Scuba Diving?

[Megan]

Is anyone on the forums a certified diver?? I am seriously thinking about getting certified... Never dived before, the closest thing I've done is snorkel LOL... However I'm looking at booking another cruise, and the one thing I'd love to do is a 2-tank dive...but I need to be certified for it.

I found a class about 1 hour away. The class is $450 dollars. You then need to buy your mask, fins etc... Not sure that I can swing that amount of money at the moment(I'm looking at starting school, and that will cost a pretty penny) but it's an option for the future...

 

[alli713]

I'm a certified open water diver, never got around to getting advanced or anything though. I think I've been certified for something like 7 years now. I've done numerous dives in Hawaii and then some freshwater dives as well as diving in the sturgeon tank while working at the aquarium.

Classes are really expensive, but do you have a college near by? I know both the colleges I attended did diving certification as a course. So perhaps you could find out if they have a cheaper option? Or if you start school, perhaps that school will have a class. I know when my boyfriend got certified through our college it was about half the price of dive shop's cost.

Most places don't require you to own your own wetsuit, bcd, tank and regulator. But owning your own fins and mask is actually a good idea no matter what. I found it hard to find a mask that fit me perfect and didn't leak, so it was great having my own and not have to worry about that. And, when you go on dives, you don't have to worry about it, but dive shops can rent you the rest of your equipment.

Classes are expensive, but it's a one time cost. Once you're certified, you're certified for life.

One thing you can look into, although it's way more touristy and the people don't know what they're doing, but is some places do allow dives for non-certified people. While in Hawaii our dive shop shared a boat with a company that did dives for non-certified people. Us that knew kind of laughed at them, but it's a way to dive without the cost. I think it's a better idea to get certified because there is a lot that can go wrong down there and it'd be better to know what to do if the case arises.

 

[Megan]

Alli- Thank you. I'll have to check around at the local college, see if they offer anything. The class I found (Figure when everything is said and done, it should be about $600 w/o buying the tank --but with buying the mask, fines etc)--and it is from a dive shop, certified with PADI.

I'll have to do some digging.. It would be awesome to be able to do a dive while enjoying my cruise!

 

[Leah]

At my college, scuba diving is actually an elective for your P.E requirement. The cost of the class is something like $250, but I'm not sure what that includes. I definitely second checking with whatever school your looking into.. It would probably save you even a little bit.

 

[Tiatrack]

I would highly recommend finding a place that lets you try it for a nominal fee in a pool. My gym actually did a class for free one night, and I discovered how quickly I panic when scuba diving! I can snorkel just fine, but breathing through my mouth, worrying about pressure building up, panicking about my mask filling up with water (which it did) - it was all just too much for me. My sister, on the other hand, is an expert diver, uses very little air, and loves diving. It would be nice to try it out first before you shell out all of that money.

 

[Cinder and Me]

I am open water, advanced and rescue certified.
You can look in to Sport Chalets, they do it, and are actually pretty good.

If you have any questions, just PM. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have.

 

[Cinder and Me]

Alli- Thank you. I'll have to check around at the local college, see if they offer anything. The class I found (Figure when everything is said and done, it should be about $600 w/o buying the tank --but with buying the mask, fines etc)--and it is from a dive shop, certified with PADI.

I'll have to do some digging.. It would be awesome to be able to do a dive while enjoying my cruise!

Most tourist places will have "discover scuba" activities. They basically give you a crash course and take you on a shallow (~30-40') dive. A lot of people do that on vacations actually. If you ask about it, I'm sure they would know what you're talking about.

 

[tskoffina]

I got certified back in high school, and it wasn't really expensive, got Open Water, Advanced, and Rescue, besides a few others. I don't know where you were looking to cruise, but a lot of them leave out of Miami, and I know people fly in to leave from there. If you take a cruise out of Miami or another place like it, look into getting certified while you're there before. Or also SCUBA type vacation places, Mexico, So Fl, I think the Bahamas too, will have way's to do it all while on vacation, and they usually include some cool dives.

 

[mapache315]

If it's something that you think you'd really like, it'd be worth it to get certified. I know my community college and town offer occasional SCUBA classes as a non-credit class (the town one comes in a pamphlet sent from "Adult Ed", with a bunch of other classes like ball room dancing and computer skills...not sure if you have somethinglike this around you but itd be worth checking...local libraries usually carry the info).