are in Florida, but would like to go to a lot further south, so this may end up being our option. Once I figure out where to start we will make that choice. Here in town we can do a class for 4 days to get certified, but the water is too cold for us and we do not want to buy wetsuits. We figured a week to 10 day vacation would do the trick.

 

[erkevin]

Clarifying: you are interested in your Open Water certification, correct?

 

[Dalmore]

I would suggest that you get Certified in advance. Just reading the manual and taking a test doesn't prepare you for emergency situations that can occur. Certification only takes a few days to complete. Reputable dive centers won't rent equipment to you without a cert, and those that do, I would be afraid to rely on their gear.

 

[Scrapr]

I also did a beginners thing in St Thomas() (Tortola) that we did pool work in the am then shallow dive in the afternoon. Like no lower than 20' or so. Wasn't ideal as I like watching all the life on the reefs. But you could do it to see if it agrees with you

*I forgot you are in Fla....look at the avatar dummy

 

[erkevin]

Scrapr's suggestion is valid (and commonly done). That way your vacation is spent diving and not in the classroom (again, my concern is for resort cert programs that don't even use classrooms). You can do the classroom and pool work in Florida and then do your check-out dives somewhere south. Bonaire, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize and four suggestions but there may not be access to AI resorts.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Clarifying: you are interested in your Open Water certification, correct?

Yes

 

[Scubamax]

I agree with the consensus. To learn more a great website is

www.scubaboard.com

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I would suggest that you get Certified in advance. Just reading the manual and taking a test doesn't prepare you for emergency situations that can occur. Certification only takes a few days to complete. Reputable dive centers won't rent equipment to you without a cert, and those that do, I would be afraid to rely on their gear.

We wanted to do it all on the vacation. Time is not an issue we would arrange accordingly. Locally they want you to buy equipment. We do not want to do that initially. We Definitely would like to combine the whole thing into a vacation.

 

[mystang52]

We wanted to do it all on the vacation. Time is not an issue we would arrange accordingly. Locally they want you to buy equipment. We do not want to do that initially. We Definitely would like to combine the whole thing into a vacation.

I live in NJ, and took the coursework and indoor pool lessons here, then took the certifying open water dives down in Fort Lauderdale. Granted it could be different in Florida, but there was no requirement to buy equipment. Of course, I had to come to pool lessons with appropriate diving fins/mask/snorkel, but no requirement where to buy them. I chose to buy them from the store giving the lessons, but only because their prices were reasonable (and while there are choices, nothing like in South Florida).
Are you sure you have to buy equipment above and beyond mask/snorkel/fins?

 

[ShokWaveRider]

As mentioned in the OP, we would rather jut go some place nice and warm like The Virgin Islands, Cozumel Mexico, Hawaii, The FL Keys or wherever. That way we do not have to carry anything with us. Rent ALL our equipment and do all the Certification while we are there.

That would be the Ideal, we could do the classroom stuff locally, but we would rather do the lot in one go.

And honestly, the main reason I do not want to do it locally as they start at 6am. I do not do 6am anymore. If they started at 9am it would be a different story. I cannot remember the last time I got up at 5am for anything. I know it is a little silly but it is what it is. If on vacation and I have to stagger to a classroom a little early that would be different and a little easier.

 

[COZICAN]

Plenty of what you are looking for in Cozumel.

 

[candrew]

I would only add to this discussion by encouraging anyone seeking an open water certification to be very careful about choosing a reputable dive shop/operation with instructors that have a successful track record. A bit of patience and enthusiasm for instructing new divers is also helpful.

IOW, ask around.

 

[Bamaman]

Go for it. But continue with courses once you get home.

I've been diving almost 40 years all over the world, but have only dived a couple of times in recent years. I tore my PADI card up, and would go through training again if I was going to dive--for safety sake.

You cannot have enough training. I remember one night diving San Clemente Island off the coast of San Diego, and looking down and seeing a sea lion between my legs. Scared the hell out of me. And surfacing 10 miles off the coast of Cozumel at midnight, and the dive boat was 1/4 mile away--with me bobbing on the surface by myself.

 

[CardsFan]

OP

I Googled: padi certification vacation package

This is one one site that came up, but there were lots of them: https://www.shermanstravel.com/advice/how-to-get-a-scuba-certification-on-vacation-in-4-steps

Sounds like there are lots of options, including doing the classroom stuff on-line or at home before the trip.

A travel agent may be able to help.

FWIW, I got PADI certified about 25 years ago. Open water dive was in a quarry in Missouri. I did it for kicks, and never used it afterwards. If I ever decided to reinstate my certification, I would probably do want you want to do.

Good luck.

 

[Freedom56]

Has anyone ever taken a vacation that included PADI certification? We are thinking of doing this, we have no diving experience. But We do have the PADI Instruction book kind of like having the T-Shirt LOL.

What would be ideal is a vacation some place that has good diving, (In warm waters with no need for a wetsuit) that includes the full open water certification instruction & practical. In fact an all inclusive package would be the best ideal. It seems like it would be a lot of fun.

I know there are lots of experienced divers here, but we have never done any at all, snorkeling is our limit. It would be great if we could just turn up and use their equipment as we have none of our own.

