Resort Dives for beginners to test the waters?

[aquaman_06]

Personally I am not a fan of resort dive programs. As a DM and diver I just don't think they are the safest or best way to get introduced to diving as a sport. I personally feel that educated certified divers make better scuba divers and in the end have a better understanding of not only the sport and the enviroment but even have more fun. I've never taken part in a resort program though I have been in the water with people who did resort programs and then became OW certified and thought their resort expierence elevated them beyond the general OW diver.

My recommendation would be to take an OW class before you go. It's fairly inexpensive, you'll learn a lot, and it's also a lot of fun.

 

[don Francisco]

I'm a true believer in the resort dive concept. That's how I was introduced to Scuba 9 years ago in Cozumel.

Pick the operator and dive carefully. The definition of a resort dive varies greatly, from not much more that a pool experience, to a quality shore or boat dive to 30 feet or so on a pretty reef. If you're trying to sell this to your wife you want her first experience to be very good.

You also want a qualified, diligent instructor who doesn't pressure new divers to dive beyond their cocmfort level, physical or mental. A quality pool training session, with emphasis on the basics like mask & ear clearing is a must. If this is not a beautiful, joyeous dive for your wife, it might be a while before she'll try it again, if ever.

 

[ClayJar]

If you're going to take a resort course, I'd *highly* recommend watching Dr. Kay's "The Diver's Ear - Under Pressure" video. (It's right there on his web site.) Frankly, I'd highly recommend it to any new or soon-to-be scuba diver, but if you're going to take a resort course, it is all the more beneficial.

The most frequent complaints I've heard from people I know who have done introductory dives (on cruises, at resorts, and so on) have all been ear-related. Diving's much better when you know how your ears work and how to prevent ear injuries, and there seems to be ample anecdotal evidence that resort courses may not get sufficient working knowledge about ears into the heads of the dive tourists.

Spend an hour watching the ear video, and of course, remember never to hold your breath. :biggrin:

 

[Doc]

And now, may I add a resort course horror story? (or two?)

My wife, who now has 200+ dives, did the "resort course" dives twice in the Caribbean.

On one occasion, at 65 feet, her mask was finned off of her face. That did not go well.

On another trip, she flopped in only to later understand that her air wasn't turned on.

She now understands that 95% of "the mask got kicked off my face" incidents are avoidable (if not exacerbated) by the "victim". A training and experience issue.

She also pre-dive checks her air by two sucks and staring at her analog SPG. Training and experience.

Training and experience- none of which she had before these very traumatic incidents.

As was pointed out above- never confuse a "resort course" with Discover SCUBA.

Another time she watched as a DM smoked pot, then took his resort course divers out and down to 125' while he spearfished.

Discover SCUBA (and similar tm'd Agency programs) is a good thing. Resort courses (generically) are a much higher risk level, most with no real standards outside of those offered by operations which abide by an Agency Standard.

 

[oddswiz]

I completely agree with Spectrum, my advice would be to make sure you and your wife are comfortable with whom ever your instructor is. One of the more important elements of the experience is the comfort and confidence that the student has in the instructor and or dive master conducting the resort dive.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Personally I am not a fan of resort dive programs

...

I've never taken part in a resort program

This happens a lot on-line, but you can't keep people from expressing their opinion on things they know very little about.

Everything in diving is fairly regional, so I recommend another post in the Mexico sub-forum concerning your two operators.

Just like instructors in general, there are more good resort dive instructors than bad. I'd venture there is a higher percentage of good instructors in resorts because the clients are pretty F'n hard to please and you have to be on top of your game to survive in that environment.

Many resort diving programs are also hard strenuous jobs, so lot's of cyber instructors couldn't do the job (too buoyant - ). I'd say most of the horror stories are due instructor inexperience or nepotism (but their probably in shape - ).

Another thing that happens a lot on-line is crossed up terminology. In different parts of the US, and in different parts of the world, terms are used differently. My training and experience in the Florida Keys and Hawaiian Islands has led me to believe that many non-divers, divers and dive pros use Intro Dive, Discover Dive and Resort Dive when speaking of the same thing. Same for Intro Course and Resort Course. Other people obviously think of these terms as describing different things.

I know of resort instructors who are certifying third generations in families that will never go to their LDS for instruction. I take it as the highest compliment when past customers track me down and come to a different resort, or even a different island, because that's where I'm working.

