Can any divers give advice?

[poconofishy]

Hi all,
I was going to post this in the late season diving post, but looks like that has morph into a :hmm6: Giant's/Redskins thread:confused:??? We are going on vacation in November:dance:. Neither of us have ever dove before but we plan to give it a try and and hope to get SCUBA certified :celeb1:. I would appreciate any tips, advise, recommendations anyone could share:rollface:. I'm not really sure where to begin, I have lots of questions. :reading: Where is a good place to start getting info? Can anyone recommend any websites they feel are worthwhile? Is there a ReefCentral for diving? :idea:

Also, I need a prescription mask and I have a rather large :bigeyes: astigmatism. A friend of mine got one online. The one I have is a cheapy, (nonprescription) but has worked well for me without any problems (except I need to be no more than 6 inches away :bigeyes: to see things clearly:eek2:! ). So I'm not really sure what to look for. Is it ok to buy online or is this something you need to try on? Is it difficult to get a good fit? Is this like buying a pair of shoes (you need to find your size, and then find a pair that feel good) or more like buying a baseball hat (will more or less fit anyone) (once you give them the correct prescription).
Thanks

[jiggy]

get the NAUI or PADI scuba certification study guide. it tells u everything that you need to know, and what will be on each written and water test that you will take. its easy stuff, just time consuming. i read through the guide a few timesbefore taking classes, once i got there it was really easy.

[poconofishy]

Thanks Jiggy, that's the type of info, I'm looking for. I will pick up a copy on ebay. I'd rather do what I can ahead of time.

[debfife]

There is a reef central for diving
www.scubaboard.com
It's interesting and the forums are pretty active.

My personal suggestion would be to do a resort course before doing a full certification. We know people that were completely exciting to dive and ended up being comfortable and never went beyond the pool. At least with a resort (discover scuba) course you can make sure you like and are comfortable before spending tons of $ and time getting certified.

There is also a ton of info on the PADI website about different courses. You can also find dive shops on there that are affiliated with PADI.

I'm not sure about perscription masks but you can try www.scubatoys.com they have great customer service and good prices.

Good Luck with whatever you decide!

[poconofishy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8284339#post8284339 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by debfife
There is a reef central for diving
www.scubaboard.com
It's interesting and the forums are pretty active. That's what I was looking for !

My personal suggestion would be to do a resort course before doing a full certification. We know people that were completely exciting to dive and ended up being comfortable Did you mean uncomfortable ie with the diving gear? and never went beyond the pool Or the pool was just way too comfortable for them to hit the ocean? At least with a resort (discover scuba) course you can make sure you like and are comfortable before spending tons of $ and time getting certified.

There is also a ton of info on the PADI website about different courses. You can also find dive shops on there that are affiliated with PADI.

I'm not sure about perscription masks but you can try www.scubatoys.com they have great customer service and good prices. And mail ordering a mask should be ok? ie One size fits most?

Good Luck with whatever you decide!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

[debfife]

When I mention "comfortable" I mean breating underwater. It is NOT the same as snorkeling. To some even though you are breathing and getting oxygen, they do not feel like they are getting air. Our friends that didn't go beyond the pool were not comfortable breathing, felt claustraphobic, etc.

Some feel like breathing underwater is a completely natural thing while others think they will love it but it doesn't happen that way. I'm not trying to discourage diving, I think everyone should try it. I would just suggest trying a resort course (even at a local dive shop that has a pool) before doing the full certification. That's just my two cents.

I'm not sure about ordering a mask. I would maybe give them a call and ask if there's a way to measure for fit.

There are quite a few certified divers on here. I'm sure you'll get other replies too.

[Phyl]

She meant uncomfortable. And masks are pretty much one size fits all.

Breathing under water takes a little getting used to. And the hardest part for me is breathing under water without a mask on. Water around my nose shuts down my breathing mechanism! But other than overcoming that it is no different than snorkeling.

Getting a resort cert first is a great step, especially if the resort lets you upgrade with minimal loss to the full cert afterwards.

Good luck and enjoy!

[godiver]

I would suggest going through a local dive store over the quickey certification lessons on vaction. Or at least get a refferal from a local store where you do pool work, written work, and test with them and checkout dives while on vaction. You will be much happier with most local stores then what resorts offer. As far as ording books online if you end up with a store that is Naui and have Padi books or visversa you will have to buy new books to go through the course.

For the mask you can get a standard 1.0-8.0 in .5 increments + or - prescription they can pop into certain masks for about $30 each side or if you want custom ground lens to your rxadhered to any mask usally about $110

[michaelm2431]

Hi fishys. Do you'se plan on getting certified soon. If you have access to a pool or something, I have an extra set of gear you'se can pratice with. You'se are welcome to use it. I wouldn't use it in anyother place till you get certified. The hardest thing for my cert. was swimming 50 laps in the pool, then trying to tread water. It is a great hobby and I'm sure the club will be doing a lot of diving next year. Good luck.

[Reefdrumz]

I might have to disagree a little with the "resort course" thing. We got certified at a resort and were totally satisfied. It was hardly a quicky thing. Our instructor wouldn't except anything but perfection on our skills. I have heard that some resorts will sort of just give you a cert. if you pay enough. That was not the case with us. Just research the dive shop before hand. The shop where we got certified was a top rated PADI dive shop.

If you do get certified on vacation, make sure that you leave yourself enough time, the certification for open water diver sucked up 3 full days for us (classes during the day and studying at night)

Michele, I have an extra PADI book if you would like to check one out. I could give it to you at the next meeting you guys go to.

[poconofishy]

Thank you everyone for your help and opinions. That is exactly what I was looking for Thank you so much.

[dflint]

Me and my wife went diving on our honeymooon. It was a beginner course, probably took 2 hours to learn all the basic stuff, it was offered at the resort we were staying.

I loved it... my wife kept floating up to the surface and hated it.