Scuba Diving

[Matt..]

This is a bit random, but i am hoping a few people here are experienced divers and can help me out!

I am looking to start diving soon and am a little confused by how to go about doing it in the best way. There seem to be several different routes (PADI, BSAC, etc...) and i am looking for advice on which is the best way to go.

Also, i have terrible eyesight and have big thick glasses! I hear that wearing daily disposible contacts is ok, is this true?

Any advice would be good as i am looking to get into this next year... its just a shame i live in Wales and the water is so cold!

[Ultraviolet]

I went to Hurghada in Egypt to learn, and did PADI. Ended up spending some time in the classroom over there. I reckon you could get this out of the way up front. PADI is more internationally accepted, and seems to be far better at marketing / selling its classifications so I would do this. Learn somewhere warm (like Egypt), with decent water clarity. Leave the other half on the beach and do the PADI Open Water in a week, then move onto the Advanced.

As long as you can equalise and are a fairly decent swimmer (my swimming test was more difficult than I expected as I was in a surprisingly choppy sea), you should have a great time.

Not sure about the contact lenses, but you can get masks made to your prescription.. not sure about the £££ for this though.

cheers,

UV

[Wetwipe]

as far as i am aware, any type of contacts are a no no with scuba.

pretty sure prescription lensed goggles are not hugely expensive.

my karate sensei is a qualified dive instructor and runs a club at a local pool where you can qualify.

my friends did this and then got their open water certification whilst holidaying in egypt. a great way to do it!

[thegman]

You can wear contacts and scuba but you will be required to take off your mask during training - obviously you will need to keep your eyes shut

Another approach is to get a prescription scuba mask. Expensive but if you get into it will be well worth it.

[Chilli]

Contacts are fine to dive in. I have scores of times. Mask clearing is a piece of p!ss when you get used to it. I'd go with PADI. They seem to be much more widely recognised. Where are you thinking of going?

[Seight_Returns]

You can get stick on things for diving masks to correct vision - or as others have said prescription masks don't cost the earth and probably the better option.

You can do a PADI "referral" in the UK to get the classroom and pool training out of the way at a PADI training place in the UK to complete all the training with the exception of the 2 open water qualifying dives - one evening a week for 6 weeks when I did it - and then do your 2 open water qualifying dives at a PADI dive centre in your holiday location and you've got your qualification. Has the double advantage of not wasting half your holiday in a classroom and not having to endure the open water qualifying dives in the North Sea in April !

Edited by Seight_Returns on Monday 29th December 15:30

[Trevelyan]

PADI is a business, and is run as such. Although it is internationally recognised, you have to pay for every qualification, training sesion, reference manual etc. PADIs main aim is to make money, and very adept at it they are too! BSAC is more of an umbrella organisation bringing together various British recreational dive clubs. The majority of BSAC training is done by volunteers within your club, and you get it for more or less cost price (petrol to get to the dive site, cylinder fills etc.). If you see this as more as a long term UK based hobby I'd join up with a local BSAC club to get the training and experience under your belt. If you then want to go for internationally recognised qualifications then it should be much easier (and cheaper) to get the necessary top-up training for your PADI qualifications afterwards.

[thegman]

Trevelyan said:

PADI is a business, and is run as such. Although it is internationally recognised, you have to pay for every qualification, training sesion, reference manual etc. PADIs main aim is to make money, and very adept at it they are too! BSAC is more of an umbrella organisation bringing together various British recreational dive clubs. The majority of BSAC training is done by volunteers within your club, and you get it for more or less cost price (petrol to get to the dive site, cylinder fills etc.). If you see this as more as a long term UK based hobby I'd join up with a local BSAC club to get the training and experience under your belt. If you then want to go for internationally recognised qualifications then it should be much easier (and cheaper) to get the necessary top-up training for your PADI qualifications afterwards.

My experience of BSAC is they are very cliquey, and can be very intimidating for novice divers, or those who see it more as a holiday/recrational pastime rather than a hard-core hobbyist. PADI may be a business but is IMO the easiest and quickest way into diving, all over the world. This is obviously just my opinion

ETA my spelling is crap

Edited by thegman on Monday 29th December 15:45

[Matt..]

Do any of you know of any good diving forums that i can have a look at?

[therealpigdog]

whether you go PADI or BSAC I'd do some basic training before you go - you might as well learn in a swimming pool in the UK rather than a swimming pool somewhere nice as it will free up more time on proper sites enjoying yourself. BSAC and PADI both have their own positives - just find an instructor you are comfortable with and you'll get the most out of it.

i've never dived in contacts, so can't comment, but do remember people advising against it, but then again people advise against everything these days. prescription masks aren't too expensive, but depends on the presscription - usually cost similar to another set of glasses. whether you go prescription or not, try on loads of different masks to find what suits you.

[Matt..]

Well the idea so far is to learn in the UK and get as far i can so i can enjoy a decent trip somewhere and not be stuck learning, or on boring dives!

I have a bit of time to sort things out though, as it is December, and so not the warmest time to be jumping in the sea around here!

