SCUBA Diving at CN

[daveh]

I am a certified diver with about 40 logged dives...I am looking at planning a vacation with my girlfriend in December...she is not a certified diver but has always been interested and wants to do it...I see that the package comes with an open water course for her...will this give her a PADI certification or just allow her to go diving while we are down there?

For the dive that is included, is it a two tank dive? Does that include all equipment? Any information about the diving in general or if my girlfriend can dive with me would be greatly appreciated.

[jamaicamecrazy]

I'm sure lots of others are responding, but none have been posted yet. We dove at CSA, which does the same sites, and we're instructors, so hopefully I can help.

Your GF would be doing the resort course/"Discover Scuba". It gives her basic instruction and allows her to do a shallow dive with an instructor at her side. It is not a certification in any way shape or form. If you go back to Couples a year later, or anywhere else, she'd need to do it again (and likely pay at any other resort. It's a great perk at Couples).
Unless things have really changed there, you wouldn't be diving with her. The certified divers go out first for a 1 tank dive, come back, then the boat goes out with the resort divers, then back and goes out again after lunch for the second dive (except Sat when they do a 2 tank). If she wants to do more dives I do believe she'd have to pay for them.
She could take her open water course at CN, but it will take up a bit of time, plus it will cost extra. Where did you do yours? Can she do it at home? If that's not an option, she could do the classroom work online or at home, the pool at home or at CN, and the ocean dives at CN. It may cost more in the end, but it saves precious time at the resort.
If she's certified she can go our diving with you, which is what it's really all about... diving together.
Jamaica is a great place for a beginning diver. The sites around Negril are mostly shallow reefs. There's little if any current. It's nice easy diving. It doesn't have the most sea life, but it's a good place to start, and maybe you'l lsee dolphins as we did.
Have fun!

[kaityogill]

The dive instructor at CN is Sugar who is the BEST! So nice and patient. I agree that the best way to go is to do the book work online or at a local scuba shop and check out dive at CN. My husband and I took the Discover Scuba free lesson from Sugar about 6 years ago and got hooked immediately! We took the course there which took up a lot of time for three days. We took the advanced certification with Sugar a few years later. We go to CN twice a year to see the Dive Shop guys. We love them!

[daveh]

I'm sure lots of others are responding, but none have been posted yet. We dove at CSA, which does the same sites, and we're instructors, so hopefully I can help.

Your GF would be doing the resort course/"Discover Scuba". It gives her basic instruction and allows her to do a shallow dive with an instructor at her side. It is not a certification in any way shape or form. If you go back to Couples a year later, or anywhere else, she'd need to do it again (and likely pay at any other resort. It's a great perk at Couples).
Unless things have really changed there, you wouldn't be diving with her. The certified divers go out first for a 1 tank dive, come back, then the boat goes out with the resort divers, then back and goes out again after lunch for the second dive (except Sat when they do a 2 tank). If she wants to do more dives I do believe she'd have to pay for them.
She could take her open water course at CN, but it will take up a bit of time, plus it will cost extra. Where did you do yours? Can she do it at home? If that's not an option, she could do the classroom work online or at home, the pool at home or at CN, and the ocean dives at CN. It may cost more in the end, but it saves precious time at the resort.
If she's certified she can go our diving with you, which is what it's really all about... diving together.
Jamaica is a great place for a beginning diver. The sites around Negril are mostly shallow reefs. There's little if any current. It's nice easy diving. It doesn't have the most sea life, but it's a good place to start, and maybe you'l lsee dolphins as we did.
Have fun!

Thanks so much for the reply! If I can get her certified before we go down there, is there a limit to the number of dives that are included with the package? I thought I read somewhere that it is a morning dive and an afternoon dive, and diving any additional days would be extra

Thanks again, will definitely look into getting her certified so we can dive together! Cheers.

[GregFromMD]

My wife and I went to CSA in June, and just wanted to try scuba. By the time we left, we had 6 dives and an open water certification. Like others have said, you may not dive together, although you may go out on the boat together (depends on how many people are going). So even if she can't get any of the book work done at home, she will still have plenty of opportunities. If she's anything like my wife, she probably would not feel comfortable diving with me (and no instructor) for a while. Mine was better off without me and just with the instructor for the first couple dives, then we swam together for the rest.

My suggestion is to have her do the free discovery dive, if she likes it and wants to continue, it counts towards the cert. If she doesn't like it or has ear problems, nothing lost. There were a couple people we saw that couldn't clear their ears on the first dive. And buy the pictures - we paid $20 for the week and got a lot of pics that the instructors took.

One final suggestion - you could consider upgrading your cert, which may put you into the training group, and then you might be together. It's worth asking at least.

[hpy2bhre]

We just got back yesterday. We dove in the morning, in the evening, and did one night dive. Craig and Sugar ( Karl ) are the best! It was our 4th time at CN and we always have fun diving there.
Like the other folks said, you might not dive with her unless you do your book work at home and get them to finish her cert. I'm rescue and I brought a friend that did his book work and pool work at home and finished there. I didn't dive the first 3 days with him but then he was Open Water certified and we dove the rest of the time together. She wont be able to go deep without at least advanced there but there are more good things to see shallow anyway. The over hangs and crevices are the bomb!
You can call the resort and ask for water sports. Talk to Brian or Craig, or Sugar. One thing for sure. They will make it work for you! The dive boats leave around 9:00am so call around thier time. We saw big nurse sharks and rays and lots of cool stuff!
The resort pack is only for the trip your on and has no value if she wants to keep diving. Hope this helps.

[jamaicamecrazy]

Thanks so much for the reply! If I can get her certified before we go down there, is there a limit to the number of dives that are included with the package? I thought I read somewhere that it is a morning dive and an afternoon dive, and diving any additional days would be extra

Thanks again, will definitely look into getting her certified so we can dive together! Cheers.

If you're both certified when you get there then you can start diving right away and as much as you want up to 2 times a day, every day (except the day before you leave, due to flying restrictions of course). The only thing that could limit how often you dive is if you wait to sign up and the boat is full. There is a max. they will take, so sign up early enough if you're really keen. Sometimes we'd just wing it based on how we felt and would meander to the dive shack. We were lucky it was never too full.
The only thing that's extra is night dives. They need a min. number of people, but if you're feeling comfortable later in your stay, you may want to try it. It's a totally different experience.