Open Water Certification...quarry or tropical ocean?

[ChrisA]

Let me start by saying that I am beginning my course work tomorrow, but I already have a question about the open water certification. Is it a definite preference for a tropical ocean as opposed to a local quarry? The only reason I ask is because there is a chance that I will not be able to make it to a tropical setting within a year to do the open water certification. I guess my question is whether I should rearrange some plans in order to do it in tropical water, or would a quarry do the job?

Other than sea life, do I lose anything by doing the quarry?

Thanks so much, and I look forward to delving into this website.

Without question: Learn to dive in your local conditions.

If you are like most of us you will be diving locally much more than in some far off tropical location. After all, can you afford the plane ticket and time off work twice a month? Not many of us can. But just about all of us can find the time and money to get to the local dive site a couple times a month. The other very important factor is that by training and diving locally you meet local divers and get integrated into the local community. You are far more likely to continue to dive if you know other divers.

Technically you will be a better diver if you learn in poor conditions. Those of us here in So. Calif keep telling ourselves that if we are used to poor viz,cold water and head-high surf that diving in clear calm warm water will be very easy. It is true.

 

[BDSC]

Byte Me was right on the money with everything they said. Great post and perspective.

I would just add that no matter what you do, go diving as quickly as you are able after you get certified. My instructor told me years ago that many people decide to get certified on the spur of the moment and after they get their C-card, they don't go diving or at least have a trip on the books for the near future. Time goes by, they sort of lose interest, and then it's forgotten. They never dive again. So when I took my class, I went ahead and had a trip to Florida planned for the following month. That's all it took for me. I was hooked and came back and bought all my gear and have been at it ever since.

BDSC

 

[It's_The_Water]

I got certified in a quarry locally last August, planning to go on a family vacation to Florida. I ended up having to back out of the trip to FL, but I still have my certification. I ended up going back down to the same quarry with some friends from work who dive just to try to reinforce everything I had learned before the cold weather set in last fall.

On top of not ending up going to FL, it was also nice to get certified locally, with the same rental gear I did the ppol training in, and not having to worry about all of the other distractions (boats, surf, different buoyancy of salt water) my first few times out.

 

[tedtim]

Cool. Let us know how it goes for you.

Yes it will be cool in the quarry.

Thicker wetsuit, gloves, a hood....all will probably be used in the quarry. I have seen folks go from the tropical OW cert to the river/lake/quarry AOW cert. They were very surprized at the difference just due to the equipment.

It is true that the ocean presents different challenges. I vote with the majority here, especially if you are planning on diving throughout the year in the local conditions. At least one agency indicates that your OW certification is intended to certify you to dive in equal or better conditions that in which you were trained. In comparison I have not been to a tropical location where the conditions were worse than my local dive spots.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

Other than sea life, do I lose anything by doing the quarry?

You don't lose anything by doing your first dives in the quarry and you gain a lot. Don't worry about sea life on your first steps under water - you won't see any anyway. Not because it's not there, but because you will have your hands and head full with learning to dive. The quarry is much better than the ocean because chances are that it is more challenging psychologically (less visibility, cold and dark etc.). I see it over and over again: people who got trained under less favorable conditions tend to freak out much less and to be better divers in the long run.

 

[msg]

The quarry is a great place to learn. You get to deal with darker water and sometimes colder water. Diving locally will allow you more opportunity to practice skills and gain dive time, which when you do reach the tropical settings you can focus on the dive, instead of trying to do the required skills while being distracted by those pretty fish.
Do the quarry!

 

[2Tours N Iraq`]

I agree with everyone that getting certified in the quarry is the better course of action. I would also like to add that it is important to keep learning after you get certified. Reading and reviewing your books and/or videos is a great way to keep the skills you learned sharp in your mind. You may even find that in the excitement of getting certified you didn't retain as much as you would have liked and reviewing the academics will refresh what you learned. Additionally, reading great diving periodicals such as Dive Training and Scuba Diving provide you with more knowledge than what is covered in your OW coursework and will prepare you for your trip to the tropical waters. Just remember the best tool at your disposal is your mind.

 

[CamG]

Welcome to SB matthew1811! It is awesome to here of your training. It was not a year ago I was pondering the same issue. At my friends request my wife and myself started and finished our OW and AOW here in Indiana. Our OW dives were at Gilboa Quarry in Ohio, due to scheduled Mexico diving trip we did them on May 5 with a water temp. of 52 degrees. My first dive was a thing of beauty and although I was a little anxious it totally irreversibly, changed my life. I found what I always wondered about under the water! The fish were amazing, the airplane was cool, cars, motorcycle, boats, etc. it was so much cooler than I first thought. I found myself in Mexico missing colder water! Now I love water warm or cold. Diving is and can be so much more than awesome vacations. It can become a lifestyle from breath to breath underwater the world gets slower and the aquatic become the busy ones! I have come to enjoy all the things that once freaked me out. I always feared dark water, I love night dives and it doesn't bother me a bit! I think you will discover there is more life in a quarry than you first thought. Let us know how it goes. Living one dive to the next, CamG Keep diving....keep training.....keep learning!

 

[StoogeASDiver]

Thanks - this thread just answered my exact same question. Did my OW last month in a quarry, and was pondering travelling to the coast for my AOW. But for the same cash and completing AOW at the coast, I can do the course inland, and still have money to travel to the coast for 3 dives at Aliwal Shoal with an instructor accompanying me - which Aliwal Dive Charters is more than happy to do.

So I get to dive inland which a dive school I already know and am familiar with (in a dark quarry with low viz - good experience), and get introduced to the ocean with an instructor as well. Bargain.

 

[wardric]

Most important thing you have to master is your buoyancy control. By certifiying and practicing in a cold water quarry, you will be more challenged on that issue but when you'll get in the ocean with a 3mm suit, it will be a walk in the park for you.