Scuba Diving

kaptainmarc

kaptainmarc

kaptainmarc

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Did my first dive whilst on my honeymoon in Rhodes.

5m to start with then in the afternoon a 10m dive, I absolutely loved it. Saw an octopus and nearly laid an egg freaky little buggers

My question does anyone here Dive? I plan on doing a lot of traveling in the coming years and quite like the idea of diving at every location I go to.

how do you go about getting qualified so you can just turn up to these diving places rent some gear and go for a dive?

best to learn in the UK? or do a course whilst abroad?

if you do dive where is the best place you have been and what have you seen?
 
Definitely consider doing a course or two.

PADI and BSAC are the two organisations to look at. The former is based in the USA and recognised worldwide, the latter are British (British Sub-Aqua Club).

They both have similar qualifications and anyway most dive centres around the world will "convert" whatever level you have into a CMAS "star" level to work out what you're capable of.

I started with my PADI Open Water and later did BSAC Sports Diver. PADI OW (similar to BSAC Ocean Diver) is the first step and lets you dive to 20 m, which is where most of the pretty stuff is.

You can train abroad, it's cheaper and more pleasant than training here. I did both of mine in the UK though. I think it makes you a better diver as the conditions are worse than you're likely to get anywhere else. :D The PADI OW was in a quarry with no visibility wearing a dry-suit, never had such bad conditions since.
 
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Will check with my missus later but she's not done it for about 9 years.
I know she enjoyed the Red Sea as it was very different from her normal area of Aberdeen / North Sea where she did her qualifications.
 
I (didn't complete) an open water PADI in south africa: Sodwana Bay with Coral Dive club.

Absolutely beautiful location and the people that did dive rate it very highly, along with thailand and red sea.
 
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In the process of getting the PADI OW cert now then planning a trip over to the west coast for some Red Sea diving. Philippines after that and probably somewhere exotic in September.

I've dived a couple of times before but it's a pain without the cert as you have to go through the basic induction each time.
 
Ah forgot to mention some highlights.

Last trip was Koh Tao (Thailand) a few summers ago. Other than the regular incredible reef stuff, in the gloomy depths below us, just in and out of sight, there were dozens of Bull sharks (possibly the most dangerous species of shark). :eek:

Also dived off the Musandam peninsula (Oman) which I remember was exceptional for Green Turtles and Whale Sharks, although it was the tail end of the season for the latter unfortunately.
 
My Wife and I did our SSI Open Water Diving Qualification last year on Koh Phi Phi.
Many people would say do PADI and not SSI, but both are as good as each other and both are recognized all around the world.
I recommend doing the course when on holiday, much more relaxed and you get to see some very cool sea life.

It cost us 350 Euros each, This included the full kit hire, 4 days of diving and the Certification.
There was an exam of which you needed to get 85% to pass.

The Diving was two sessions per day of 30m each (or until you ran out of air)

We progressed from shallow water to deep water during the course.

During the dives you will be expected to carry out some skills, such as sharing Air with your buddy, removing your mask and then refitting whilst 10+meters down and various other skills that are required to be certified.

My wife managed it all very well, the main issue she had was to maintain the correct buoyancy, she was looking at fish so much she kept drifting up, which lead to me having to then pull her back down. I got the hang of being able to control my weight in such a way i could gently tug her downwards and stay where i was.

It was a very fun experience, we have booked a holiday to lanzarote this august and we plan to take our qualification and go diving there.

Its a serious thing though, you have to look after each other and check your air levels and depth. Also you will need to keep checking your buddies levels as they wont be the same as yours.
You have to keep calm and collected and respect the environment you are in.
When you are say 20M down, you cant simply decide to go up the surface, you have to surface gradually and also take a break at around 10m and then 5m. How long the stop depends on your dive computer.

Also just for reference:

These are the recommended depths by certification by the SSI standards. They are recommendations, it does not dictate your depth. Your depth should be dictated by the conditions and your skill level.

