Scuba w/o being Certified???

[CrusinChick]

Does anyone know of an excursion you can do in Cozumel that allows you to scuba if you have never done it before?

 

We will be on the Carnival Conquest, sailing in on Friday Sept 10th and REALLY want to scuba.

 

Any suggestions????

[Shaken_Bake]

I've just gone through a scuba course and believe me, it's not something that you can just jump in the water and do SAFELY without knowing all the procedures... there's a lot of bad stuff that can happen to you; air embolisms and the bends which can kill or disable you, burst eardrums, nitrogen narcosis, to name a few. I've heard of disreputable dive operators who will take anyone who can pay down on a dive, but that's been known to kill a few tourists! A fellow I know has greatly reduced hearing for the rest of his life because of burst eardrums on an uncertified dive in Mexico. Is that something you want to risk?

 

Now, what you can do is SNUBA - what I've heard about it is that the airtanks float on the surface tethered to you while you're no more than 20 feet below. That would give you the scuba experience without most of the danger. I'd do a search on the boards for more info because I believe this is available somewhere in Cozumel.

 

Please don't endanger yourself! If there's enough time, why not take a scuba course and get certified before your trip? My husband is a diver and just loved diving during our cruise!

[sportsterjohn]

Find a reputable dive shop and sign up for the resort course. They will not take you down deep enough or long enough to suffer from the bends or any of those bad things in the previous post. Do alot of reading on the ports of call boards and the scuba bored to find a good dive shop. While it does help to be certified, I endorse the idea of trying a shallow controlled resort course dive before spending the money for classess. I did my first 2 dives in Cozumel and was blown away. I got certified as soon as I got back from the cruise last year.

[joy21]

My 13 year old son and I did the beginning scuba tour in Cozumel last year on a cruise. We loved it so much we earned our certification this year and dove on our cruise this year. On the tour, we took part in a short class before entering the water. We were divided into small groups, 3-4 per dive master. We dove from the beach, not from a boat. It was very relaxing and they took us at our own speed. One young man was having some trouble at first, they took him slow and he loved it in the end. We went a maximum of 30 feet, saw barracuda, an eel, and many beautiful fish and coral. It was the highlight of our trip. The snuba tour went to the same spot as us, only not as deep. We could see them above us. One woman on the snuba tour said she was doing the beginning scuba tour next time.

[HP_Lovecraft]

Here is the description from our Excursion Brochure:

 

If you have ever wanted to try scuba diving, here's your chance! This tour has been designed for the non-certified diver. After receiving 45 minutes of instruction and orientation from a PADI instructor, you'l wear full scuba gear, and enter the water directly from the beach. A few minutes are spent in wasite-deep water for you to get used to breathing underwater. You'll then head out with the instructor, who will guide you in the exploration of this new and amazing world of fish and coral. The dive site reaches a maximum depth of 25 feet. All equipment is included. Some health restrictions apply. Minimum Age: 12 years old. Participants will be required to complete waiver and medical forms.

 

Sounds like fun.

 

Nick

[crzndeb]

I also did the beginning scuba in Coz with my daughters back in 1999. I am certified but they weren't. It was a very good excursion and very thorough. My youngest (15 at the time) had a cold and couldn't really go down very far but enjoyed just being able to be under the water and breath. My oldest and I were down about 30 ft. She did it, but didn't really get that peaceful feeling like I get. You should definitely try the beginning scuba.

[gapeachcruzr]

joy21- Can you tell me who you used, how long the excursion was and the cost?

Thanks

[bruce-r]

Does anyone know of an excursion you can do in Cozumel that allows you to scuba if you have never done it before?

 

We will be on the Carnival Conquest, sailing in on Friday Sept 10th and REALLY want to scuba.

 

Any suggestions????

 

You are going to love scuba diving in Cozumel. I don't know what Shaken_Bake is talking about. A resort course, also known as discover scuba is quite safe and the perfect introduction to the delightful underwater world.

 

You can do it at Chankanaab park. There are 3-4 dive shops right there.

 

Often recommended for cruisers Eagleray Divers offers discover scuba.

 

A dive operator I can personally recommendBlue XT Sea also offers discover scuba.

 

Papa Hogs is another often recommended dive operator that offers discover scuba.

