#21189 - 10/17/05 03:04 PM
How good a swimmer do you have to be to take the general introduction dives?
|
BagHag
Member
Registered: 09/12/05
Posts: 64
Loc: New York
|
Hello all! I will be going on my HM in July 06.
I probably won't have enough $ to get most of the PADI certification in NYC and finish in FP, as some have suggested.
Would taking the introduction dives be a good alternative? I'll keep practicing my swimming skills from until then.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#21190 - 10/18/05 07:31 AM
Re: How good a swimmer do you have to be to take the general introduction dives?
|
sccs
Member
Registered: 04/13/05
Posts: 46
Loc: Minnesota
|
For diving, it's not so much that you have to be a good swimmer. It's more important to be comfortable in the water. When you actually get certified, you do have to swim a few laps to show that you are capable of swimming. I don't exactly remember how far you have to swim, but they don't care how you do it or how long it takes. You also have to be able to tread water for about 10 minutes or so. I don't know if I would suggest doing an intro dive or not. I think people that do them tend do enjoy them, but there is so many things that can go wrong when diving that you wouldn't be prepared to handle. I've heard stories about how they take you way too deep during intro dives and that's kind of scary if you haven't had the proper training to know how to handle situations if something where to go wrong. I think the best bet is to just get certified if you can then you have your certification in case you want to dive in the future. Maybe someone who has done intro dives will comment more on them.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#21191 - 10/18/05 09:08 AM
Re: How good a swimmer do you have to be to take the general introduction dives?
|
GT
Senior Advisor
Registered: 12/18/01
Posts: 768
Loc: Los Angeles, CA 90045
|
You don't have to be a great swimmer but you do need to demonstrate endurance. I think for the certification you need to do about 20 laps and then the 10 minutes of treading water. The dives in Tahiti tend to be about 60-80 feet but for an introduction dive, they won't take you deeper than 20 feet or so. IMO - Do as much of the PADI training as you can.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#21192 - 10/18/05 10:01 AM
Re: How good a swimmer do you have to be to take the general introduction dives?
|
jantar
Member
Registered: 10/14/05
Posts: 60
Loc: New York
|
I agree with posts above: you don't have to be a great swimmer at all, but you do have to be comfortable in water.
What I would add is that scuba diving to me is almost more mental than physical activity, or at least brain-body coordination. It helps to be very fit, because then your air consumption and utilization is better and that affects everything, including your buoyancy, one of the key things to master.
Try to do at least the book-portion of the certification in NY. Then you can do open water certificating dive in FP.
Are you from NYC? Me too, and i'm also going on my honeymoon next July!
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#21193 - 10/18/05 12:36 PM
Re: How good a swimmer do you have to be to take the general introduction dives?
|
marshamouse
Advisor
Registered: 03/01/04
Posts: 527
Loc: Boise, Idaho
|
My husband and I are not divers and did 2 intro dives on one of our trips where the dives were included with our package - one was at the Manihi Pearl Resort and the other at the IC Moorea. Both were very good experiences. We both swim, me better than my husband. We love to snorkel and are very comfortable in the water. Each place gave us about a 30 minute introduction to the equipment, hand signals and what to expect. At different points along the way, they asked if we were comfortable so far doing this. At Manihi they took us outside the reef in only 15 - 20 feet of water. It was pretty choppy that day, but once we were under the water we were OK. The clarity of the water there was awesome. At Moorea we stayed in the lagoon and explored one of the channels that drops off - tons of fish and coral, but kind of cloudy compared to Manihi. We had a guide with us at all times who took us down one at a time to check us out and then was very attentive and asked us in hand signs often how we were doing.
Very good experiences for both of us, but being comfortable in the water is important or it could be a different experience.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#21194 - 10/21/05 05:46 AM
Re: How good a swimmer do you have to be to take the general introduction dives?
|
BagHag
Member
Registered: 09/12/05
Posts: 64
Loc: New York
|
Thanks for the advice, everyone. I'll show the posts to my fiance and see what he says.
Jantar, yup I am in NYC. 
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#21195 - 11/04/05 11:54 AM
Re: How good a swimmer do you have to be to take the general introduction dives?
|
Michael in NYC
Member
Registered: 08/09/05
Posts: 45
Loc: New York, NY, USA
|
Baghag--
Call Pan Aqua Diving Center 460 West 43rd Street 800.434.0884--and get certified. They're a great group of people in NYC and off classroom, pool and open water dives. You can easily do it with them this spring. The more you know, the better prepared you'll be, to relax and have a great time. I got certified 20 years ago and have only 15 dives completed in that time, so I get a refresher with them before I go out, and its really worth it.
Michael from NYC
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
Moderator: BarbiJKM, hamara, DenverJoe, Poehere
|
6653 Members
15 Forums
10176 Topics
90579 Posts
Max Online: 98 @ 03/09/11 04:15 PM
|
|
0 registered
and 8 anonymous users online.
|
|
|
