PADI Tropical Referral

16 August 2009

Why sit in a classroom on vacation?

You've paid for the hotel, done the research on the top dive sites, dreamed of swimming beneath the sea, probably even finished the bookwork prior to coming, and now leave via taxi to the vacation dive center in your tropical paradise.

Meeting with your instructor, you review the completed bookwork going over your knowledge reviews, taking several short quizzes and one final exam which, itself takes approximately an hour to finish. Meanwhile, the tropical breeze is blowing outside and the sun is shining...outside.

Now you'll move to the pool. There are 20 basic skills you need to learn to dive. Whether PADI, NAUI, SSI or any other certification agency, we all teach the same things you need to know underwater. Your instructor will explain and demonstrate each skill, then have you try and demonstrate the skill until you show mastery at each one. A minimum of three to four hours will be required to complete the pool portion. Meanwhile, the tropical breeze is blowing and you hear the waves crashing...on the beach.

Usually the next day, you'll be taken out for your first two dives. One day wasted, spent in the class and pool, when your goal was to look at the fish.

In any locale throughout the United States, local dive instructors are available to do the "pre-work" at home so you can spend your hard earned and expensive vacation time IN the water, instead of in the classroom. Through evening or weekend courses, you are able to do the class and pool ahead of time, and quite often, more thoroughly than on vacation.

Who wants to sit through a class on vacation, when with a little pre-planning, you can start with your Open Water certification dives in paradise. Isn't this what you went on vacation for in the first place?

If you need recommendations for local instructors in your area, feel free to contact us and we'll be happy to refer you to a great instructor near you.