certification vacation

Ive been checking into the various PADI and SSI classes offered in my
area, and I've about decided that Id rather just go on one of the
vacation packages that offer basic open water certification as part of
the package. Has anyone had any recent experiences, or any
recommendations of where to go. I can find hundreds of packages
advertised but I havnt been able to find anybody who has actually done
it, and i really dont want to just take a shot in the dark based on
some flashy advertisements.

thanks for any suggestions...

bob wrote:
> Ive been checking into the various PADI and SSI classes offered in my
> area, and I've about decided that Id rather just go on one of the
> vacation packages that offer basic open water certification as part of
> the package. Has anyone had any recent experiences, or any
> recommendations of where to go. I can find hundreds of packages
> advertised but I havnt been able to find anybody who has actually done
> it, and i really dont want to just take a shot in the dark based on
> some flashy advertisements.
>
> thanks for any suggestions...
>
I decided to get mine over with in a quarry in NJ. But my husband got
his naui certification in Grand Cayman at Parrot's Landing. He thought
it was excellent. Very professional.

I thought it was great, too. I sat out on the dock on a chair under an
umbrella, watched the ocean (and planes doing an unusual turn that is
required there for landing -- they seem to come around the corner on the
tip of one wing)and had a few drinks while waiting. My time was
excellent, too.

redcat

"-hh" wrote in message
news:1124156198.978592.196700@g47g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> A common (& good) suggestion is to do the course work at home, and then
> do the check-out dives in your tropical destination. This is commonly
> known as a Referral course.

The disadvantage is that you will be wasting part of your vacation on
checkout dives when you could be doing 'real' dives... Also, if you have an
ear problem and can't do the dives, you've just wasted the diving part of
your vacation... Personally, I think it would be more beneficial for the OP
to finish up the cert with the local dive shop so that they already have
their C-card with them when they go on vacation...

Grumman-581 wrote:
>
> The disadvantage is that you will be wasting part of your vacation on
> checkout dives when you could be doing 'real' dives...

True, but it is "less bad" than doing the entire course while on
vacation.

> Also, if you have an ear problem and can't do the dives, you've
> just wasted the diving part of your vacation...

Agreed...although if the pool at the Local Dive Shop (LDS) is more than
~8ft deep, it should be enough to get the knack of ear clearing...or at
least indicate if its going to likely be a problem or not.


> Personally, I think it would be more beneficial for the OP to
> finish up the cert with the local dive shop so that they already
> have their C-card with them when they go on vacation...

Yes, doing it 100% local is the generally preferred approach, but the
trade-off can include how cold & turbid the local waters are that can
make this less than optimally pleasant (I know that I'll never get my
wife into a local coldwater quarry). This rationale wasn't stated in
the OP's inquiry, but I am assuming that it is implied by the OP's
choice of subject line.


-hh

Grumman-581 wrote:
> "-hh" wrote in message
> news:1124156198.978592.196700@g47g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
>
>>A common (& good) suggestion is to do the course work at home, and then
>>do the check-out dives in your tropical destination. This is commonly
>>known as a Referral course.
>
>
> The disadvantage is that you will be wasting part of your vacation on
> checkout dives when you could be doing 'real' dives... Also, if you have an
> ear problem and can't do the dives, you've just wasted the diving part of
> your vacation... Personally, I think it would be more beneficial for the OP
> to finish up the cert with the local dive shop so that they already have
> their C-card with them when they go on vacation...

Plus, depending on where you are, those who learn in cold, low
visibility conditions tend to learn a lot more than warm water only divers.

Of course, I think it tends to freak warm water only buddies out a bit
when I never move more than about a metre away from them...

-hh wrote:

> A common (& good) suggestion is to do the course work at home, and then
> do the check-out dives in your tropical destination. This is commonly
> known as a Referral course.
>
> It generally costs a little bit more, but the benefits of doing this is
> (besides getting to know your local diveshop) is that you'll not have
> to spend your vacation time going through "class work".
>
> Plus, since you spread the basic training out over a longer time
> period, you'll actually learn the material better, and have two
> instructors checking you over instead of just one.

Good advice.

Better to get the class and pool work at home, and spend the
vacation in the water getting experience.

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 17:16:18 GMT, mike gray <omgray@worldnet.att.net>
wrote:

>-hh wrote:
>
>> A common (& good) suggestion is to do the course work at home, and then
>> do the check-out dives in your tropical destination. This is commonly
>> known as a Referral course.
>>
>> It generally costs a little bit more, but the benefits of doing this is
>> (besides getting to know your local diveshop) is that you'll not have
>> to spend your vacation time going through "class work".
>>
>> Plus, since you spread the basic training out over a longer time
>> period, you'll actually learn the material better, and have two
>> instructors checking you over instead of just one.
>
>Good advice.
>
>Better to get the class and pool work at home, and spend the
>vacation in the water getting experience.

If the weather's lousy at home, get a referral to a nice warm place
for the check dives only. I think you can still do that.

JF

"What embitters the world is not excess of criticism,
but an absence of self-criticism." - G.K.Chesterton

"JOF" <jofrancis@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:qlf4g1lo6rtroi21mbae3ibpjejc3lc1pf@4ax.com...
> >
> >Better to get the class and pool work at home, and spend the
> >vacation in the water getting experience.
>
> If the weather's lousy at home, get a referral to a nice warm place
> for the check dives only. I think you can still do that.

John, you probably should read the threads all the way through. :^)

Thus spake "Grumman-581" <grumman###@gmail.com> :

>"-hh" wrote in message
>news:1124156198.978592.196700@g47g2000cwa.googleg roups.com...
>> A common (& good) suggestion is to do the course work at home, and then
>> do the check-out dives in your tropical destination. This is commonly
>> known as a Referral course.
>
>The disadvantage is that you will be wasting part of your vacation on
>checkout dives when you could be doing 'real' dives... Also, if you have an
>ear problem and can't do the dives, you've just wasted the diving part of
>your vacation... Personally, I think it would be more beneficial for the OP
>to finish up the cert with the local dive shop so that they already have
>their C-card with them when they go on vacation...
>

Agree entirely. That said, I have taken students to Cozumel for their
cert dives. We did the first two on arrival day and the second two
after I got back from my first day of boat diving. The minus side for
the students is that they miss a day of boat diving.

I also don't think they'll be equiped to dive in Travis. It's always
easy to go from crap to wonderful, but the other direction can be
pretty rough. If you only plan to do vacation diving, this may be
okay, but you'll always be playing catch up with your skills.

--
dillon

Pain is Nature's way of saying "that was stupid"

Dillon Pyron wrote:
> I also don't think they'll be equiped to dive in Travis. It's always
> easy to go from crap to wonderful, but the other direction can be
> pretty rough. If you only plan to do vacation diving, this may be
> okay, but you'll always be playing catch up with your skills.

What? No one schedules a vacation dive trip to Lake Travis? Damn, I
wonder why? <snicker>

So, when the students do their checkout dives at Travis, do they stay
above the thermoclime? Nothing quite like cold and dark...