Discover Scuba for 12 yr old

[Craig66]

no need for seal team..the child is 12,old enough to be certified..I see she lives in Westchester NY.She can take a ow class here and get her training dives done in Cozumel. If interested pm me here and I'll answer any questions you have.The LDs I teach out of here in Yonkers NY has a patient female instructor and we can get all her academics and confined water work done before your trip. We can put her in a group or if you prefer a private class at your schedule.We have an onsite indoor heated pool available 24hrs a day/7 days a week.

Good point, must have had a brain fart

 

[firstdive2005]

no need for seal team..the child is 12,old enough to be certified..I see she lives in Westchester NY.She can take a ow class here and get her training dives done in Cozumel. If interested pm me here and I'll answer any questions you have.The LDs I teach out of here in Yonkers NY has a patient female instructor and we can get all her academics and confined water work done before your trip. We can put her in a group or if you prefer a private class at your schedule.We have an onsite indoor heated pool available 24hrs a day/7 days a week.

I think this is a great idea to get the pool cert at home and do the referral on Coz. You and your daughter get to spend more holiday time together instead of her in class all day. This is what my wife did(pool cert. at home). It's also great for studying reasons. Then you two can do practice drills in the pool together. My wife and I are going out tonight to tune up.

 

[DandyDon]

She was asking about a Discover dive, not rushing her on Certification.

I would get her added to the family DAN plan tho. No certification required.

 

[Brules]

I am sure you could do the cert dives with your daughter as well.....talk about a great experience to share with your kid!

 

[ggunn]

no need for seal team..the child is 12,old enough to be certified..I see she lives in Westchester NY.She can take a ow class here and get her training dives done in Cozumel. If interested pm me here and I'll answer any questions you have.The LDs I teach out of here in Yonkers NY has a patient female instructor and we can get all her academics and confined water work done before your trip. We can put her in a group or if you prefer a private class at your schedule.We have an onsite indoor heated pool available 24hrs a day/7 days a week.

I have been figuratively biting my tongue while reading this thread. I am not a fan of resort courses, especially for kids. I don't know the stats, but one or two hours of prep and let's go diving just seems risky to me. One of the most important aspects of certification training is to show you all the ways you can get killed while diving and to drill into your head how to avoid doing those things.

YMMV, but we got our daughter fully cert'ed, dives and all, before we took her diving in Cozumel. Not that her mom didn't worry about her just the same (they were holding hands like Peter Pan and Wendy for the first few dives), but my anxiety level was much lower because she had had full diver training and had done all her skills testing in the murky waters of Lake Travis. We didn't go with her on her OW cert dives, BTW; we wanted her to be fully focused on the instructor.

 

[firstdive2005]

I have been figuratively biting my tongue while reading this thread. I am not a fan of resort courses, especially for kids. I don't know the stats, but one or two hours of prep and let's go diving just seems risky to me. One of the most important aspects of certification training is to show you all the ways you can get killed while diving and to drill into your head how to avoid doing those things.

YMMV, but we got our daughter fully cert'ed, dives and all, before we took her diving in Cozumel. Not that her mom didn't worry about her just the same (they were holding hands like Peter Pan and Wendy for the first few dives), but my anxiety level was much lower because she had had full diver training and had done all her skills testing in the murky waters of Lake Travis. We didn't go with her on her OW cert dives, BTW; we wanted her to be fully focused on the instructor.

One of the better comments I've ever read.

 

[Jackie]

It's a fair point that no one should dive without a full course. I can make an argument for that as well. Still all the practice in the Y at home is not the same as jumping off a boat into the ocean, if you haven't done that before. Don raised the point about snokeling and working off boats in the open water and I think that it is really key.

Anyhow I didn't ask for a discussion on the merits of discover scuba as that could clearly go on indefinitely without ever reaching a conclusion. We could talk about PADI not being thorough enough, the merits of NAUIetc etc. What I was asking for ideas of female instructors as I think that my youg lady would be happier with a woman teacher. Thanks to all that answered.

My guess is that there are few problems with this program or it would be too much of a liabilty. I remember once seeing a chart on scuba accidents. The distribution on the curve showed both beginners AND people with a serious number of dives under their belts with the higher accident rate, with this group being the larger.
The thesis was that they started to be a bit complacent and pushed limits. Newbies tend to be really careful and follow all the rules.

Given some of the fatality threads it seems that diving with a spouse is a risk factor... Especially when there is life insurance money involved...

 

[ggunn]

Anyhow I didn't ask for a discussion on the merits of discover scuba as that could clearly go on indefinitely without ever reaching a conclusion.

Well, you know, you start a thread and it goes where it goes.

 

[Craig66]

I have been figuratively biting my tongue while reading this thread. I am not a fan of resort courses, especially for kids. I don't know the stats, but one or two hours of prep and let's go diving just seems risky to me. One of the most important aspects of certification training is to show you all the ways you can get killed while diving and to drill into your head how to avoid doing those things

I fully agree and I am amazed that more people are not hurt doing what we do. While I had forgotten that the OP's daughter was 12 when I brought up the PADI Seals I do think that something like that even for an older kid does a lot to instill confidence. My daughter spent hours in the pool and we practiced mask flood and lost regulators and all kinds of emergencies most of the time without her expecting it. When it came time for the Caribbean sea the transition was fluid but I dont know that I would have been comfortable having just had her in a resort course or even a straight adult certification course.

 

[Cozdreamer]

I know you were asking for a female instructor for your daughter. I felt the need to tell you what I personally observed this past June in Cozumel. Mau at Scuba Mau did a rocking job with a 12 year old boy! We shared the boat for the boy's first boat dive one afternoon, and I was able to observe Mau doing the pre-dive very thoroughly, soothing, coaching, and with lots of encouraging words of reminders etc. Our small group of 4 were able to watch Mau and the boy do the first roll off our boat and could observe the calm surface entry and their decent. I was impressed already, then as we began our own dives we came across the 2 underwater. The hover the young boy displayed was better than LOTS of adults who say they have many dives under their belts!! No silt was stirred up and he was observing the first of many sea horses we all enjoyed that dive!!! Mau's gentleness was evident to us as we continued to watch them.
I was personally paying a lot of attention to their interactions because we have a son ourselves who is almost 8. I had in the back of my head thoughts of this happening before our eyes in a few short years so it was especially joyful to observe knowing it would soon be our family seeing our son beginning to dive....

I wish for you many joyous years diving as a family and know you will make the best decision for your daughter. Enjoy your trip and please be sure to report back so I can keep your opinion tucked away for when we need it in the future!
Safe bubbles to you and your family!