Padi course...recommendations

Aru

Hi Im just looking for a bit of advise having recently found myself between jobs but with a bit of monies saved up I am looking to get a PADI course done as well as get a holiday with a bit of sun in before starting back into work in mid october .

...Any advise on where is the best place to do a course? lanzarote and malta seem to be popular judging on previous threads....I have scuba dived a few times before (under supervision) in oz but never did a course.

Also is there any benefit in doing the online course in order to do more PADI dive time on a holiday or are you better off doing an intense few days?

Is the open water padi course a best bet for someone who has dived before and would like to get qualified?

Gav104

Also is there any benefit in doing the online course in order to do more PADI dive time on a holiday or are you better off doing an intense few days?

Yes I recommend this.

This way you're working at your own pace at home and not worrying about trying to cram all the information in before your exam.

I usually tell whoever wants to do the E-learning to skype me if they want any explained in further detail. I'm sure the dive shop you choose will help with this.

Its an extra cost on top of the course at 130 USD payed directly to PADI so it works out more expensive but I've yet to meet someone who regretted it.

Is the open water padi course a best bet for someone who has dived before and would like to get qualified?

Yes, this is the most popular choice. Once you have this qualification you have look into doing other specialities and adventure dives.

YourName

To be honest your best bet is to do a referral in Ireland, that means you do the pool dives and all the theiry work here with an instructor and then you do the open water dives when on holidays.

This means you take it at your own pace here in Ireland, get loads of practice and face to face instruction and all the actual diving done in crystal clear waters abroad.

The e-learning only covers the theory and costs more, and you don't get the face to face training or the pool training, which means you gotta waste more time abroad doing that when you could be doing some actual sea diving !!!!

Gav104

The e-learning only covers the theory and costs more, and you don't get the face to face training or the pool training, which means you gotta waste more time abroad doing that when you could be doing some actual sea diving !!!!

Wait !!! E -Learning costs more than doing the pool dives and theory in Ireland ?

E-Learning costs about 96 euro and then another 30 euro maybe on top of that for the application to be sent off to Padi. Can you really do pool dives and theory in Ireland with equipment and the manual for cheaper than 130 euro. That's crazy cheap.

Besides, once you get to Malta or Lanzorote you can have all the face to face training or pool training that you want with the dive shop there.Like anything in life you get out of it what you put in.

I think to say you're wasting time abroad is a little bit of an exaggeration. How much time do you reckon is wasted by doing the pool work abroad ?

In a similar vain ,one could save their money from doing the training in Ireland and put that towards extra dives abroad to gain more experience in "crystal clear waters". I know which one I'd rather do.

Aru, have you tried asking the people directly on those thread about their experiences with the dive shops in Malta or Lanzorote ? sometimes they respond faster this way.

raouls

As with many things there are various different thoughts as to the best approach, personally I would be inclined to do the referral option (learning and pool dives here, then the open water / sea dives when you're on holiday). This way, all being well, you should finish your course in only two days of your holiday (plus 2-4 days in Ireland depending on where / who you start the training with).
Your best bet is maybe to contact a PADI dive centre here and ask them their recomendations, I would suggest Dive Inn Scuba over on the north side of Dublin as I've found them to be the most flexiable as regards training schedule.

As regards course choice, yes PADI Open Water is probably your best choice especially if you plan to mainly dive when on holidays.

Best of luck and enjoy.

Aru

Thanks all lots to think about now

andy_g

Other options i would suggest for if going with the open water route would be train with Emerald Diving and if looking at going abroad to do the dives go to Ocean Mysteries in Malta both are extremely flexible schools, and great to learn at your own pace.

Ultra Classic

Try Canary Diving Adventures in Mogan, Gran Canaria. The center is owned and run by Jerry and Dave O'Connor originally from Cork. They have been in business for about the last 15 years and the courses are very reasonable. They will p/u from your hotel and drop back afterwards. Tell them Fin sent you.

