Bermuda - PADI

Scobius90

Hi guys & gals,

My better half and I are visiting friends in Bermuda as part of a round thw world trip. we were thinking that this could be a good place to get our PADI open water course in before we hit Fiji and Oz
does anyone have any recommendations or experience of any dive companies there and would you also recommend doing the online course first?

thanks a mil,
Scobius

macrubicon

I would try and get the paperwork sorted before you go... that way you don't have to take time out to read the books and do the knowledge reviews when you are "on holidays". No harm to refresh yourself while over there, but it's a lot of reading if it's from scratch and there is a well defined "referral" scheme for doing the class work seperate from the water work.

If you can squeeze in the advanced course as well it will serve you in good stead. The Open Water does you to 18m ( or is it 12m now ? ), where as the advanced will open you up to deeper limits which might come in handy on some of the dives later on !

padi.com has a list of registered sites over there, but your hotel will probably have an arrangement with one.

Just don't expect Irish diving to be as clear and warm once you get home

Scobius90

macrubicon wrote: »

Just don't expect Irish diving to be as clear and warm once you get home

don't mention the war .... I work in the marine research community and for my sins I haven't learned to dive as of yet, mainly due to time pressures. But I regularly use the skills of my colleagues and send them out sampling in the coldest depths of winter
Seriously though I am well aware from them the vast differences in diving here and in the tropics or sub-tropics.
Thanks for your info!

macrubicon

I have been that soldier !

4 degrees C water temp is as low as I have gotten here ( off Donegal if I remember corrrectly ) - My next dive was in Florida in 30C water!

If you like the water you will love it. It should also give you an interesting perspective for your job - you will know what the guys can and can't do because of X or Y !

When are you off to Fiji ?? Just curious as I am away to there next month on a (another!) dive holiday tour of the Pacific...

Scobius90

Fiji is beginning of August! Can't wait.
If there was a choice guys? should I wait and do the PADI in Fiji or does it matter at all?

Lowest I ever sent my mad colleague (who dives in a wet suit, with a leak!) was 6C. I owe so many pints of guinness at this stage! BTW when I say dive I mean shallow diving ca. 2-3 m - not that that matters, water was still 6C

macrubicon

I would probably do it in Bermuda - there is a mass of stuff for you to do in Fiji - White water rafting, diving, even just wander around the island... you don't want to be stuck doing study and a few shortie dives with another resort course divers etc. You will want to get out and explore.

The carribean offers a great learning environment for that type of thing as a lot of the diving is nice and shallow to see the best of what it has to offer. It's also on "island time" on the laid back scale, so it suits training as nothing is rushed etc. ( I did some PADI specialaties in Jamaica and the brother-in-law learned to dive in Bermuda )

Not that Fiji is not a great place to learn, you just might be more pre-occupied with other things and want to get strait into it....:D

Scobius90

cheers man! That's made me mind up.

you seem to know fiji? off topic and sub-forum but would suggest anywhere nice but relatively cheap there to make a a start there? we were just going to land and sort accom on spec (Mods: fell free to lock if I have stepped away from the topic of the forum)

macrubicon

The hotels are kinda cheap given the way the $$ has gone. I have only really blitzed through it once before and had all my accom. sorted in advance ( was on a liveaboard ), but had a day at either end before and after flights to do a bit of exploring.

Kinda wished I had more time, so going back to another liveaboard and taking a few days to get down the island to the boat with a few days in the middle to try and do a bit more exploring !

Hit the web and see what you can get, and the guide books and sites don't usually put you too far wrong around those parts.