Advice for a beginner!!

[Clairelewis]

Hi,

I have never been diving but have heard such good things about it think that I should try.

I am in Indonesia at the moment working for a NGO in Jakarta and will be here until December. Then after that I'm planning to travel to Australia, New Zealand and back to Thailand and more of South East Asia, returning home in May next year.
So hopefully will have lots of opportunities to fit in some diving.

Being as I am new to it though, I don't really know where to start..!!!

I think I would need to do a PADI course and thought perhaps I could do it in Bali while I'm in Indonesia.

Any advice on good locations to do it would be very welcome? And also I don't really know how long it would take me to do or what an estimate of the price would be?

Thanks in advance,

Claire x

 

[hvulin]

just find a dive shop and have fun... course usually takes around 3-5 days (the longer, the better)

 

[Davidstealey3]

first you dont have to do a PADI course. more peolple have just heard of them. you can do SSI, SDI, YMCA, NAUI, CMAS.that is just a few. second you have to see how often the class will meet. it might only be five classes, but they might only do 1 or 2 classes a week. when you figure out where you will be when you decide to take the class, ask people for there opinon about the shop and the instruction that they recived. as for price you have to shop around. it might be more at one place than it is at another. i know are price is 325, but you still have to buy a mask, fins, and snorkel. also will have to buy booties for the checkout dives. hope this is helpfull in your search. good luck with finding a place and hope you enjoy it. have fun and dive safe

 

[BidAndDive.com]

I would try it out first before you dump the $300 or so dollars into a class. See if you can't snag a discover scuba class in your area and then go from there. Relax and have fun...

 

[Oscar73]

Don't do it. You will be hopelessly addicted. You will spend your days wishing you were diving instead of working. You will be broke, because every time you discover a new twist you will want a new gadget.

Seriously, is is addicting a good way. Must say it has enriched my life.

I had rather be diving then sitting here at this computer.

I say go for it. Find an instructor you are comfortable with. Ask lots of questions, don't assume you know anything and have fun.


Oscar

 

[Aelvin]

Don't do it. You will be hopelessly addicted. You will spend your days wishing you were diving instead of working. You will be broke, because every time you discover a new twist you will want a new gadget.

Seriously, is is addicting a good way. Must say it has enriched my life.

I had rather be diving then sitting here at this computer.

I say go for it. Find an instructor you are comfortable with. Ask lots of questions, don't assume you know anything and have fun.


Oscar

So true...

We plan our vacation around dive site, surf SB more than other site, rather be diving then sitting here at the computer, broke most of the time...

its like drug... so better think twice before u give diving a try...

 

[Hank49]

Hi,

I have never been diving but have heard such good things about it think that I should try.

I am in Indonesia at the moment working for a NGO in Jakarta and will be here until December. Then after that I'm planning to travel to Australia, New Zealand and back to Thailand and more of South East Asia, returning home in May next year.
So hopefully will have lots of opportunities to fit in some diving.

Being as I am new to it though, I don't really know where to start..!!!

Don't bother learning to dive in all those places. It's lousy there.




Just kidding. You're in the best place on the planet to dive so just go do it and quit talking about it.

 

[MurkyRockDiver]

Have a look at www.padi.com they have lots of info that you are looking for. Have fun you will wonder why you waited so long to do it.

 

[halocline]

Yep, take a PADI OW class, learn how to dive, fall in love with it, spend absurd amounts of money on dive trips, get better at it, then you join the legions of PADI bashers!

It's totally true that the certification agency doesn't matter nearly as much as the specific instructor and learning environment. Just make sure that you C card will be accepted world-wide. There are forums for SE Asia, posting on the Indonesia forum might get you some good recommendatons for a place.

 

[spectrum]

Claire,

It's up to you to decide how far to dive into this.

A discover dive lets you get a taste of it and some idea or if you like diving. Doing the course after a discover dive puts you in the position of knowing that "I can do this" from the first moment. Remember that this will be a guided experience with only the most basic instruction. If something does not come easy don fret, that's what the course is for. Just concentrate on the experience.

If you really have a burning desire to do this and are generally good in the water you may want to just sign up for a good OW course and have at it. The longer the better on the course.

Good Luck,
Pete