Where are the best places to learn Scuba Diving? I'm planning on taking courses for 2 weeks straight and dive all day and then just fuck off to a bar at night. I'm from Europe btw. On the internet I've read
>Thailand, Pattaya
I don't mind but i don't really wanna be approached by trannies all the time and telling my family that i went alone to Thailand is sus
>Honduras
shouldn't i be worried about the murder rate? idk
>Mexico
Hmm maybe, never been.
Do you know any cool spots with good "schools" and diving sites?
I've been diving in Belize and Grand Cayman. It was a long time ago, but both of them had pretty good reefs and dive operators.
Just a heads-up-- diving is fucking tiring. I got certified when I was a teenager and went with my family on a dive holiday to Belize where we did two dives a day. We were all in great shape, did lots of sports, etc., and, after a few days, we were fucking beat. So, my advice is to try not to over-do it.
Alright thanks for the heads-up and the spots! Most courses I've seen are like 2-3 day courses anyways and then i can book more if i still want to or maybe after a few days of relaxing!
t. actual scoober in SEA
In terms of ease/high chance of wildlife
Indonesia, Bali - shipwrecks, mola-molas, mantas, live aboard in Komodo National Park
Philippines - shipwrecks, green sea turtles, thresher sharks, whalesharks,live aboard in Tubbataha reef
Thailand, Phi Phi - shipwrecks, reef sharks, green sea turtles
If want it completely laidback and just dive-dive bars, then I highly suggest Phi Phi/Malapascua-Daan Bantayan/Bali-Nusa Penida.
2 weeks for me is the perfect length for those places + dive trips to nearby islands, and at night you return to the main island where all the bars are.
Sounds awesome, thanks for your post!
I forgot to mention to always check when the right season, both weather and wildlife, is for those islands.
It could mean completely glassy surface conditions with more than 20 meters of visibility underwater, or a wavy surface along with barely any visibility.
Same goes for wildlife, certain big marine wildlife follow migration patterns - but the reason why I mentioned those islands is because:
1. You are almost guaranteed to spot at least some medium sized marine life be it turtles or reef sharks.
2. They are all easily accessible. Either shore dive or boat dive, and these boat operators are all ready to go anytime you want.
3. Cheap with flights probably being the most expensive part depending on where you're flying from.
Worst case scenario you won't get to see any big fish, but even then if it's your first time diving in the tropics, you're at least bound to see critters you've never seen before which should be exciting enough like pic related.
Things can get pretty costly once you want to play with the big boys, but here are some things you can look forward to once you're more confident and willing to pay the price.
Humpback whales in Tonga/Vanuatu
Sperm whales in Portugal's Azores Islands
Bigboy Sharks feeding frenzy on bait balls in South Africa
A fuck lot more expensive and with fewer things to do outside of diving compared to SEA.
How important is knowing how to swim? I learned to swim as a kid to a decent level and then just never did it again.
The technique for swimming with fins is different but more than anything you have to be in good enough shape to not get winded from a little bit of physical activity and be comfortable in open water. Not in a pool, open water. There's currents. There's sea animals. You can't see the surface. You can't see the bottom. You need to be able to handle this and keep your bearings.
My biggest problem with diving is how ridiculously expensive it is.
Try to get your own gear so you wind up with stuff you like and is comfortable on you. If you live somewhere people dive you can get bcds and wetsuis and shit secondhand. Then only paying for tanks and the boat and if you are good at the ins and outs of 3rd world negotiations you can put together your own group and charter a boat for less than package operators charge, bringing your own food and gear.
Everybody knows its a coomer destination but diving is the perfect cover story because its time-consuming and people fly to really far off places for diving on the regular so going to Thailand for diving checks out. If you tell people you're going to Phuket to spend the day on the beach nobody believes you because there's closer beaches but it you rattle off the names of some dive sites normies won't question it. The biggest degenerates I've run into diving were Japanese tourists (before coof) they'd get drunk in between dives and spend all night at whorehouses.
You can get certified in 3rd world and they're cheaper and more lax about shit but be careful there's some shady operators who have killed tourists, like the movie Open Water, that's happened (though the shark shit is overdone) and try to be in decent shape and a good swimmer already. There's really no way to be a good *ocean* swimmer other than doing it regularly.
I'd say my number one dream destination is the Chuk Lagoon in Micronesia and similar places- WWII wrecks sunken in the shallow water of a tropical atoll. I'm scared to penetrate wrecks but I still wanna see it.
>Everybody knows its a coomer destination but diving is the perfect cover story
You're a fucking genius. I'm going to start looking into diving as well now. This is revolutionary. I can now legitimately (but not actually) explain why I want to go to the Philippines and Thailand. What about nighttime? You just say you were so exhausted from diving all day you just crashed early every night?
>you aren't supposed to drink and party before diving its "dangerous" (unless you're a Japanese salaryman with his buddies holy shit)
>you're too worried about your gear getting stolen to leave the hotel
>you're on a live-aboard boat the whole time
>its some small town on the beach there's no brothels or bars here
Even if none of the above is really true its believable. Great cover story.
>Try to get your own gear so you wind up with stuff you like and is comfortable on you. If you live somewhere people dive you can get bcds and wetsuis and shit secondhand. Then only paying for tanks and the boat and if you are good at the ins and outs of 3rd world negotiations you can put together your own group and charter a boat for less than package operators charge, bringing your own food and gear.
That's a huge commitment and involves a whole new set of issues to traveling.
An extra checked bag? Totally worth it to have gear you actually like and hasn't been used by a million roasties on vacation.