Meanaspie

In terms of where to go it depends on what you are after. I did my DM in Malta, if you're after sea life Malta is not the place to go, Malta is largely wreck diving and a lot of the better wrecks you'll need your advanced open water due to them sitting at the 20-30m depth. If you're interested the dive centre I was with was Neptunes Diving (http://www.neptunesdiving.eu/) extremely friendly staff and very relaxed can't recommend them enough, if you chose to go here talk to them first as there's a hotel close to were the owners live that is pretty cheap and then they'll pick you up on the way in in the morning and drop you off in the evening when they've closed the shop if you want.

I haven't dove anywhere in the Canaries but a good friend of mine is a regular to Lanzarote and swears by Manta Diving (http://www.manta-diving-lanzarote.com/) and I've seen his log books form his dives here and there appears to be plenty of sea life here if that's what you are after.

If you're looking at saving costs just do the course everything whilst there, as said above to do elearning is an additional cost and very few if any dive school will reduce the cost based on you doing elearning (in fact I'm prety sure PADI tells them not to). You can easily do the theory and practical, and the test isn't overly difficult so I wouldn't be overly worried about it.

Saruman

How much time have you got to kill? I know someone who did an intern-ship with Amarilla Divers in Tenerife. It's basically a free ride all the way to dive master in return for you working for free for a few months. If you have money saved up and no commitments then I can think of worse places. It also gives you a professional diving cert so you can go pro if you like.
My friend went on to be an instructor, or at least pass her exam with over 200 dives under her belt. She is now finished her intern-ship so one is likely opening

She now has to find a paying job somewhere.

YourName

Gav104 wrote: »

Wait !!! E -Learning costs more than doing the pool dives and theory in Ireland ?

E-Learning costs about 96 euro and then another 30 euro maybe on top of that for the application to be sent off to Padi. Can you really do pool dives and theory in Ireland with equipment and the manual for cheaper than 130 euro. That's crazy cheap.

No you have misunderstood my post completly, I am making a point that if the OP wants to save some time and make the best out of their time they have abroad then there best bet would be to do a referral.

You are comparing the cost of e learning in Ireland and doing the full course abroad and doing theory and pool dives in Ireland and openwater dives at home, of course that cost is not going to be the same, becasue it is not going to cost you as much abroad.

The point I was making about it being cheaper is that if you do the e-learning then it will cost you more because you will have to pay 130 for it on top of the cost of the course abroad. However if you do the referral you dont have this extra expense of the elearning but what you do have is the extra time to do part of diving we all enjoy which is some sea diving and you get to do the heard work in the pool and the book work at home.

Also I never said that pool diving is a waste of time, I said you are wasting the little time you get on holidays doing stuff that could possibly be done at home, please read my post properly before making assumptions.

Agree with youa bout saving money by doing it abroad, however it will work out cheaper to do a referral than to do e-learning and the full course abroad, even factoring in the hightened cost of pool dives at home it still works out cheaper. My students do it all the time and e-learning would be a waste of time and money in this situation, it is specifically designed for people who have a lot less time to be book studying and could be doing it on the commute to work, in the office etc. but it has a large cost which must be factored in.

Gav104

I understood your post completely , you were trying to drive business to dive shops in Ireland by telling porkies.

You are comparing the cost of e learning in Ireland and doing the full course abroad and doing theory and pool dives in Ireland and openwater dives at home

No I'm not but nice try ,I have checked already with dive shop websites in Ireland and Lanzorote or Malta and it is cheaper to do the e learning and the pool and dives abroad. Ocean divers alone charge 395 euro for the academic and pool work. I don't know where you are getting your numbers from.

I specifically said

How much time do you reckon is wasted by doing the pool work abroad ?

in response to this statement

you don't get the face to face training or the pool training, which means you gotta waste more time abroad

So ,yeah I've read it again and I still come to the same conclusion. It's one extra day ,oh the terror of it all, and one extra day with the person who will be teaching you from start to finish the entire course... yeah, you're right actually ,it is a waste of time.

It's defiantly not a waste of time to learn to dive in the pool with the very same instructor who will be teaching you in the sea and giving you your tests at the end and will know your weaknesses and strengths from start to finish instead of fragmenting the course in smaller sections with an instructor that has no say over your final grade.

