THE official DIVE thread! SCUBA-DIVERS unite!

Originally Posted by Wanger

I have wanted to get certified for YEARS, but living in MN doesn't provide a lot of opportunity (or a long diving season, locally). Usually go snorkeling when visiting the in-laws in FL, though. Saw some cool stuff in Aruba and off Looe Key when I've gone, though.

Aruba diving is pretty nifty....a bunch of very accessible wrecks and you don't need a Wreck Cert to do 'em! Aruba supposedly has the best wreck diving of any Caribbean island.

Originally Posted by PeteSB75

Been diving once, this past April when I was on holiday in Aruba. Did a resort course and had a 1-tank open water dive at about 25 feet. Loved it, as did my girlfriend. We've discussed getting certified, but not really looked much into it. How much are we talking in terms of hours/dives/$$$/etc?

Where in Aruba did you go on your dive? We just got back from a wedding there in June...did a 2-tank morning dive to the Antilla & Pedernalis wrecks.

Certification isn't as time consuming as you might think.

I wouldn't get certified at a resort for two reasons.

1) Too expensive! Like $500 and up, for one certification.

2) Do you really want to be studying and taking tests and spend all your time on vacation doing dive tasks to earn your certification? If you do, go for it but I'd just prefer relaxing and save the course for when you get back home.

Back home, it'd cost about $250 including study materials. My shop, Pacific Wilderness out in San Pedro, required us to have a mask, snorkel, fins & booties. Everything beyond that, we were able to rent. Purchasing those items will likely put you out about $125 on the low end....maybe $150 on the high end, maybe more, depending on how fancy shmancy you want your gear to be.

We had four of us guys take a 'semi-private' course so that we could really pick our class & dive times and dates. The downside to this was that we had to opt out of the Catalina Island day trip and do both 'open water' dives at the beach. No biggie. We've since been to Catalina several times now. The normal cert class is classtime, pooltime, 1 beach dive & 1 boat dive.

But if you don't have an island about an hour away, your normal courseload would be (if I recall correctly):

1) Two weekend classes, Saturday & Sunday, 8 hours each, including pool time (for a total of 2 Saturdays & 2 Sundays)
2) 2 Weekend Dives (either both beach or a beach & boat or both boat)

How much studying time? Are the tests difficult? This ain't rocket science...you should read (so you can have the tools necessary if you encounter a problem) and you should do the quizzes in the book and you have to take the exams in class and pass or you don't get certified. But it's not tough stuff. A lot of it is common sense. And you can easily juggle the courseload and easy reading with your other daily tasks.

Anything on top of this as far as cost? Yeah, you'll need to rent a BCD(bouyancy control device), a Regulator (the thing you breathe through), wetsuit, tank & weights.....all this should come with the course fee for your initial dives.

Anything additional you do will set you back an additional $40 or so per day for gear on top of what you've purchased.

Hope that helps! You should get out & do it!