PADI OW referral dives from shore--where to do in Hawaii or Caribbean?

[Marek K]

I agree, living on the east coast, you're really going to be limiting your diving if you don't do boat dives. Which will eventually mean finding some kind of seasickness remedy that works for you... Bonine... Dramamine... scopolomine... ginger... Relief Band... etc etc etc.

That having been said, finding a remedy that works for you will probably take some trial and error... what works great for one person, is ineffective for another... and some cause side effects that may or may not be tolerated by you.

I would think that going on an expensive trip like this and planning on boat diving, without being very confident you've found the remedy that works for you, would be risky.

So... I would either find a boat somewhere and do some medication trial and error now; or indeed find a good place where there is decent shore diving for the referral (and subsequent) dives.

--Marek

 

[JNelson113]

Thank you all for your advice and responses. This is great info.

I should clarify--my seasickness isn't horrible, just something I'd rather not have to deal with at all while doing the openwaters, because I'm a little nervous about them.

It would just be one less thing for me to worry about during the four OWs to not have to go on a boat. Once I'm certified, I will go on boats and will start investigating various ways to deal with it, such as the bands, bonine, etc.

 

[TCB]

Koloa Landing on Kauai is a great place for an easy shore dive. In fact, that's where my wife and I did our first ever dives, during a "discover scuba" experience several years ago. Check the Hawaii section of the board for recommendations on dive ops there.

 

[TheDavil]

My wife and I were certified on shore dives in Maui with Scuba Shack. Actually, I think we may have done one boat dive for one of the cert dives, but at least two were shore dives. Plenty of places if you wanted to do all of your cert dives from shore. Dive shops/instructors should be pretty flexible if you want to do all of them as shore dives (assuming that there's adequate shore diving available in the area)...

David

 

[Drew Sailbum]

There are diving operations here in Grand Cayman which offer shore diving. Sunset House, Don Foster's, Eden Rock, Abanks, and Divetech should all be able to meet your needs.

 

[Scottri]

There are some good beaches in Maui for shore diving. Ulua Beach, Old Airport beach come to mind. I've seen people doing checkout dives there. Contact Maui Dreams Divers in Kehei, they do classes at Ulua.


Scott

 

[cavegirl]

The shore diving we had at Bay of Pigs in Cuba was great. We swam from shore and a few minutes later it was a vertical wall going down. The undersea life was quite beautiful. There is also a wreck nearby for wreck diving.

It is also much cheaper to dive in Cuba (it's a poor country).

 

[H2Andy]

There is also a wreck nearby for wreck diving.

there's actually three or four? they have quite an interesting history

 

[friscuba]

Thank you all for your advice and responses. This is great info.

I should clarify--my seasickness isn't horrible, just something I'd rather not have to deal with at all while doing the openwaters, because I'm a little nervous about them.

It would just be one less thing for me to worry about during the four OWs to not have to go on a boat. Once I'm certified, I will go on boats and will start investigating various ways to deal with it, such as the bands, bonine, etc.

Bonine (or any med that is meclizine hydorchloride) - 1 tablet the night prior to the dive, then one two or three hours prior to the dive (assuming a morning dive) works every time. 1 or 2 tablets the morning of the dive won't cut it.

Been working on dive boats since '99 and have NEVER seen it fail. I've met lots of divers who swear nothing works, but they're going diving anyway so they'll just live with being sick - We (the crew) ask them to humor us and try it scheduled as mentioned, and everyone feels fine the next day. This is practically a weekly occurance on some of the boats I've worked, never seen it fail. I've not heard of any side effect complaints on meclizine and have seen people puking on nearly everything else.

You shouldn't have to worry about sea sickness.

Have fun!!!

 

[scubasimon]

Hi JNelson113,

I just did my Open Water on Utila in the Bay Islands in the West Caribbean. I suffer from sea sickness (and car sickness, plane sickness, travel sickness too!!!) too. I went with Utila Dive Centre who came recommend by friends, and their boats are comfortable and fast so the boat trips were short. After the first day I didn´t even take Dramamine cos I loved it. I asked to only go on the southside boats, to keep the trips to a minimum, and they reshuffled the course schedule just to accommodate me even. Really helpful.

It was fantastic. I went on and did my Advanced too with them, and I´ll definitely be returning to this wicked island.

Best Fishes,
scubasimon