 

I only offer this information to you as long as you Promise to come back here and post a message telling us how you liked scuba diving.

[Shaken_Bake]

You are going to love scuba diving in Cozumel. I don't know what Shaken_Bake is talking about. A resort course, also known as discover scuba is quite safe and the perfect introduction to the delightful underwater world.

Hey Bruce,

 

I think a resort course or an intro to diving is fine and safe. What I was concerned about was someone who would rely on an unscrupulous dive operator who would let them go beyond safe depths without proper instruction. It happens! The way the original post was worded led me to believe the poster was looking to dive perhaps without proper safety precautions or instruction. There certainly are people who believe that all you need to scuba is a tank, a mouthpiece and deep water - why would you need all that book learning? If you take a class or excursion from a reputable organization and follow the instructions, then there should be no problems!

[bruce-r]

So sorry, I just had a different take on the original post than you did. I was giving Crusinchick credit for being intelligent enough to realize that scuba diving without some sort of prior instruction is fooling and dangerous, just as you described. Additionally, your suggestion of Snuba is a very good, and possibly less expensive, option to the resort course. I would still encourage anyone curious about scuba diving to try a discover scuba in Cozumel with http://www.bluextseadiving.com or one of the other dive operators I suggested in the my original post.

[p2lockhart]

I am a certified diver but do not dive very often. A couple of years ago when I was on a cruise my husband and I made the mistake of not making plans in advance and researching dive masters and just found someone near the ship in Cozumel to take us on a dive. He assured us that he would do a refresher course for me. He took us out in a boat with some other folks and forgot all about my refresher course. It was a nightmare for me and I ended up just staying in the boat after a bad experience in the water. So be careful and know who you are dealing with. Your life is in their hands.

 

On a positive note, we have some uncertified friends who spent 2 days with the folks at Papa Hogs and rave about how great they were. Also, I went with 3 uncertified friends to Chankanaab a year ago and we had a wonderful shore dive experience with a dive master there. I tipped him handsomely.

 

If you do this, do it in a small group with one on one if possible.

[Shaken_Bake]

Under no circumstance should anyone interested in learning to scuba go see the new movie, "Open Water," before their trip!

[joy21]

We booked our tour through the ship shore excursions. I don't remember what dive shop it was, but the cost was $89 per person.

[photog4fun]

We booked our tour through the ship shore excursions. I don't remember what dive shop it was, but the cost was $89 per person.

How was the ship excursion on Couzumel? Who did they use to dive with?

[Joe1014]

Before diving in Cozumel I was certified Open Water. Went out with a dive operator and saw some people that I had just seen a short time before in the pool getting a resort course. We went out on a drift dive and ended up at 100' during the dive. Being only Open Water certified I shouldn't have been that deep (my responsibility) but the dive master had these resort people down there and had trouble with a couple of them before getting that deep. There are way too many things that can go wrong for an experienced diver let alone one who's not. I'm now certified Advanced Open Water and understand the dangers even more now about people diving without experience. Diving to 20' or so is one thing but drift diving at 100' should only be done by fully trained and certified divers.

 

Thanks for the rant. :D

[nancychic]

My 10 year old daughter and I went with Eagle Ray and had a wonderful time even in the pouring rain.

Neither of us had been diving and my daughter hadn't even snorkled before. We got great instruction before the dive and he was attentive during the dive. Could not have asked for a better introduction to scuba!

We scheduled online with them about 3 weeks before and we were the only two on the boat which was too cool.

Highly recommend to beginners of all ages! You find out quickly why people love scuba so much!

Nancy

[kathy7558]

We also did the Discover Scuba with Eagle Ray in Cozumel. We had only 4 adults in our group and got wonderful instruction and practice where we could touch bottom before going down only about 20'. We loved it so much that two of us chose to do a second dive - they took the other two to a resort to wait. The dive master was fantastic - I couldn't have asked for more attention.

 

We're going again this December and plan to do this again. Someday, we hope to get our certificaiton, but in the meantime, the Discover Scuba package is great! I think we paid around $50 pp for the instruction and first dive, then $30 more for the second dive. That included all equipment, too.

 

I hope you have a great time experiencing diving! :D