CruelCoin

Aru wrote: »

Hi Im just looking for a bit of advise having recently found myself between jobs but with a bit of monies saved up I am looking to get a PADI course done as well as get a holiday with a bit of sun in before starting back into work in mid october .

...Any advise on where is the best place to do a course? lanzarote and malta seem to be popular judging on previous threads....I have scuba dived a few times before (under supervision) in oz but never did a course.

Also is there any benefit in doing the online course in order to do more PADI dive time on a holiday or are you better off doing an intense few days?

Is the open water padi course a best bet for someone who has dived before and would like to get qualified?

Somewhere cold.

I have dived in cold/warm water and i can tell you the quality difference in divers is vastly better when the training is done in 5m vis with heavy surge.

Train someone in 30m+ vis with zero current and place them in an unusual situation and see what happens.....First few adjustment dives are entertaining.

For the record, i did padi open water through rescue in the Red Sea and went to padi OWSI in new zealand.

Saruman

CruelCoin wrote: »

Somewhere cold.

I have dived in cold/warm water and i can tell you the quality difference in divers is vastly better when the training is done in 5m vis with heavy surge.

Train someone in 30m+ vis with zero current and place them in an unusual situation and see what happens.....First few adjustment dives are entertaining.

For the record, i did padi open water through rescue in the Red Sea and went to padi OWSI in new zealand.

Have read that myself. I'll be doing my 4 open water course dives next month in Connemara. I have already done 3 open water dives in Tenerife, two with some decent surge. That was fun Water was 23c though so I'm curious to see what November in Ireland will bring me.

Gav104

I think the real nugget of information to take from this is that keeping your dive skills up to date and refined is the most important aspect of diving.

The majority of people who dive in cold waters do so because they are addicted to diving and will go through great lengths to experience it even if it involves throwing all their gear into the boot of the car on a cold Sunday morning and squeezing into a semi dry suit and thick gloves and diving into 10 C water with 5 meter visibility. Not everyone has warm waters and reefs on their door step. On top of this these divers do it regularly and by virtue of this doing anything regularly will naturally make you better than doing it once a year like if you were to only dive when you go on holidays once a year.

Where as people who love diving but are not in love with diving will do it less often for example only if the conditions appeal to them like if its calm warm waters with crystal clear visibility.

I honestly don't believe that training and diving in cold water makes you a better diver, I would agree that diving in adverse conditions is always good for the learning curve but you don't need cold water alone to experience that, I believe like any hobby it's a case of the more you put in the more you get out of it.

I always recommend that students dive regularly or join a dive club after finishing their courses to keep their skills they just learn present and easy to replicate. We have far too many divers come through who's only diving experience is from their open water course 5 years ago and have the idea in their heads that it would be fine to jump straight in the water without so much as a quick read through of the diving manual never mind a refresher course.

YourName

Gav104 wrote: »

I understood your post completely , you were trying to drive business to dive shops in Ireland by telling porkies.

No I'm not but nice try ,I have checked already with dive shop websites in Ireland and Lanzorote or Malta and it is cheaper to do the e learning and the pool and dives abroad. Ocean divers alone charge 395 euro for the academic and pool work. I don't know where you are getting your numbers from.

I specifically said in response to this statement So ,yeah I've read it again and I still come to the same conclusion. It's one extra day ,oh the terror of it all, and one extra day with the person who will be teaching you from start to finish the entire course... yeah, you're right actually ,it is a waste of time.

It's defiantly not a waste of time to learn to dive in the pool with the very same instructor who will be teaching you in the sea and giving you your tests at the end and will know your weaknesses and strengths from start to finish instead of fragmenting the course in smaller sections with an instructor that has no say over your final grade.

I don't take to kindly to you saying that I am lying to drive business, in fact I am not even based in Ireland anymore and would have no interest in driving sales to Irish Dive Operators.

Also comparing prices with Oceandivers, the most expensive dive school in the country is hardly a fair price conparison, is it? €395 is extremly overpriced if you ask me, and yes you can get cheaper.

Listen its got complerly offtopic and I have no interest in arguing with the other poster, I would ask the OP to look into all his options and see what best suits him, I think you have got ample advice in this thread.

Enojy diving, your going to love the Open Water Course