Do you have to be certified in order to scuba dive?

[pjswan]

I was not sure where to post this question, so I am asking it here because we are traveling with Princess on the Crown in March 2010.

 

We want to scuba dive in Cozumel, or anywhere along on our itinerary if it does not work out there. We are all good swimmers, but the problem is that none of us are divers. We have never dived and as thus are not certified. Is it possible to experience a safe and yet fairly respectful dive (at least 40 ft.) without a certification?

 

Please advise, and if so, please provide suggestions for diving tours in Cozumel preferably or Roatan if none in Cozumel that comply with this request.

 

Thank you in advance.

 

When my wife and I where in cozumel we took a taxi ($11 us) to Chankanaab National Park because they advertised a beach, snorkeling, scuba, and much more. After getting into the park with our $2 off coupon (available online) we walked around the park past a bunch of snorkeling/scuba stands, we came to a stand where no one was at, and I asked how the snorkeling was off the shore. He said very good and started to show me pictures. I told him that I was certified but hadn't been out for over 10 years, he said no problem he would walk me through it until i felt comfortable. he said it costs $60 us, but since it wasn't busy he would give me a good deal. (and he did, I couldn't refuse). I also told him that I wish I could see better without my glasses and his face lit up and he said I think I can help and returned with an armful of prescription goggles. I paid $5 extra to see like I hadn't ever seen before. We entered the water from the beach an it immediately dropped off, he grabbed my hand and helped me get used to diving again. I could not believe all the colorful fish, plants and coral that close to shore, he even led me through a cave, something I had never done before. It was a great experience and we didn't go below 30-40 feet, average 20-25. After we were done he asked my wife if she wanted to do a 1st dive (non-certified). She declined because she doesn't feel comfortable in the water. He let me go snorkeling at no extra charge. By the way it was a one tank dive. The person I dove with was Eduardo, (Eddie), he told me that if I would have contacted him before the dive I could have got a reduced price to enter the park as long as I was going to dive with him. He was very nice, he spoke enough english and made me feel very comfortable. He can be reached at Sanmigueldecozumel_2@hotmail.com.

I would not hesitate to dive with him again next time I'm in cozumel. Their business card says "San Miguel De La Isla De Cozumel". By the way, I'm 59 years old and I love shore diving to get comfortable in the water. Have fun, Paul from Minnesota.

[marshhawk]

I do not dive. My husband is certified, but he had not done a full ocean dive. Heck! you even have to be certified to do DiveQuest at Disney in a tank, but that is because they don't want to have to spend so much in training. But at my request

I told him his first ocean dive should be a Discover Scuba. He honered my request and did this in Cozumel, booked though Carnival, used Sand Dollar, and he loved it. He said they saw lots of fish. Because he was certified, he was allowed to use an underwater camera. If you were not certified, you could not. Try a Discover. If you love it, you will want to get certified. Our friend who went with him, stated that by the time he figured out what he was doing, the excursion was over. But at no time did either men feel that they were over crowded, or under trained.

[NYHartChapp]

I was not sure where to post this question, so I am asking it here because we are traveling with Princess on the Crown in March 2010.

 

We want to scuba dive in Cozumel, or anywhere along on our itinerary if it does not work out there. We are all good swimmers, but the problem is that none of us are divers. We have never dived and as thus are not certified. Is it possible to experience a safe and yet fairly respectful dive (at least 40 ft.) without a certification?

 

Please advise, and if so, please provide suggestions for diving tours in Cozumel preferably or Roatan if none in Cozumel that comply with this request.

 

Thank you in advance.

 

I agree with Cruise Gypsy...get your feet wet (pun intended) with Snuba. You're connected to a floating air tank via a 20' hose into a standard SCUBA regulator. You don't have to be OW certified, but it may be the thing that gets you on your way.

[topspot]

You have one more, seldom mentioned option, something called helmet diving. We did this in Grand Caymen and loved it. It helped the DW get used to being underwater (she could wear her glasses).

 

We went down about 30 feet. Check out the website.

 

http://www.sea-trek.com/

 

We are all now certified and this helped us get the all rolling.

[Boytjie]

Thank you for such fast responses.

 

Would you guys consider diving in the depths of 25 ft. fun? Is that a reasonable starting point, or is it a fairly boring excursion. I totally understand the safety side of it and agree that it is the best approach toward an excursion of this sort. However, we do want to experience an exciting excursion, so my question is geared for an answer from this perspective. Thank you again.

 

 

Diving at deeper depths can be overhyped. It's interesteing wherever the fish/reefs are - sometimes it is at 70' and sometimes it is at 30'. ;)

 

Can you dive without being certified? Not really. You can go for one of the 'discover scuba' excursions they offer but in an hour they can't teach you what should take many, many hours more of class room and drills in a pool.

 

Last February a friend did such an excursion in Grand Turk and ended up with a bloody ear. Full disclosure: on our dive for certified divers last week in Aruba one of the guys had to surface early because of ear problems and his was bleeding too. even certified divers can make mistakes encounter problems.

 

There is a reason why one gets certified - and do refersher courses if you have not done any dives in a while. Your health or life could be in jeopardy if you don't know what you are doing. Being a good swimmer has little to do with being a good diver.

