What is scuba diving like and where can I do it?

Pride Fighter

I am completely new here and I just wanted to know of people in the scuba scene hoe good it is and if there is anywhere in Ireland that offers a reasonable scuba holiday for beginners. Thank you very much for any help or suggestions.

Scania

Ireland is the scubadivers paradise. You should get a copy of subsea, which is the Irish underwater councils magazine. It always have ads for different dive centres. http://www.irishunderwatercouncil.com/ is the website and you can phone them for a copy of the magazine.

Scuba Dive West is the best divecentre and the people are very nice too!

Benny-c

Actually it's

www.cft.ie

Rather_b_diving

Kilkee was the first Padi 5 star site and is excellent - its also in the middle of kilkee so isn't quite as remote as Scubadive west - Although K2 in Lehnane has good affordable accommodation. Definitely worth a look and they do Open water (for beginners) courses every 2nd weekend during the summer.

Scuba.ie

There's a list of dive schools and dive centres here: http://www.scuba.ie/centres/index.htm that are worth checking out along with CFT.

Pride Fighter

Thanks for the help. The idea of scuba diving seems scary, which is why I want to try it. I wonder if anyone has seen gigantic fish and been scared by the sight of it?

Scuba.ie

I once saw a group of 3 hammerhead sharks on a dive in the Red Sea. Strangely enough I wasn't scared, I just felt thrilled to be able to be in their environment and see them in the wild. If I hadn't had my reg in my mouth my jaw would have dropped open :eek:

Fratton Fred

Pride Fighter wrote:

Thanks for the help. The idea of scuba diving seems scary, which is why I want to try it. I wonder if anyone has seen gigantic fish and been scared by the sight of it?

Seeing a shark is definately what I would call an adreneline rush:eek: Most fish tend not to get too close though and the things that tend to hurt are the small things that hide under rocks

Most people are affected by claustrophobia (and believe it or not, I got vertigo once in Gozo) If you can get on ok with a mask then you should be allright.

I would suggest doing a trial dive at a PADI centre and maybe investing in a PADI open water course. I passed mine about 7 years ago, but I have only done around 50/60 dives as I tend to only dive when on holiday. It is something you will always have and if you happen to be in the Carribean or Thailand or somewhere exotic and fancy a dive, you can usually find someone to rent you some kit and take you out.

It is certainly one of the best things I have ever done.

smcmullan

Pride Fighter wrote:

Thanks for the help. The idea of scuba diving seems scary, which is why I want to try it. I wonder if anyone has seen gigantic fish and been scared by the sight of it?

I seen a brown trout out by Sandycove once. Swam all the way back to the beach and hit it running. Didn't stop until I was outside McDonalds on the main street of Dun Laoghaire.

Fratton Fred

smcmullan wrote:

I seen a brown trout out by Sandycove once. Swam all the way back to the beach and hit it running. Didn't stop until I was outside McDonalds on the main street of Dun Laoghaire.

I saw an old trout in sandycove once, scared the bejesus out of me as well:D

Scuba.ie

I was diving in Tenerife last week and I had a turtle about 3 foot long swim right up against me, then stingrays get so close they may as well have been brushing my hair! Then we saw an angel shark about 6-6and a half foot long about 3 feet away from us...all on one dive.
Sea creatures definitely get closer when you're on a rebreather :eek:

dave_r

The best way to read about what diving is like in Ireland is to check out some of the diving related blogs from individuals and clubs, especially those with video and photos. A quick Google search should throw up a few:

For example:
northantrimdiving.wordpress.com
corksac.wordpress.com
ucdsac.org
nmcisubaquaclub.blogspot.com

Amazotheamazing

I wouldn't recommend Scubadivewest, i dived there last November (admittedly very late in the year) and it's a miracle one of our group of 7 divers wasn't seriously hurt. The visability was practically nil, even 3 divemasters who were diving with us had to abort after one got caught in current and dragged 200m's into the middle of the Fjord. Myself and my buddy got caught in a vicious current and were dragged out too, pretty freaky when you can't see what's going on. The viz was so poor we'd to watch our bubbles to see which way was up. I am, admittedly, a very novice Open Water diver, but frankly, I felt their safety standards were shockingly low. I have heard similar from the father of a friend who dives there regularly, he has horror stories of having to literally babysit guys who are let into the water with out proper checks on their abilities as a diver.

I understand on a good day the diving there is great, really good, but I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner.

I would also like to say these experiences are unique to the group who went on that particular day, I'm sure there are many who'll have had much better experiences there.

Fwiw, i did my training in CastleGregory, which was great, I've heard great stories about Kilkee and another friend did it in Ballyvaughaun, he found the instructor a bit stand-offish but absolutely excellant.

250882

I'm doing my PADI course in Dun Laoghaire at the minute and I love it. I have always enjoyed snorkeling but Scuba is completely different, its like being in space coz you are completely weightless, its the nearest thing you will ever get to flying. I would definately recommend it