That part actually wasn't difficult for me but again, was into freediving (and snorkeling but freediving sounds cooler, I used to be able to hold my breath comfortably for over 2 minutes when I was young) so I could take my mask off and put it back, something a lot struggle with.
I kinda get that and don't like diving (or doing any dangerous activity) with noobs. I think the people that realize they're not cut out for it don't end up going on a dive trip but the people that get certified at a dive destination feel committed because they're already there.
>I have more at stake than you do
No you don't. Also nobody actually cares that you did your dive certs in a pool outside Chicago or something instead of in the caribbean/SEA people are fucking with you because you're being a tryhard on sighsee.
They gave me an actual book at the time which I read at the hotel.
asian diving sucks. they have completely fucked the environment. the gulf of mexico is great. no one wants to kill you because your from europe, you have no life
I went to Cozumel and few times and thought it was good. Cozumel is much less of a gringo playpen than Cancun.
Cozumel looks chill. The town also, seems like a good place for both babbys first dive and first 3rd world country since its on an island and is isolated from a lot of the bullshit yet isn't as as disneyfied as Cancun is. They can probably take you somewhere without really strong currents.
Let me know where u go. I,ll join
I,ve been at Nusa penida and Komodo, and would repeat
If you're serious, I'm arriving on Oct 23. And I think the front runner is currently Koh Phi Phi, something in Mexico could also be an option
Arriving where? I want to visit Koh Phi phi one day, but i've read that u need to book it in advance? Anyway the diving in thailand is meh i heard
I am unvaxxed too, but once they quit restrictions i am just going diving to nusa penida again. It is just the best. I recommend the agency Tamarind divers.
Komodo is great too, but a bit more expensive to get there.
Red sea is also good and cheap from Europe.
I'm from Spain. Let me know if we can speak in another place
By that i meant my vacation time is already booked for October 22nd and then for 2 weeks. Just have to decide where to go. Sure we can talk, do you have a throwaway email or discord?
sure, add me on discord Tyrande#7857
btw I'd love to go to Indonesia but the quarantine rules would make me waste a lot of time which i don't want to but once the restrictions are gone I'm 100% going there, also would love to try surfing and Bali seems to be the #1 spot
how hard is scuba and great of a swimmer do you need to be? I really want to do it but I'm not a good swimmer in rough waters. are there easy waters in Thailand?
>how hard is scuba and great of a swimmer do you need to be?
Are you black?
If not congrats you can likely already swim enough
>How important is knowing how to swim?
As long as you don't flail around like an idiot. You will likely be wearing fins so it is a different kind of swimming, slow, steady and relaxed with a different bending of the legs.
You aren't a frogman blowing up a German shipyard, you don't go fast (hell even they didn't go fast outside of emergencies).
Work on regular swimming to just be comfortable, also work on floating and being able to tread water.
If PAADI you have to swim 200 yards /meters, no fins, or snorkel.
You also have to float 10 minutes I think.
>Took PAADI 20+ years ago and completed but never finished as I didn't submit the final paperwork with passport photo.
Why would you go overseas to learn? I did my actual scuba cert in a local dive school to get the classes and pool training done in a calm environment at a leisurely pace over a few weekends. I spent 100% of my time during my first trip enjoying diving, not learning a bunch of stuff indoors.
For your first time, I’d do a 2/3 days of diving to start and then a few days to party/relax explore. I wouldn’t mix them, or do the socializing first.
I got certified in Mexico. It was somewhat cheaper but also they were more lax, we did it in shallow-ish ocean water, not a pool (I hate pools) but getting certified for me was more of a formality than anything. I already was into freediving and good at swimming and understood the principles as far as operating air tanks, bcds, how partial pressures of gases work etc. I just needed to show someone I could do it competently.
I guess in your case it makes sense. I grew up swimming and am ultra-comfortable in water, but found it mildly difficult to learn how to dive. It’s not the swimming aspect, it is getting comfortable with performing fairly technical tasks while dozens of yards underwater.
I enjoyed my “normal” dives but we did a ton of drills for things going wrong (running out of air, losing respirator, losing mask etc) and those were tough. Our instructors flipped us over and pulled out our hoses and things like that. It was hard but I was a lot more confident and knowledgeable than the people who did resort classes.
The drill is exactly the same on resort or whatever. The only things that matters are sertification and individual ability.
Why learn diving in muddy lifeless water when you can learn while enjoying coral reefs? Unless you live in country with coral reefs like the next guy in which case well, good for you I guess.
Well, the first part of dive school is classroom training anyway, so why be stuck inside on your vacation?
Secondly, I actually enjoyed having a shallow indoor pool to drill and get very comfy in over the course of a weekend in my home city. I don’t think doing it overseas would be bad, it just feels like a waste to do anything on your dive trip that isn’t proper scuba diving.
It was a hour in classroom and hour in a pool then the rest in open sea for me. I think you're just a pussy that was pampered too much.
Every time I’ve dove with people who did those quickie resort classes, somebody invariably fucks up their dive or panics at depth.
I guess I’m just biased because I prefer higher quality training vs the cheapest and fastest option. But I’m also pretty health conscious and tend to spend a lot of money on traveling, so I have more at stake than you do.
The only thing at stake is your testosterone level.
>heh no I’m not just broke and shaving pennies by going to third world countries to learn an important technical skill
>it’s b-because I’m a real man
Lol
Nice strawman pussy. I'm sure your hours at class costed more than actual diving.
When you book overseas beginner lessons they normally give you an ebook or video course that you can watch and study on the flight and the session there builds on that.