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Scuba at Tahiti

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I'm going to Morea and Bora Bora in March. I was thinking about going scuba diving but I have no experiance. I hear that you have to pass tests to become certified scuba.

They have an introductory Dive for first timers

"After a brief outline, a fully qualified instructor will hand guide you through very shallow waters and will give you the opportunity to play with thousands of tropical fish"

Would this be safe or should i just stick with snorkling?
 
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Anonymous said:
I'm going to Morea and Bora Bora in March. I was thinking about going scuba diving but I have no experiance. I hear that you have to pass tests to become certified scuba.

They have an introductory Dive for first timers

"After a brief outline, a fully qualified instructor will hand guide you through very shallow waters and will give you the opportunity to play with thousands of tropical fish"

Would this be safe or should i just stick with snorkling?
Click to expand...
 
In December, I took an introductory SCUBA class (also known as a resort course) in Akumal Mexico.

It was great, I felt safe, and after about an hour or so of training, they took us down to around 40 ft for about 45 minutes. In Mexico, it cost about US$90 for equipment and everything.

My wife did it and didn't like it as much as I did. Though I'd like to get properly certified, it will be harder to do if she doesn't want to participate. Thus, I might have to wait for my sons to be old enough.

If you don't want to SCUBA, I got at least 80% of the same experience/feeling by just snorkeling around and through the reefs.

Best of luck,

Roy
 
Personally I would NOT recomend these types of dives. The only reason they exisit is for pure economics, it's a way for dive resorts and operators to make some money from folks who want to dive but are not certified.

While I am sure that the vast majority of these are safe, I just would not advise anyone try to scuba dive without at least the very basics.

That being said, I am a PADI Dive Master, so safety is my #1 lookout. Getting certified for the Open Water Diver is super easy and highly recomended.

I've also dived much of Tahiti too, and it's fantastic!!!!! If you don't have one, I would highly recomend getting an underwater camera for when those Manata Rays fly by :D Have fun!!!! Check out the video I took out there ..... Tahiti Video
 
i use to play paintball a lot and went to the dive shops to have them fill up my scuba tanks(for my paintball gun) and I hear them talk about people learning scuba getting lost at sea. Maybe i'll just stick with snorkeling.

My wife is not going to let me get an underwater camera. Is there a good brand disposible camera to buy? A lot of under water pics i've seen seems that the colors are washed out.

Nice video. What island or area was this at?
 
They didn't let Roy swim around by himself. These discover scuba dives are usually highly monitored and they usually have a DM at least to watch you - mostly to keep you from kicking the corals. It is mostly for revenue, and the shop hopes you will sign up for a full course.
The only time I have recommended such dives is when family or friends want to try diving to see if they like it and when we are on the same dive.
If you don't have someone you trust on the dive with you you are taking a risk and only you can decide how big a risk that is. :D

Getting lost at sea is not much of an issue at all. :D
 
The only person i would trust if I go scuba would be my wife. But she's nevered scuba either. I'll think i'll scope it out, ask some questions when i'm there. Then decide if I want to take the plunge.
 
We went through a certified dive shop, http://www.akumaldivecenter.com/index.html and the Dive Master went with us. After reviewing the signals and equipment, we were in a pool for about 45 minutes to practice signals, getting comfortable with breathing, how to find a regulator, adjust the air in your vest, check your air, clearing your mask, equalizing pressure in your ears, and buddy breathing.

Then, we went in a boat to a spot with a flat bottom (with no drop offs). They had a rope anchored to the bottom that we used the rope to help us get down. Our instructor stayed with us the whole time and we checked our air supply a couple of times. At 40 feet, the visibility is clear and the lighting is bright. A big thing on your first dive is trying to maintain/control your bouyancy. I got pretty comfortable with it after a few minutes.

We bought an underwater camera with interchangeable film/flash cartridges at our local Dive Shop. The camera with the first roll was about $20; each additional roll was about $10. The camera was water tight to at least 100 feet. I got the pictures developed at Costco. My only complaint about the camera was that the shutter button was higher than the other controls. Thus, if I left the camera cocked and ready to shoot, I wasted a picture every time the camera button bumped something. Next time, I'll only advance the film frame right before I want the use the camera.

In Akumal, I saw a disposible camera made by Kodak (which I had not seen before). If you can find them here that might be an option; but, don't know how deep you can dive with them. I'll bet they are cheaper here than at a resort.

During our dive, our instructor took a bunch of pictures with a high end underwater digital camera. After the dive, we had the option of buying a CD full of the pictures. Those were the best underwater pictures of all.

In order to get fully certified on our trip, I would have had to have been away from the wife and Boys for 5 whole days. The introductory course was a good way to see if I would like it or not. At the shop I was at, they would have given me credit towards the full course.

My wife liked being underwater; but, didn't like the bobbing up and down on the surface of the ocean. It made her a bit queasy and uncomfortable. Thus, she was not too eager to spend 5 days getting certified.

Best of luck,

Roy
 
Dunno about Dave, but the 46 classes I DM'd, we NEVER lost anyone at sea, nor had any deaths. In fact, my dive shop has never lost a sole at see, all bodies were recoverred (J/K :D ).
 
Now if your talking valley dive shops, that another story. I've pulled numerous valley dive shop students from the surf at Montestary. The valley instructors simply love to bring their students to the 50' surf zone, rather then the 5' surf zone we used. It pays to research your dive shop and instructors prior to suiting up.
 
GreshamH said:
Dunno about Dave, but the 46 classes I DM'd, we NEVER lost anyone at sea, nor had any deaths. In fact, my dive shop has never lost a sole at see, all bodies were recoverred (J/K :D ).
Click to expand...

Nope, never lost anyone, ...... yet ;)
 
Heck, we never even joked about it at our shop, on dives, on boats or on the beach. It's like talking about blowing up a plane while in line at the airport ;)
 
Oh - do the same thing that we do when picking a dive outfit on vacation. Talk to the shop and see if you get a good feeling.

:D
 
You could go to a website like http://www.scubaboard.com/

When I was researching where to go in Mexico, the people on that site recommended me to one focused on just the area we were planning to visit.

The site we found for Mexico had hundreds of posts of people that had actually visited the area and used the companies we were interested in doing business with.

Best of luck,

Roy
 
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