[rednose83]

I did a Discover Dive on a cruise once. It took me over 9 months to even attempt diving again. I would recommend taking a full course to get certified.

 

The extent of the instruction received on my particular DSD was "do you know how to equalize your ears?" Okay lets dive.

 

After I did my pool dives for certification, I felt much more confident when we did the open water portion.

 

Also, if you do a DSD, you have to trust that whomever put your equipment together did it correctly and that the equipment is quality. AND, you trust it with your life. No thanks- never again.

[scubaran]

I was actually fairly turned off by the company offering a 20 ft. shore dive. Now with all due respect to the sport of diving, I just feel like that is cutting even a first time experience short.

 

The name of the company we are speaking to now is Mau Cozumel, I believe. They are offering a small training session as many of you have discussed. Following that and some shallow diving there is the DSD 20 ft. dive. They have suggested an additional boat dive at 40 ft. to follow.

 

I'm just guessing here, but after saving two new 'certified divers' on boat dives, I'm assuming the 20' dive is a check out dive. Each person reacts differently to diving. Some are great in the pool and panic in open water while other's struggle in the pool and take to the ocean like a fish. Think of it this way, which ever you turn out to be, or somewhere in between, if, God forbid, you should have an issue with diving, the surface is a quick kick of the fins away with no issues of decompression. I know I'd have liked the option to dive shallow and close to shore not knowing if I'd like it or not. The good news, love it. Dive whenever I can. :D Gotta walk before you can run.

 

Randall

[hank in ohio]

remember scuba diving is not a COMPETITIVE sport. 25 ft. is a fair depth, think snokeling. You can see as many things in 5ft. of water as 100ft. depends on where you are, and where the sealife is. Discover scuba is an excellent idea to start.

[MrCo9]

I prefer divewithmartin when I am in Cozumel. Small outfit, quick boats and they never take more than 5 certified divers per divemaster and they always have 2 divemasters per boat. They offer the discover scuba course for $60 US. They do this as a shore dive. They are located on the International Pier to the south of downtown San Miguel.

 

You can dive without being certified as diving is part of the certification process. Make sure you go with a qualified divemaster you trust and are comfortable with.

[SingingPixie]

I just did a Discover Scuba dive in Cozumel last month, and had a great experience. I went with the dive shop on the beach at Playa Palancar. It was a small boat with 4 of us- my friend who is PADI certified (Adventure level- halfway b/w Open Water and Advanced Open Water), a married couple who is certified but dives very rarely, and me- a complete novice who'd been snorkeling once and had done one Discover pool session before I left home. (I do recommend doing that if possible- it gave me a chance to try things before being in deep water). The boat took us from the beach out to the reef (15 mins ride maybe) and we dove the Palancar Gardens in 35-40 ft of water. I had trouble equalizing at first, but Miguel (the divemaster) took me by the hand and was very patient as I worked my way down slowly. We saw TONS of coral and fish, as well as a crab the size of a dinner plate, a barracuda, etc. The rest of the group saw a turtle, but I had run low on air by that point (new divers often burn air faster due to nerves, and I was no exception), so I'd gone up.

 

To address the current issue mentioned above, yes, there was some current. That said, it took all of us together and it never made me uncomfortable. It was a "drift dive," meaning that the boat followed with us- when I surfaced, the boat was within a very easy swim, and once the driver got me onboard we followed the rest of the group for 5-10 more mins before they came up.

 

I have no qualms about recommending this- that said, I do think it was good that I did the one pool session before I left home. I learned how to clear my mask, operate the BC vest, etc in shallow water and didn't have to fiddle with it while in deeper water and waves.

[mysparky]

I just did my first "Discover Scuba" dive in Cozumel in February. I did a lot of research and finally settled on Eduardo from Cozumel Sports. My son, 14, and nephew, 18, joined me as well. I wanted to do the Discover Scuba because I've always thought that I'd love scuba, but wanted to make sure before investing in the course.

 

Our dive master/trainer spent about 30-45 mins with us describing equipment, safety, hand signals, equalizing ears, etc. He then told us that we'd each try a few exercises in the water with him (including clearing mask w/ water, removing regulator, etc). Eduardo was very patient and worked until we each had these exercises down pat.

 

We took our first dive (off the boat) very slowly. Plenty to see at 10 feet, and slowly decended to 20 feet. My son was having trouble equalizing his right ear, and he knew (from Eduardo's instruction) that this was not to be rushed and that he just needed to go up a few feet and try again. Our first dive lasted about 20 mins (I think, I really couldn't tell) and when we surfaced, Eduardo gave us additional tips, etc.

 

The next dive was supposed to be 20-30 ft, but Eduardo didn't like the fact that my son was struggling with the equalizing and as he said "this isn't about getting your money's worth, our most important objective is safety". Our second dive started around 15-20 ft and we still saw plenty. My son was finally able to get his right ear to clear and we went a little deeper (25 ft).

 

The three of us felt like we had very good instruction from Eduardo. We weren't doing anything unless he was comfortable and we were comfortable. I should also mention that it was just Eduardo, his captain and the 3 of us. Plenty of focus on our dive and education.

 

So, there are good guides out there, and after what I learned, I am very happy that I researched the heck out of this guy (made direct contact with 3 of the people on tripadvisor that gave him great reviews). This was a great first experience and the 3 of us are now in a program to get certified.