Talk to the different operators; ask them about the instructors, the lecture, the pool session, the dive gear, the dive site, the boat ride if there is one. Talk to the concierge staff for their recommendation on specific instructors. When you get there, talk to the pool f&b staff for their recommendations; they handle more complaints and hear more feedback than most at a resort. Don't necessarily do it the first day; watch them conduct the program once. Ask around for other guests who have done it in the last few days.

If the ocean is calm-ish and clear-ish, and the dive follows standards you should have a great time. (standards - no deeper than 40', instructor leading the dive, not DM, no more than 4 students per instructor in the ocean, beginners dive site, etc.)

 

[Rythmmaker]

I'm sure your mileage may vary - but after thinking about scuba for a long time, I decided to opt for a resort course offered at a well-known, all-inclusive resort in Jamaica. I paid $80 to take the course which consisted (I kid you not!) of 15 minutes in the pool, learning to inflate and deflate my BC, clear my mask, clear my reg, and swim around the pool with a badly fogging mask and somehow find my way back to the starting point. My rasta instructor gave me a big smile, slapped me on the back and said "good job, mon! Now go ged on de boot!"

I staggered down to the dock and got on the dive boat, where there were 6 other people waiting.
I quickly asked around the lot of them and discovered that I was the only one who was not an experienced, certified diver.

We left a few minutes later, and arrived at the dive site in about 30 minutes. There was no briefing about depth, length of the dive, the topology of the site or anything of the sort. My "instructor" told everyone else to "go to the bottom and wait for us" (meaning me and him). He had me sit on the side of the boat, and after instructing me to hold my mask and reg with my hands, he pushed me over backwards into the water. I was immediately terrified, but tried to hold it together - I swam to the anchor line and he got into the water with me and told me we were going to the bottom. I followed his lead, and dumped air out of my bc and started the descent (still no idea how far down we are going), but after about 10 feet, I started overbreathing my reg and remember vividly the panic I felt - like I was having to suck like hell to get any air out of the reg.

My eyes must have been as big as saucers, and if I had continued, I would surely have sucked the 80 dry in no time, 'cause I was huffing like a sprinter trying to get "enough" air! I started back to the surface and the instructor followed, he immediately started on the "hey! no problem, mon!" "Try again, you be ok!" But after the second attempt with the same results, I gave up and climbed back on board - happy to be alive.

I almost gave up my dream that day. It took me 2.5 years to venture back to my LDS to inquire about a "Discovery Dive." I found out that there was SO MUCH I didn't know and once I had a competent instructor who could really explain to me how things worked, and show me the basics in a way that I understood, the entire experience turned around for me.

I got my open water certification last year, and have now logged 12 open water dives. It gets better and better with each experience! I am hooked for life. I have spent more money than I want to think about on my own gear, and I love it!!!

MORAL OF THE STORY: be sure that you research the folks that you are entrusting your life to. What you don't know CAN kill you. If you aren't ready to make the dive, don't do it. Knowledge is power and safety. There is no substitute for training and experience.

My $.02.

- Rythm

 

[Laserjock]

Again, I want to thank everyone for their input. Honestly I am glad to read both the good and the bad reviews, because I believe that for every bad experience their also is a good experience out there and there is something to be learned from both.

I am cynical by nature and, as my wife will attest, I tend to research things to death. I am scientist by training so I want to understand every minute detail about anything I try that I don't know much about to begin with. Hence the reason I joined up here....to read everything I can about getting into the sport.

I would never compromise the safety of my wife for a resort dive/beginner scuba experience unless I was comfortable with the dive shop running the trip. One of the operators actually specifies that they only take you down to about 20 ft for their dive...that to me seems to be a smart thing to avoid those who get overly confident from doing the "hey looky at the pretty fish" and start descending further than is safe for them.

So, thanks again for the input. Love it and appreciate it.

 

[D_B]

My introduction to scuba was through a Discover Scuba dive on Roatan, it was done at Anthony's Key Resort but was in relation to a cruise I was on so I don't know the dive shop affiliation
We spent a hour in a classroom going over what to do/not to do, and looking back I do think it was fairly thorough, then went to the waters edge with gear and sat in a bout 4ft of water getting used to breathing/getting comfortable. Then 2 of us per an instructor followed her out in a shallow reef area and between coral walls, looking under ledges at the fish, and after a while (I think now it was after she was satified with our buoyancy control) we swam out of one canyon out over deeper water, and back into another canyon to return to shore
... best thing that I did on that cruise, and I got certified as soon as I got back!! ... I love diving here, the cold, sometimes low vis water, not withstanding

 

[Laserjock]

Deleted due to double post