[RobM77]

Regarding the contact lens issue, when you're learning to dive you'll have to do skills where you remove or flood your mask and then clear it again. I've got lasered eyes now, but I used to wear lenses and mine would have just floated out in that situation, which is quite dangerous as you'll be left with no vision (not to mention expensive, even my disposables were £1 each!). Lens fit is highly individual to the person (eye curvature vs lens curvature), so you'll probably know if yours do this easily or not (mine would vibrate out of my eyes when motor racing too!!). Once your training's complete then mask clearing is still a fairly common necessity, if not just to de-mist the mask, so you'll still have this issue. Plenty of opticians will warn you not to get seawater anywhere near your lenses either because of the chance of infection, although some have told me that if they're disposables and you chuck them afterwards you're fine. Someone like 968 on PH could advise properly on this I would have thought (if he's still around on here?). A sighted mask (what I did) is the best solution, anc cheaper than you might think, although you then have two problems: a) if you want to leave your precious and expensive glasses on dry land or in a changing room you'll have to wear the mask at all other times and look like a prat (once someone found my glasses by the pool whilst I was training underwater and took them down the pub for me. I had to drive to the pub in my mask!) and b) once your sighted mask comes off you won't be able to see anything at all, which is seriously dodgy if your regulator needs recovering - I couldn't even see my backup reg well enough with my mask off, and that scared me because bolting to the surface for air isn't a safe option when you're diving. It was all a huge faff and no doubt with lasered vision it would now be a whole lot easier. I can't dive for other reasons though as it happens!

Regarding PADI, BSAC etc that's a huge can of worms and I'd rather not go there.

HTH

[Mattt]

thegman said:

My experience of BSAC is they are very cliquey, and can be very intimidating for novice divers, or those who see it more as a holiday/recrational pastime rather than a hard-core hobbyist.

BSAC is great if you want to dive in the UK all the time, if you're a holiday diver they aren't too interested IME.

[GriffGrin]

It all depends on what your looking to get out of it, if its just really a nice dive every time you go on holiday then PADI is probably the best route, if however your looking to take it up more as a hobby then my advice is BSAC for the reasons Trevelyan pointedd out.

As for PADI being more internationally recognised thats not stricktly true, I've had no problems showing my BSAC or Navy log book whilst diving abroad. It is very amusing though the way some people puff their chests out telling everyone how much of a salty, weather beaten diver they are as they've been diving for 10 years, but really since their course in the 1st year have only managed 1 dip per year

If you want more info on forums,costs for lensed masks etc email me and i'll put you in touch with my brother who runs a very successful dive shop,

[RobM77]

Mattt said:

thegman said:

My experience of BSAC is they are very cliquey, and can be very intimidating for novice divers, or those who see it more as a holiday/recrational pastime rather than a hard-core hobbyist.

BSAC is great if you want to dive in the UK all the time, if you're a holiday diver they aren't too interested IME.

I have to confess even with PADI that attitude was a negative for me. I only wanted to learn to dive to look at cool fish and coral, but strangely I found the whole atmosphere to be very macho and gung-ho, which wasn't what I was expecting. Maybe it was just the club I learnt with?

[DeadMeat_UK]

I have daily disposables and can happily swim around with my eyes open and not lose them.

Mask clearance etc didn't cause me any issues to have my eyes open.

I would recommend doing the basics and theory in the UK before you go anywhere. From the different learnings experience between myself (Brentwood PADI diving) and my girlfriend (Egypt PADI) were huge especially in terms of safety and patience.

[RobM77]

DeadMeat_UK said:

I have daily disposables and can happily swim around with my eyes open and not lose them.

Mask clearance etc didn't cause me any issues to have my eyes open.

Lens fit will vary, so the OP should check (in the sink or bath etc) before paying up for a course on this assumption. Lenses come in fixed curvatures, and eyes don't As I said above, my lenses would vibrate out in a racing car, and floated out underwater too. Plus do your research about infection, as most opticians go mad at the thought of swimming in lenses, although common sense would tell me that if you change your lenses immediately after diving you should be fine - if you ask the PH member 968 he'll give a definitive answer.

[10 Pence Short]

Get yourself over to Gozo and do your PADI stuff over there.

[CaptainSlow]

Matt.. said:

This is a bit random, but i am hoping a few people here are experienced divers and can help me out!

I am looking to start diving soon and am a little confused by how to go about doing it in the best way. There seem to be several different routes (PADI, BSAC, etc...) and i am looking for advice on which is the best way to go.

Also, i have terrible eyesight and have big thick glasses! I hear that wearing daily disposible contacts is ok, is this true?

Any advice would be good as i am looking to get into this next year... its just a shame i live in Wales and the water is so cold!

Do you think you'll want to dive over here?

btw Wales has some great diving and with a drysuit the cold isn't a problem.

[Trevelyan]

thegman said:

My experience of BSAC is they are very cliquey, and can be very intimidating for novice divers, or those who see it more as a holiday/recrational pastime rather than a hard-core hobbyist. PADI may be a business but is IMO the easiest and quickest way into diving, all over the world. This is obviously just my opinion

I think this can be true of all dive clubs to some extent, be they PADI or BSAC. The best advice I can give you from my own experiences is to have a look in your area, and head along to any local dive clubs or centres for a try-out evening. It's the people involved who ultimately make the difference, and you're better off learning with a friendly group who'll make you welcome, rather than holding out for either PADI or BSAC. If you get the diving bug you could end up spending one evening a week and most weekends during the summer with these people, so you need to be comfortable with them! You should get a fair idea from just one evening in their company. If you get ignored and aren't made to feel part of the group from the start then give that particular club a swerve and try somewhere else...