Learn to Scuba Dive – A beginners guide
Learning to dive is an adventure that will probably be extremely rewarding and for many people it can be a life changing experience. That said – there are a couple of things to look out for when choosing your dive school and there are many opinions regarding this subject. In this article I will try to outline my view on the most common discussion points.
PADI, NAUI, CMAS, BSAC, SDI, GUE
These are all acronyms for different organizations who set standards for dive training. There are numerous ones but the biggest on, by far, is PADI (professional association of dive instructors). There is a great variance between countries though – NAUI are big in the US and in Germany an organization called Barracuda is popular (Barracuda is really a derivative of CMAS).
Usually the difference between the organizations is very much in the details and doesn’t matter much to the beginner. There is one thing, however that the beginner should think about. Many PADI or NAUI schools are commercial companies and their main goal is to make a profit out of the courses which is not necessarily a bad thing. That can also mean that you get a very professional instructor but you will have to be prepared for some rather indiscreet selling during the course. CMAS courses on the other hand are often run by clubs etc which can also be a great thing but here you have a high chance of getting a relatively amateurish instructor. So – there are really pros and cons with both options. PADI course are in general much quicker than CMAS courses which suits some individuals while some need more time and then CMAS is a better option.
The instructor matters
The organization is relatively irrelevant for dive training – what really matters is the instructor. A good instructor means all the difference and here it pays to watch out a bit. There are plenty of people working as dive instructors who have pretty shady backgrounds, particularly in places like Thailand so it pays to meet the instructor beforehand.
PADI has a list of expelled dive centres and instructors here. It takes a lot to be kicked out of PADI so avoid these guys at any cost.
Here is a list of expelled PADI members and here is one of expelled dive centres.
Quality management is also one of the weak points of these organizations so trust your instinct when meeting your instructor. Just because they are active within a large organization doesn’t necessarily mean that the are reliable individuals.
This may be cynical and of course most instructors are good but I have met plenty of rather odd individuals during my years in the dive industry.
Tropical or cold water training
It is a common belief among divers in the north that training in cold waters makes you a much better diver but here I strongly disagree. Learning to dive in Sweden will certainly teach you to endure diving in bad conditions which is good but you will spend so much time simply surviving so you wont have much focus on skills such as buoyancy. People who learn in tropical waters will in general be more comfortable divers which is the big advantage here. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you are trained to dive in conditions which are similar to those you experience during the training. If you learn to dive in water which has a temperature of 28 degrees you are simply not qualified for diving in 2 degrees.
Choose training for the type of diving you think you will do. You can always add training later if you change environment.
You get what you pay for
This is probably the most important point in this article. Don’t buy the cheapest of the cheap. Diving is serious stuff and you should not take shortcuts. If the course is cheap it may mean that the equipment is not up to date, that you need to buy certain things on top of the course price or that the instructor is underpaid which means that they have little or no experience (since no person works for free for a very long time). Buy quality.
Equipment
Buy carefully. You will be targeted to buy all sorts of things and while it is true that it is easier to dive a lot if you have your own equipment it is not necessary for everyone. I suggest buying things in this order
1. Mask
2. Dive computer – don’t rely on dive centres depth gauges. A computer is not expensive and will give you full control of your diving
3. Fins
4. Regulator
5. Buoyancy system – think about if you want a BCD or a backplate and a harness
6. Other
Buy basic, good quality equipment and make sure that you don’t buy things you may need to replace later on. Buy right the first time – it is much cheaper. Here I think that GUE got it right – you can read more in their manuals.
Dive straight after the course
Make sure that you do 6-10 dives shortly after the course. That is how you will really learn. Include this in you initial plan. Time in the water is very important for new divers and if you don’t dive after completing your course you will not become a good diver.
These are some of the aspects to consider when learning to dive – there are more and I will continue to add summaries of courses etc here on independent scuba. Do you have any good or bad experiences from your dive training? Post them at Independent Scuba!
[...] that the quality of the training is somewhat lost – more information about this can be found in my beginners guide to Scuba Diving. But all things said – PADI leads the way in diver training and with a bit of caution this is an [...]