can anyone scuba dive?

[torcruise]

Hi please help me settle this disagreement with my boyfriend. He thinks he can go on the cruise and for an excursion do scuba diving, I said we can only do snorkeling, plus won't it be expensive? We have never done scuba diving before. I thought you have to be trained and have a licence to scuba. He seems to think you can have an excursion where they will train you for a few minutes and off you go. We are going on a cruise that will stop in Labadee, St maarten, and San Juan

[SingingPixie]

You can do what's called a "Discover Scuba" dive (formerly known as a resort course), which basically entails them teaching you in a pool for an hour or so and then taking you on a short, shallow (30 feet or so) dive under direct supervision (assuming they are comfortable that you can handle it based on what you've demonstrated in the pool).

 

These usually cost somewhere from $70-$130 depending on the port and whether the dive associated is just from the beach, or whether they're taking out out on a boat somewhere (since that takes more of their time).

[Snorbert]

I wonder if your boyfriend is thinking of Snuba? You still have to take a class but from what I understand it is abbreviated :

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snuba

 

There is a place in St. Maarten that offers it, but they don't have a website and I have never used them before(I have my open water cert). There is also a place in San Juan, here is there website:

 

http://aquaadventurepr.com/scuba%20diving%20Puerto%20Rico.html

 

Again, I have never used them and they don't list their rates.

 

The Snuba website also states that they have affiliations with all major cruise lines, scroll to the bottom of the page.:

http://www.snuba.com/where.asp

 

Not sure about the costs.

[bruce-r]

This time you bf is correct, up to a point.

 

Normally you do have to be certified to scuba dive, but the already described Discover Scuba dive is available to the non-certified who wish to try out scuba before committing to the full certification course.

[Islandbear]

Of course your boyfriend is correct. You tell him so, give him a peck on the check and thank him for offering to pay for your discover scuba course. ;)

 

Have a great time.

[torcruise]

thanks :D he is always right