I was wondering if anyone had any experience with a non-certified scuba dive?
Wasn't aware that such a thing was offered.
An alternative to 'get your feet wet' (and the rest of you, too), would be a SNUBA dive. These are offered in many Carribean ports, and are a good way to see if you'd like the idea before going to the trouble to certify for a real SCUBA experience. The same sort of mask/regulator/weights/flips are all involved -- the primary difference being that the air supply is a common tank floating on the surface with separate hoses for each diver. My recollection was that these events can achieve about a 20' depth for a brief period -- plenty deep enough to get a handle on what you think of the experience. If you find that SNUBA works for you as a 'taster', it might be worth the additional time and expense to go through proper certification for SCUBA.
I was wondering if anyone had any experience with a non-certified scuba dive?
Are you referring to a resort course? They are often given as an introduction to scuba, and are a great way to find out if you like the sport without spending the time & money for a full certification.
Princess was offering non cert. dives but on our cruise in April for the E. Caribbean they cancelled it. My nephew wants to scuba real bad, the cost to get certified on the cruise is $359 but they cancelled the cert. dive on St. Thomas so I don't know how that will work because common sense tells me you have to have several dives before your certified, am I correct? I have no idea.
The normal process is to take the classroom portion of the scuba class, then do a skills class in a pool or in shallow water at the beach & then do several certification dives to demonstrate your skills & to go to a depth that doesn't exceed 50 or so feet. You aren't issued a certification card until you have completed all of these. If Princess is not going to offer the certification dives, then your nephew would have to complete these on his own.
If he just wants to try scuba, sign him up for a resort course at any PADI facility in a port that you are visiting. I took my kids on one thru Underwater Safaris in St. Thomas, and I believe that Chris Sawyer Dives in St Thomas offers them as well. If you book them independantly of the cruise line, you might even save a litte $$$
Lisa
Hi - I have done 2 uncertified dives and they have all been amazing! The first one was on the Great Barrier Reef and we took a catamaran out to the reef. We had a little instruction time with the equipment and then did a 30 minute dive at about 20-30 ft depth. Was an incredible first experience.
Second uncertified dive was in Byron Bay Australia. For this one we took a short course in a pool and learned how to use the equipment better. Only me, my sister (who is a certified diver) and my dad had signed up for the dive and my dad ended up not being able to dive so it was just us and our guide. This was the most incredible experience - as soon as we descended we saw a huge sea turtle just hanging out! We got to spend about 35 minutes underwater and got to swim around a lot more on this dive. We saw 3 species of shark, a sea horse, eel, a giant clam that we touched, and many many species of fish. My sister said it was as good as some certified dives she had been on.
The major differences - you don't go as deep, you don't get to go for quite as long (many certified dives at the same price point will include a two tank dive) and your guide monitors and adjusts your equipment, not you.
I would highly recommend doing an uncertified dive if you have one available to you. They are an incredible experience and a great alternative to getting certified. One tip - if you have trouble equalizing the pressure in your ears on an airplane (they won't "pop") you may have trouble diving.
When I was certified we had a number of classes in a swimming pool as well as the classroom work. We only need one open water dive to complete our certification.
The open water date had been set several months ahead and we ended up having to hike through 8 inches of snow to get to the water. We did have full wetsuits.
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Tried the non-certified scuba dive?
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Tried the non-certified scuba dive?
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