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Thinking About Lessons:

 Scuba Diving can open a door into a beautiful world, which most people never get to see. It’s a peaceful world filled with exotic animals and plants. Scuba is an exciting and rewarding sport that can be enjoyed by the whole family from age 12 and up, and the physical requirements may not be as strict as you think. While learning to dive isn't that difficult, there is a right way and a wrong way.

As you shop around for someone to teach you to enjoy scuba diving, you may experience some confusion caused by all the strange sounding TERMS such as CERTIFICATION STANDARDS, ADVANCED open water, introduction to open water, IDEA, SSI, PADI, NAUI and so on. If you want to make the right choice and get your money's worth, you may have difficult decisions to make, because much of what you are told is competitive double talk.

In order for you to sort through all the marketing rhetoric and pricing ploys for "certification", there are a few things to keep in mind.

• First, be certain that the instructor has proper certification, carries insurance, is current, and uses the materials and equipment required by his/her certifying agency.
• Second, the needs and costs of equipment are areas where people are sometimes misled, and is the cause of many discrepancies in pricing of diving courses. Some instructors and schools attempt to lure you with cheap front-end prices only to surprise you later with rental charges, pool charges, certification charges or any number of other hidden costs, including the required purchase of certain pieces of equipment. You should make sure you know about all of the costs involved up front.
• Third, diving is an equipment intensive sport. You can buy, borrow or rent equipment, but you will have to have it. There are some good reasons for owning your gear, including fit, sanitation, convenience, comfort, economy and safety. Most equipment, with a little proper care, will last many years. The rule to apply when buying gear is that you will need enough to dive safely, and it should be of sufficient quality to insure dependability.
• Finally, proper training means learning enough about the academics of diving to understand the physical changes in your body and the environment. It means learning equipment skills and techniques in the open water. There is no short cut to correct procedures. Skill development requires practice and experience. Be sure your course includes at least five open water dives that cover skills such as emergency procedures, navigation, air consumption, equipment handling, buoyancy control and plenty of time to learn those skills. Make sure you will use the latest equipment available.

Scuba diving is a rewarding yet demanding adventure that you can safely enjoy if you are interested and reasonably fit, and if you take a high quality scuba-training course. The better the course, the better you will be prepared to become a capable and safe diver enjoying years of diving experience!

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