Diving beginner

jake59

Hi, i'm going to get into diving and get qualified. I have dived before on holiday loads of times but am gonna do a full open water course so the question is where is the best place on the east coast to get qualified. does anyone have any experience with oceandivers in dun laoghaire? any tips would be appreciated. thanks

murrayp4

I got my OW and AOW from Oceandivers. They are an excellent outfit who will really look after you. If you can, sign up for the course that uses the NAC pool. Very cool 5m pool used for confined water training.

loctite

+1 on Oceandivers. Some of the nicest people in diving in Ireland.... And plus on on the NAC, fantastic place to learn.

Scubachick

Hi Jake59,
In Ireland most divers can get their qualifications through one of two organisations: PADI or CFT (Comhairle Fo Thuinn ). PADI is an internationally recognised cert. You need to pay for each qualification and you pay for each subsequent dive you go on through a PADI school. (PADI: Put Another Dollar In - it is actually Professional Association of Diving Instructors).

CFT is an Irish Body which is affiliated with CMAS. CMAS is recognised internationally, although not as widespread as PADI. That said, most PADI schools will allow you to dive with them even if your qualifications are from another body.

CFT is more of a social club like a golf club, rather than a business like PADI. You would need to pay club fees (mostly for insurance) and you would also need to get your own gear. However, it is a cheaper route to go. CFT Training takes longer as most training is done over a couple of hours a week, rather than in one go over a weekend.

Comhairle Fo Thuinn: http://www.cft.ie/
PADI: http://www.padi.com/scuba/

HTH

loctite

Scubachick wrote: »

Hi Jake59,
In Ireland most divers can get their qualifications through one of two organisations: PADI or CFT (Comhairle Fo Thuinn ). PADI is an internationally recognised cert. You need to pay for each qualification and you pay for each subsequent dive you go on through a PADI school. (PADI: Put Another Dollar In - it is actually Professional Association of Diving Instructors).

CFT is an Irish Body which is affiliated with CMAS. CMAS is recognised internationally, although not as widespread as PADI. That said, most PADI schools will allow you to dive with them even if your qualifications are from another body.

CFT is more of a social club like a golf club, rather than a business like PADI. You would need to pay club fees (mostly for insurance) and you would also need to get your own gear. However, it is a cheaper route to go. CFT Training takes longer as most training is done over a couple of hours a week, rather than in one go over a weekend.

Comhairle Fo Thuinn: http://www.cft.ie/
PADI: http://www.padi.com/scuba/

HTH

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lochdara

First 4 scuba is in arklow a club/training centre and great shop to deal with.
You will find them on www.irishpadi.com.

They have instructors and divemasters and dive wexford regularly.