I am SOOOOO new to diving....

[DutchDown]

I haven't yet taken my open water course, though it's been a life-long dream. This March I'll be spending almost three weeks in Balin and am finally going to fulfill my dream of learning to dive. My question is which dive center should I choose, based on experienced board embers recommendations, to take my OWC with. I've checked a number of websites and corresponded with several centers. They all sound promising and aside from price diferences, all appear to offer professional training. That makes it even more difficult to choose, especially since I have no previous diving experience whatsoever. I would be humbly appreciative of and and all sugestions and recommendations.

Sincerely,

Phil

 

[Welshman]

DutchDown

You will find a number of recommendations in this forum on Bali. Use the search facility to extract them - you will find that searching on "Bali" alone will give you 30 threads to check.. You will also find some board members who are based in Bali. If you wish, use the Private Message facility to ask them questions direct. In view of the recent terrorist explosion you might like to check your government's (in your case the USA) advice on travel to Bali. If they are advising you not to travel it is possible that your travel insurance might be invalidated.

Regards

 

[DutchDown]

I did perform a search, but perhaps i didn't narrow it down enough. I tried "Bali", "Bali courses" and "Bali dive courses" and didn't see what I was actually after. I'll spend some more time at it. As to the security concerns, I'm American...it's not safe for us to go anywhere, it seems. But after 20 years in the military and having participated in a number of...uhhh...I think we call them "Operations" these days, I no longer worry overmuch about potential terrorist attacks. I do believe in reasonable caution and won't knowingly go where angels fear to tread. But I also won't allow my life, short as it is, to be limited due to paralysis over what might happen. I do appreciate your advice and concern, however. The U.K is one of my all-time favorite places to visit. Perhaps when I have some diving experience, particularly in cold water, I will try some of the U.K sites I've read about. thanks again for your reply!
Cheers!

 

[jiveturkey]

Actually, I'd recommend doing it before you go. That way, there's less pressure when you travel. You can dive on your own schedule and not on your course schedule. You'll have a little experience under your belt and you'll feel more comfortable underwater. There are lots of dive sites for new divers in Bali but be wary because some places have really strong currents. Go with a good dive shop.

 

[DutchDown]

You are right, of course, that it would be better to take the course before I go. I've searched all over The Netherlands for OWC courses which I could finish in time, but no luck. An additional problem is that I work a very irregular schedule so having a particular night free each week is impossible. My only choice seems to be to combine my course with my vacation. Another question I would pose is whether it is felt to be worthwhile to take the Advanced course immediately after the OWC? Opinions?
By the way, I spent a couple of years in South Korea a long time ago. I really enjoyed the country and people.

 

[Scuberman]

Hi Dutchdown,

Glad to hear that you've finally decided to take the plunge. No pun intended.

I had planned to pick it when I was 20, work committments etc etc and I delayed it until I was 30. But to catch up for lost time, I took my Open Water, Advance and Rescue in 3 consequtive outings. It was tiring but fun. I decided to get all the certifications out of the way and then start enjoying myself on leisure trips.

Never dived in Bali, mainly in Malaysia. If you're ever around there, try AUR or Tioman. 2 of the most common dive sites.

Check out www.friendlywaters.com.sg. Nice friendly outfit, own resort, own boat etc. Incidentally, I am no shareholder there.. Wished I was though. But this is an unbiased opinion. Check out www.livingseas.com.sg ( ask for Gideon ) if you intend to take up tech diving. He is an idealist and ensures that everyhing gets done right. Real nice guy too.

Cheers and dive deep to get high...

 

[Welshman]

DutchDown

You might want to think about taking the confined water training and the written exam in the Netherlands and get a referral so that you just do the open water traing in Bali.

As for Bali dive schools have you checked the PADI website - a quick check showed 8 schools in Bali with a web site and any number without a web site. If you can't find a personal recommendation from anyone I'd suggest trawling the web sites and emailing the schools and see what response you get. The better the response the better the indication of good service when you get there. You can still check them out on the ground so to speak.

Ask questions particularly on class sizes - some schools will have 8 or more pupils per instructor. Go for one that does either 1:1 or 2:1 so you get some proper attention.

A lot of people go on to do AOW immediately after OW but don't be fooled into thinking that this makes you "advanced". I would strongly recommend that you take the Peak Performance Buoyancy course. If you can control your depth well you will enjoy your diving much more, use less energy and generally be a lot more relaxed and therefore safer.

There's no substitute for practice and having a goal of improving your skills as far as possible.

I hope this helps.

Regards

 

[DutchDown]

This is precisely the sort of advice I was hoping for when I joined the forum. I do hope to take the Advanced course, but I certainly won't consider myself advanced. At this point I am struggling to learn more about what I don't know! A couple of weeks ago I discussed the possibility of a referral course with the local dive shop. They considered it a bad idea...also a bad idea to learn diving in the warm waters of Bali, then returning to Holland. I see their point since I gather that cold water diving is rather more demanding. To make a long story short, the nearest shop offering a course during the winter is in Rotterdam which is about 1 1/2 hours drive for me. I'll do the course(s) in Bali, then take specialty courses here for dry suit and so on. I do have some friends and colleagues who are experienced divers in Dutch waters, so I hope to learn a great deal ffrom them.
Regarding the PADI web site, I did get most of my addresses from them and have written to several schools. The responses have been gratifying, though there is a significant difference in prices. After searching this board, I have come across a couple of first-hand recommendations, so I will get in touch with tham and see what is on offer.
Thenks very much for spending your time helping out a newbie. Funny, I am 45 and don't feel new!

 

[Scuberman]

I have to agree with welshman, even though I have taken the advance course, I am not fooling myself into thinking I am an advanced diver. I have friends who are OWS but have logged many more dives then me.

But I felt that the advance course with the Navigation component was useful. Also, if you hope to get into some night diving action, it is a requirement in most reputable dive resports that you are advanced certified.

As for the rescue course, I learnt something from my instructor, when he said that taking the rescue course does not mean that I am there to rescue someone, but in the event of an emergency, I would know how to rescue myself.

One more point you might like to note, is that diving courses are usually half the price during the off season here in Singapore. Of course the viz is not terribly good but adequate for you to get the job done.

Welshman... : I was dived with a welshman called Jones. We did the dives in Aur/ Tioman, can't recall exactly. You him..?

 

[Welshman]

DutchDown

I can't see what's bad about doing a referral from Holland and finishing off in Bali. I think the shop is right in that diving in clear warm water is a lot less demanding that diving in murky cold water but all that requires is that when you return to the Netherlands you relearn your skills in that more demanding environment. Keeping close to your buddy and controlling your depth accurately are particularly important in low vis conditions.

On price you may well find that the cheaper shops are the diver factories - the ones with the high pupil:instructor ratio. By and large I'm sure you appreciate that you get what you pay for.

BTW I see you're now 45 and I'm 49 but I checked your profile and see that when you hit 46 I'll be hitting 50! Remember the Ides of March!!

Scuberman

I'm a Morgan not a Jones so it wasn't me. For a useless piece of information Jones is the most common Welsh surname. In my school out of c.220 there were 35 Jones, 30 Williams then a assortment of Davies, Evans, Morgans etc.

Scuberman, you make a good point about Rescue Diver, and DutchDown, taking a Rescue Diver course when you have some more experience will really improve your skills. I did mine in the UK this summer and thought the course was excellent.