Recommended Depth Limits: All students, after
certification, should be advised to dive within depth
limits taught during class.
Recommended depth limits, based on the certification
levels, are as follows:
Scuba Diver - 40 feet (12 metres)
Junior Scuba Diver - 40 feet (12 metres, only with a
Dive Professional)
Open Water Diver – 60 feet (18 metres)
Junior Open Water Diver – 60 feet (18 metres, after
certification with no additional training)
Advanced Adventurer – 100 feet (30 metres, when a
Deep Dive was used in the program)
Junior Advanced Adventurer - 70 feet (21 metres)
Deep Diving Specialty Diver –130 feet (40 metres)
 
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I do a fair bit of diving, used to work as a guide in various locations then crewed on dive boats in the UK. I try to get out every weekend now and just got back from Scapa Flow. I learnt to dive in Thailand with Padi and made my way to Divemaster. Then crossed over the BSAC and did Advanced diver, instructor quals and technical diving stuff. My advice would be if you don't plan on diving in the UK then don't bother learning here, it will prove expensive and time consuming compared to doing a course abroad.

Research the centre you are planning on doing the course with and ask for peoples advice. The standard of instructing varies massively and it really is vital to get a good instructor. For the entry level course there isn't a huge amount of difference between the main agencies (SSI, Padi, SDI, BSAC etc), they have differences but I would concentrate on finding a good centre over using a particular agency.

Best diving I have done is in Scapa Flow, the remains of the WW1 German High Seas fleet is just amazing. Looking up at the bow of the SMS Markgraf from the seabed is probably the best thing I have seen underwater, closely followed by the Froward 12 Inch gun of the SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm with its anchor chain wrapped around the barrell. I was lucky enough to spend a season working there so got to extensively explore them. Warm water stuff, Sipidan is pretty hard to beat blew Koh Tao and perhentian islands out of the water. The red sea offers fantastic and cheap diving with a brilliant mix of wrecks and reefs and all depths really.
 
joeyjojo said:
^ Cool, would love to visit Scapa Flow. What's the water temp like?

What was so good about Sipidan?
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Was 10 degrees last week, I think the season I was there the highest temp i got was 12, lowest 8. Visibility ranges from 2-3m all the way up to 20m+ though that is unusual. Normally 5-10m

Sipidan every dive had Hawksbill and green turtles, Black and grey tip reef sharks (hundreds of them), massive shoals of fish, loads of macro life and very few divers because they massively limit the number allowed to dive around the island. Im pretty poor at video but heres a video i have from there

 
Yeah my wife got me into diving and we've not looked back since really, dived in lots of places, the best of which we've ever been too is the Red Sea. It really is like an aquarium.

We own almost all of our own gear, other than tanks really. I can't stand the thought of renting a wetsuit, I mean the number of times I've peed in my own...!
 
I'm in Malta and did my PADI open water 2 years ago.... it really is amazing... currently planning to do the advanced open water (to dive up to 30 metres) this summer...

go for it :)
 
Nameless_87 said:
I'm in Malta and did my PADI open water 2 years ago.... it really is amazing... currently planning to do the advanced open water (to dive up to 30 metres) this summer...

go for it :)
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You should really dive within two years of qualifying.

i was informed that if i had no log of a dive within 24 months of getting certified i would have to take a refresher...
 
did my Padi OW years ago and completed it in some quarry somewhere in Feb - water temp was 2C and someone said it could have qualified for an ice dive in one of the advanced certs. Wasn't a nice feeling in a semi dry but that was the worst of it
 
Had a quick google and found a dive center near where I am staying in portugal

PADI ran course for 280 euros

day 1
morning theory
afternoon swimming pool

day 2
complete 2 different dives

is that the normal thing to do? only 2 days to get the basic qualification

or would it need to be the PADI open water training course which is more expensive and 3 days long
 
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In December 2013 I trained up to Advanced Open Water (30m depth) with a PADI school on Koh Tao (Thailand) and had the best time ever. I tuned up at the hotel and started talking to one of the instructors. Had a great time, went on around 20 dives while I was there.

Dived around a WWII ship, obstacle course and many different reefs. Saw so many amazing fish, including the Trigger Fish which are 'fun' if you get too close to their young..

Would love to go again soon but not had the opportunity.
 
IIRC you can do some of the theory online for the PADI open water diver before you go out on holiday which will save you time doing the "boring" bits while you're out there and give you more time diving.

It is an amazing activity to do, I've never wanted for anything more than my (junior!) open water diver qualification. It never expires, and I've never had a problem with turning up without my logbook or PADI card (it's all online anyway now). It's adequate to see pretty fish and coral and isn't ever too challenging in reality at that level if you're with an instructor.
 
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