Breathing with a second stage regulator is easy. If you have a pool at home you can practice with a surface supplied air system. It will prepare you for any scuba adventure. I posted a video on YouTube recently on a DIY surface supplied air system using an oil free compressor, air filter, air breathing hose and second stage regulator. I use it to perform underwater pool repairs/maintenance. It works well.

As for dive locations, I would recommend offshore reefs in the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, St Thomas, and South Florida. There are also a lot of fresh water springs in Florida for scuba diving.

 

[Catmandu]

I highly recommend Couples Negril. I'm an advanced diver and went diving with them recently. They were excellent at teaching new divers and they offer all levels of certification. The resort itself is all-inclusive and reasonable. There is an extra charge for the courses. They are so laid back, YA MON!

 

[donheff]

I second cardsfan’s suggestion to do some Google searching. You could start by looking for reviews of catmandu’s Couples suggestion. I got certified almost 50 years ago the old fashioned way - quarry dives in wet suits. My wife got certified about 30 years ago with northern pool training and warm open water. I agree that’s an excellent approach but I remember meeting people in various locations doing the full course (not resort courses). IIRC Dive Tech on Grand Cayman used to do that. With a bit of searching and some careful evaluation of online reviews you should be able to find what you want.

 

[Richard4444]

I am a PADI Divemaster alumnus, first dive was 1975 and I organize a dive travel group 3x annually throughout the Caribbean. If you insist on your dive vacation including lessons, I would do it in the US. Key Largo / Fort Lauderdale / other Keys have some fine dive shops and the Keys have that Caribbean atmosphere. Not the Caribbean's best diving, but certainly more than good enough and safety is more important. Then your following dive trip can be a bit more exotic. Just my opinion. Either way,you'll love it. Safe travels!

Rich

 

[candrew]

I am a PADI Divemaster alumnus, first dive was 1975 and I organize a dive travel group 3x annually throughout the Caribbean. If you insist on your dive vacation including lessons, I would do it in the US. Key Largo / Fort Lauderdale / other Keys have some fine dive shops and the Keys have that Caribbean atmosphere. Not the Caribbean's best diving, but certainly more than good enough and safety is more important. Then your following dive trip can be a bit more exotic. Just my opinion. Either way,you'll love it. Safe travels!

Excellent advice here.

Additionally, the certification process is only the beginning. Immediately after becoming newly certified, it is recommended that you seek out a reputable dive shop in your locale. Your local shop will typically offer a variety of dive trips with their own instructors and DM's as guides. DW & I, as newly certified divers many years ago, learned how unprepared we were to dive independently after we booked ourselves on a crowded half-day dive boat in San Diego with only our OW cert check-out dives under our belts. Yikes!

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I am a PADI Divemaster alumnus, first dive was 1975 and I organize a dive travel group 3x annually throughout the Caribbean. If you insist on your dive vacation including lessons, I would do it in the US. Key Largo / Fort Lauderdale / other Keys have some fine dive shops and the Keys have that Caribbean atmosphere. Not the Caribbean's best diving, but certainly more than good enough and safety is more important. Then your following dive trip can be a bit more exotic. Just my opinion. Either way,you'll love it. Safe travels!

Rich

Thanks, this sounds up our alley and it is driving distance too. As we never intend on diving or even swimming for that matter in water temperatures that remotely require a wetsuit. We certainly have a lot of research to do, so closest to the Caribbean is the best. Our diving will be a purely recreational thing as we are older, I have a pacemaker that also limits depth. We will certainly only be casual recreational divers. If it gets to be a habit, we will buy regulators and computers, but that will be it.

While our beaches here are beautiful and the beach waters are warm in mid summer (Yes I have dipped in those a few times) further out at the interesting dive sites I know folk wear wetsuits. Plus our waters are quite cloudy with churning sand close in. The further south one goes in Florida the clearer they get.

 

[Scuba]

DH and I are certified divers with well over 500 dives each. I agree with other posters about doing pool and classroom work at home, and then doing the open water work in the Caribbean. Surely there are classes locally that aren’t at 6 am?

If you absolutely want to do it all on vacation, I recommend Coki Dive Center on St. Thomas, USVI. Peter Jackson is the owner and Michelle Gembala manages the shop. We dove with them a lot when we were in St. Thomas, and observed the way they interacted with new divers. Very safety-conscious while also being somewhat laid back and fun to dive with. There is also an excellent house reef to practice on. There are no all-inclusives that I’m aware of post Hurricane Irma on St. Thomas, but it is a very fun island to visit, plus you can do day trips to St. John and the BVI. The diving is pretty easy with most sites having minimal current.

We also really enjoyed diving in Grand Cayman and Bonaire. Belize has nice diving but the mosquitoes are terrible so we would never go back there or to Honduras again. Another option if they have beginner courses onboard is to do a liveaboard dive boat. We did the Aquacat through the Exumas in the Bahamas. Not sure though whether they offer certification. The diving was great and very pristine since the sites are far away from lots of tourists.

The Caribbean is excellent for beginner divers. Diving in the South Pacific is beautiful with warm water, but more advanced with stronger currents.